(MUSIC) LESSON 2: FILIPINO TRADITIONAL COMPOSERS

Question 1

FILIPINO COMPOSERS OF THE 20TH CENTURY CONTRIBUTED THEIR SHARE IN INTRODUCING INNOVATIVE SOUNDS. WITH SPAIN AND THEN AMERICA HAVING COLONIZED THE PHILIPPINES, IT WAS UNAVOIDABLE THAT WESTERN COMPOSITIONAL TECHNIQUES FOUND THEIR WAY INTO THE WORKS OF FILIPINO COMPOSERS. YET EVEN 20TH CENTURY FILIPINO COMPOSERS HAVE MANAGED TO RETAIN SOME TRADITIONAL ELEMENTS IN THEIR ASSIMILATION OF WESTERN TECHNIQUES

Answer 1

Traditional Composers

Question 2

• Started composing since Elementary
• Studied the banjo
• Pursued Music degree at UP and at the Julliard School in NYC, USA
• Became a professor of theory and composition at UP College of music up until his retirement in 1978
• ‘Romantic Nationalist’
• Incorporated Filipino elements with Western forms and Harmony.
• ‘Ugoy sa Duyan’ A lullaby written together with his friend, Levi Celerio as the Lyricist
• ‘Lahing Kayumanggi’
• Was declared National Artist for Music in 1991 and passed away on March 31, 2002

Answer 2

Lucio San Pedro

Question 3

• ‘Father of PH Impressionist Music’
• The first national artist for Music
• Began his music career as an orchestral soloist at the Manila Grand Opera House.
• Served as Dean of the Centro Escolar University, Conservatory of Music from 1948 to 1970.
• Was also a faculty member in UP conservatory of Music
• A product of both Romantic and Impressionist schools of thought
• Works inspired by Claude Debussy
• ‘Pandangguhan’

Answer 3

Antonio Molina

Question 4

• Studied at the Chicago Music College
• Influenced by the Serialist/ Second Viennese School and Post- Romantic European Composers
• Developed a style that combines European romanticism and chromaticism
• Along with Fransisco Santiago elevated the status of the Kundiman into an Art song status equivalent to that of the German lied, the French Chanson and the Italian aria
• ‘Bituing Marikit’

Answer 4

Nicanor Abelardo

Question 5

• Born in Penaranda, Nueva Ecija, he played brass instruments during his high school years.
• He enrolled in the University of the Philippines Conservatory of Music under Antonio Molina and also studied composition at the Juilliard School of Music in New York under Vittorio Giannini.
• He was known as a nationalist composer who expressed the Philippines’ cultural identity through his compositions.
• He wrote piano compositions, hymns, marches, art songs, chamber music, symphonic poems, overtures, band music, school songs, orchestral works, operas, kundimans, and zarzuelas. He was a national artist for music in 1997
• ‘Pasko na naman’

Answer 5

Felipe P. De Leon

Question 6

• His compositional style makes much use of a variety of influences from Moroccan musical cultures, Jazz, African-American Spirituals and Gospel music, European Neo-Classicism, Music for Films, American Broadway musicales, to Philippine indigenous chants.
• He was born on May 4, 1954 in Manila.
• He obtained his Bachelor of Music degree at the University of the Philippines, College of Music in 1983. After which, he became a faculty member for Composition at the same University.
• At present, he continues to be a sought-after professor/lecturer, musical director, composer, arranger, and conductor in the Philippine concert and recording scenes.
• He was named National Artist for Music in 2018
• Kay ganda ng ating musika’ ‘ Da Coconut Nut’

Answer 6

Ryan Cayabyab