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Revueltas in San Antonio and Mobile Author(s): Robert Parker Source: Latin American Music Review / Revista de Música Latinoamericana, Vol. 23, No. 1 (Spring

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Robert Parker Revueltas in San Antonio and Mobile

Little has been written about the thirty-two months composer Silvestre Revueltas spent in San Antonio, Texas, and Mobile, Alabama, from the spring of 1926 to the end of 1928. Much of the reason for this lack of information is that he wrote so little about it himself. A few letters to family and friends provide only a bare outline of his life and work during that period of U.S. residency. That his return to Mexico at the end of this somewhat obscure chapter of his career found him launched almost immediately into meteoric success as a violinist, teacher, conductor, and especially as a composer, calls out for illumination of the

trajectory leading to that point. The fact that Revueltas counts as one of the

premier composers of the Americas in the last century further justifies the need for such an exploration. The present foray casts new light toward this corner of Revueltas with data gleaned from public records, the print media, and, unexpectedly, accounts of an eyewitness. This research reveals details that help to define a larger and clearer picture of an important stage of Revueltas' musical development and its impact on his extraordinary career.

Silvestre Revueltas Sanchez (born 31 December 1899 in Santiago, Papasquiaro, Durango, Mexico) came to San Antonio in 1926, as a member of a trio of musicians from Mexico City. They were making their way northward on a concert tour that included San Luis Potosi and Guadalajara, Mexico. They crossed the border into Texas and on April 8 performed at the Teatro Nacional (at Commerce and Santa Rosa streets) under the spon- sorship of San Antonio's Club Mexicano de Bellas Artes.

The trio had been formed in Mexico City, where its members participated in Concerts of New Music, organized by composer Carlos Chavez (1899-1978) in the period 1924-26. Revueltas had come back to Mexico from Chicago in December 1923 when notified of his father's death.

Latin American Music Review, Volume 23, Number 1, Spring/Summer 2002 ? 2002 by the University of Texas Press, P.O. Box 7819, Austin, TX 78713-7819



Revueltas in San Antonio and Mobile: 115

Recitals he played in Mexico City in early 1924 had brought him into contact with two of Mexico's most progressive composers,Julian Carrillo and Chavez.

Revueltas returned to Chicago around the end of 1924 to rejoin his wife Jule Klarecy and infant daughter Carmen (born in 1922). He reported to Chavez in late 1924 and early 1925 that he was playing in the orchestra of a silent movie theater, and that he was studying scores of De Falla and Respighi (ostensibly preparing himself to compose and conduct).1 He com-

plained of the weather (the "disgusting snow") and the threat that his affin-

ity for alcohol was posing to his work. He returned to Mexico City in 1925, and participated in Chavez's sec-

ond series of Concerts of New Music. He played on the third concert of the series in Mexico City on 18 December, which included music by Milhaud, Stravinsky, Varese, Satie, Poulenc, and Chavez. Among the musicians in the ensemble were soprano Lupe Medina de Ortega and pianist Francisco Agea, who with Revueltas, were members of the trio that made its U.S. debut at San Antonio's Teatro Nacional in April 1926. The trio's concert elicited the following review in the daily San Antonio Express:

A large audience, which was as enthusiastic as it was discriminating, greeted the three Mexican artists, Lupe Medina de Ortega, soprano; Silvestre Revueltas, violinist; and Francisco Agea, pianist... The program was intrin- sically one of the most interesting that San Antonio has been privileged to hear, at least by the composers represented, the Spanish modernist De Falla, being heard here for the first time, Cesar Franck, Ravel, Mousorgsky. Also presented were works by Tata Nacho and Palmerin, with the usual standard numbers by Grieg, Schumann, Chopin, and Albeniz for good measure-a program far greater in interest and musical value than is usually given by nationally known artists.

