(b. 5 June 1939, Mexico City).
Mexican composer of mostly stage, orchestral, chamber, choral, vocal, and piano works that have been performed throughout the Americas and in Europe; he is also active as a conductor.
Mr. de Elías initially studied composition, music theory and piano with his father Alfonso de Elías (b. 1902 – d. 1984), then studied early music and recorder with Roberto Rivera, organ with Juan Bosco Correro and violin with Daniel Saloma. He later studied cello with Sally van den Berg at the Escuela Nacional de Música of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México in Mexico City and attended a workshop in composition with Carlos Chávez at the Conservatorio Nacional de Música in Mexico City. He also attended classes in electronic music with Jean-Étienne Marie in 1967–68 and classes in contemporary music with Karlheinz Stockhausen in 1968, as well as classes in conducting with Edgard Doneux, Luis Herrera de la Fuente and Ernst Huber-Contwig and classes in piano with Bernard Flavigny and Gerhard Kämper. He studied at the Departamento de Filosofía of the Universidad de Guanajuato in the late 1960s.
Among his honours are the Medalla Mozart in Mexico (1991), the Premio Nacional de Ciencias y Artes in Mexico (1992), the selected work at the Tribuna Musical de América Latina y el Caribe (1995, for Sonante No. 11, 'Bosquejos de una ofrenda'), and the Diploma al Mérito Artístico from the Instituto Superior de Arte in Havana (2001, for his œuvre). He has been a member of the Sociedad Mexicana de Musicología in Mexico City since 1990, an Académico de Número of the Academia de Artes de México in Mexico City since 1991 and a member of the Sistema Nacional de Creadores del Fondo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes (FONCA) in Mexico City since 1993, now emeritus. He has also been a member of the Consejo Consultivo of the Festival Internacional Cervantino in Guanajuato since 2001 and has been an honorary member of the Unión Nacional de Escritores y Artistas de Cuba in Havana since 2001.
As a conductor, he served as assistant director of the Orquesta Sinfónica de la Universidad de Guanajuato from 1964–68, as assistant to Luis Herrera de la Fuente at the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional in Mexico City in 1968 and as assistant to Edgard Doneux at the Orchestre de Chambre de la RTB from c. 1969–75. He later served as artistic director of the Orquesta de Cámara del Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes in Mexico City from 1984–86. He reorganised the Orquesta Filarmónica de Jalisco in 1988 and served as its conductor from 1988–90.
He is also active in other positions. He sang as a chorister in the Sociedad Musical Mozart in Mexico as a child and worked as a pianist from the mid-1950s–late 1960s. He founded the Orchestra de Camera Santa Cecilia in Mexico in 1959, the chamber orchestra Amigos de la Música in Mexico in 1960 and the Departamento de Música of the Universidad de Guanajuato in 1965, where he founded the Grupo Experimental de Música de Cámara in 1965 and served as its director. In addition, he was a member of the Grupo Proa for avant-garde composers in Mexico in the mid-1960s, worked at the Computer Music Center of Columbia University in 1974, founded the Centros de Iniciación Musical Infantil at the Universidad Veracruzana in 1975, founded the Coro de la Universidad Veracruzana in 1975, served as director-general of the Área Académica de Artes at the Universidad Veracruzana from 1982–84, and served as director of the Coordinación Nacional de Música y Ópera at the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes in Mexico City from 1991–93. He later founded the Consejo Mexicano de la Música in Mexico City in 1995 and served as its president from 1995–98. He was a founding member of the Colegio de Compositores Latinoamericanos de Música de Arte in 2000.
Mr. de Elías taught chamber music, composition and piano at the Escuela de Música of the Universidad de Guanajuato from c. 1964–69. He later undertook an academic reform at the Conservatorio de Las Rosas in Morelia in 1990 and served as its director-general in 1990–91.
