Who is Francis Schwartz?

​“None of us were born loving Beethoven’s music. Music is an experience that must be repeated.

It’s a habit one creates.”

– Francis Schwartz

THE APPROACH

From declarations that sounded like “Schwartz is a genius!” to petitions of “please ask him about his ballets”, I had no idea what attitude to take towards the interview that I had to do upon that man whose name I couldn’t even pronounceproperly. I must accept that the disquietude was so intense I took my time to contact him. Overall, I was just intimidated to meet one of the most important composers that the island of Puerto Rico has had. That is until I read composer Rodolfo Cordova’s article, Grupo Fluxus de Puerto Rico: Una Guerilla Musical. The article, published in The Conservatory of Puerto Rico’s online magazine, Musiké, narrates biographically the history of Fluxus Puerto Rico, also known as the first group to open the island’s ears to the aleatory & experimental music of the XX century, founded by Francis Schwartz and Rafaél Aponte Ledée.

SCHWARTZ VS THE WORLD

Francis Schwartz arrives to Puerto Rico in 1965, bumping to his surprise, into a very conservative public. In this period, the Casals Festival was one of the most influential music events in Puerto Rico. Nonetheless, even though it served a decade of existence, they only presented music that was very classical. According to Schwartz, it wasn’t just the public that was ignorant towards this so-called “new music”, but the musicians themselves did not seem to be slightlyinterested in changing the festival’s repertoire. In our interview, the composer ranted:

“I remember having a lot of friction with the Casals Festival. But I just couldn’t understand, and less accept the fact that the music played in such a modern country with an industrial revolution, would be so antique. The festival was meant to educate and promote art. But how are you going to educate the people if you’re denying the works composed in the last 60 years? It was forbidden to play Tchaikovsky, Ravel, Debussy, Stravinsky, and many other musician masters!”

And that is how Fluxus of Puerto Rico was born...

FLUXUS OF PUERTO RICO

The group, Fluxus of Puerto Rico, was founded in 1968 by composers Rafael Aponte Ledeé and Francis Schwartz with the sole purpose of presenting their own works as well as other composers, such as Stravinsky and John Cage. Due to their mutual interest in aleatory music and the apathy towards the Casals Festival’s program, Rafael and Francis became affiliated very quickly after meeting in 1967. With only twenty-eight years of age, at this point of his life, Francis remarks:

“By that time my compositions were beginning to be presented worldwide. I was living in Puerto Rico working as a music critique for the San Juan Star newspaper as well as a professor in the University of Puerto Rico’s Río Piedras’ Campus.”

The Concert

Date: March 8, 1968

Location: El Ateneo Puertorriqueño

“A group of people assisted a concert of new music. As they entered the concert hall, a stage occupied by a piano, a stair, and barbwires awaited them. For the first time, Puerto Rico heard works by John Cage, Graciela Paraskevaídis, and Alcides Lanza. Through the execution of the premier, the sounds of the piano’s strings being scratched, combined with those of a train station, filled the hall. Simultaneously, a young man recited allegories about death and the fragility of being human… ”(Cordova, 2014)

“Ledée and I decided to present works that we knew would interest the public because we were both convinced that there were people in the island interested in the new music,” commented Francis. After presenting various works, the last nine minutes of Fluxus of Puerto Rico’s inaugurate concert, were provided by none other than Francis Shwartz.

Auschwitz (1968)

“The work alludes up to a point, to the tradition dedicated to the search of new mediums. It’s daring and causes a stimulus to different historical contexts.”

- Schwartz

The artistic and historical proposal of Auschwitz has ben the cause of its fame throughout generations. The work creates a disturbing environment where the terror that inhabited the Nazi concentration camps in World War II is represented. With the duration of eight minutes and a half, Auschwitz is composed of narrative elements, electronic sounds, and the experience of smell*. The protagonists are not only the interpreters but the public as well plays a vital roll. This method of “integrating diverse mediums in the same artistic proposal” is known as poli-art. The term was provided by critique Richard Kostelanetz in order to explain the artistic concept developed by Schwartz.