Quite as interesting as the program were the artists who presented it. While perhaps highest honors go to the distinguished violinist, Silvestre Revueltas, for his virtuoso performance, in which technical skill and sensi- tive musical feeling were nicely blended. The soprano, Sra. Ortega, won her audience completely and kept them charmed with the warmth and beauty of her voice, and the pianist, Francisco Agea, easily divided honors with the interest and authority of his piano numbers and the sympathy of his accompaniments.2

After this engagement Agea and Medina returned to Mexico, but Revueltas, perhaps influenced by the lavish reviews the group received in both the San Antonio Express and the Spanish language La Prensa dailies, decided to stay in San Antonio. He was already somewhat acclimated to life in the United States, having completed secondary school at St. Edward's Academy in Austin, Texas, and conservatory training at the Chicago Musi- cal College (later incorporated into Roosevelt University). Another possible inducement for his staying in the United States was that his wife,Jule



116 : Robert Parker

Klarecy, whom he had met and married in Chicago, and their daughter were still in that midwestern city.

For whatever reasons, he decided not to return to Mexico. He soon found steady employment as concert master in the sumptuous Aztec movie palace in the heart of downtown San Antonio at 233 Commerce St., which

opened on 4June 1926. Its large (twenty-six piece) orchestra, directed by Kirk Frederick, employed musicians "from Europe and South America."3 The inaugural program included Mignon by Ambros Thomas, an elaborate stage production (sixteen Aztec girls in "The Court of Moctezuma"), and the silent film "Other Women's Husbands."John Metz presided at the "Az- tec Grand Organ." The orchestra was billed variously as the "Aztec Sym- phony Orchestra," the "Aztec Concert Orchestra," or the "Aztec Unrivaled

Symphony Orchestra." On 14 November 1926, the San Antonio Express began to run a series of

notices that signaled a new facet of Revueltas' agenda: San Antonio College of Music,John M. Steinfeldt, President, announces the addition to the faculty of Mr. Silvestre Revueltas, violin virtuoso and conductor. Mr. Revueltas is a pupil of [Otakar] Sevcik, [Leon] Sametini, and [Leopold] Auer.4

The San Antonio College of Music was a private conservatory founded in 1920 by German-born pianist, organist, and composerJohn Steinfeldt. It was located, for viable commercial reasons, at the edge of the affluent King William residential district at 717 Garden Street (later 1015 South St. Mary's). According to Steinfeldt's son, Eric Steinfeldt, still living in San Antonio at this writing, Revueltas was given studio space in exchange for violin les- sons for Eric's older brother,John Steinfeldt,Jr.5 Revueltas also benefited from the fact that the school drew not only locally, but attracted students from smaller towns in the area. The daily Express reported that Revueltas taught students from Seguin and Rockdale, Texas, in addition to those in San Antonio.6 Eric Steinfeldt recalls an image of Revueltas as always neatly attired in suit, tie, and fedora.7

The Mexican violinist appeared again in concert on 16 December at San Antonio's St. Anthony Hotel, assisted once more by soprano Medina Ortega and on this occasion by pianist Eulalio Sanchez. The 12 December Express review lauds his performance and makes the surprising announcement that his violin is a "genuine Guarnerius of the date 1684."8 The review continues, "his program, which follows, is as interesting as it is characteristic":

Prelude and Allegro ...................... Pugnani-Kreisler M elodie ............................... Gluck-Kreisler

Poeme, First performance in San Antonio .... Chausson

Sylvester [sic] Revueltas



Revueltas in San Antonio and Mobile : 117

Concerto in D Minor ................ Wieniawski

Still wie die Nacht ................... Boehm

W iegenlied ............................. Brahm s

Margarite au rouet ...................... Schubert

Lupe [Medina] de Ortega Kaddish, Hebrew melody ................ Ravel

Gopak, Russian dance ................... Mousorgsky Farewell to Cucullian, Old Irish melody ...... Grainger-Kreisler

Molly on the Shore, Irish Reel .............. Grainger-Kreisler Zortico, Basque Dance ....................Julian M. de Villar

