| This dissertation explores the question of how musical nationalism was manifested in Venezuela by investigating the activities of Juan Bautista Plaza, one of the most influential musicians in the history of Venezuelan art music yet virtually unknown outside his country. Plaza lived during a period when Latin American nations were seeking intensively to concretize their identities by exploring and exalting native culture. Classically trained musicians did this by incorporating elements of national folk and indigenous music into their compositions, and by working patriotically to develop a modern musical "infrastructure" for the benefit of countrymen who appreciated European and national art music. Plaza, like contemporaries in other Latin American lands, devoted his life to educating his compatriots about Western art music and national folk music, building musical organizations and ensembles, and composing nationalist and non-nationalist works to build a native repertory.;Most of the research for this study was conducted in Caracas, Venezuela at Plaza's private archive and at the National Library. Data was collected from interviews, newspapers, magazines, letters, diaries, music scores, and other documents.;The research shows that Plaza's ideas for modernizing Venezuelan art music culture developed while studying in Rome; after returning to Caracas he allied himself with others of like mind and put his ideas into practice. For over forty years he was active as a composer, educator, lecturer, music critic, scholar, performer, organizer, and essayist, and was acknowledged as Venezuela's highest authority on Western art music history, music education, and sacred music. Though he and his colleagues worked with the best good will, not everyone agreed with their methods and philosophies, and their projects often suffered delays and setbacks due to bureaucratic and financial problems.;Nevertheless, by the middle of the twentieth century Venezuelan art music culture had reached an unprecedented level of sophistication, due to the efforts of Plaza. and his associates. investigating the development of Venezuelan art music culture by examining Plaza's activities during the critical "nationalist" period leads to a better understanding of the history of Venezuelan art music, and therefore to a better understanding of the history of music in Latin America. |
