Cluzeau-Mortet, Luis Page 1 of 1

Cluzeau-Mortet, Luis
(b Montevideo, 16 Nov 1889; d Montevideo, 28 Sept 1957). Uruguayan composer,
viola player and pianist. He began music studies with his grandfather, Paul Faget,
and completed them with María Visca, who instructed him in string instruments.
From 1914 to 1930 he played the viola with the Asociación Uruguaya de Música de
Cámara while also giving numerous piano recitals. He was first violist in OSSODRE
(the Uruguay RSO) from its foundation in 1931 until his retirement in 1946. In 1938
he gave concerts of his works in various English cities, also visiting Paris.
Cluzeau-Mortet's creative career fell into three distinct periods. The first, a youthful
phase beginning in 1910, found him writing music of a marked Romantic-
Impressionist character. The second and aesthetically the most important period was
nationalist in spirit. Almost half his total works being to this period, the piano and
vocal works being considered his masterpieces. Pericón, 1918 (one of the Primeras
piezas criollas for piano), first performed in Montevideo by Artur Rubinstein, and
Canto de chingolo for voice and piano (1924), recorded by RCA Victor in 1930, are
his best and most representative works. Of the other works of this period, Rancherío
(1940) won a Uruguayan radio competition. In the third period, which occupied the
last decade of his life, he was influenced by the new trends in European music. His
output comprises almost 200 works, of which little more than a tenth has been
published.
WORKS
(selective list)

Orch: Llanuras, 1932; Soledad campestre, 1936; Rancherío, 1940; Sinfonía Artigas,
1951
Vocal: Paysages tristes, song cycle, 2 bks, 1914; Lloraban las campanas, v, pf,
1914; Tríptico primaveral, 3 songs, 1923; Canto de chingolo, v, pf, 1924; Tríptico
criollo, 3 songs, 1930; 60 more songs
Pf: Suite de valses, 2 vols., 1914; 13 Preludes, 1914–16; 8 Primeras piezas criollas,
1916–24; Nuestra tierra, 2 bks, 1943–7; 48 more pieces
1 ballet, incid music, chbr music, choral music, gui works

BIBLIOGRAPHY
S. Salgado: Luis Cluzeau-Mortet: vida y obra (Montevideo, 1964)
Compositores de America/Composers of the Americas, ed. Pan American Union, xiv
(Washington DC, 1968), 47–64
M. Ficher, M. Furman Schleifer and J.M. Furman: Latin American Classical
Composers: a Biographical Dictionary (Lanham, MD, and London, 1996)
SUSANA SALGADO

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