Jota navarra ............................ Sarasate

Sylvestre [sic] Revueltas

Shortly after this concert, Revueltas received a letter from Ricardo Ortega, saying that had he heard from his wife, soprano Medina, about Revueltas' going to work in the Texas theater. Ortega writes that he is glad Revueltas is leaving the Aztec, even though he deserved the rude repri- mand he received there for being drunk. Ortega cautions him to "think with [his] head" to avert that kind of trouble again.9

Contreras Soto reports that, by the end of 1926, Revueltas had sepa- rated from his wife, who was still in Chicago with their daughter.10 Drafts of letters he wrote to her in 1927 reveal the magnitude of their differences in social outlook and life style that he perceived as irreparably divisive. Her ideology, he wrote, "is based on social and ethical conception of the bour- geoisie," whereas his ideas stemmed "from the people, the workers, the oppressed, and the exploited."" By that time he was living with another woman, identified only as "Aurora." In the period 1927-28 the San Anto- nio City Directory reads, "Revueltas, Silvestre (Aurora), tchr., San Antonio College of Music, 318 Madison St." She was listed in the 1926 San Antonio City Directory as Aurora Murguia (widow of Francisco), living at 2715 West Commerce, the same address given for Isaura and Francisco Murguia, who are further identified in an item about their father in the San Antonio Ex- press, dated 10 September 1927. It reveals that Isaura Murgia de Garcia and Francisco Alberto Murguia would soon be traveling to Mexico for the re- burial of their father, General Francisco Murguia, "who was executed in 1921 after the collapse of his revolt against the Obreg6n government." The body was to be removed from the original burial site in Durango, Mexico, to the family plot in Mexico City.

On 21 March 1927, San Antonio College of Music president Steinfeldt presented his annual spring concert at the Tapestry Room of the St. An- thony Hotel with Revueltas as his guest soloist. The announcement in the Express, which refers to Steinfeldt as "dean of Texas musicians," states that



118 : Robert Parker

he "usually performs the entire program, and that this is the first time in several years that he has included another artist." Revueltas' accompanist was Steinfeldt's daughter Cecile Steinfeldt Satterfield. The esteem in which the Mexican violinist was held shows in the continuation of the notice:

Revueltas has a notable record of concert appearances throughout Mexico, where he was born ... He is the pupil of Sevcik and Auer, and plays with all the distinguished musicianship demanded by these masters from their students. He is regarded as a valuable addition to the faculty of the San Antonio College of Music, whose forces he joined last fall.

His segment of the program-Praeludium and Allegro (Pugnani-Kreisler), Siciliano et Rigaudon (Francoeur-Kreisler), and two more Kreisler numbers, Farewell to Cucullian and Tambourin Chinois-appears to have catered to the

popular taste of the time.'2 Under Revueltas' tutelage, his violin student,John Steinfeldt,Jr., appar-

ently progressed sufficiently to join his father in concerts during that period. They performed together in Victoria and Comfort, Texas, on May 10 and 15, respectively.13

The Mexican artist appeared to be a mainstay of the College of Music

faculty as suggested by his inclusion in ads as one of four teachers for the summer session of 1927 (the others were Steinfeldt, Sr., piano, organ and

harmony; his daughter, piano; andJose Vidal, clarinet and saxophone).'4 But mention of Revueltas in the regular advertising carried in the Sunday edition of the Express discontinued in September.

News of a shift in his performance emphasis is revealed in a brief para- graph of Borden's "Music and Musicians" column in the Express a few months later (21 August). While the selections Revueltas played on the duo concert with Steinfeldt were of a rather popular, conservative vein, he was now preparing "a series of progressive recitals" for the coming season. The first was

planned for September, and the others were to follow at intervals. In these concerts, he expected to cover "the most important classical literature." Those

progressive concerts likely did not materialize. No notice of them has turned

up in the media after the initial announcement. It appears that he was turning his attention toward a more ambitious ensemble venture.

