Letelier (-Llona), Alfonso
Letelier (-Llona), Alfonso
Letelier (-Llona), Alfonso, Chilean composer
and teacher; b. Santiago, Oct. 4, 1912; d. there, Aug. 28, 1994. He studied with Allende at the Cons. Nacional de Mùsica of the Univ. of Chile in Santiago (1930–35). In 1946 he joined its faculty as a prof, of harmony, where he also was dean of its dept. of fine arts (1951–62) and vice-rector (1958–62). In 1973 he was made prof, emeritus but continued to teach there until 1983. From 1986 to 1989 he was dean of the faculty of arts and physical education at the Univ. Metropolitan de Ciencias de la Educación, and then was a prof, in its dept. of music education from 1989 until his death. In 1967 he was made a member of the Chilean Academy of Fine Arts and in 1968 he was awarded the Chilean National Arts Prize. In 1996 the faculty of arts of the Univ. of Chile was renamed the Alfonso Letelier Llona Branch in his memory. Among his works were La vida del campo, symphonic poem for Piano and Orch. (1937), Los sonetos de la muerte for Woman’s Voice and Orch. (1948), Vitrales de la Anunciación for Soprano, Women’s Chorus, and Orch. (1949–50), Aculeo, suite for Orch. (Louisville, Jan. 30, 1957), Guitar Concerto (1961), Concerto for Strings (1972), Très Canciones for Woman’s Voice and 16 Instruments (1974), and El Hombre ante la ciencia, sym. for Mezzo-soprano and Orch. (1983–85).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire