(1904-1996) National Artist for Music
He was born on May 4, 1904 in Baliwag, Bulacan. 1904 He was the son of Luciano Buenaventura Buenaventura and Leocadia Ramirez. Ramirez. At a young age, he was already exposed to music. He became proficient in playing the clarinet clarinet..
Later on, he conducted the Banda Buenaventura. He studied at the Conservatory of Music in the University of the Philippines. (He graduated with a teacher’s diploma in science and composition in 1932. )
While he was still studying at the Conservatory, he joined the Music Seniors Organization. (He served as its first president)
He organized the first student string quartet .
UP
(the nucleus of the UP Junior Symphony Orchestra)
He also served as conductor of the UP ROTC Band.
In 1935, Buenaventura was appointed by Jorge Bocobo, as a member of the UP president’s advisory committee on folk songs and dances.
Together with his colleagues, Francisca Reyes and Ramon Tolentino, he researched and documented the traditional music and dances of Filipinos around the country.
In 1939, he became the music instructor and band conductor of the Philippine Military Academy. When Second World War broke out, he, and his wife Rizalina Exconde, founded the San Pablo Music Academy in Laguna.
After the war, he reorganize the Philippine Constabulary Band. He was able to reassemble 98 of its original members. He led the band, and became the Philippine Army Band, for 16 years, until his retirement from military service in 1961.
In 1948, he served as coconductor of the Manila Symphony Orchestra. After retiring from military service, he became the director of the Conservatory of Music of the University of Santo Tomas.
In 1964, he organized the School of Music and Arts of the University of the East. Buenaventura represented the Philippines in various international conferences.
(As president of the National Music Council, he represented the country in the International Council of Music in Rome in 1962, and Hamburg, in 1964. He went to Kyoto, Japan in 1974 as vice chairman of the League of Filipino Composers. In 1976m he was the Philippine representative to the General Assembly of the International Society for Music Education which was held in Switzerland. He was the over-all coordinator of the Second Southeast Asian Bandmasters’ Association and a member of the 40th Anniversary of the All-Nippon Bandmasters’ Association held in Tokyo, Japan in 1978.)
Buenaventura held the singular distinction of adopting ethnic and folk materials neoclassical or neoromantic style. He saw the potential of Philippine indigenous musical traditions in creating what is now called the “Philippine Sound.”
Minuet (1937), for chamber orchestra “Mindanao Sketches” (1947), a tone-poem “Divertimento for Piano and Orchestra” (1959) “Variations and Fugue” for full orchestra
“Greetings” (1978), a fantasy piece for band based on the kumintang of the Batangueños. “Pandanggo sa Ilaw” which was composed in 1936. (This composition was originally intended to accompany a dance choreographed by Francisca Reyes-Aquino. It later became a song, renamed “Pandangguhan” by Levi Celerio, who wrote the lyrics.)
“Echoes of the Philippines” which was performed by the Philippine Constabulary Band under Loving at the Golden Gate Exposition in Californiain 1936. In 1947, he composed “By the Hillside” which became one of the country’s widely performed symphonic works.
In 1986, Buenaventura composed “ Awit sa Tagumpay ng Bayan,” which was dedicated to the People Power Revolution in February 1986. In 1966, Buenaventura wrote a book, Sing and be Happy, which was used by music classes in grades V and VI.
Band Conductor of the Year (1951), from the Music Lovers Society Patnubay ng Sining at Kalinangan Award (1971)
Pro Mundi Beneficial Medal and Diploma Award (1975), from the Academia Braziliera de Ciencias Humanas The Award of Merit for Outstanding Contributions to Philippine Music (1976), given by the Philippine Army Director Emeritus Award (1981), from the University of the East
In 1988, President Corazon C. Aquino named him National Artist for Music. Buenaventura was included in Who’s Who in the World in 1974 and in the Directory of International Biographies the following year. Buenaventura was married to Rizalina Exconde, by whom he had four children.
He died on January 25, 1996 at the age of 92. His remains lie with Filipino heroes and other great men at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.
Hallazgo, J.A. Encyclopedia of Philippine Art Volume 6. Manila: Cultural Center of thePhilippines, 1994. “Buenaventura, National Artist for Music Dies. ” Philippine Daily Inquirer. January 28, 1996. p.5.
http://www.ncca.gov.ph/about-ncca/orgawards/music/antonio_buenaventura.php http://www.nhi.gov.ph/downloads/ca0016.pdf
ALVAREZ ARELLANO COQUIA
LIM RAMONES RELEVO
YU
