Biography
Vicente Emilio Sojo was born to a musical family. Most notable was the fact that both his great-grandfathers were Chapel Masters. In 1896 he began musical studies under professor Régulo Rico. In 1906 he moved to Caracas, where in 1910 he entered the School of Music and Declamation, while simultaneously continuing his self-taught studies in Humanities; in this period he began composing his first musical works. In 1921 he was appointed Music Professor in the School of Music and Declamation. He kept on composing works of diverse sorts for different instrumental and vocal combinations. In 1928, in the occasion of the foundation of the Orfeón (Choir) Lamas, he wrote his first polyphonic opus.
In 1930 he already was Conductor of the Orfeón Lamas and had founded the Venezuela Symphony Orchestra, of which he was not only conductor-founder, but a resolute and constant driving force. In 1940, together with other composers he prepared the first song book for Venezuelan children. In 1944, the first promotion of composers graduated under Sojo in the Jose Angel Lamas school of music.
Master Sojo also involved himself in domestic politics: he was one of the founders of the Accion Democratica Party (AD) in 1941. In 1958 was elected senator of the Republic by the Miranda state and was re-elected in 1963.
Vicente Emilio Sojo can be regarded as one of the main creators of the modern school of Venezuelan music. For the Orfeón Lamas, he compiled and he harmonized more than 200 songs of popular and national folklore, achieving a significant rescue of the Venezuelan musical tradition of the last centuries. Among his most important works are: Chromatic Mass (1922–1933) and Hodie Super Nos Fulgebit Lux (1935). In 1951 was granted the National Music award as recognition for his work.
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