Boston Symphony Orchestra’s annual summer music academy was the first leg of Rosendo’s UNESCO Fellowship tour from July 2 through August 12, 1956, fulfilling his dream of studying in the United States. This would be his first experience on the mainland of the U.S. He would later return and stay permanently.
These photographs illustrate his brief stay at Tanglewood Music Center, Massachusetts, and the interaction with and instruction from the internationally recognized resident artists.
Aaron Copland:
Irving Fine:
Charles Munch:
Eleazar de Carvalho:
Twelve Piano Pieces in the 12-Tone Technique (Sept. 3, 1956):
Rosendo’s music generally combines folk melodicism with percussive bitonalism and other atonal special effects. On September 3, 1956 (his 34th birthday!), he finished a manuscript in London, England, Twelve Piano Pieces in the 12-Tone Technique. This set of piano pieces would generate curiosity in the minds of those who were familiar with his views on Serialism and other Postmodern styles that were in fashion in this era of the 20th century, if it were not for the context of this brief apprenticeship with Aaron Copland and others at Tanglewood. Copland himself at this time was preoccupied with Serialism, especially as the postwar period was elevating the compositional approach, and Rosendo later remembers this experience with Copland as largely focused on Serialism. Recently, this work was used by pianist Rudolf Golez in partial fulfillment for the course Doctor in Philosophy, major in Piano Performance. He recorded the entire set of pieces and posted it in June of 2021. We are grateful to Maestro Golez for revisiting this moment in Rosendo’s life and demonstrating that he was an artist who wished to express himself in many different ways.