Sergio Cervetti Explained

Sergio Cervetti Guigou (born 9 November 1940 in Dolores, Soriano) is a Uruguayan composer and teacher domiciled in the United States.^{[1] [2]} His early compositional language reflects the post serialist Uruguayan avant-garde, often employing electronics and complex graphical notation.^[3] He gained international prominence in 1966 when he achieved first place with 5 Episodes for Piano Trio in the Inter-American Music Festival in Caracas, Venezuela.^{[4] [5]} His compositions have been widely recorded on labels such as Albany Records,^[6] Vienna Modern Masters,^[7] and Navona Records,^{[8] [9]} which have been reviewed in Gramophone^[10] and The Washington Post.^[11] His music has been played by renowned orchestras such as the London Symphony Orchestra^[12] and New York City Opera.^[13]

Biography

Sergio Cervetti was exposed to music at a young age by his parents.^[14] His Italian father was a clarinettist and his French mother helped motivate him to learn the piano.^[15] His early piano studies were with José María Martino Rodas and Hugo Balzo and later studied counterpoint and harmony at the National Conservatory with Carlos Estrada and Guido Santorsola.^[16]

In 1962 he left Uruguay to study composition in the United States^{[17] [18]} at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore under Austrian-born composer Ernst Krenek and South African composer Stefans Grové,^[19] graduating in 1967.

In 1969, Cervetti, went to Berlin to take up a one-year DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program composer-in-residence. Whilst in Germany he received Baden-Baden commissions^[20] and wrote an a cappella work Lux Lucet In Tenebris which won a Gaudeamus International Composers Award which was premiered at the festival in Zwolle.^{[21] [22]}

After 1970, Cervetti attended the Electronic Music Centre at Columbia-Princeton University where he studied under Vladimir Ussachevsky and Mario Davidovsky.^[23]

Whilst in New York, he taught for 25 years at the Tisch School of the Arts having started his tenure in 1972. As Master Teacher of Music he tutored in music history, composition and historic dance.^{[24] [25] [26]}

Selected works

Chamber

• Five episodes for violin, cello and piano (1965) (Cinco episodios para violín, violonchelo y piano)^[27]
• Six sequences : for dance (1966) for chamber orchestra^[28]
• Divertimento, para cuarteto de maderas (1967) for woodwind quartet^{[29] [30]}
• Zinctum (1969) for string quartet^[31]
• Dies tenebrarum (1968) for electric organ, percussion, choir and strings^[32]
• Prisons No. 1 (1969) for dancers, musicians, singers and pantomime^[33]
• Pulsar (1969) for brass sextet
• Cuatro fragmentos de Pablo Neruda (1970) for soprano, oboe, violoncello and percussion^[34]
• Peripetia (1970) for voices and musicians
• Cocktail Party (1970) work for music-theatre^[35]
• Lux Lucet in Tenebris ("and the light shineth in the darkness") (1970) for a cappella voices^[36]
• Plexus (1971) for chamber orchestra^[37]
• Raga I (1971) for ensemble
• ...de la tierra... (...from the earth...) (1972) for ensemble^[38]
• Concerto for Trumpet and Strings (1974), reorchestrated 2015^[39]
• Duelle (1974) concerto for cor anglais and string bass^[40]
• Madrigal III (1976) for two sopranos and small ensemble
• Ines de Castro (1988) ballet^[41]
• The Triumph of Death (El Triunfo de la Muerte) (1993) mezzo-soprano and piano; Text: Circe Maia^[42]
• House of Blues (1995) for wind ensemble^[43]
• Nazca (2010) for string orchestra^[44]
• Toward the Abyss (2015) piano quintet
• And the Huddled Masses (2015) for clarinet and string quartet^[45]

Opera

• Elegy for a Prince (2005) opera in two acts. Libretto: Elizabeth Esris
• YUM! (2008) opera in one act for voices and chamber ensemble. Libretto: Elizabeth Esris

