I was looking at a list, the other day, of composers who were born on today’s date, April 11, or who died on April 11. One birthday name I recognized immediately: Alberto Ginastera. And yes, that’s how he himself pronounced his name. His father was Catalan, and Gee-nastera is the Catalan pronunciation. Ginastera was undoubtedly the most important Argentinean composer of the twentieth century.
He wrote significant works in virtually every major genre, and his works will last. But I was struck by the fact that of the eleven other composers on the list, I knew none. Sad for them, no? And yet during their lifetimes some of these composers were undoubtedly quite well known, wrote some pretty good music, made good livings, and had the pleasure of hearing their works played by excellent musicians. Were they failures? Only if they themselves thought they were. Where, after all, is it written…that being good is bad, and that only greatness is good?
This has been A Minute with Miles – a production of South Carolina Public Radio, made possible by the J.M. Smith Corporation.
