Villa Rojo, Jesús

Marta Cureses https://doi.org/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.42028

Published in print: 20 January 2001
Published online: 2001
(b Brihuega, Guadalajara, Feb 24, 1940). Spanish composer and clarinettist. He studied at
the Madrid Conservatory, where his teachers included Cristóbal Halffter for composition;
in 1965 he received a grant to study with Jesús Bal y Gay. After graduating in 1967 he
spent a year teaching the clarinet, then studied further with Boris Porena at the
Accademia Chigiana, Siena (1969), and with Franco Evangelisti and Petrassi at the
Accademia di S Cecilia, Rome (1970–72).
Villa Rojo performed with ensembles including Nuova Consonanza, the Forum Players and
Nuove Forme Sonore from the early 1970s, and in 1975 founded the ensemble
Laboratorio de Interpretación Musical (LIM). Iconoclastic to an exceptional degree, on
becoming director of the last-named he gained immediate attention by breaking decisively
with the static aesthetic that had dominated performance in Spanish musical life. In his
dual role of performer and director Villa Rojo has always been at pains to facilitate
communication between a work and its audience.
His earliest works – Cuatro movimientos for wind quintet (1967), Música sobre un tema
for instrumental ensemble and Sonata for clarinet and piano (both 1968) – reveal a
predilection for eliminating the superfluous and a tendency towards the abstract and
experimentation with sound as the organizing principles of his work. While not rejecting
his traditional training, he quickly found his own direction. To the years spent in Siena and
Rome belong Musica para obtener equis resultados (1969), for a single performer on
clarinet and piano, and Variations (1970), for an ensemble of unspecified instruments, in
which there are early indications of the path he took later with the series of Juegos
gráfico-musicales. Among his compositions of the 1980s are a number of multi-media
works, such as En el centro del ciclón, RND Draw and Sombras y luces para una
improvisación; later outstanding electro-acoustic works include the tape composition
Caminando por el sonido (1991).
In 1994 Villa Rojo's work was recognized by the award of the National Music Prize for
Composition. As director of the Centro para la Difusión de la Música Contemporánea
(1995–7) he has played an important role as an organizer, performer, and disseminator of
experimental music by many Spanish and foreign composers. The importance of his work,
above all in matters involving new techniques and sound possibilities realized in different
media, lies in its application of theoretical and conceptual principles to practical execution.
Among Villa Rojo's writings, El clarinete y sus posibilidades (1975) examines new
techniques designed to broaden the performing capabilities of the clarinet. Juegos gráfico-
musicales (1982), a study encapsulating some years of work and research on new
approaches to composition, contains analyses (from a graphic and interpretative
viewpoint) and editions of the works with the same title composed between 1972 and
1975.
Works Orchestral
Formas y fases, cl, chbr orch, 1971 Formas planas, str, 1972 Diálogos posibles, chbr orch,
1973 Derivaciones espaciales y temporales, 1974 Conc. grosso no.1, ob, cl, bn, str, 1975
Rupturas, 1975–6 Conc. grosso no.2, pf, vib, clvd, chbr orch, 1976 Vn Conc., 1977 Conc.
grosso no.3, hn, tpt, trbn, chbr orch, 1978 Continuo, 1979 Antilogía, 1979–80 Vc Conc.,
1982–3 Cl Conc. (Quasi un solo), 1989–91 Concierto plateresco, ob, str, 1995–7 Vocal
Choral 2 piezas sacras (liturgical texts), chorus, 1969 Girando sobre diversos centros,
chorus, insts, 1972 Juegos gráfico-musicales V, chorus, 1974 Cant., S, B, spkr, chorus, fl,
ob, vn, vc, org, 1995.

