Notes for the work, Responsorio
in memoriam Rodolfo Halffter by Mario Lavista
(comments by Karen Sandene)
"He who lives is but a traveler in transit, he who dies is a man who returns
to his abode." Chinese poet Li-Po, whose words Mario Lavista dedicates
the work heard this evening.
Responsorio in memoriam Rodolfo Halffter was composed in 1988 and premiered
the same year by bassoonist Wendy Holdaway in Mexico City. This piece
is a melding of three distinctly different musical voices: 1) native musical
traditions of Mexico, 2) liturgical music from centuries ago, and 3) contemporary
performance techniques and sonorities.
The piece is a musical eulogy to his college composition instructor, Rodolfo
Halffter, and the essence of the work is of funeral processions that Lavista
observed in remote Mexican villages. Early in Responsorio, bass drums
- serving to exemplify the funeral march - provide a halting beat to accompany
the bassoon, which plays in the highest range of
the instrument. As the piece progresses and the
mourners approach their destination, the percussionists introduce tubular
bells, depicting church bells.
Lavista uses several references to composer Guillaume de Machaut's fourteenth
century masterpiece Messe de Notre Dame in the percussion parts. A repeated
rhythm pattern - in musical terms, the taleae - from the Ite missa
est section of the Mass is found in chimes. If you
listen carefully, the two chime parts play a great deal of the time in rhythmic
canon; the pitches are a bit different, however. The bass drums also
use repeated rhythms, found in the Mass's Amen. At one
point during the piece, the bassoonist mutes the instrument by placing a
cloth into the bell, and continues to play a long melody based on multiphonics.
Multiphonics have the reputation of being harsh and dissonant, but
the way Lavista utilizes them reminds one of a mournful choir singing (think
of the line in Jesus Christ Superstar: "So Long, Judas...")
Born in Mexico City in 1943, Lavista is one of the leading composers of Mexico.
Lavista started on the piano at age of 11, and at age 20, he gained
the priviledge of studying at Carlos Chavez' acclaimed compositional school,
Taller de composition. It was during this time that Lavista
was influenced by composer Rodolfo Halffter. Later on in his '20's,
Lavista studied composition in Paris and traveled to Germany to work with
Karlheinz Stockhausen; he also became familiar with the works of Ligeti,
Cage, Lutoslawski and Berio. He returned to Mexico in 1970 and formed
Quanta, a music improvisation group. Currently, Lavista teaches at
the National Conservatory of Music in Mexico City, is an active composer,
and edits a music journal. He has been a Composer-In-Residence in several
American Universities.