Orchestra

• El Carro de Heno (The Hay Wain) (1967) for chamber choir and orchestra^[46]
• Orbitas (1967) for orchestra^[47]
• Candombe II (1996) for orchestra^[48]
• Descent (2001) piano and orchestra
• Consolamentum (2016) for orchestra^[49]
• Et in Arcadia ego (2017) symphonic poem
• Fanfare: Gated Angel (2019) for orchestra^[50]

Solo instrument or voice

• Guitar Music (the Bottom of the Iceberg) (1975)
• Four Fragments of Isadora (1979) soprano; Text: Letters of Duncan and Craig
• Three Pieces for Marimba (2014)

Works with electronics or tape

• Studies in Silence (1968) for electronics
• Oulom for tape, in 1970
• Graffiti (1971) for spoken chorus, orchestra and tape^[51]
• Prisons No. 2 (1970-71) for spoken choir, orchestra and tape^[52]
• Raga II (1971) for trombone and tape
• Raga III (1971) for tape
• Stella Vindemiatrix (1975) for oboe and pre-recorded oboe^[53]
• Bits & pieces and Moving Parts (1977) for tape
• El Rio de los Pajaros Pintados (1979) for bandoneon and tape^[54]
• Something Borrowed, Something Blue (1979-1980) for tape^[55]

Discography

• 1987 – The Hay Wain, Sergio Cervetti. (Periodic Music: PE-1631)^[56]
• 1998 – New Music for Orchestra, Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra, cond. Jiri Mikula. (Vienna Modern Masters: VMM 3045)^[57]
• 2011 – From East to West, Music from Ukraine to Uruguay, Lithuanian Music Academy Chamber Choir. (Vienna Modern Masters: VMM2030)^[58]
• 2012 – Nazca and Other Works Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra, Moravian Philharmonic Chamber Players, Vit Micka, cond. Petr Vronský. (Navona Records: NV5872)^[59]
• 2015 – Las Indias Olvidadas (The Forgotten Indies) (Nibius: NIBI 118)^[60]
• 2017 – Sunset at Noon (Six Works In Memory Of), Vít Muzík, María Teresa Chenlo,cond. Enrique Pérez Mesa, Kühn Choir of Prague, cond. Marek Vorlicek. (Navona: NV6072)^{[61] [62]}
• 2016 – Pursuing Freedom, UNC Percussion Ensemble, Juan Álamo. (Albany Records: TROY1650)^{[63] [64]}
• 2020 – Mortal Dreams: Four Vocal Works Sergio Cervetti, Cara Latham, Charles Abramovic. (Navona Records: NV6313)^[65]
• 2022 – Sparks : Eye of London, London Symphony Orchestra, cond. Miran Vaupotić. (Navona: 4385947)

External links

• Official website
• Musicalics, The Classical Composers Database
• Official channel on SoundCloud

