Rodolfo Halffter, Director, Department of Music. Awarded the National Prize in Arts and Sciences for his music, 1976. Member, Mexican Academy of Arts, since 1969.
Background
Halffter, Rodolfo was born on October 30, 1900 in Madrid, Spain. Worked with Carlos Chávez and Blás Galindo. Brother Ernesto, prominent musician and critic.
Son of Germán Halffter, a German, and a Spanish mother son Gonzalo a prominent entymologist.
Education
Early education unknown. Self-taught as a musician. Studied under Manuel de Falla in Spain.
Professor of Musical Analysis, Higher School of Music and the National Conservatory of Music, 1941-1967. Professor of Musical Analysis, School of Music, United Nations AM, 1967.
Career
Director, Department of Music, Subsecretary of Press, Republican Government, Spain, 1936. Director, Department of Concert Music, Society of Authors and Composers, 1957. Director, Technical Secretariat of the Department of Music, National Institute of Fine Arts, 1959.
Secretary, Technical Council, National Symphony Orchestra, 1961. Founder of first Mexican contemporary ballet company, La Paloma Azul, 1940. Director, Nuestra, 1946.
Managing Director, Ediciones Mexicanas de Música, 1946. Naturalized Mexican citizen, October 29, 1940.
Membership
Member, Mexican Academy of Arts, since 1969.