The Brazilian composer Oscar Lorenzo Fernández was born in Rio de Janeiro on 4 November 1897. He died in his hometown on 27 August 1948. August 2023 will be the 75th anniversary of his death.
The Spanish-born composer entered the
National Music Institute at the age of 20 years old and soon won numerous composition prizes. He became an active member of the Society for Musical Culture and founded the Brazilian Conservatory of Music in 1936 with five other professors. Lorenzo Fernández’s works are rooted in musical nationalism. Most of his songs are based on native music and his opera “Malazarte” is considered the first successful Brazilian national opera. Oscar Lorenzo Fernández composed important chamber and piano music and some of his orchestral works are now an integral part of the Brazilian orchestral repertoire. The stamp shows the opening notes of his last piano piece, “Sonata Breve” from 1947.
The video shows the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra (OSB) conducted by Roberto Minczuk performing the piece “Batuque – Dança de Negros” by Oscar Lorenzo Fernández, recorded on 17 March 2014 at the Cidade das Artes in Rio de Janeiro. “Batuque”, based on an Afro-Brazilian folk dance, is the last movement from the suite “Reisado do Pastoreio”, composed in 1930.
