Blog Assignment: Leo Brouwer

For my Blog assignment, I was asked to do some research on modern composer and guitarist, Leo Brouwer.

Classical guitarist and composer Leo Brouwer was born on March 1^st, 1939 in Havana Cuba. Brouwer’s father, a Cuban doctor, was the first to offer musical encouragement, urging him to learn works by Heitor Villa-Lobos, Francisco Tarrega and Enrique Granados by ear on the guitar.

Soon after, Brouwer began taking more formal guitar lessons from renowned Cuban guitar master, Isaac Nicola. He then traveled to America to continue his study of music. He studied at the Hartt College of Music, the University of Hartford and eventually the Juilliard School. He studied composition under Vincent Persichetti and Stefan Wolpe.

If you look at Brouwer’s work over the years, you’ll see that it has progressed from Cuban folk music to a more modernist style similar to Luigi Nono or Iannis Xenakis. Brouwer continued to write very famous guitar pieces including Sonata, a piece written for the Andres Segovia guitar protégée, Julian bream.

Over the years, Leo Brouwer has held numerous positions in the Cuban government’s music branch. He was even the director of the Cinema Institute of Cuba’s music department. Currently, Brouwer is actively involved in the International Guitar Festival of Havana and travels extensively to other guitar festivals all over the world.

Leo Brouwer has contributed much of the modern classical guitar repertoire having written well over fifty pieces for solo and guitar ensemble. However, he has composed many pieces for the orchestra as well including forty movie scores. His pieces continue to influence the next generation of classical guitar players and has become a mainstay in the modern guitar player’s repertoire.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFqgVfZhJmY&feature=related

This is my favorite Leo Brouwer piece, the title, which translates to “Cradle Song,” is a very gentle tune. You can really hear the Cuban and South American influence in this piece, especially during the theme. However, since it was written so late in his career, it has a lot of characteristics of more modern music too. Also, unlike most guitar music, it isn’t written in the standard ABA form.