5 canciones populares argentinas, Op. 10

In Argentina, the militant revolutionary activity of the late 1930s and early 1940s solidified the power of politicians who, according to Aaron Copland, placed musical policy entirely in the hands of "a small group of conservative musicians" (Aaron Copland, "The Composers of South America," Modern Music vol. 19 (February 1942) 77). During this period, Alberto Ginastera allied himself with Argentine intellectuals and artists in criticism of Juan Perón’s policies and signed a manifesto in defense of democratic principles and artistic freedom, for which the composer was eventually dismissed from his teaching positions at state-run institutions. In the midst of this unrest, echoing Bartók’s 1924 penning of Hungarian Folksong as "a declaration of war on the cultural policies of the Horthy regime" (Lajos Lesznai, Bartók (London: J.M. Dent & Sons, Ltd., 1973) 120), Ginastera composed his opus 10 of 1943, Cinco canciones populares argentinas, or Five Popular Argentine Songs.