Gonzalo de Olavide facts for kids

Gonzalo de Olavide y Casenave (born March 28, 1934 – died November 4, 2005) was a Spanish composer. He was born in Madrid, the capital city of Spain. A composer is someone who writes music. Olavide created many different kinds of musical pieces throughout his life.

His Musical Journey and Education

Gonzalo de Olavide started learning about music composition at the Conservatorio Superior de Madrid. His first teacher there was Victorino Echevarría. After his studies in Spain, he traveled to Belgium. There, he continued his musical education at conservatories in Antwerp and Brussels.

Olavide was very keen to learn about new and modern music. He attended special summer courses called the Darmstadt Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Musik. During these courses, he worked with famous composers like Pierre Boulez and Luciano Berio. He also studied with other important musicians, Karlheinz Stockhausen and Henri Pousseur. This happened at the Cologne Courses for New Music in Germany between 1964 and 1967.

For twenty years, Gonzalo de Olavide lived and worked in Geneva, Switzerland. He returned to Spain in 1991. His talent was recognized with important awards. In 1986, he received the Premio Nacional de Música (National Music Award). Later, in 2001, he was honored with the Premio Reina Sofia. These awards show how much his music was valued.

What He Composed

Olavide wrote many different types of music. He composed pieces for full orchestras, smaller groups of instruments (called chamber music), and even music for solo instruments. He also explored electronic music, which uses electronic instruments and technology to create sounds. Here are some of his compositions:

• Triludio (1963)
• Índices, for chamber orchestra (1964)
• Henri à quatre, a piece he created with Holger Schüring [Czukay], Attilio Filieri, and Ivan Tcherepnin (1965)
• Quartet (1971)
• Sine die, for orchestra (1972)
• Quasi una cadenza, for chamber ensemble (1973)
• Clamor I, electronic music (1974)
• Clamor II, for tape and large orchestra (1974)
• Clamor III, for voice, two pianos, and percussion (1974)
• Symphony "Homenaje a Falla" (meaning "Homage to Falla," another composer) (1977)
• El Cántico (1978)
• Oda, based on a text by Antonio Machado (1980)
• Cante in memoriam García Lorca, for orchestra (1980)
• Quinto Hymno de Desesperanza (1983)
• La extravagancia, for chamber ensemble (1985)
• Perpetuum mobile, for piano (1986)
• Tres fragmentos imaginarios, for piano (1987)
• Orbe-Variations, for orchestra (1988)
• Alternante, for chamber orchestra (1989)
• Silente-Aria (1991)
• Minimal, for piano (1993)
• Precipiten (Música impresa), for cello and piano (1993)
• Varianza, for flute, oboe, clarinet, piano, violin, and cello (1995)
• Vol(e), for accordion (1997)
• Tránsito, for string orchestra (1997)
• El piso cerrado, a radiophonic work (meaning a piece created for radio) (2001)
• Fragmentario, for amplified cello and electronic music (2004)

See also

In Spanish: Gonzalo de Olavide para niños