In a letter to his family at the end of October, he complains about San Antonio's climate: "It has started to get cold in this indecente rancho. The Heat has had us vegetating like worms." However, he says the cold weather has awakened in him the idea to put together a symphony orchestra, which has placed him in conflict with the directors of the principal theaters of the

city. He writes, "the orchestra is formed, and we have already had three rehearsals, which have gone well and have resulted in enthusiasm on the part of the musicians."'L Symphony concerts by theater musicians beyond their usual duties were not uncommon at the time. For example, the



Revueltas in San Antonio and Mobile: 119

Express had reported (30January 1927) that the Palace Theater Symphony Orchestra, "with Don Felice conducting an augmented orchestra" played the third in a series of concerts on 20January with selections by Wagner, Weber, Massenet, and Strauss. So, it is reasonable to expect that a musician as accomplished as Revueltas might be able to do the same. But without "official status" as a conductor, it would probably be more difficult to succeed in such an endeavor. He had hopes for support from local government officials and the Chamber of Commerce, but expected great opposi- tion from the theater companies and directors. He was also asking the theaters to pay him what they ought to or he would not return. If he failed, which he seemed to anticipate, he said he would likely move to St. Louis or Chicago. In that same letter to his family, he discloses his affinity for alcohol (asking that they send him a bottle of cognac), but he recognizes the concern they might have at this disclosure.16

In San Antonio, bolstered by his ongoing study of the European masters, his exposure in Mexico to new vistas of the avant-garde, and with the impetus to compose, he wrote a septet entitled Batik. It impressed Chavez, then living in New York, who shared his enthusiasm about Revueltas with

Edgard Varese. This led to Revueltas' acceptance into the Pan American Association of Composers, founded by Varese and Henry Cowell, two of the main phalanxes of the musical avant garde in New York.17 He later

reported having started another chamber work (probably El afilador, which Contreras dates 1922-29) while still in San Antonio.'8

He did not move to Chicago, even though he could have reasonably expected employment there again in the silent movie industry. He also would have been near his daughter, now six years old, who was living there with his estranged wife. Aurora Murguia, with whom he had been living in San Antonio, may have gone to Mexico City with her children at the end of September for the funeral services of their father, as described above. At any rate, the orchestra plans did not pan out, nor did the theater give him the salary increase he wanted, and he chose to move-neither to Chicago or St. Louis, but to Mobile, Alabama.

It is uncertain why he chose Mobile. Perhaps he was made aware, by organistJohn Metz, of a position opening in Mobile's Saenger Theater orchestra. He knewJohn Metz from the Aztec Theater in San Antonio. Metz had demonstrated the Robert Morton organ at the grand opening of the Saenger on 19 January 1927.'1 The 1928 Mobile City Directory shows Revueltas living at 551 Government Street near the theater and as a musician there, though his name was misspelled as "Sylvester Revueltas." Aurora's name did not appear in parentheses after his, following the custom for couples residing at the same address (perhaps an indication that she did go to Mexico at the end of September 1927). The rooming house at 551 Government Street (since demolished) was only a few city blocks from the theater.



120 : Robert Parker

Figure 1. Saenger Theater Orchestra, Don Philippini, conductor; Silvestre Revueltas, concertmaster. (Photo courtesy ofJeanne Dahmer, daughter of Claude Dahmer, seated next to Revueltas.)

Mobile's population at the time was just over 90,000, whereas San An- tonio was Texas' largest city with over 260,000 inhabitants. And while San Antonio had a large Mexican-American constituency, Mobile was 61 percent white and 34 percent black. For Revueltas, accustomed to much larger cities, it was an adjustment to say the least. But he was familiar with theaters, and the Saenger, bounded by Joachim, Jackson, and Conti streets, was the premier movie palace in the city, referred to as "the grandest of the grand dames." It had a seating capacity of 2,700 patrons and was fitted with a Carrier climate control system (with serial number 2) "that warmed, cooled, and dehumidified the air for an ideal climate year round."20

The orchestra's director, Don Philippini, described as a "distinguished conductor of national repute," had been brought in by the Saenger Com- pany from New Orleans.21 The orchestra's fare included popular music of the day, such as "Rose Marie," "Wabaly Walk," and "When Day Is Done." Also featured were arrangements of light classics and musical theater, among them, selections from works by Schubert, Weber, Boccherini, and the Over- ture to The Student Prince.22 Revueltas also did some arranging for the theater. He wrote to Chavez that he had added his arrangement of Rhapsody in




Figure 2. Texas Theater, situated on the San Antonio River, near the Houston Street Bridge. (Courtesy of the Institute of Texan Cultures, San

Antonio.)

