Fifty-nine years ago today, on Sunday, April 23, 1961, at 8:30 p.m., the Philadelphia Woodwind Quintet presented a program at the Coolidge Auditorium of the Library of Congress that consisted of four works that had been written by Latin American composers. All of the works performed were world premieres, and of the four, two had been commissioned by the festival committee and another by the festival’s chairman, Guillermo Espinosa.
The event was part of the second Inter-American Music Festival, which had been organized by the Inter-American Music Council under the auspices of the Pan-American Union (PAU), the administrative arm of the Organization of American States (OAS). Honorary chair Jackie Kennedy presided over the festival, which lasted from April 22 to April 30.
The first of these festivals had occurred three years earlier, but this was not the first expression of support for musical pan- or inter-Americanism; in fact, as early as 1925 the PAU announced a series of radio programs “for the purpose of introducing to the people of the United States the music of their Latin-American neighbors…”1)Frederic J. Haskins, “Latin Melodies Charm America,” Los Angeles Times, March 19, 1925. In Thinking About Music from Latin America: Issues and Questions, Juan Pablo González discusses the origins of the Pan-American movement as it relates to music; however, he incorrectly identifies both the time frame—claiming it began in the U.S. during the early 1940s—but also, he reveals a somewhat limited viewpoint regarding its motivating principles: “Inter-Americanism arose in the United States with the increased attention to Latin America in discussions that sought to link hemispheric forces to assure peace in the Americas during World War II.” By the following year, the PAU began to hold concerts and recitals of Latin American music in their Hall of the Americas, such as on January 16, when five “Pan-American” artists, including the Brazilian pianist Alfredo Oswald, presented a program before an audience of diplomats and other officials.2)“Pan-American Artists Produce Latins’ Music,” The Washington Post, January 17, 1926.
Although the PAU maintained its role as principal supporter of musical Pan-Americanism, there were many individuals and organizations who were equally interested in furthering the interests of this movement. Here are three examples (in bold).
Under the auspices of Philadelphia’s Fleisher Music Collection, in 1941, Nicolas Slonimsky (1894-1995) flew “to all countries of South America and Central America to select representative orchestral scores by Latin American composers,” to extend an invitation to Latin American composers “to write a violin concerto for which a jury will award two prizes,” and, to write “a book dealing with contemporary music in the Americas.”3)“Slonimsky Bound for South America,” Christian Science Monitor, July 31, 1941. Published in 1945, Slonimsky’s Music of Latin America is still considered as a seminal work in its field.
Speaking in 1939 at the final session of the International Congress of the American Musicological Society, Francisco Curt Lange (1903-97) noted that there were “more than 1000 musicologists, practicing musicians and government officials … enrolled in the membership of Americanismo Musical, a movement to support contemporary composition and music study in the countries of South America.” 4)“Music Aid Urged for Latin America: Musicological Congress Told of New Movement to Support Contemporary Compositions,” New York Times, September 17, 1939. [emphasis mine]
With the objective of promoting cultural exchange between all Americans, Chicago’s Pan American Council, founded in 1939, either sponsored or participated in numerous concert performances of Latin American music. This group, the programs of which were described as “extensive” in 1963,5)George Meek, “For Inter-American Understanding,” Americas vol. 15 no. 8 (August 1963): 27. remained active until the late 1980s, and is representative of dozens of similar groups scattered around the nation that were formed around the same time.
Perhaps only coincidentally, the final concert of the last Inter-American Music Festival—heard on May 8, 1986—occurred around the same time that the members of the Pan American Council met for the last time. In many ways, this milestone has essentially gone unnoticed: since that time there have been many performances of Latin American music, and there have been Latin Americans who have been able to continue to come to the U.S. to pursue advanced education. There is also a modest, yet significant body of musicological texts about Latin American art music that has been published during this time.
Given this history, then, is it fair to ask: does musical pan-Americanism still exist? And if not, does it even matter? Or, to put it another way, by virtue of the counting—numbers of performances, numbers of incoming students, numbers of journal articles or monographs—is an organization such as the Inter-American Music Council even necessary?
