This presentation will essentially be a compare and contrast between two pieces of

music from very different composers, but with a specific goal: to highlight the neo-
romantic qualities within each piece.

The two pieces that will be presented are Suite Valenciana by Vicente Asencio and
the first four, of a total of five movements of Suite Pour Guitare, Op. 41 by Jacques
Hetu.

Both of these composers were born in the twentieth century, but vary quite
drastically in terms of background. This refers to their musical upbringing,
influences and place of birth.

Jacques Hetu
 Born in Quebec in 1938
 Studied in Quebec and Paris later on with Olivier Messiaen
 Romantic : Beethoven, Schubert, Wagner, Brahms, Mahler
 Later : Berg, Bartok, Messaien, Ravel, Shosty,
 Interesting to see all influences are romantic…

Vicente Asencio
 Born in Valencia, Spain in 1908
 Studied in Spain, including with Joaquin Turina

These two compositions can be seen as a result of those differences, but with that
being said, there is a connection between them, and that is the neo-romantic
influence, which will be presented in this lecture.

To highlight qualities of a specific genre, one would have to define those qualities.
This is no easy task because there are always exceptions and various overlaps
within genres. In other words it can be a grey area, so I will just highlight the
mainstream qualities of romanticism:
 Focus on expressiveness rather than intellectualism
 Antithesis to the enlightenment
 Popular forms of the time
 Use of rubato

Firstly, we will take a look at Suite Pour Guitare.

“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”,
Always has a theme and tonal center

Right away just looking at the first four movements, we have a Prelude, Nocturne,
Ballade and Reverie. The Nocturne and Ballade are musical forms that although can
be traced back to before the 19th century, were made most famous by Chopin. The
reverie, is the same case although Debussy is most famous for this.. Already there is
a hint of influence of the past, particularly with the 19 th century. Even with the
prelude,

Prelude – one part form, introductory movement that resembles Chopin and Bach
“No divisive aspect in design”

(no direct link to chopin and debussy, but has link to messain who is linked to
chopin)

Prelude resembles Chopin piano prelude op.28 having ‘four phrases’ page 20

Prelude also resembles liszt – 4 augmented triads = 12 notes of chromatic scale

PRELUDE IS NOT USING A TONE ROW

Highlight ambiguity of perfect and augmented fifth – page 22 – sign of modern

technique

In the Nocturne the octotonic scale is used, in the Ballade as well. Although in the
Ballade he does it in a way that obscures tonality – can be seen as a modern
technique done by Debussy – Faun example

Reverie – use of the fourth interval to create a dream like effect? Define dissonance
as simple something that needs resolution, even if it sounds consonant

Asencio

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.