The legacy of René Amengual, 112 years after his birth

112 years after the birth of René Amengual (September 2, 2011 - August 2, 1954), we remember his legacy as a pianist, educator and composer.

René Amengual began his musical studies with his mother, Aurora Astaburuaga, who taught him his first piano works. He entered the National Conservatory of Music in 1923, when he was only 12 years old. He was a piano student of Rosita Renard and Alberto Spikin, and of Pedro Humberto Allende in composition.

In 1928, as Raúl Besoaín points out in the book René Amengual, a music lover, to help pay for his studies, Amengual played the piano at the Venus Theater in San Bernardo, while the public appreciated the silent films that were exhibited. In that same theater he gave one of his first concerts, together with the Infantry School Band.

In 1936, he joined the founding meeting of the National Association of Composers (ANC), created by Domingo Santa Cruz, whose objective was to ensure the identity of Chilean scholarly music. In 1937, he joined the faculty of the Manuel de Salas Experimental High School, creating the High School Anthem in those years.

In 1940, together with Elena Waiss, Alfonso Letelier and Juan Orrego Salas, he founded the Escuela Moderna de Música y Danza, which would only receive recognition as a professional institution in 1989.

For the commemoration of the centenary of the University of Chile, a contest is held to choose the institutional Hymn. René Amengual, together with the poet Julio Barrenechea, win the Unique Prize with "Graduate, teacher, student", which was released on November 19, 1942 at the Municipal Theater, performed by the Choir and the Symphony Orchestra, directed by Armando Carvajal.

In 1943, he received a scholarship from the Institute of International Education to study in the United States and give concerts of Chilean scholarly works. In total, he gave 32 concerts in which he performed works by Soro, Leng, Allende, Isamitt, Bisquertt, as well as Latin American composers such as Guarnieri (Brazil), Fabini (Uruguay), Manuel Ponce (Mexico), among others.

He was so well received in New York that he gave a series of lectures at the Eastman School of Music and at Columbia University, where he was introduced by Eleanor Roosevelt in the University Auditorium. He also lectured at the Universities of Pennsylvania and Boston. Amengual's repercussion in the United States was such that NBC radio broadcast his works, performed by the radio orchestra, under the direction of Leopoldo Stokowsky. His "Symphonic Prelude" and "Quartet No. 1" had a great reception. In 1944, at the Julliard School of Music, his "Sonata for violin and piano", composed on North American soil, premiered.

Returning to Chile, in 1944, he resumed his pedagogical activity, but thanks to his experience in the United States, he wanted to replicate the spaces and structures for music education, since it was necessary to have adequate rooms to teach and appreciate music. . For this reason, since he took over as director of the Conservatory, in 1947, he asked the government authorities to send a bill to create a new, larger and more modern building for the Conservatory.

In 1950, at the Second Musical Festivals of the Conservatory, Amengual presented some works, including "Ten short preludes" and "Concert for harp and orchestra", which won second prize. This work was started in the United States and finished in Chile, and it is the first to receive North American influence, elements of Gershwin-style jazz. In 1953, he performed at the Third Musical Festivals with the work "Sextet for winds", which was chosen to represent the country at the 27th Festival of the International Society for Contemporary Music (SIMC), organized, among others, by the Chilean composer Carlos Riesco and that would take place in Oslo, in 1953.

In 1953, Amengual traveled to Norway for the SIMC Festival, together with Domingo Santa Cruz. His work "Sextet for winds" receives an honorable mention at the festival. Then, Amengual and Santa Cruz go on a tour of various European countries sponsored by SIMC and participate in education conferences at Unesco.

On August 2, 1953, René said goodbye to his friend Domingo, who stayed in Salzburg, and returned to Chile.

A year later, René Amengual died of misdiagnosed peritonitis, bringing the whole country into mourning, just as Claudio Arrau was on tour in Chile.

One of the last people who was with him was his friend Elena Waiss, and Alfonso Letelier had the mission of seeing him off at the wake held by his colleagues and students at the Conservatory.

René Amengual had a very brief life in which he dedicated himself completely to teaching and music, leaving a fundamental legacy for Chilean scholarly music.

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