Andean Ancestral Roots

The Peruvian Sounds in Francisco Pulgar-Vidal’s Piano Works

By Po Sim Head (Omega Omega, Kansas City Alumni)

Peru, the third largest country in South America, boasts a vast array of geography, ecology, demographics and politics. This diversity is reflected in Peru’s art and folk music, including its solo piano repertoire. Peruvian folk music varies depending on the region, and Peruvian composers have been incorporating unique folk elements for decades, if not centuries. The emergence of Peruvian art music during the early and mid-20th century was particularly significant for current composers and their works. Francisco Pulgar-Vidal (1929-2012), a pianist, composer and educator belonging to the Generation of Fifty, explored a variety of indigenous musical traditions while utilizing twelve-tone and other European techniques. This article aims to introduce him and his contribution to Peruvian music. Specifically, this article will look at the use of traditional musical elements in his piano works.

Francisco Pulgar-Vidal was born on March 12, 1929, in Huánuco, a city located in central Peru. He grew up with eight siblings, including his eldest brother Javier Pulgar-Vidal (19112003), who was a renowned historian and geographer. Despite graduating as a lawyer from the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos in 1950, where he also completed studies in art and literature, Francisco’s real passion was for music. In 1943, he started taking music lessons and learned to play the violin and piano with Mariano Béjar Pacheco and Gustavo Leguía, respectively. Additionally, he studied bassoon performance at the National Music Conservatory in Lima in 1949.

A composer of the Generation of the Fifty, Pulgar-Vidal gained recognition in Peru for his blend of avant-garde contemporary style with traditional Peruvian sounds. He was awarded the Dunker Lavalle Prize three times, for his first and third string quartets, as well as his piano sonata. His vocal piece, Tres Poemas Líricos (Three Lyrical Poems) for a cappella choir, was also praised as “the most widespread and important works of Peruvian choral literature.” In 1971, his cantata Apu Inqa earned him the only prize at the Choral-Symphonic Composition Contest, which was organized for the 150th anniversary of Peruvian Independence. He was also honored with the Kunter National Folklore Prize in 1995.

Characteristics in Pulgar-Vidal’s Piano Works

Pulgar-Vidal’s piano compositions showcase a blend of European and Peruvian musical styles, much like his orchestral and choral works. In this article, I will explore four of his piano pieces — Paco Yunque (1960), Pases (1974), Sonatina Chuscada (1972) and Taki No.1 (1956-for piano; 1960-for orchestra) — and classify them based on their incorporation of national themes, use of pentatonic scales, bimodality and interlocking technique, call-andresponse patterns, hemiola, parallel harmonization, syncopation and offbeat accents.

1. Use of Nationalistic themes

The composer incorporated elements of Peruvian culture into his piano compositions using nationalistic themes. One of his most well-known works is Paco Yunque, a suite consisting of three pieces based on Peruvian novels and poems. The first piece, Paco Yunque, was inspired by a popular children’s book of the same name written by Peruvian writer and poet César Vallejo in 1931. Taki No.1 is an eight-piece suite that reflects the scenes and activities in the Andes through its titles. Additionally, Pases, a short piece that can be played solo or with a cajón, is based on the Peruvian folk dance festejo and Latin dance zapateo. Both dances are associated with the movements and rhythms created by foot-tapping. Finally, Sonatina Chuscada, a piece in three movements, is inspired by the wayno, a popular genre in the South Andes and is also known as Chuscada.

2. Use of pentatonic scale

Peruvian music is renowned for its use of the pentatonic scale. The quena and antara are some of the traditional instruments that have a restricted range within this scale. In Peruvian culture, these are generally used in solo pieces. The pentatonic scale holds great significance in religious and ceremonial music, particularly among the Inca community. In the Harawi genre, a group of elderly women sing, and the pentatonic scale plays a crucial part. The first movement of Pulgar-Vidal’s Sonatina Chuscada is an example of the use pentatonic scales. The piece also employs two pentatonic scales, with the same tonal center in both the right-hand melody and left-hand accompaniment.

