Suite Valenciana. Both of These Composers Were Not Established Performers of The

Michael Ruggiero
MUS4792H Y
21 Sept. 2017
Lecture Recital #1 Proposal
The selections of music that have been chosen for this lecture recital are from the
pieces Suite Pour Guitare, Op. 41, composed by Jacques Hetu, and Vicente Asencio’s
Suite Valenciana. Both of these composers were not established performers of the
guitar, and came from very different generations within the twentieth-century:
Asencio being born in 1908 before the rise of atonality, and Hetu in 1938, after the
rise of atonality. They also lived in different parts of the world with Hetu being a
French Canadian, and Asencio being born in Spain. Even though the composition
dates of the two pieces being presented were written quite close to each other, with
Suite Pour Guitar, Op. 41 being written in 1986, and Suite Valenciana in 1971, they
can be seen as examples of different compositional styles within the twentieth-
century, all while still maintaining a sense of romantic flavour. These influences are
evident within the writing style of these two pieces, as well as the titles given to
each movement. I will be using and playing the entire Suite Valenciana, and the first
four movements of Suite Pour Guitare, Op. 41 to identify and illustrate the different
stylistic features between Hetu and Asencio as twentieth-century composers, while
also presenting a commonality of romanticism between the two pieces.
Jacques Hetu wrote Suite Pour Guitare, Op. 41 with dedication to the guitarist
Alvarro Pierri, and this piece reflects different aspects of Hetu’s writing style. He has
described his own style as, “incorporating ‘neo-classical form and neo-romantic
effects in a musical language using 20th century techniques’”. This mix of style and
influence is apparent in Suite Pour Guitare, who, “with a solid background in
classical forms… constructed his works around cyclically repeated and skilfully
varied motivic units”, which is evident within the movements Prelude, Nocturne,
Ballade and Reverie in Suite Pour Guitare. They all consist of a motif that gets
repeated many times that also gets altered in many ways. Within these movements,
there are also a lot of tempo changes, ritardandos and rallentandos followed by a
tempo’s, which seems to be quite reminiscent of the very popular rubato technique
used in romantic music. His neo-romanticism can also be seen with the name of the
second, third, and fourth movements being, Nocturne, Ballade, and Reverie, all very
popular romantic era musical genres.
Regarding Hetu’s use of twentieth-century techniques, the first movement,
the Prelude, is twelve-tone, which entails that it is atonal. The Ballade has a tempo
modulation in bar fifty-four, which is also a twentieth-century technique. These
movements show the mix between Hetu’s older nineteenth-century influences as
well as usage of modern twentieth-century techniques.
Suite Valenciana is a piece written that, “exemplifies the composer’s life-long
advocacy of Valencian music”, which is the music of his hometown, Valencia. This
piece was dedicated to the Italian guitarist Angelo Gilardino, and his style did not
follow a lot of the modern, atonal trends within classical music of the twentieth-
century, “[rejecting] atonality as ‘uninteresting’”. This is evident with Suite
Valenciana, being tonal throughout the piece and it being a tribute to the city of
Valencia. Asencio was involved with the Grupo de los Jóvenes, which was a group of
Valencian composers who wanted, “to produce a manifesto of artistic ideals”, which
claim to, “aspire to the realisation of a vigorous and rich Valencian musical art in the
existence of a fertile and pluralist Valencian School which brings psychological
subtlety and the emotion of [their] people and landscape to universal music.” This
helps us realize his Valencian outlook, compositional approach and style as someone
wanting to preserve the qualities and aesthetics related to his home. In Suite
Valenciana, this is apparent in the third movement, the Dansa, which, “evokes
images of traditional Valencian dance”. His use of tonality and Valencian perspective
in composing Suite Valenciana represents his unique style for a twentieth-century
composer.
The romantic flavour in Suite Valenciana that connects Asencio to Hetu and
his Suite Pour Guitare, is the second movement titled Cançoneta. This movement. “is
in the style of a barcarole”, which is a popular romantic era style, and the title itself,
deriving from the Italian Canzonetta, is also a pre-twentieth century musical form
invoking musical influences from the past. Just like how Hetu mixed neo-classical
and neo-romantic influences with twentieth-century techniques to create a unique
style seen in Suite Pour Guitare, Op. 41, Asencio mixed his love for Valencia, general
tonal language and romantic influences to create an equally unique style, while both
being twentieth-century composers.
Thus, these two twentieth-century composers presented very different
pieces of music, all while having a commonality of romantic influence. This
information can help a performer understand their inspirations and overall
approach to the composition of these pieces, as a way of presenting ideas on how to
interpret this music, such as using the romantic qualities of that era- both broad and
specific to each movement- to play these pieces. It will, at the very least, present
new ideas in how to think about these pieces.
Biblography
Wade, Graham. "Guitar Recital: Ceku, Petrit – BACH, J.S. / RODRIGO, J. / ASENCIO, V.
/ REGONDI, G." Naxos. Accessed September 21, 2017.
https://www.naxos.com/mainsite/blurbs_reviews.asp?item_code=8.572033
&catNum=572033&filetype=About%20this%20Recording&language=Englis
h#.
Brisson, Irene, and Evan Ware. "Jacques Hétu." The Canadian Encyclopedia.
November 02, 2010. Accessed September 21, 2017.
http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/jacques-hetu-emc/.

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Michael Ruggiero

Lecture Recital #1 Proposal

can be seen as examples of different compositional styles within the twentieth-

stylistic features between Hetu and Asencio as twentieth-century composers, while

also presenting a commonality of romanticism between the two pieces.

popular romantic era musical genres.

Regarding Hetu’s use of twentieth-century techniques, the first movement,

modulation in bar fifty-four, which is also a twentieth-century technique. These

movements show the mix between Hetu’s older nineteenth-century influences as

well as usage of modern twentieth-century techniques.

Suite Valenciana is a piece written that, “exemplifies the composer’s life-long

century, “[rejecting] atonality as ‘uninteresting’”. This is evident with Suite

existence of a fertile and pluralist Valencian School which brings psychological

Valenciana, this is apparent in the third movement, the Dansa, which, “evokes

in composing Suite Valenciana represents his unique style for a twentieth-century

and neo-romantic influences with twentieth-century techniques to create a unique

being twentieth-century composers.

Thus, these two twentieth-century composers presented very different

pieces of music, all while having a commonality of romantic influence. This

information can help a performer understand their inspirations and overall

approach to the composition of these pieces, as a way of presenting ideas on how to

new ideas in how to think about these pieces.

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