A Guide to the Latin American Art Song Repertoire: An Annotated Catalog of Twentieth-Century Art Songs for Voice and Piano

16 Nicaragua

188 16 Nicaragua Nicaragua is another Central American country virtually left off of the publicationmapwithrespecttoartmusic.Richinfolkhistory,itishome to Maya and Quiché musical traditions and has many native songs and dances. Nicaraguan native instruments, like those of El Salvador, are common to the rest of Central America.1 As in South America, native ancient cultures have combined with colonial forms of Catholicism to create a blend of religions and cultures. Native dances and rhythms are maintained in the art music, although there has been relatively little activity in the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, probably due in part to the outstanding political situation. Luis A. Delgadillo (1887–1961) is the lone musical figure discussed in most of the secondary literature.2 A prolific composer and an important musical figure on many levels, he taught many of the next generationofLatinAmericanmusicians .3HeservedastheGeneralDirectorof the Cultura Musical of Nicaragua, and taught in Mexico City, Mexico, and Panama City, Panama. He returned to Nicaragua in 1945.4 Delgadillo is mentioned in Béhague’s Music in Latin America, together with a handful of Guatemalan composers, as an example of a composer whose style combines indigenous, mestizo, and African influences within a Romantic and/or Impressionistic context.5 It is worth noting that the writer Rubén Darío (1867–1916), whose texts are extremely popular with art song composers from all over Latin America, was from Nicaragua. nicaragua 189 Delgadillo, Luis Abraham, 1887–1961 16.1, 21 Romanzas 16.1k, No. 11, 1917, Rubén Darío, SSMC Additional titles: Ciento cincuenta cantos escolares ; Five Waltzes; Seven Popular Songs. Publishers SSMC, Sherman Square Music Company ...