Juventino Rosas
While I was living in Mexico, I had the opportunity of attending several concerts featuring composers of Mexico and other Spanish speaking countries. Almost invariably, “Sobre las Olas,” the most famous work of Juventino Rosas, was one of the pieces presented.
It is a long time since I heard this composition, and I was a little surprised to read in Wikipedia that it was classified as a waltz. So I listened to it once more online, and verified that it definitely is waltz music.
The life of Rosas was tragically short. According to Wikipedia, he died in 1894, when he was only 26 years old.
Rosas specialized in dance music. He wrote waltzes and polkas, as well as a type of German dance known as the schottische. I was particularly surprised to see mazurkas in the list of his works. Mazurkas are usually associated with Poland. Chopin, whose mother was a Pole, wrote a lot of them.
Vicente Uvalle
The only Mexican composer that I was privileged to see in real life was Vicente Uvalle. He and I happened to attend the same concert in Puebla in the early 1990s. I was not able to speak with him personally. As you might well expect, a lot of people wanted to talk to him.
The concert featured one of his works. I cannot remember which one was presented, but it had a more modern sound than the other works on the agenda.
According to the Sociedad de Autores y Compositores de Mexico, one of his most distinguished works is a cantata entitled “Yucatán,” which the website describes as “a worthy representative of Mayan music.” (The translation is my own.)
Uvalle was already advanced in age when I saw him. He passed away a few years later.
Manuel Ponce
Manuel Ponce liked to write songs, though I think that it was his compositions for piano or guitar that were usually presented in the concerts that I attended.
Like Uvalle, Ponce was active in the twentieth century. He died in 1948.
According to Wikipedia, he was a friend of Andrés Segovia, who sometimes played Ponce’s works on his guitar.
According to the Rec Music Foundation, Ponce used the works of various poets as lyrics for his songs. José Frías supplied the text for several songs, including four children’s songs entitled “La primavera,” “La luna,” “La aurora,” and “La lluvia.” Ponce also set several poems of Francisco de Izaca to music. Another song was based on a work of Rabindranath Tagore, an Indian author who won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1913.
A good example is “La sombra” (“The Shadow”). This is one of the songs for which a poem of Francisco de Izaca served as the text. The Rec Music Foundation has posted the Spanish poem on its website. I shall offer a rough English translation of this work.
“We were going toward the east facing the sun!
At dawn, everything was light in front of us.
Our shadow was following us.
“Today, with the sun in the west,
As I continue my day’s journey,
A prolonged shadow
Precedes my footsteps.”
Agustín Lara
Agustín Lara learned to play piano at an early age. However, according to Mexconnect, he did not make the best use of his talent until President Plutarco Elías Calles closed down the disreputable places where he was accustomed to play.
Lara was one of the composers represented in the Mexican concerts that I attended. It was a long time ago, but I am certain that I heard his “Grenada” on at least one occasion. It is actually a song, but it is often presented as an inatrumental piece. The lyrics sing the praises of the Spanish city of Grenada and especially its beautiful women.
Lara wrote a lot of songs. According to Mexconnect, his boleros, or romantic ballads, were especially popular.
His fame was not restricted to Mexico. He visited Spain and other countries and usually was well received. According to Wikipedia, Francisco Franco gave him a house in Grenada out of appreciation for his songs employing Spanish themes. In addition to “Grenada,” he wrote songs about Toledo, Seville, and Madrid.
Like Uvalle and Ponce, Lara was a twentieth century composer. He died in 1970 at the age of 73.
Macedonio Alcalá
When I lived in Mexico, I did a lot of traveling. Once when I was walking along, I encountered an outdoor concert. One of the selections was a composition of Macedonio Alcalá. I think that it was “Dios nunca muere” (God Never Dies). According to Wikipedia, this is the “de facto anthem of the state of Oaxaca,” but I think that this particular concert took place in some city farther north.
“Dios nunca muere” was originally a waltz, and this is the form in which I heard it. However, subsequent to its composition, various poets wrote lyrics and converted it into a song.
Alcalá was a nineteenth century composer. He was born in Oaxaca in 1831. He died in 1869 in the city of his birth..
References:
Wikipedia: Juventino Rosas
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juventino_Rosas
Sociedad de Autores y Compositores: Vicente Uvalle Castillo
http://www.sacm.org.mx/archivos/biografias.asp?txtSocio=08344
Wikipedia: Manuel Ponce (Composer)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_Ponce_(composer)
Rec Music Foundation: Manuel Ponce (1833-1948)
http://www.recmusic.org/lieder/p/ponce.html
Rec Music Foundation: La Sombra
http://www.recmusic.org/lieder/get_text.html?TextId=68324
Mexconnect: A legend in his time – composer Agustín Lara
Wikipedia: Agustín Lara
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agust%C3%ADn_Lara
Wikipedia: Dios Nunca Muere
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dios_Nunca_Muere
Oaxaca: Macedonio Alcalá
http://www.oaxaca-mio.com/celebres/macedonio_alcala.htm