Blue to the theater's repertory.23 By August 1928 Revueltas notes that he had been conducting the orchestra (reduced to fifteen players) for "several months." But he got no media acknowledgment as its director. The ads read merely "Saenger Orchestra" after 10 June 1928 with no conductor mentioned. The orchestra's days were numbered: the theater was install-

ing the new Vitaphone system to synchronize sound with silent film. Revueltas realized he would soon be out of work.24

The Vitaphone arrived on 24 August, and by September there was no

billing at all for a Saenger Orchestra in the print media, which, however, prominently promoted its Movietone-Vitaphone. The feature film of 10 October was "Loves of an Actress" with Pola Negri and touted the music

(recorded on Vitaphone), which was played throughout the entire feature

by the seventy-five piece Paramount Symphony Orchestra. "Talkies" had taken over the film industry, displacing countless theater musicians, in-

cluding Silvestre Revueltas. Not all of the public was enamored with the effect that sound film had on cinema entertainment. In the view of some, the talkies "hastened the demise of lavish theaters, destroying the won- drous atmosphere with [too much] realism."25

:



122' : Robert Parker

Figure 3. Saenger Theater, Mobile, Alabama, constructed 1927. Present home of the Mobile Symphony.

Revueltas had not composed any music while he was in Mobile. His preparation toward that creative enterprise was studying scores with the aid of a victrola. He complained that he could not find time to write his own music,26 although Chavez had strongly encouraged him to compose since their first association in Mexico in 1924.

With the demise of the Saenger Orchestra and with no other prospects for employment in Mobile, Revueltas made his way back to San Antonio, which before had offered him a wider range of professional opportunities. The following item in the San Antonio Express showed that he was back in the Texas city by early October 1928:

Sylvestre [sic] Revueltas, concert violinist, has returned to San Antonio and will again head the violin faculty of the San Antonio College of Music, where he has received a warm welcome from a group of his former students. Revueltas spent two years in San Antonio, and his work is well known, both as teacher and as concert violinist... During his absence of the past year, he has been associated with Don Philippini in Mobile.27

One week after this notice, the San Antonio Light printed a notice of a concert to be held on 19 October by the school's faculty, including Revueltas. Next, a series of chamber music recitals under his leadership, announced

by the Express on 21 October, was to follow during the season at the audi- torium of the College. Its purpose was to present "little known works of the older masters, as well as modern compositions written in the small and




more intimate instrumental forms." About five concerts were to be given during the season.

The first concert of the series was scheduled for 27 November. The program was to consist of "small works by Bach and Schubert of the classics, a sonata for violin and piano by Debussy, and Rhapsodie negreby Poulenc as the modernist represented." Musicians for the first concert were to be his student

John M. Steinfeldt,Jr., violinist; Mrs. C.S. Satterfield, pianist; William Rob- les, clarinet; Eulalio Sanchez, flutist;Juan Macias, cellist; and A. Oropesa, violist, a group Revueltas described as "being the best talent available."

On the day of the first concert of this series, rescheduled 2 December, a

photograph of Revueltas appeared in the "Music and Musicians" column of the Express, showing him, uncharacteristically, with a full beard. The

youngest Steinfeldt son, Eric, then twelve years old, recalled an incident that may explain this unfamiliar image of the violinist. Revueltas had failed to show up at the school for several days and was found by the police in Santa Rosa Hospital with knife wounds about the face and neck, inflicted

by an unknown assailant. By the time he resumed his work at the school, he had grown a full beard, which, however, only partially obscured the wounds. There was speculation at the time that the attack he suffered had been instigated by General Francisco Murguia's family, but no other evi- dence has surfaced to substantiate that notion. The injury may explain why no news about Revueltas appeared in the College of Music announce- ments between 28 October and 25 November.

