Aretz, Isabel (1913—)

Venezuelan composer, ethnomusicologist, and folklorist universally recognized as a leading authority on South American folk music. Name variations: Isabel Aretz de Ramón y Rivera. Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on April 13, 1913; studied piano with Rafel González and composition with Athos Palma at the Buenos Aires National Conservatory of Music; instrumentation with Heitor Villa-Lobos in Brazil; and anthropology with Carlos Vega; received her doctorate in musicology at the Argentine Catholic University in 1967; married Luis Felipe Ramón y Rivera.

In 1950, Isabel Aretz was appointed the first professor of ethnomusicology at the Escuela Nacional de Danzas de Argentina, where she continued her role as a scholar and composer. She traveled extensively throughout Hispanic America, collecting folk music that she then analyzed and used as a basis for her research papers. Aretz's scholarly work influenced her composition, which had a highly personal, nationalist style based on Afro-Hispanic folk traditions with avantgarde European elements including electronic music. Among other awards, Aretz received a scholarship from the Argentine National Commission on Culture, a Guggenheim Foundation fellowship, and the Polifonia prize of Buenos Aires. Through her scholarship, she documented South American folk music; through her compositions, she applied older traditions to modern music. Well-known and highly respected in international musical organizations, Aretz serves as a board member of the International Folk Music Council and a council member of the Society for Ethnomusicology. From 1953 on, Aretz lived in Venezuela.

John Haag , Associate Professor of History, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia