Jacobo Ficher, Argentine composer, and his Rapsodia, op. 88 for mixed choir and saxophone quartet

Jacobo Ficher (1896-1978) immigrated to Argentina from Russia in 1923 shortly after the Russian Revolution of 1917. Although Juan José Castro, Alberto Williams, and Alberto Ginastera are the composers most often named as representative of twentieth-century classical music of Argentina, Ficher, with nearly 140 chamber, piano, vocal and symphonic works, and numerous composition awards and professorship appointments to his credit, deserves to be listed with the others as a great contributor to the history, scope, and quality of art music in Argentina.

The goal of this essay is to familiarize the reader with Jacobo Ficher by way of a performance edition of his Rapsodia op. 88 (1956) for mixed choir and saxophone quartet. This unpublished work of Ficher’s will include a discussion of the structure, text, style, premiere, and performance history and reception of the composition, but will also serve as an introduction to Ficher’s life and contributions to the classical music canon of Argentina.