Notes and References

1. Book: Schleifer . Martha Furman . Latin American Classical Composers: A Biographical Dictionary . Galván . Gary . 2016-01-28 . Rowman & Littlefield . 978-0-8108-8871-5 . 139 . en . Cervetti Guigou, Sergio, Uruguayan composer; b.9 Nov 1940, Dolores, Uruguay..
2. Web site: Collection: Sergio Cervetti papers . 2024-09-19 . aspace.library.jhu.edu . Johns Hopkins University Libraries Archives Public Interface . PIMS-0013 . From 1972 to 1997 and 2007 to 2008, Cervetti was Master Teacher of Music at Tisch School of the Arts at New York University..
3. Book: Bethell, Leslie . The Cambridge History of Latin America . 1984 . Cambridge University Press . 978-0-521-49594-3 . 149–150 . en.
4. Book: Musical Leader and Concert Goer . 1966 . 98-99 . 8 . en . Sergio Cervetti, a student at the Peabody Conservatory of Music, has been awarded first prize for chamber music composition by the Inter-American Music Festival in Caracas, Venezuela..
5. Book: McAllister, Colin L. . An Evening of Contemporary Music for Classical and Electric Guitar . 2000 . University of California, San Diego . 5 . en . Sergio Cervetti came into the international scene when he won the Caracas Music Festival competition in 1966 with his 5 Episodes for Piano Trio..
6. Web site: 2016 . Release: Pursuing Freedom . 23 September 2024 . discogs.com . . TROY 1650 . Juan Álamo, Sergio Cervetti, Jay C. Batzner, Nathan Daughtrey – Pursuing Freedom..
7. Web site: Brown . Stephen (Pianist) . 31 March 2015 . From East to West : music from Ukraine to Uruguay. . 2024-09-23 . Toronto Public Library . en . 3247401 . Vienna: Vienna Modern Masters, p1999..
8. Web site: 2021-09-29 . Escape to the sun-drenched beaches and eclectic sounds of Uruguay . 2024-09-23 . ABC listen . en-AU . Sergio Cervetti: Keyboard3, NV5900 Navona Records..
9. Web site: Oteri . Frank J. . 2012-07-17 . Sounds Heard: Sergio Cervetti—Nazca and Other Works - New Music USA . 2024-09-23 . newmusicusa.org . en-US . I was delighted when earlier this year when Navona Records released Sergio Cervetti’s Nazca and Other Works, since it was finally an opportunity for me to hear an entire disc of music by a composer whose music I have been intrigued with since the early 1980s..
10. Web site: Rickards . Guy . August 2019 . Cervetti Parallel Realms . subscription . 2024-09-23 . Gramophone . en . He was a pupil of Krenek, among others, at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, graduating in 1967..
11. News: Sommers . Pamela . 11 January 1987 . Nina Wiener and Dancers . subscription . 2024-09-23 . Washington Post . en-US . 0190-8286 . As Sergio Cervetti's synthesized, cyclical score heats up, so do the performers..
12. Web site: Sparks: Eye of London . 2024-09-24 . Navona Records . en-US . NV6454 . Gated Angel - Sergio Cervetti - London Symphony Orchestra Miran Vaupotić, conductor..
13. Book: Griffel, Margaret Ross . Operas in English: A Dictionary . 2012-12-21 . Scarecrow Press . 978-0-8108-8325-3 . 147 . en . Elegy for a Prince ... First performance (excerpts) May 12, 2007, New York, Skirball Center, New York City Opera. VOX 2007 series..
14. Book: Ríos, Mary . Guía de la música uruguaya, 1950-1990 . 1995 . Arca . 44 . es . 95832056.
15. Web site: Sergio Cervetti, composer . 2024-09-25 . sergiocervetti.com . He was born in Dolores on November 9, 1940 to an Italian father who played the clarinet and to a French mother who encouraged piano lessons at an early age..
16. Book: II Festival de Música de América y España . 14-28 October 1967 . Instituto de Cultura Hispánica . Madrid . es . Music Festival of America and Spain . El compositor uruguayo Sergio Cervetti nació en noviembre de 1940. Realizó sus estudios de Piano bajo la dirección de Hugo Balzo y José Martino Rodas, y contrapunto con Carlos Estrada y Guido Santorsola..
