ABSTRACT
In the early twentieth century, Latin-American composers also turned to national musical sources as the basis for developing their personal musical languages. Some of these composers were trained either in Europe or the United States, enabling them to draw from Romantic, impressionistic, and Neoclassical as well as more modernistic styles as the basis for establishing a contemporary idiom imbued with the color of their own musical folklore. The individual nationalistic inclinations of these Latin-American composers varied according to prevailing sociopolitical and cultural conditions within their own national boundaries. Nevertheless, in all cases, the search for a national identity in the arts was an outgrowth of increasing national awareness stemming from the movement toward national independence. The emergence of distinctive national styles in Latin America became evident only in the late nineteenth century, with a more global movement toward the breakdown of German musical hegemony, which was first challenged by a nationalistic surge in Russia and the rise of new styles in France. In the nineteenth century, colonial institutions and the presence of foreign artists in Latin America continued to influence musical developments, and it was only with increasing emphasis on the training of national artists and the new awareness of the possibilities inherent in folk and popular sources that a shift away from the prevalence of European musical traditions was finally possible.