COMPLETE LIST OF WORKS
STAGE:
Jahel (ballet music), piano 4 hands, 1964 (also version for orchestra, 1967)
La Vida es Sueño (incidental music, play by Pedro Calderón de la Barca), 1965
La Lacune (incidental music, play by Eugène Ionesco), 1966
A la Seca (incidental music, play by Armando Olivares), children's chorus, 1966
Medea (incidental music, play by Euripides), 1981
Poslednie – The Last Ones (incidental music, play by Maxim Gorky), 1982
La Ley de Creon (incidental music, play by Olga Hármony), 1983
ORCHESTRAL:
Danza, piano, string orchestra, 1957
Estampas infantiles, youth string orchestra, 1959
Sinfonietta, 1958–61
Vitral No. 1, small orchestra (12 players), 1962
Guanajuato, 1964
In Memory of Ben Selekman, small orchestra, 1967
Elegía heroica, 1967
Speculamen, string orchestra, 1967 (version of work for 2 violins, 2 violas, 2 cellos, double bass)
Vitral No. 3, 1969
Sonante No. 1, 1970 (lost)
Sonante No. 2, 1971
Sonante No. 4, 1971 (lost)
Sonante No. 5, 1972
Sonante No. 6, 'Homenaje de Neruda', string orchestra, 1973 (also version for 2 violins, viola, cello, double bass)
Concertante, violin, orchestra, 1973
Sonante No. 3, youth orchestra, 1974
Sonante No. 7, 1974
Concertante, piano, orchestra, 1975 (incomplete)
Sonante No. 8, 1977
Sonante No. 9, 1978
Adagio, string orchestra, 1983
Balada concertante, trombone, 4 percussion, string orchestra, 1983
Lírica breve, piano, timpani, string orchestra, 1984
Mictlán-Tlatelolco, string orchestra, 1985–86
Cartas de primavera, string orchestra, 1986
Poema, string orchestra, 1988
Concierto, cello, orchestra, 1990
Concierto de cámara, viola, percussion, string orchestra, 1992
Sinfonía para los más jóvenes, 1993
Resonancias cardenches, small orchestra, 1994
Introducción y Adagio sostenuto, small orchestra, 1994
Sonante No. 11, 'Bosquejos de una ofrenda', 1995
Mutatis Mutandis, flute, 2 oboes, bassoon, 2 French horns, string orchestra, 1999
Concierto Coyoacanense, guitar, orchestra, 1999
Sonante No. 12, 2001–02
Conmemoraciones, 2003
Meditativo y tema variado, small orchestra, 2003
Concierto, piano, orchestra, 2006
Divertimento Concertante en tres movimientos encadenados, small orchestra, 2006
Enigmas Rugelianos, 2007
CHAMBER MUSIC:
Movimiento, violin, piano, 1956
Suite de miniaturas, flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, 1957
Humoresca, flute, oboe, clarinet, 1957
Tres Danzas, recorder, 1960–61
Tres Movimientos breves, 4 recorders, 1962
Preludio, viola, piano, 1962
Elegía, viola, piano, 1962
Preludio, viola, 1962
Fantasía, cello, 1962
Elegía, clarinet, 1962
Impresiones sobre una Estampa Colonial, 2 alto recorders, tenor recorder, violin, viola, cello, harpsichord, timpani, 1962–63
Divertimento, 10 percussion, 1963
Ciclos elementarios, flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, 1965
Diálogo, cello, piano, 1965
Cuarteto de cuerdas No. 1, 'Trágico', string quartet, 1967
Speculamen, 2 violins, 2 violas, 2 cellos, double bass, 1967 (also version for string orchestra)
Sonata No. 1, violin, 1968
Experiencias No. 3, any 5 improvisational players, 1968
Aforismo I, flute, 1968
Nimyé, flute, 1969
Sonata No. 2, violin, 1969
Parámetros No. 1, synthesizer, 1971
Sonante No. 6, 'Homenaje de Neruda', 2 violins, viola, cello, double bass, 1973 (version of work for string orchestra)