17. de la Vega . Aurelio . 1980 . Latin American Composers in the United States . Latin American Music Review / Revista de Música Latinoamericana . 1 . 2 . 162–175 . 10.2307/780307 . 780307 . 0163-0350 . subscription . With another Uruguayan composer, Sergio Cervetti, ... who settled in the United States... . JSTOR.
18. Web site: Sergio Cervetti . 2024-09-24 . apps.operaamerica.org . National Opera Center . Opera America . Sergio Cervetti left his native Uruguay in 1962 to study composition in the United States..
19. Book: Ping-Robbins, Nancy R. . The Piano Trio in the Twentieth Century: A Partially Annotated Bibliography with Introduction and Appended Lists of Commissioned Works and Performing Trios . 1984 . Regan Press . 35 . en . Cervetti, Sergio, b. Uruguay, 1941; US citizen; studied composition with Stefan Grove, Krenek;....
20. Book: Staff . Macmillan General Reference . Latin American Lives: Selected Biographies from the Five-volume Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture . Publishing . Macmillan . 1998 . Macmillan Library Reference USA . 978-0-02-865060-9 . 252 . en . In 1968 he was artist-in-residence with the DAAD (German exchange program) for the city of Berlin and received important commissions from Baden-Baden....
21. Book: Union, Pan American . Compositores de América: Composers of the Americas. Datos biográficos y catálogos de sus obras . 1970 . Secretaría General, Organización de los Estado Americanos . 47 . es . Sergio Cervetti El compositor uruguayo ... Gaudeamus, Holanda (1970)..
22. 1970 . First Performances . The World of Music . Bärenreiter . 12 . 4 . 72–74 . 24318362 . 0043-8774 . Cervetti, S. "Lux lucet in tenebris". 15. IX. 1970. Zwolle, NL. Gaudeamus Festival..
23. Book: Ficher . Miguel . Latin American Classical Composers: A Biographical Dictionary . Schleifer . Martha Furman . Furman . John M. . 2002-10-16 . Scarecrow Press . 978-1-4616-6911-1 . 132 . en . He studied electronic music with Mario Davidovsky and Vladimir Ussachevsky at Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center....
24. Web site: Sergio Cervetti Composer . 2024-09-28 . apps.operaamerica.org . OPERA America . From 1972 to 1997 and 2007-08, Cervetti was Master Teacher of Music at Tisch School of the Arts at New York University..
25. Book: Opera America Newsline . 2006 . Opera America . 16 . 9 . en . 92640572 . Sergio Cervetti has composed over 150 works for orchestra, voice, chamber ensemble, dance, and film... He taught composition at New York University for 25 years and currently resides in Bucks County, PA..
26. Web site: 2013 . Sergio Cervetti . 2024-09-28 . www.epdlp.com . El Poder de la Palabra . Spanish . Enseñó historia de la música, composición y coreografía en la New York University Tisch School hasta el año 2008..
27. Sacau-Ferreira . Enrique . Performing a Political Shift: Avant-Garde Music in Cold War Spain . June 2011 . 22 September 2024 . Dphil . St Catherine’s College, University of Oxford .
28. Web site: Congress . The Library of . Cervetti . Sergio . Cervetti . Sergio . Cervetti, Sergio Six sequences, for dance (Work) - LC Linked Data Service Library of Congress, from LC Linked Data Service: Authorities and Vocabularies (Library of Congress) . 2024-09-21 . id.loc.gov.
29. Book: Congress, Library of . Library of Congress Catalog: Music and phonorecords . 1973 . Library of Congress. . 435 . en . Cervetti, Sergio. Divertimento, woodwinds Divertimento, para cuarteto de maderas (for woodwind quartet)..
30. Book: Cervetti, Sergio . Divertimento, para cuarteto de maderas: (for woodwind quartet). . 1967 . Pan American Union . en.