3. Bitonality and Interlocking

Peruvian and Andean music commonly employs bimodality, where two different sets of pitches are alternated or even placed side by side within a piece. In Andean music, instrument tuning was crucial, with neighboring tones and microtonal intervals often utilized.1 Traditional Sikuri ensembles use an interlocking technique called tenzado. This technique involves players of larger panpipes working together to provide continuity and longer phrases. The players are often divided into two groups, with each group playing a different melody or rhythmic pattern alternately to create a complete melodic or rhythmic line. This technique was developed in response to the difficulty posed by playing Peruvian panpipes in high altitude of the Andes, which requires a lot of air. In the final movement of Sonatina Chuscada, Pulgar-Vidal applies a pentatonic scale in the right hand and a diatonic scale in the left to mimic the interlocking dissonance characteristic of sikuri ensemble music.

4. Call-and-response

Call-and-response refers to a musical pattern between two successive phrases where the second phrase is a response to the first phrase. It is a common pattern found in African music and it was brought to Peru in the nineteenth century. It is found in ritual music and Afro-Peruvian genres, such as marinera, festejo, and contrapunto de zapateo.

In Pulgar-Vidal’s piano works, the call-and-response pattern is often paired with a contrapuntal texture and accompanied by some baroque compositional techniques such as diminution, imitation and stretto. For example, in Fuiste a la puna grande, the subject between the upper and the lower voice is the calland-response pattern. It is sometimes present in contrapuntal texture when a countersubject is played against the main subject.

5. Hemiola (sesquialtera in Latin American)

Hemiola in Pulgar-Vidal’s music reflects the influence of marinera, a blend of Spanish Roma and Afro-Peruvian music that was popular in 1950s Peru.

In the following examples, Pulgar-Vidal uses the hemiola to evoke disparate moods. Mi pobre pollo pintado and Quebrada Pedregosa are two contrasting compositions featured in Taki No.1. Mi pobre pollo pintado is a serene and melancholic piece where hemiola is used in a nondisruptive manner. Quebrada Pedregosa, on the other hand, employs hemiola as a consistent rhythmic beat throughout the entirety of the composition.

6. Parallel Harmonization and simple harmony

Sikuri ensembles typically consist of four instruments, ranging from soprano to bass. Usually, the instruments doubled the melodies in octaves or parallel thirds and fifths apart, forming a parallel harmonization.

Parallel harmonization takes place in many of the selected works. For example, in Lucero de la mañana from Taki no.1, the voices are played in parallel motion, and the bottom two voices are set a third apart for almost the entire piece.

7. Syncopation and off-beat accent

Syncopation, with the short-long-short rhythmic pattern, is an element of Andean music. Such rhythmic pattern is found frequently in Pulgar-Vidal’s music, like in Danza Turcos and Cóndor de diamante from Taki No.1. The syncopated rhythm enhances the dancelike mood in Danza Turcos, while in Cóndor de diamante it creates a more gentle and elegant feeling. An offbeat accent is sometimes added in the syncopations, such as the ending of Lucero de la mañana.

The off-beat accents are used effectively in Pases. Based on the Peruvian folk dances, the rhythmic patterns in Pases are created by imitating the dancing rhythm of the tap dancer and the off-beat accents generate excitement in the piece.

Pulgar-Vidal, a prominent composer of his time, ingeniously combined traditional folk elements with experimental techniques of the European avant-garde to create a unique sound. The selected piano pieces by Pulgar-Vidal showcase his creativity in bringing the vibrant Peruvian culture into piano music. Although these works are not typically included in the piano repertoire, they are worth exploring for a broader audience. Playing these pieces can help audiences appreciate the unique and appealing musical styles of Peruvian music. I hope this article serves as a foundation for future research in this area and encourages the discovery of other undiscovered Peruvian musicians. I would like to acknowledge Elsa Pulgar-Vidal (the widow of Pulgar-Vidal) and Filarmonika Music Publishing, for granting permission and providing support in writing this article.

Pases, Paco Yunque, Sonatina Chuscada and Taki no.1 by Francisco Pulgar-Vidal is exclusively published by Filarmonika Music Publishing.

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Born in Hong Kong, Po Sim Head (Omega Omega, Kansas City Alumni) is a pianist, educator and musicologist who has a strong passion for discovering lesser-known piano repertoire from Latin America. Head received a doctorate degree in piano performance and pedagogy from the University of Kansas under the instruction of Scott McBride Smith. Her thesis introduced a few piano compositions written by a Peruvian composer Francisco Pulgar-Vidal, some of which are included on her Navona Records release. Prior to her doctorate degree, Head received her master’s degrees in piano performance and musicology from the University of Missouri-Kansas City and earned a bachelor’s degree in music composition and production at Hong Kong Baptist University.