Carlos Chávez was born in 1899 in Mexico city near the suburb of Popotia. He was the seventh child of a creole family, but his father died when he was three years old. His family often took trips to places where indigenous culture was strong in Mexico, such as Tlaxcala and Michoacán. Carlos began his musical teachings with his brother on the piano, and later took piano and harmony lessons with other teachers as well. In 1922, he married Otilla Ortiz, and went on a series of trips that ended in 1928. When he returned to Mexico, he became the director of the Orquesta Sinfónica Mexicana, Mexico's first permanent orchestra. At the end of that year, he became the director of Mexico's National Conservatory of Music and he stayed in that position for five years. While working, he lead two projects relating to collecting and cataloguing indigenous music and literature. In 1937 he published a book about electronic music which was ahead of its time, and by 1945, Carlos was seen as the best conductor and composer in Mexico. Two years later, he created the National Symphony Orchestra which replaced the Orquesta Sinfónica Mexicana that he previously directed, and in 1954 he finished an opera that was commissioned by Lincoln Kirstein, the director of the New York City Center of Music and Drama. He proceeded to compose more music until his death in 1978.