Chávez was
trained primarily as a pianist and developed much of his compositional
skills independent of instructors. Coming of age at the close of the
Mexican revolution and during a time of renewed cultural nationalism,
Chávez's investigation of indigenous Indian cultures, native folk
elements, and dance forms brought an unprecedented vigor and visibility
to 20th-century Mexican music. A master of orchestration, Chávez's use
of native instruments was inimitable with polyrhythms, cross-rhythms,
syncopation, and numerous irregular meters often significant elements of
compositonal structure. Works such as the Sinfonía de Antígona, Sinfonia India, and a ballet for Martha Graham (La Hija de Cólquide, "The Dark Meadow") were celebrated for their remarkably distinctive and original sound.
