Silvestre Revueltas. Periodo de las cuerdas (1929-1932)

Abstract

Silvestre Revueltas went into seclusion for almost three years (1929 to 1932) in order to devote himself to an important, vital enterprise, that of establishing his own style; this ascetic enterprise revolved around the most demanding task in music, the writing of string quartets. Throughout this period, his work moves between two poles: abstraction and popular song. Or, in other words, between the intimate and the social tonalities. This process led him to a patient and zealous study of himself, as if he were engaged in painting a series of self-portraits from different angles. Here, the seed of Revueltas' music was gestated, the profile and the features of the face whose authenticity lay in its escape from the unchallenging and sterile prison of Mexican nationalism.