Preludio a Colón


Preludio a Colón, for soprano in fifths of a tone, flute, guitar, and violin in quarter tones, octavina in eighth-tones, and harp in sixteenth-tones, is a musical composition by the Mexican composer Julián Carrillo, written in 1922. The title is indicative of Carrillo's "Sonido 13" revolution.
The Preludio is Carrillo's best-known composition. It was composed in 1922 and first published in Henry Cowell's New Music Quarterly in 1944. The first performance took place in Mexico City on 15 February 1924, as part of a concert of microtonal music, responding directly to a request from José Gómez Ugarte, the editor of El Universal. Four other works by Carrillo were also on the program, along with several works by his students,, Elvira Larios, and Soledad Padilla.
It was first recorded for Columbia Records in 1928 by the Havana “Grupo 13”, conducted by Ángel Reyes. Other sources, however, give later dates for when this recording was made: two takes on 7 February 1930 in New York, or even not until some time in the 1940s.
A harp specially constructed for Carrillo's microtonal music, called arpacitera, plays 16th-tone glissandos as a superficial addition to the principal lines. The guitar is adapted for quarter-tone playing by the addition of extra frets, and the octavina is similarly fitted with extra frets for playing eighth tones. The latter instrument is also described as an "altered bass".
By the time of the 1944 publication of the score, Carrillo had made a new version, re-notated in a system of his own devising. This version of the score, dated 13 November 1934, dispenses with the conventional staff in favor of using numerals to indicate pitches, but retains the familiar rhythmic signs.
Four years after the composer's death, a third version of the work was published, which is re-scored for soprano, flute, string quartet, sixteenth-tone harp, and quarter-tone guitar. The date and circumstances of this version are not mentioned in the publication.

Recordings