ESNEIDER VALENCIA H.

Aldemaro Romero Zerpa (1928-2007) stands as a major Venezuelan composer of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. His classical repertoire numbers over 100 published works. Many of these pieces are large-scale compositions that re-elaborate material from popular sources, producing music that is deeply rooted in the vernacular traditions of Venezuela and that is represented within a universal context. Romero’s works for saxophone form an important part of his instrumental output. His repertoire for the instrument consists of ten compositions that include both orchestral and chamber music. This doctoral essay examines six of Romero’s solo and chamber saxophone works, writing a descriptive entry about each piece and summarizing the general characteristics of the composer’s output for the instrument as well as Romero’s use of the joropo into his compositions for saxophone. In addition to these six works, I also provide a detailed musical analysis of Saxomanía (2002) for saxophone quartet and orchestra. Through this analysis, I highlight Romero’s use of conventional classical forms, along with his thematic structures and native Venezuelan rhythmic and harmonic features. Focusing on the hybridization process inherent in this music, I demonstrate how Romero successfully mixes classical forms with local features from Venezuela.

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