Un percusionista que trabajó principalmente como director de orquesta, José Moncayo escribió un par de sinfonías, una ópera y un ballet, entre una producción relativamente modesta. En 1941, Carlos Chávez le pidió a Moncayo que escribiera una pieza basada en la música popular de la zona de Veracruz en el Golfo de México para la Orquesta Sinfónica de México, en la que Moncayo había tocado como percusionista desde su fundación en 1932.

“Blas Galindo [a fellow composer and colleague] and I went to Alvarado, one of the places where folkloric music is preserved in its most pure form; we were collecting melodies, rhythms, and instrumentations for several days,” Moncayo recalled for one of his students. “The transcription of it was very difficult because the huapangueros never sang the same melody twice in the same way. When I came back, I showed the collected material to[composer]Candelario Huízar, who gave me a piece of advice that I will always be grateful for: ‘Introduce the material first in the same way you heard it and develop it later according to your own ideas.’ And I did it, and the result is almost satisfactory for me.”

Moncayo incorporated three traditional Veracruz huapangos—“Siqui-Siri,” “Balajú,” and “El Gavilán”—into his orchestral masterpiece. Colorfully orchestrated with an emphasis on instruments typical of the Veracruz style (trumpet, harp, and violins) and driven by the form’s distinctive rhythm, Huapango has become an enduring classic. Chávez premiered it in August 1941 at the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City.

—From the LA Phil’s archive