Score and parts. 24+12 pp. $25.95, Presser Order number 494-02446 (EICM-34)
Rafael
Adame Gómez was born in Autlán de la Grana, Jalisco, on September 11, 1905. In
1923 he moved to Mexico City to attend the National Conservatory of Music where
he studied with some of the most important Mexican musicians of that time: Julián
Carrillo, Estanislao Mejía, and Gustavo Campa. On December 7, 1924, Rafael
Adame became the first guitarist to graduate from the National Conservatory
where he studied with Juan Belaunzarán. Adame rapidly gained the admiration and
respect of his teachers and fellow students. He joined Julián Carrillo’s
Grupo 13, the first group of musicians devoted to the advancement of
Carrillo’s microtonal theories and appeared in concert with this group on
several important occasions in 1925. In 1928 he received the second prize in
cello and a special mention in composition (for his Sinfonía folclórica
for symphonic band) in competitions organized by the Comisión Permanente
del Primer Congreso Nacional de Música. By 1929 he had also obtained the
cello and composition degrees from the National Conservatory of Music.
In
July of 1930, while a member of the Cuarteto Clásico Universitario,
Rafael Adame offered two recitals at the Anfiteatro de la Escuela Nacional
Preparatoria, performing on both the guitar and the cello, and offering his
own compositions as well as music by other composers. In the July 19 concert
Adame performed his Concierto for guitar and orchestra, with the
orchestral part reduced to a piano score by himself. In the second recital,
Adame performed the Mexican premiere of the Sonata mexicana of 1923 by
Manuel M. Ponce. The concerto was performed again in a well publicized concert
on February 5, 1933, at the Anfiteatro de la Escuela Nacional Preparatoria.
The historical importance of this concerto is that it precedes the Rodrigo and
Castelnuovo-Tedesco guitar concerti by nine years, thus making it the first
concerto for guitar and orchestra of the twentieth century.
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