Academic Performing Traditions of Chilean Guitar Art

Abstract

The relevance of the article lies in the systematization of the phenomena of the Chilean academic guitar art, the study of the national origins of the performing school, its principles, achievements, transcultural processes and their mutual influences, which led to the popularization of the instrument on the Latin American continent.

The purpose of the article is to create an overview panorama of the development of the academic traditions of Chilean guitar performance, to identify trends in the formation and genealogy of successive ties between generations of soloists.

The methodology includes methods of historical, systemic, as well as comparative analysis (for contextual consideration of the creative activities of famous performers, the formation of a national guitar school, the detection of successive ties between different generations of musicians, the study of the influence of the Spanish academic tradition, Latin American everyday practice of playing and the specifics of playing music on ancient guitar-like instruments of the Baroque era).

Results and conclusions. The cultural and historical panorama of the formation and development of the Chilean academic guitar school of the 20th— early 21st centuries is investigated. The principles and main vectors of the pedagogical activity of its key representatives — Liliana Perez Corey, Luis Lopez, Oscar Ohlsen are characterized. A “genealogical tree” of creative contacts and successive ties between guitarists of different generations has been built. It is concluded that the academic traditions of the Chilean guitar music of the 20th century were formed in the general direction of the development of transcultural phenomena. The performing discourse developed in a complementary way: under the influence of the most famous Spanish classical guitar school that dominates the world (F. Tarrega, A. Segovia, E. Pujol); in the conditions of indirect interaction with the Latin American everyday practice of playing (Argentinean, Uruguayan, Chilean) and the experience of playing music on ancient authentic European instruments (lute, vihuela, baroque guitar). It is noted that as a result of the intensification of creative exchange in the institutional, concert, and festival spheres, at the end of the twentieth century, a representative generation of virtuosos and teachers of classical guitar arose in Chilean culture. Chilean guitarists, no matter in which of the spheres their personal interests were fixed — European old, classical-romantic, modern music or Latin American popular, folklore tradition — put forward the creativity of their compatriots and contemporaries to the leading positions. The appearance of a large number of albums of Chilean guitar music performed by J. A. Escobar, J. Contreras, M. Valdebenito, J. A. Sanchez, L. Orlandini, E. Espinoza, E. Salazar, D. Castro is evidence of close and effective cooperation between virtuosos and domestic composers.