The review of the concert introduced two new players to the ensemble, D. Samano, viola, and D. Silva, clarinet. Interest centered on the Rhapsodie negre of Poulenc, which was depicted as "perhaps the most vigorous and brilliant of ultra-modern works heard here as yet," Bach's Concerto in D Minor for two violins and piano, and Mendelssohn's Trio in C Minor. A second concert was planned for 30 December, and its program was announced a week before it was to take place. The three numbers listed were Sonata in D Major by Handel; Quintet, op. 44, by Schubert; and Sonata in C minor by Grieg.

However, five days before this announcement was printed, Chavez sent a letter to Revueltas' San Antonio residence at 317 Wickes Street with word that would dramatically alter his career and provide the opportunities that

ultimately led to his unprecedented success and notoriety as a musician, composer, conductor, and teacher.

Chavez, back in Mexico City sinceJuly after a lengthy sojourn in New York, was now the music director of his own Orquesta Sinfonica Mexicana and had just been named director of the National Conservatory. In his letter he expressed pleasure in the fact that Revueltas wanted to return to Mexico and offered him a position teaching violin in the Conservatory and conducting the Conservatory Orchestra, with the chance to conduct "the big orchestra" (Chavez's own ensemble) as much as possible. He would



124 : Robert Parker

Figure 4. Revueltas after his return to San Antonio in the fall of 1928, and after the knife attack that left him with prominent facial scars. (San Antonio Light, 2 December 1928.)

need Revueltas there by 1 February.28 Revueltas replied by telegram on 24 December that he would leave San Antonio as soon as possible.29 Chavez then sent a wire offering him, for his official presentation, a guest appear- ance with his orchestra, playing either the Saint Saens or Wieniawski violin concerto as well as a solo recital once he arrived.30

But what about his recital in San Antonio? On the day it was to occur, 30 December, there was a notice in the San Antonio Express saying the concert was postponed "due to Mr. Revueltas being called to the bedside of his mother who is seriously ill." The obvious question arises: was his mother

truly ill, or was he merely protecting his reputation in San Antonio by




Figure 5.John M. Steinfeldt, president of the San Antonio College of Music, and Revueltas; announcement of their joint recital at the St. Anthony Hotel, 21 March 1927 (San Antonio Express, 20 March 1927.)

postponing rather than canceling the recital in case things did not proceed as anticipated in Mexico?

Revueltas went as quickly as he could to Mexico City, apparently ac-

companied or joined there by Aurora.31 This new undertaking did proceed well: in February 1929, he performed the Saint-Sains Concerto and presented the solo recital Chavez had promised him; his name soon began to

appear as subdirector in programs of Chavez's orchestra. A time of intense dedication to teaching, conducting, and composition followed. From 1931 onwards, he gradually devoted more of his energy to composing, though it was curtailed at times by such interruptions as his brief term as director of



126 : Robert Parker

the National Conservatory in 1933, his activities as a member of the League of Revolutionary Writers and Artists (LEAR), and periodic but mounting problems with alcohol.

A discussion of Revueltas' scores for the concert hall, scenic stage, and cinema, numbering some seventy works, is beyond the scope of the present investigation. They have been addressed extensively by a number of dis-

tinguished authors.32 Suffice it to say here that his music exudes the spirit of the common people he lived among and cherished in Mexico. Without

quoting their actual music, he wrings out its essence with pungent traces of its distinctive melody, harmonic vitality, and astringent harmonies, cloaked in sardonic wit, pathos, and sophisticated craftsmanship. As Alex Ross has

aptly commented, his music's immediate accessibility, makes it sound "as if it were being improvised on the spot."33

Recognition of his music grew rapidly, not only for its sensitivity and

exuberantly direct appeal, but for the solid musical workmanship it exhib- ited. It quickly made its way into concerts of organizations devoted to con-

temporary music such as the Pan American Association of Composers and

League of Composers in the United States. The periodical Modern Music carried references to Revueltas' work in all but one of its issues between 1932 and 1944, the year it discontinued, a total of thirty-eight notices. Since

