Author Description

"Juan Bautista Plaza (1898-1965) was the central composer in Venezuela for much of the twentieth century. In addition to writing numerous masses and several large orchestral works, Plaza was the leading figure in Venezuelan music education and musicology. His efforts to improve musical institutions in his home country parallel those of other contemporary Latin American composers, induding Guarnieri in Brazil." "Plaza's life and music are little studied; there is only one book, in Spanish, about the composer. Labonville's ambitious work is the first to use Plaza's extensive collection of writings and compositions in an English-language study. Parts of the book look exhaustively at Plaza's music criticism, his relations with the Venezuelan press, and his activities as a choral director. As evidenced by these artifacts, Plaza filled numerous roles in Venezuela's musical infrastructure including researcher, performer, teacher, composer, promoter, and critic. Labonville examines Plaza in these roles in an attempt to assess how the nationalist spirit affected art music culture in Venezuela and what changes it brought to Venezuela's musical landscape."--Jacket.