Xochipilli (Chávez)

Xochipilli, subtitled "An Imagined Aztec Music", is a short composition for four wind instruments and six percussionists by the Mexican composer Carlos Chávez, written in 1940. Its original title was Xochipilli-Macuilxóchitl, which is the double name of an Aztec god in two of his aspects, meaning "Flower Prince" and "Five Flower" (García Morillo 1960, 110; Roberts 2010, 54).

Chávez in 1937

History

In connection with an exhibition titled Twenty Centuries of Mexican Art, held in May 1940 at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, the president of MoMA, Nelson Rockefeller, commissioned Chávez to assemble a programme of music for daily presentation, under the title Panorama of Mexican Music. In addition to arrangements of popular Mexican music from the recent past, Chávez composed Xochipilli-Macuilxóchitl to showcase pre-Columbian Aztec instruments. This score was completed on 12 May 1940 (García Morillo 1960, 109–10). Chávez conducted the premiere at the opening performance of the Museum of Modern Art exhibit four days later, on 16 May 1940 (Slonimsky 1945, 234).

In 1964 Chávez revised the score for publication. At this time he shortened the title to Xochipilli, and added the (English) subtitle, "An Imagined Aztec Music" (Saavedra 2015, 135).

Instrumentation
Aztec teponaztli (foreground) and huéhuetl (background)
Aztec conch-shell trumpet

Xochipilli is scored for ten players: piccolo, flute, E♭ clarinet, trombone, and six percussionists playing a variety of instruments, many of Aztec origin: teponaztli, huéhuetl, omichicahuaztli. The piccolo and flute deputize for Aztec flutes of bone or clay, the E♭ clarinet represents the clay ocarina, and the trombone is used as a substitute for the Aztec conch-shell trumpet (Conklin 1995, 60–61).

Programme

In Aztec mythology, Xochipilli is the god associated with flowers, music, and dance, as is also Macuilxóchitl. "Their difference is esoteric. Macuilxochitl is the imperceptible god, an entity beyond the scope of human thought, a timeless being dwelling in the cosmos. Xochipilli is the embodiment of the same spirit on Earth, perceived in the visible, tangible, and edible world" (Roberts 2010, 56–57).

Analysis

Xochipilli falls into three main sections, b. 1–83, 84–134, and 135–269, in an ABA' pattern. The two outer sections are in fast tempos (Allegro animato, = 100, and Vivo, = 104), surrounding a slow central section (Lento, = 58). Each of these parts is in turn subdivided into three subsections (Conklin 1995, 63–64; Roberts 2010, 154, 163, 181–82).

Discography
  • A Program of Mexican Music: Sponsored by the Museum of Modern Art. Blas Galindo (arr.), Sones de Mariachi; Carlos Chávez (arr.): La paloma azul; Carlos Chávez, Xochipili-Macuilxochitl and "Danza a Centeotl" (from Los cuatro soles); Luis Sandí (arr.), Yaqui music; Gerónimo Baqueiro Fóster (arr.), Huapango. Carlos Chávez conducting an orchestra of American and Mexican musicians and the chorus of the National Music League. Four-disc set, 78 rpm, 12 in. Columbia M-414 (set): 70332-D, 70333-D, 70334-D, 70335-D. New York: Columbia, 1940.
  • Mexico: Its Cultural Life in Music and Art / Su Vida Cultural en la Música y el Arte. Carlos Chávez: "Danza a Centeotl" from Los cuatro soles; Xochipilli; Luis Sandi (arr.), El venado; Carlos Chávez (arr.), La paloma azul; Blas Galindo (arr.), Sones de mariachi; Gerónimo Baqueiro Fóster (arr.), La bamba. Mexican Orchestra and Chorus; Carlos Chávez, cond. LP recording, 1 disc, 12 in., 33⅓ in. New York: Columbia Records, 1964.
  • Carlos Chávez: Chamber Works. Xochipilli: An Imagined Aztec Music; Suite for Double Quartet, from The Daughter of Colchis; Tambuco; Energía; Toccata for Percussion Instruments. La Camerata; Tambuco; Eduardo Mata (cond.). CD recording, 1 disc: stereo, 12 cm. Dorian DOR-90215. Troy, NY: Dorian Records, 1994.
  • Carlos Chávez: Complete Chamber Music, Vol. 3. Xochipilli, an Imaginary Aztec Music; Toccata for percussion; Cuatro melodías tradicionales; Tambuco for percussion; Lamentaciónes; Cantos de México; Antígona, apuntes para la sinfonía; Tres Exágonos. Otros Tres Exágonos; Partita for solo timpani. Southwest Chamber Music. CD recording, 1 disc: stereo, 12 cm. Cambria CD 8853. Lomita, CA: Cambria Master Recordings, 2005.

References
  • Conklin, Dorothy Rice. 1995. "Percussion Instruments in Two Compositions by Carlos Chávez: Xochipilli: An Imagined Aztec Music (1940) and Chapultepec: Three Famous Mexican Pieces (1935)". DMA diss. Greensboro: University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
  • Delpar, Helen. 2015. "Carlos Chávez and the 'Mexican Vogue', 1925–1940". In Carlos Chávez and His World, edited by Leonora Saavedra, 204–19. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-16947-7 (cloth); ISBN 978-0-691-16948-4 (pbk).
  • García Morillo, Roberto. 1960. Carlos Chávez: Vida y obra. Tierra Firme. México: Fondo de Cultura Económica. ISBN 968-16-0222-6.
  • Roberts, Shawn M. 2010. Aztec Musical Styles in Carlos Chávez’s Xochipilli: An Imagined Aztec Music and Lou Harrison’s The Song of Quetzalcóatl: A Parallel and Comparative Study" DMA diss. Morgantown: West Virginia University.
  • Saavedra, Leonora. 2015. "Carlos Chávez and the Myth of the Aztec Renaissance". In Carlos Chávez and His World, edited by Leonora Saavedra, 134–64. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-16947-7 (cloth); ISBN 978-0-691-16948-4 (pbk).
  • Slonimsky, Nicolas. 1945. Music of Latin America. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell. Reprinted, with a new foreword and addenda by the author. New York: Da Capo Press, 1972. ISBN 0306711885.
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