31. Book: Dimpker, Christian . Extended Notation: The Depiction of the Unconventional . 2013 . LIT Verlag Münster . 978-3-643-90302-0 . 10 . en.
32. Book: Section, Pan American Union Music . Compositores de América: datos biográficos y catálogos de sus obras . 1955 . 49 . es . Composers of the Americas; biographical data and catalogs of their works . 1968 Dies tenebrarum - Orquesta: organ eléc, 3 percusionistas - cuerda - coro masculino..
33. Book: Ficher . Miguel . Latin American Classical Composers: A Biographical Dictionary . Schleifer . Martha Furman . Furman . John M. . 2002-10-16 . Scarecrow Press . 978-1-4616-6911-1 . 132 . en.
34. Book: Music Journal . 1971 . Elemo Pub. . 29 . 8 . en . Cervetti's 4 Fragmentos de Pablo Neruda premiered..
35. 1971 . First Performances . The World of Music . 13 . 2 . 73–75 . 43615623 . 0043-8774 . Cervetti, S. "Cocktail-Party" 9. XI..
36. Book: The Unesco Courier . 1973 . UNESCO . 31 . en . Lux Lucet in Tenebris ("and the light shineth in the darkness"), by the young Uruguayan composer Sergio Cervetti..
37. Web site: Parallel Realms . 2024-09-21 . Navona Records . en-US . NV6217 . Plexus, on the other hand, takes the listener back to the realm of science..
38. Web site: Research Catalog NYPL . 2024-09-21 . Research Catalog NYPL . en . ...from the earth... ...de la tierra... : for chamber orchestra : 1972 / Sergio Cervetti..
39. Web site: KøgeBibliotekerne . 2024-09-21 . www.koegebib.dk . American Record Guide. . 81–82 . English . September 2017 . Cervetti: Trumpet Concerto; Toward the Abyss; Hay Wain..
40. Book: McMullen, William Wallace . Soloistic English Horn Literature from 1736-1984 . 1994 . Pendragon Press . 978-0-918728-78-4 . 58 . en . Duelle "for Carol Conway" English horn and string bass, composed May 21, 1974. First performed by Thomas Stacy, Eh., and John Deak, string bass, in New York City in June, 1974..
41. News: Dunning . Jennifer . 25 October 1988 . Review Dance Sad Medieval Romance Dedicated to Harkness . 21 September 2024 . . The staging of the dance, which is set to music by Sergio Cervetti, is properly dramatic and builds to a bizarre and shocking end..
42. Book: Brandão, Stela M. . A Guide to the Latin American Art Song Repertoire: An Annotated Catalog of Twentieth-Century Art Songs for Voice and Piano . 2010-04-29 . Indiana University Press . 978-0-253-22138-4 . en . El triunfo de la meurte, 1993 Circe Maia..
43. News: Kozinn . Allan . 15 June 1994 . Review/Music; Poetic Call and Response As a Tribute to WNYC . subscription . 25 September 2024 . . 13 . Ms. Marshall was also the soloist, with a harpsichordist, Christopher Oldfather, and the Essex String Quartet, in a haunting setting by Sergio Cervetti. 'House of Blues'.
44. Web site: Nazca for String Orchestra, 2010 Johns Hopkins University Libraries Archives Public Interface . 2024-09-21 . aspace.library.jhu.edu.
45. Web site: Harrie . Jessica . 2017-10-01 . Audio Notes, September 2017- New Works for Clarinet – The Clarinet [Online] ]. 2024-09-24 . International Clarinet Association . en-US.
46. Book: International Who's who in Music and Musicians' Directory: In the classical and light-classical fields . 2000 . International Biographical Centre . 978-0-948875-53-3 . 108 . en . Cervetti Sergio, b. 9 Nov 1940, Dolores, Uruguay ... Carro de Heno, 1967; Zinctum, 1968; Peripetia, 1970; Plexus, 1971; Madrigal III, 1976....
47. Book: International Who's Who in Classical Music 2008 . 2008-03-31 . Taylor & Francis Group . 978-1-85743-455-2 . 138 . en . Cervetti, Sergio; American/Uruguayan composer and teacher ... Orbitas for orchestra 1967....