Juego a cinco, bassoon, French horn, 2 trumpets, percussion, 1975
Sine nomine, piano, string quartet, 1975
Preludio, violin, 1975
Preludio, viola, 1976
Aforismo, double bass, 1976
To play playing, flute, 1976
Imago, clarinet, 1977
Tla oc toncuicacan, 2 recorders, percussion, echo chamber ad libitum, 1980
Concertante a doce, flute, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, French horn, 2 trumpets, 2 trombones, timpani, 1983
Interpolaciones, flute, clarinet, bassoon, French horn, trumpet, trombone, 1983
Aria olvidada y variación, oboe, 1983
Concertante a cinco, flute, oboe, violin, cello, piano, 1986
Aforismo 'a Manuel Enríquez', violin, 1986
Juego a dos, flute, bassoon, 1987
Introducción, fanfarria y danza, French horn, 2 trumpets, trombone, tuba, 3 percussion ad libitum, 1987
Monólogo, violin, 1989
Praeludium, violin, 1989
Fax music 1, flute, 1990
Fax music 2, piccolo, 1990
Fax music 3, alto flute, 1990
Fax music 4, oboe, 1990
Fax music 5, English horn, 1990
Fax music 6, oboe d'amore, 1990
Tri-neos (trio no. 1), clarinet, bassoon, piano, 1991
Wendyana, bassoon, piano, 1992
Diálogo fantástico para doce cuerdas, 2 guitars, 1992
Siete Preludios, guitar, 1955–93
Pensamiento, flute, 1994
Tríptico, 'Homenaje a Shostakovich', cello, 1995
Tri-tonos (trio no. 2), clarinet, bassoon, piano, 1996
Homérica, cello, 1996
Música a Siete, flute (+ piccolo, alto flute), clarinet (+ E-flat clarinet), violin, viola, cello, piano, timpani, 1996
Lectura, B-flat trumpet, 1997
Volátil, piccolo, 2002
Músicas Místicas y Festivas (Imaginario), French horn, 2 trumpets, trombone, tuba, 2005
Paloescrito (Preludio No. 8), guitar, 2005
Preludio No. 9, guitar, 2007
Praeludium, viola, 2008
Sinergias, violin, viola, cello, piano, 2009
Preludio No. 10, guitar, 2010
Ex æquo, portative organ, harpsichord, 2011
CHORAL:
Pequeños corales (texts from the Book of Psalms), mixed chorus, 1954
Villancico (text by the composer), mixed chorus, 1956
Canción de Navidad (text by the composer), female chorus, piano/organ, 1958
Credo, mixed chorus, 1962
Aforismo (text by Rabindranath Tagore), mixed chorus, 1963
Pájaros perdidos (text by Rabindranath Tagore), mixed chorus, 1963
Kyrie y Gloria, mixed chorus, 1966
Memento (text by Armando Olivares), speaker, mixed chorus, 4 recorders, string orchestra, 1967
Ludus (text by the composer), 3 mixed choruses, 1972–73
Obertura-Poema (text by Nezahualcóyotl), soprano, tenor, mixed chorus, organ, symphonic band, 1975
Primero Sueño (text by Juana Inés de la Cruz), soprano, baritone, 2 speakers, 2 mixed choruses, orchestra, 1976
Los Cuatro Gatos (text from a popular round for children), 2 children's voices, children's chorus, 3 soprano recorders, melodica, 2 metallophones, 2 xylophones, any number of percussion, youth orchestra, 1977
Estro 1 y 2 (text by Juana Inés de la Cruz), mixed chorus, 1978
A voces, mixed chorus, 1982–83
Sonante No. 10 (text by Nezahualcóyotl), mixed chorus, orchestra, 1984
Antífonas Profanas (text by Juan Rulfo), mixed chorus, 4 French horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, 2 percussion, 1993 (also version for mixed chorus, organ, 2004)
Expresiones fugitivas (text by the composer), mixed chorus, 1987–94
Meditativo (text by the composer), mixed chorus, organ, 1999