The history of Auschwitz’s inauguration, as told by Schwartz, runs as following:

The doors were closed when suddenly the hall began to be filled up with smoke caused by the burnt meat and hair while disturbing, electroacoustic sounds began to penetrate the ears of the spectators. The public became restless up to the point were various people tried to leave the theater; this was in vain because it wasn’t permitted*. Once the piece was done, the vast majority of the public was protesting my persona. Don Cholito commented in a tv channel, “that crazy man called franchi Chuar held the public hostage and filled the theater with smoke!”

Nonetheless, Schwartz abandoned the idea of focusing on the public’s negative reaction. After the inauguration of Fluxus of Puerto Rico, Auschwitzwas presented again, twice in the island, eliminating the element of surprise that had affected its first spectators. Years later, the piece arrived to The Dominican Republic through Fluxus of Puerto Rico’s tours. The Dominican public, coincidentally, had a much more open and empathetic perspective to everyone’s surprise. In fact, after the presentation concluded many members of the public approached the composer saying* that the piece reminded them of Dominican Dictator, Rafael ‘El Jefe’ Trujillo’s epoch.

FRANCIS SCHWARTZ IS A PISCES

As one may tell, I was able to overcome my useless* fears and approached* the composer. Up to this point, many people had provided me with his number as well as his email. In fact, had I not notice for procrastinating, I had the support of individuals who’ve known him for years, including composition professor, Manuel Ceide. I remember having heard some of Francis work being presented by Ceide’s group, Alea 21. It was amazing. I also came across some images of Schwartz making funny faces. Nonetheless, my brain wasn’t able to correlate the things I heard in Alea 21’s presentations versus what others told me about Francis. How was someone able to make one feel vulnerable through their art and be amiable and humble?

Schwartz is a Pisces. A mutable being swimming through life and presenting ideas in unimaginable ways. He considers himself to be a citizen of the world. His love for culture as well as the contact he’s had with its diversity have led him to appreciate and learn more about the pronunciation and enunciation of a variety of languages. Being a life-long musician, sounds fascinate Schwartz in passionate levels.

“Even though they have the same meaning, it’s not the same to say ‘Sí, sí, sí’ in Spanish versus ‘Oui, oui, oui’ in French. I am in favor of world peace. I don’t want to invade people. I just want to share music, good wine, food, coffee, and learn about culture with other people. I understand that world peace is a difficult thing to achieve. But the concept has motivated me throughout my career. The piece I composed in hono of Andrés Segovia, Que Reine La Paz: Homenaje a Andrés Segovia, for a guitar orchestra, is based on the world peace concept.”

MUSIC SHEETS IN CRAYOLA AND MOTHER’S PERFUME

After being asked on the reason behind the incorporation of theatrical elements in his works, Francis narrated an anecdote from his childhood.

“I don’t want to lie to you, I am not one-hundred percent sure why I started to incorporate these elements. Nonetheless, the extra-musical element always fascinated me. I remember writing my music sheets with Crayola and spraying them with my mom’s perfume. It was interesting to pass the page and have a new smell. It’s kind of like manipulating the environment.”

SHWARTZ

“I was a music critique for many years and I am aware that intelligent critique with an accurate base is very important for the arts because it allows a starting point to the spectators’ critical thinking. I think that there are a lot of critiques that don’t understand what I do and that’s okay because it has always happened. I don’t mind receiving intelligent critique but there are people out there that judge without even knowing.

I remember the repertoire I studied when I was nineteen and in college was all classical music from the western world. I remember how difficult it was to study Schoenberg’s Opus 19. I tried to analyze the piece many times but it simply didn’t make any sense to me. Luckily my teacher was friends with one of Schoenberg’s pianist and so I had a meeting* with him. In only fifteen minutes he opened my eyes to an incredible universe.

It’s important to not condemn before time. I invite everyone to listen to my music and if you don’t enjoy it, then that’s okay. There are so many music geners that it’s difficult to speak of them as a whole. None of us were born loving Beethoven’s* music. Music is an experience that must be repeated, it’s a habit one must create with time.”

Schwartz is currently living in Florida in the United States. The composer continues to travel the world making music and presenting his pieces. Even though it was very cliché of me, I went ahead and asked him if he had any advice for all young composers out there and he answered: Follow your heart and your instincts. So, how did it all ends? I can acclaim, as well as all the other that know his works, Francis Schwartz is a genius!