Leopold Stokowski recorded Sensamayd in 1947, the Revueltas discography has grown steadily and now shares in abundance that of his contem-

porary Carlos Chavez; the two are the now most recorded classical

composers of Mexico.34 Revueltas died of bronchial pneumonia on 4 October 1940. He was

survived in Mexico by Angela Acevedo, their daughter Eugenia, and in Chicago by his former wifeJule Klarecy and their daughter Carmen. His illustrious siblings were artist Fermin, writer and poet Jose, and actress Rosaura Revueltas. Eugenia holds the Faculty Chair of Philosophy and Letters at the Universidad Nacional Aut6noma de Mexico. His nephew, violinist Roman Revueltas, and niece, jazz pianist, Olivia Revueltas Simcock, children of Jose, are active musicians in Mexico City and San Antonio, respectively.

In San Antonio and Mobile, Revueltas struggled to make a living while faced with domestic difficulties, problems in the workplace, and disagree- able climates. But during that time he was able to hone his performing, teaching, and conducting skills to a degree that qualified him for the chal- lenging opportunities Chavez afforded him in Mexico. As a theater musician in San Antonio and Mobile he had played, arranged and conducted a wide range of music geared to popular taste. But as often as he could, he performed and studied works by the acknowledged masters and the most avant-garde modernists of his time. These experiences provided valuable tools for composing music of substance that is so readily accessible to the listener. His own genius was the catalyst for this synthesis to develop. His




notable achievement as a cinema composer, with a total of nine film scores, seems ironic since it was the advent of sound motion pictures that in 1928

put him out of work as a cinema theater musician in the United States. It was in his beloved Mexico that his composing matured and flowered, pro- ducing the monuments that gained him the elevated position he holds to-

day in the world of classical music. The celebrated Chilean poet Pablo Neruda read his passionate tribute,

"Oratorio in a Minor Key on the Death of Silvestre Revueltas," at the French Pantheon in Mexico City, where this titan of the musical art was first in- terred. (His remains were moved in 1976 to the Rotunda of Illustrious Men in the Civil Pantheon of Sorrows.) A translation of that poem follows:35

Oratorio in a Minor Key on the Death ofSilvestre Revueltas

by Pablo Neruda (Translation from Spanish by TaliaJimenez)

When a man like Silvestre Revueltas returns, finally to the ground there is a murmur, a wave of voices and a sobbing that spreads the news of his departure The little roots tell the crop, "Silvestre has died," and the wheat undulates his name in the prairies and the bread knows. All the trees of America know it already as do the chill flowers of our Arctic region. Water-drops pass it on, The indomitable rivers of Araucania already know. From mountain-top to lake, from lake to plant, from plant to fire, from fire to smoke: All that burs, sings, blooms, dances, and revives, all that is permanent, high and deep in our America, embraces him

pianos and birds, dreams and sound, the palpitating net that unites all our climates trembles and transports the funeral chorus. Silvestre has died, Silvestre has entered into the sonorous silence of his utter music. Son of the earth, child of the earth, today you enter into time. From now, your name will soar full of music when your homeland is struck like a bell with a sound never heard before, with the sound of what you once were, brother. Your cathedral heart covers us at this very moment, like the firmament, and your large and grandiose song, your volcanic tenderness, fills all highness like a burning statue.

Why have you spilled your life? Why have you poured



128 : Robert Parker

your blood in each glass? Why have you searched like a blind angel, beating himself against the dark doors?

Ah, but from your name issues music and from your music, as from a market, issue crowns of fragrant laurel and apples of color and symmetry. On this solemn day of farewell, it is you who is bid farewell but you hear no more, your noble brow is high and it is as if a great tree were missing from the center of the house of man. But the light we see is now a different light, the street we take is a new street, the hand we touch now has our strength, all things gain vigor in your rest and your purity will ascend from the stones to show us the clarity of hope. Repose, brother, your day has ended, your sweet and powerful soul filled with a light higher than the light of day and with a sound that is blue like the voice of the sky.

