Candelario Huizar

Vocation

Mexican musician, horn player, composer and pedagogue. Of humble family so, he did an internship as an apprentice goldsmith. Later he began his musical studies under the guidance of Narciso Arriaga, director of the Municipal Band of Jerez. In 1892 he joined the group as saxhorn performer. Soon after he met the violinist Enrique Herrera, who advised on the implementation of the viola, and with whom he formed a string quartet in 1900. Later, as a member of wind bands, participated in Mexican Revolution. As a member of the Band of the Northern Division, in late 1917 he came to Mexico City, where he settled permanently. The following year he joined the Band of the General Staff Presidency. In 1920 he was appointed copyist at the National Conservatory, where shortly after was also librarian. In 1924 he graduated as a horn player and composer on that campus, and joined theater orchestras and the Symphony Orchestra of the Conservatory. In that same campus, later he was professor of harmony, composition and instrumentation, for many years. He composed numerous instrumental pieces for chamber ensembles, symphony orchestra and choir, and performed many instrumental and vocal arrangements of traditional Mexican melodies. In 1951 he won the National Prize for Arts and Sciences in Fine Arts. However, his career was affected the last years of his life after suffering a stroke that paralyzed him almost completely. His four symphonies (left fifth unreviewed), are selected from the Mexican orchestral repertoire of the twentieth century . He died on 3 May 1970. Link to Wikipedia biography (Spanish)