Art Base

Frederic Rzewski's The People United Will Never Be Defeated! is based on Sergio Ortega’s protest song ¡El pueblo unido, jamás será vencido! with lyrics by the Chilean folk group Quilapayún. Recorded for the first time in 1973, it became extremely popular after Augusto Pinochet’s 1973 coup. After the coup, (which was supported by the CIA) the song took on new meaning as a universal protest song because another Chilean band, Inti-Illimani, (literally Sun of the Illimani - Illimani being a mountain in the Bolivian Andes) performed the song frequently in Europe where they were stranded because of the coup.

Rzewski intended the piece to be a companion to Beethoven's Diabelli Variations, and indeed it is comparable in scope.The piece consists of 36 variations comprising six sets of six variations. There is a theory that the five variations signify five fingers and the sixth signifies a clenched fist: the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. The piece was premiered on February 7, 1976, played by Ursula Oppens as part of the Bi-Centennial Piano Series at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Rzewski dedicated the composition to Oppens, who had commissioned it and later recorded it in 1979.

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