Your brother and friends have asked That I repeat your name out in the air of America, that the sea seizes, that the wind tells it. Now the stars of America are your homeland, and today the Earth is your house without doors.

Notes

1. Letters to Chavez, 23 December 1924 and 13 February 1925. Archivo General de la Naci6n de Mexico (AGNM), Fondo Carlos Chavez (CC), Caja correspondencia (Caja cor.) 10, Expediente (Exp.) 85.

2. Penelope Border, "Music and Musicians," San Antonio Express, 11 April 1926.

3. Aztec Theater file, San Antonio Conservation Society. 4. Otakar Sevcik, Leon Sametini, and Leopold Auer, professors at the

Chicago Musical College. According to information from Roberto Kolb, Revueltas had played a recital of modern music at San Antonio's

Menger Hotel, accompanied by John Steinfeldt's daughter, Cecile

Satterfield, on 17 February 1927. However, San Antonio newspapers reveal that this concert date at the Menger was fulfilled by soprano Medina and pianist Satterfield.

5. Conversations with Eric Steinfeldt in San Antonio between March and December 2000.




6. 13 February 1927. 7. Ibid. 8. Revueltas' widow Angela Acevedo says he told her that he had a

Guamerius violin for a long time when he was in Chicago, and that it had been loaned to him by a wealthy American. But she added that the owner took it back when Revueltas returned to Mexico. This information was conveyed by Eugenia Revueltas to her cousin Olivia Revueltas, 9 April 2001. This would suggest that Revueltas may have kept the in- strument until 1929, when he joined forces with Chavez in Mexico.

9. Letter, 21 December 1926, quoted in Contreras Soto, Silvestre Revueltas: baile, duelo y son (Mexico City: CONACULTA, 2000), 28.

10. Ibid, 27. 11. Silvestre Revueltaspor el mismo, compiled by Rosaura Revueltas (Mexico

City: Ediciones Era, 1989), 46. 12. San Antonio Express, 20 March 1927. 13. Ibid, 1 May 1927. 14. Ibid, 19, 26June; 10, 17July; and 7 August 1927. 15. Silvestre Revueltaspor el mismo, 45. 16. Ibid. 17. Contreras Soto, 29. 18. Undated letter to Chavez from Mobile. AGNM, CC, Caja cor. 10,

Exp. 85. 19. Saenger Theater file, Local History and Genealogy Archive, Mobile

Public Library. 20. Mobile Register, 19January 1927. 21. Philippini is mentioned in a San Antonio Express notice of 23 January

1927 as living in New Orleans, and soon to move to Mobile for the

opening of the Saenger Theater. 22. Copy from Saenger Theater ads, Mobile Register, January-May 1928. 23. Letter, 20 August 1928. AGNM, CC, Caja cor. 10, Exp. 85. 24. Ibid. 25. Mobile Register, 28 August 1999. 26. Undated letter to Chavez from Mobile. AGNM, CC, Caja cor. 10,

Exp. 85. 27. San Antonio Express, 7 October 1928. 28. AGNM, CC, Caja cor. 10, Exp. 85. 29. Ibid. 30. Ibid. 31. Contreras Soto, 33. The orchestra piece Cuauhndhuac, completed in

1931, bears the inscription "para Aurora." Orin Lincoln Igou, "Con-

temporary Symphonic Activity in Mexico with Special Regard to Carlos Chavez and Silvestre Revueltas," Ph.D. diss., Northwestern Univer-

sity, 1946, 219. 32. See the selected bibliography in Contreras Soto, 95f.



130 : Robert Parker

33. The New Yorker, 5 March 2001, 100. 34. See the catalog of compositions and discography in Contreras Soto,

86ff. 35. "A Silvestre Revueltas, de Mexico, en su muerte (Oratorio menor),"

published in Silvestre Revueltaspor el mismo, 244 ff.



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