To answer these questions, it may be necessary to in fact turn to intangibles, because the sixty odd years of musical pan-Americanism in the United States actually did produce something of immense value: a reservoir of goodwill.
Year after year, it was not just the airfare to Argentina, or the fees to hire a musician or ensemble for a local gathering. It was not just the cost to transmit a radio program or the money to pay for an army of copyists, hurriedly preparing parts for a symphony orchestra performance. Nor was it just the right amount of organizational skills required to effectively carry out institutional programming, although these were surely important, too.
At the end of each fiscal year, at the bottom of each post-program analysis, perhaps nobody realized that an astounding transformation had taken place, and not only that, one not limited to just one area.
For the first time, thousands of human connections were created across, between, and throughout the Americas: colleagues from Pittsburgh and Panama City, Caracas and Cincinnati, or Los Angeles and Lima, sat down at the same table, and while discussing their common concerns and how to address them, established a lifelong personal and professional bond. They took treasured photographs of their encounters.
At the same time, untold millions of ordinary citizens in our country were exposed to the finest music from every western country. Perhaps they caught a radio broadcast, or at a meeting of their local pan-American club a Latin American pianist had been invited to play. Finding their curiosity piqued by the music, they went on to learn to speak Spanish or Portuguese, and in so doing, they learned more about a particular country’s culture.
In actuality, there are many such intangible benefits, but perhaps the most important of these pertains to our universities and conservatories: over time, these institutions came to be regarded as equal or superior to their European counterparts. In other words, instead of the Paris Conservatory or the Royal Conservatory of Music, talented Latin American musicians received their advanced training at places like the Eastman Conservatory, Indiana University-Bloomington or the University of Southern California. Imagine, for example, how the course of modern music history might have changed had the pan-American period begun some twenty years earlier, thus giving someone like Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959) the possibility of going not to France, but to the U.S.
Unfortunately, however, a point has been reached at which it is necessary to abandon wishful thinking in favor of clear-eyed analysis. The reality is that in Latin America, non-Western actors have begun to fill into the areas that were once occupied by U.S. and other pan-American interests. For the moment, these areas are largely confined to public financing, large construction projects and importation. Though having never created or even contemplated a national version of the Inter-American Music Council, it is not hard to predict that at some point our “musical capital” will also be at risk, which will in turn jeopardize the goodwill that we worked so diligently to create.
We think that these are values that must not only be preserved, but strengthened. Because of this, we are building the framework by which the objectives of the Inter-American Music Council may once again become a guiding light for the musicians of our hemisphere. Therefore, it is our hope that with this short essay, the reader may now realize the importance of our mission.
John L. Walker
Footnotes
| ↑1 | Frederic J. Haskins, “Latin Melodies Charm America,” Los Angeles Times, March 19, 1925. In Thinking About Music from Latin America: Issues and Questions, Juan Pablo González discusses the origins of the Pan-American movement as it relates to music; however, he incorrectly identifies both the time frame—claiming it began in the U.S. during the early 1940s—but also, he reveals a somewhat limited viewpoint regarding its motivating principles: “Inter-Americanism arose in the United States with the increased attention to Latin America in discussions that sought to link hemispheric forces to assure peace in the Americas during World War II.” |
|---|---|
| ↑2 | “Pan-American Artists Produce Latins’ Music,” The Washington Post, January 17, 1926. |
| ↑3 | “Slonimsky Bound for South America,” Christian Science Monitor, July 31, 1941. Published in 1945, Slonimsky’s Music of Latin America is still considered as a seminal work in its field. |
| ↑4 | “Music Aid Urged for Latin America: Musicological Congress Told of New Movement to Support Contemporary Compositions,” New York Times, September 17, 1939. |
| ↑5 | George Meek, “For Inter-American Understanding,” Americas vol. 15 no. 8 (August 1963): 27. |