VOCAL:
Las Erupciones (text by Salvador Díaz Mirón), alto, piano, 1959
Empiria, voice, 4 recorders, 1966
Pneuma (text by Gustavo Bossert), baritone, flute, oboe, French horn, cello, prepared piano (2 players), 1967
Misa de Consagración (text by the composer), mezzo-soprano, organ, orchestra, 1970
Siete Canciones para niños (text by the composer), soprano, piano, 1988
Canciones del ocaso (text by the composer), mezzo-soprano, piano, 1988 (also version for mezzo-soprano, orchestra, 1992)
Vocalise, baritone, 1994
Arrullo íntimo (text by the composer), mezzo-soprano, celesta, crotales, 1998
Salmodia, mezzo-soprano, 2003
Foi mudando, mudando (cantata breve, text by Jorge de Lima), baritone, soprano saxophone (+ bass saxophone), piano, percussion, 2003–04
PIANO:
Motivos infantiles, 1956
Nocturno, 1957
Vals triste, 1957
Tres Hojas de álbum, 1957
Preguntas y respuestas, 1958
Sonata breve, 1958
Preludio, 1961
Cinco Preludios, 1955–62
Nocturno, 1962
Pastoral, 1966
Ronda, 1966
Microestructuras, 1966
Melodía, 1966
Un Pretexto y veinte abstracciones, 1967
Quimeras No. 1, 2 pianos, 1969
Sonante No. 1, 1970
Quimeras No. 2, 2 pianos, 1973
Quimeras No. 3, 2 pianos, 1974
Pequeño vals para una línea y un piano, 1975
Dos Pequeños estudios, 1977
Veinticuatro Aforismos, 1987
A manera de enhorabuena, 2001
ORGAN:
Preludio elegíaco, 1958
Canción de cuna, 1960
Kaleidoscopio I, 1969
Kaleidoscopio II, 1973
Kaleidoscopio III, 1974
Ecce Lignum Crucis, 1990
Mutaciones, 1995 (version of work for harpsichord)
Tema quasi preludio, 1996
Ludus Guanajuatensis, Baroque organ, 2002
HARPSICHORD:
Mutaciones, 1977 (also version for organ)
ELECTROACOUSTIC:
Vitral No. 2, fixed media, 1967
Pro pax, fixed media, 1968
Aforismo II, fixed media, 1968
Non Nova Sed Novo, fixed media, 1974
DIDACTIC MUSIC:
Canción Indígena, violin, piano ad libitum, 1982
Alfa, string orchestra, 1996
FILM SCORE (DIRECTOR):
Techos, small orchestra, 1976 (unknown)
MULTIMEDIA/PERFORMANCE:
Secuencias urbanas, specially-designed fountains, 1973
ARRANGEMENTS:
Suite de 'Música acuática' (Water Music, HWV 348–50 by George Frideric Handel), small orchestra, 1973
Nobody knows the trouble I've seen (spiritual from the USA), mixed chorus, 1978
Psyché (César Franck), orchestra, 1979
Navidad Michoacana (7 folk pieces from Michoacán), children's chorus, 1990
Melodía and Pastoral (Alfonso de Elías), violin, orchestra, 1991 (also version for violin, string orchestra, 1993)
Román népi táncok – Romanian Folk Dances, Sz 56 (Béla Bartók), 2 oboes, 2 French horns, string orchestra, 1993
Misa Santa Cecilia (Ramiro Luis Guerra), mixed chorus, orchestra, 1993
Dos Madrigales (Alfonso de Elías), soprano, string orchestra, 1994
Verklärte Nacht, Op. 4 (Arnold Schoenberg), flute, 2 oboes, 2 bassoons, 2 French horns, string orchestra, 1997
Cinco Canciones para niños (Silvestre Revueltas), guitar, string orchestra, 1999
Balada Mexicana (Manuel María Ponce), orchestra, 2006
Tanguitis (Alfredo Rugeles), orchestra, 2007
Carnaval, Op. 9 (Robert Schumann), orchestra, 2007
Tres Obras póstumas para piano (Gerhart Münch), string orchestra, 2007
Bagatelles, Op. 5 (Alexander Tcherepnin), orchestra, 2008
L'Isle joyeuse (Claude Debussy), orchestra, 2008
Sonate en sol mineur, Op. 65 (Fryderyk Chopin), orchestra, 2010