Henrique Oswald

Considered as one of the most important composers of his generation, Henrique Oswald (1852-1931) cultivated a refined and Romantically inspired style that is even today admired for its unique charm and craft. Although his parents sent him to Europe to study with Von Bülow, upon arriving in Italy Oswald decided to enter the Moriani Institute in Florence, where he studied counterpoint, harmony and composition. By 1896, having firmly established his reputation, Oswald, accompanied by his wife and a cellist, returned to Brazil where they performed his music to great acclaim in both São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. Oswald was sent back to Europe in 1900 as a diplomat, and was briefly unable to continue composing. In 1902 his work, Il Neige! won a five-hundred-franc first prize in a competition sponsored by the French newspaper, Figaro. It had been selected from 647 entries submitted from around the world. From 1903 to 1906 he directed the National Institute of Music in Rio de Janeiro. In 1922 the “Semana de Arte Moderna” manifesto produced a new artistic aesthetic in Brazil. Oswald’s music, now “drowned by the nationalistic tidal wave,” soon fell into disfavor.

Maestro Oswald’s Compositions