48. Book: Marco, Tomás . Escuchar la música de los siglos XX y XXI . 2017-09-04 . Fundacion BBVA . 978-84-92937-71-4 . 160 . es . Sergio Cervetti ... Óperas: Elegy for a prince (Elegía para un príncipe, 2005), Yum! (2008). Instrumental: Plexus (1970), Madrigales de amor y muerte (1995), Candombe (1996), Descent (2001)....
49. Web site: Network Notebook Fall Quarter 2020 . 22 September 2024 . radionetwork.wfmt.com . WFMT . We feature two living composers in this program the Chilean Manuel Orrego Salas and his Symphony No. 2 and Uruguayan Sergio Cervetti with his work, Consolamentum..
50. Web site: Fanfare: Gated Angel, for orchestra, 2019 Johns Hopkins University Libraries Archives Public Interface . 2024-09-24 . archivesspace.library.jhu.edu.
51. Dal Farra . Ricardo L. . Un voyage du son par les fils électroacoustiques l'art et les nouvelles technologies en Amérique Latine . January 2006 . 22 September 2024 . PhD . Cervetti composed several pieces using electroacoustic media: Studies in Silence, a taped version of modified piano and voices in 1968; Oulom for tape, in 1970; Grafitti for orchestra, spoken choir and tape in 1971; Raga III for tape, in 1971; Bits & pieces and Moving Parts for tape in 1977....
52. Book: Vinton, John . Dictionary of Contemporary Music . 1974 . Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated . 978-0-525-09125-7 . 134 . en.
53. News: Heinlein . Federico . 14 May 1976 . Recital de León Biriotti . 22 September 2024 . Crítica musical . "Stella Vindemiatrix", de Sergio Cervetti, combina cinco oboes, cuatro de ellos previamente grabados en cinta magnética por Biriotti..
54. Web site: El Rio de los Pajaros Pintados, Bandoneon and Tape, 1979 Johns Hopkins University Libraries Archives Public Interface . 2024-09-22 . archivesspace.library.jhu.edu.
55. Book: Association, International Computer Music . Proceedings of the 1996 International Computer Music Conference: August 19-24, 1996 . 1996 . International Computer Music Association . 978-962-85092-1-8 . 168 . en . Something Borrowed, Something Blue (1979-1980) by Cervetti..
56. Book: Schwann CD. . 1989 . NILS Publishing Company . 4 . 185 . en . 89641813 . Periodic Music PE-1631 [ADD]-Sergio Cervetti: The Hay Wain (musical depiction of the Hieronymous Bosch painting); Transatlantic Light (ballet score) (all-electronic compositions). . 1–4.
57. Web site: New Music for Orchestra : 1998 Series Mediathek . 2024-09-26 . www.mediathek.at . German . Österreichische Mediathek . VMM 3045 . Mitwirkende: Cervetti, Sergio (Komponist)..
58. Web site: Brown . Stephen (Pianist) . Cervetti . Sergio . 31 March 2015 . From East to West : music from Ukraine to Uruguay. . 2024-09-25 . Toronto Public Library . en . 3247401.
59. Web site: Oteri . Frank J. . 17 July 2012 . Latin American music - New Music USA . 2024-09-25 . newmusicusa.org . en-US.
60. Web site: Las indias olvidadas: Sergio Cervetti . 2024-09-25 . bibliotecacdt.mcu.es . Spanish . Madrid . NIBI 118.
61. Web site: 10 February 2017 . Sunset at Noon . 2024-09-27 . Navona Records . en-US . NV6072.
62. Web site: Cervetti . Sergio . 2017 . Sunset at noon : six works in memory of . 2024-09-27 . searchworks-lb.stanford.edu . Stanford Libraries . NV6072 Navona . Sergio Cervetti. Latin. Choral work sung in Latin..
63. Web site: Navas . Danilo . 2024-08-15 . Artist Profile: Juan Álamo . 25 September 2024 . Latin Jazz Network . en-US . His 2016 recording, Pursuing Freedom, was selected to represent Albany Records at the 2017 Latin Grammy Awards in the category of “Best Solo Classical Album.”.
64. Web site: 1 November 2016 . Pursuing Freedom . 2024-09-25 . Presto Music . en . TROY1650 . Cervetti: Marimbamor..
65. Web site: Mortal Dreams . 2024-09-25 . Navona Records . en-US . NV6313.