Jorge Peixinho: homage as a vehicle for musical gestures

Abstract

Jorge Peixinho (1940-1995) was a major Portuguese composer of the avant-garde musical movement from the second half of the twentieth century. Jorge Peixinho’s works catalogue, elaborated by Delgado, Machado, and Machado (2002), was consulted as the main source for the identification of 21 guitar works (some with several versions) composed through a period of 24 years (1971-1994). Set in the framework of Artistic Research, as understood by Correia (2017), this work is characterized by the articulated juxtaposition of two interdependent components: the creation of verbalizable knowledge, through conventional methods of investigation, and the creation of non-verbalizable embodied knowledge, through creative processes specific to artistic production. This communication proposal focuses on an original composition for solo guitar, entitled Jorge Peixinho - In Memoriam, which was crafted from musical gestures and other specificities found on Peixinho’s guitar output. The aim is to spread Peixinho’s music through this homage, quoting 11 of his barely known guitar works, which deserve to be part of the main guitar repertoire from last century’s European art music.