Juan Bautista Plaza and Musical Nationalism in Venezuela

Labonville (Illinois State Univ.) divides this exploration of the life and works of Venezuelan composer, musicologist, educator, and music critic Juan Bautista Plaza (1898-1965) into two parts. The first provides a biographical portrait of Plaza and background on Plaza's compositional career and 20th-century art music in Caracas in general. In part 2 the author presents her research, examining periods in Plaza's career as they relate to the varied musical activities that occupied him during his productive life. Like other Latin American nationalist composers-for example, Amadeo Roldán and Carlos Chávez-Plaza was influential in modernizing the musical infrastructure of his country in order to bring it in line with European and American musical practices. Making extensive use of primary sources, Labonville chronicles Plaza's productivity in the realms of composition, musical nationalism, music education, musicology, and journalism. In so doing she demonstrates how Plaza exemplifies the Latin American nationalist musicians of his generation, not only because of his compositions but also because of the broader service he provided to the musical culture of Venezuela. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.