Following in the footsteps of the visionary Chávez, and like his companions in the “Grupo de los Cuatro”, Moncayo began using real examples of traditional indigenous music as well as popular melodies and motifs in his compositions. Its irresistible “Huapango“, based on rural folk dances, has become his most famous work internationally.
Like many of his generation, tradition was the object of work in light of contemporary musical aesthetics and approaches. Moncayo helped define Mexican modernism in works such as “Amatzinac” Y “Woods“, which reveal impressionistic features and modal harmonies. His opera”The mulatto of Córdoba“, considered one of the best works in all of 20th century Mexican opera, tells the story of a woman sentenced to death by the Inquisition for being a witch, who disappears at the moment of her execution in a cloud of fire.
Moncayo’s death on June 16, 1958 is widely viewed as the end of the nationalist school of Mexican music.
In his personal life, Moncayo was married to Clara Elena Rodríguez del Campo, with whom he had two daughters: Claudia and Clara Elena.