Background. Introduction : Early twentieth-century art music culture in Caracas; the significance of Plaza and his colleagues ; A portrait of Plaza : the man, the musician ; the composer
Plaza's life and works. Beginnings; first compositions; vocational indecision; first writings on music (1898-1920) ; Rome; plans for musical renewal in Venezuela (1920-1923) ; Paid to compose : the chapel mastership (1923-1948) ; The educator, part 1 (1923-1928) ; The early secular and nationalist compositions (1924-1929) ; The nascent journalist (1925-1928) ; The founding of the Orfeón Lamas, and Plaza's creative response (1927-1963) ; Plaza and the Orquesta Sinfónica Venezuela (1930-1957) ; The mature journalist; writings on nationalism in music (1929-1948) ; The principal nationalist compositions with instruments (1930-1956) ; The educator, part 2 (1930-1941) ; The musicological pioneer (1936-1964) ; Plaza as the subject of reportage ; The later non-nationalist compositions (1930s-1963) ; The educator, part 3 (1942-1962) ; Retirement : final thoughts on education and culture (1962-1964) ; Plaza in retrospect.