Solo vocal
Juegos gráfico-musicales II, 1v, 1972 [also version for trbn]; Juegos gráfico-musicales IV,
1v, cl, trbn, db, 1972 [also version for str qt] Apuntes para una realización abierta, 1v, cl,
perc, pf, 1975 Ellos, 1v, fl, trbn, vc, perc, 1976 Cantar con Federico (F. García Lorca), 1v, fl,
1986 Cantar con Federico, Mez, orch, 1996–8 [also version for 1v, fl] Passacaglia y cante,
tape/2 flamenco cantaores, orch, 1997–8 Chamber Chamber 4 movimientos, wind qnt,
1967 Música sobre un tema, fl, ob, tpt, bn, 1968 Sonata, cl, pf, 1968 Música para obtener
equis resultados, cl + pf, 1969 Música sobre unos módulos, 2 fl, va, 1969 4 +, 4 cl, 1970
Tiempos, str qt, 1970 Variations (1970) Juegos gráfico-musicales III: Estructuras no.1, 4
wind/4 brass, 1972 Juegos gráfico-musicales III: Estructuras no.2, 1972 Juegos gráfico-
musicales IV, str qt, 1972 Planificaciones, cl, bn, tpt, trbn, vn, vc, 1972 Espaciado rítmico,
pf qt, 1975 Lineal-secco, str qt, 1975 Nosotros, vn, cl, perc, pf, 1976’ Vosotros y …, cl, fl,
bn, hn, trbn, vib, vn, vc, db, 1977 Acordar, trbn, perc, 1978 Klim, 5 cl, 1978 Y también, vn,
cl, vc, pf, 1978–9 Eglogas, 3 tpts, 3 hns, 3 trbns, 1979 Divertimento no.1, vn, vc, 1981
Espirales, fl, cl, bn, hn, trbn, vn, va, vc, 1983 Lineas convergentes, 5 sax, 1984 Recordando
a Bártok, vn, cl, pf, 1986 A modo de tiento, cl, vn, vc, perc, pf, 1988 Recordando a Falla, fl,
ob, cl, vn, vc, clvd, 1989 Glosas a Sebastián Durón, fl, ob, cl, vn, vc, 1990 Tango-Vals-
Ragtime, fl, cl, vn, vc, pf, 1995 Septeto, cl, bn, tpt, trbn, vn, vc, db, 1997–8 Solo
instrumental 9 piezas breves, pf, 1968–9 Juegos gráfico-musicales II, trbn, 1972 Juegos
gráfico-musicales VI, str inst, 1974 Juegos gráfico-musicales VII, kbd, 1976 Dimensiones, fl,
1981 Temples, gui, 1981 Eclipse, sax, 1982 6 pinceladas, gui, 1984 Invenciones, gui, 1988
Pieza de estudio, pf, 1995
Other works
Indeterminate works Obtener variantes, 1971 Juegos gráfico-musicales I, 4 groups insts,
1972 Material sonoro I–IV, 1979 Variaciones sin tema, V, insts, 1988 Tape Hoyada, db,
tape, 1981 Cartas a Génica V, tape, 1983 La flor de California, cl, tape, 1987 Historias en el
aire, vn, cl, vc, pf, tape, 1987–8 Vocabulario en LA, 4 S/(S, tape), 1988 Lamento, t sax, tape,
1989 Multi-media Hombre aterrorizado-dor (M. Bayo), actor, cl, light; Latidos urbanos,
insts, video, 1984 Sugerencias plástico-sonoras I, insts, video, 1984, Caminando por el
sonido, tape (1991)
Writings
‘El indefinido mundo del intérprete’, Sonda, no.7 (1974)
El clarinete y sus posibilidades (Madrid, 1975, 2/1984)
‘Autoanálisis’, 14 compositores españoles de hoy, ed. E. Casares (Oviedo, 1982)
Juegos gráfico-musicales (Madrid, 1982)
‘La grafía: problemática de la composición actual’, A tempo, 17 (1984), 11–19
‘La nueva grafía musical’, Colóquio-artes, 66/Sept (1985)
Other works
Indeterminate works
Obtener variantes, 1971
Juegos gráfico-musicales I, 4 groups insts, 1972
Material sonoro I–IV, 1979
Variaciones sin tema, V, insts, 1988
Tape
Hoyada, db, tape, 1981
Cartas a Génica V, tape, 1983
La flor de California, cl, tape, 1987
Historias en el aire, vn, cl, vc, pf, tape, 1987–8
Vocabulario en LA, 4 S/(S, tape), 1988
Lamento, t sax, tape, 1989
Multi-media
Hombre aterrorizado-dor (M. Bayo), actor, cl, light; Latidos urbanos, insts, video, 1984
Sugerencias plástico-sonoras I, insts, video, 1984, Caminando por el sonido, tape (1991)
Writings
‘El indefinido mundo del intérprete’, Sonda, no.7 (1974)
El clarinete y sus posibilidades (Madrid, 1975, 2/1984)
‘Autoanálisis’, 14 compositores españoles de hoy, ed. E. Casares (Oviedo, 1982)
Juegos gráfico-musicales (Madrid, 1982)
‘La grafía: problemática de la composición actual’, A tempo, 17 (1984), 11–19
‘La nueva grafía musical’, Colóquio-artes, 66/Sept (1985)