Gracias a la vida, Trío para un nuevo tiempo, and Celso Garrido-Lecca’s Third Compositional Period

Authors

  • Nelson Niño Vásquez Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso

Abstract

Celso Garrido-Lecca himself divided his musical output into three major periods. Trío para un Nuevo Tiempo was composed in 1985 for the traditional piano trio made up of violin, violoncello and piano. It marked the beginning of his third compositional period, in which he sought to synthesize his vast previous experience as a composer. The three movements of this Trio display various musical influences, including the use of Violeta Parra’s song Gracias a la vida (1966) as a seminal theme for the second movement and the quotation of Andean melodies in the third movement. As part of this new phase in his career this Trío also presents an original chord of four pitches, which becomes an important source of harmonic and melodic material in many of the works that ensued. In this article the Trío para un Nuevo Tiempo will be analyzed highlighting the possible connections between this particular work and Violeta Parra’s song Gracias a la vida. The chord of four pitches devised by Garrido-Lecca in 1985 as well as other musical elements that characterize his third compositional period will also be examined in detail.

Keywords:

Violeta Parra, Alexander Scriabin, Nueva Canción Chilena, mystic chord, tritone