Ernesto Lecuona

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For Ernesto's older sister, see Ernestina Lecuona.
In this
Spanish name, the first or paternal surname
is Lecuona and the second or maternal family name is Casado.
Ernesto Lecuona
circa 1935

Ernesto Lecuona y Casado (Spanish pronunciation: [eɾˈnesto leˈkwona]; August 7, 1896[1] – November 29, 1963)[2] was a Cuban composer and pianist, many of whose works have become standards of the Latin, jazz and classical repertoires. His over 600 compositions include songs and zarzuelas as well as pieces for piano and symphonic orchestra.[3][4]

In the 1930s, he helped establish a popular band, the

RCA Victor. He moved to the United States after the 1959 Cuban Revolution
, and died in Spain in 1963.

Early years

Lecuona was born in

Aeolian Hall (New York) in 1916.[5]

In 1918, he collaborated with Luis Casas Romero, Moisés Simons, Jaime Prats, Nilo Menéndez and Vicente Lanz in setting up a successful player piano music roll factory in Cuba producing Cuban music and also copies from masters made by QRS in the US. The brand label was "Rollo Autógrafo".

Rise to fame

Ernesto Lecuona: dedicated to Gonzalo Roig

He first traveled to Spain in 1924 on a concert tour with violinist Marta de la Torre; his successful piano recitals in 1927 and 1928 at the Salle Pleyel in Paris coincided with a rise in interest in Cuban music.[5] His popularity brought him to concert halls in Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, and Lima in South America, as well as Paris, Nice, Barcelona, Madrid, and London in Europe, followed by more engagements in New York.[1]

María la O, Lecuona's

The Breeze And I" ("Andalucía"). In 1942, his hit, "Always in my Heart" ("Siempre en mi Corazón") was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Song; however, it lost to "White Christmas". Lecuona was a master of the symphonic form and conducted the Ernesto Lecuona Symphonic Orchestra, employing soloists including Cuban pianist and composer Carmelina Delfín. The Orchestra performed in the Cuban Liberation Day Concert at Carnegie Hall on October 10, 1943. The concert included the world premiere of Lecuona's Black Rhapsody. Lecuona gave help and the use of his name to the popular touring group, the Lecuona Cuban Boys
, though he did not play as a member of the band. He did sometimes play piano solos as the first item on the bill.

Final years and legacy

Gate of Heaven Cemetery

In 1960, unhappy with Castro's new régime, Lecuona moved to

Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Hawthorne, New York, but his will instructed that his remains be repatriated after the Cuban régime changes. A great deal of Lecuona's music was first introduced to mass American audiences by Desi Arnaz, a fellow Cuban and Lucille Ball
's spouse.

Lecuona's talent for composition has influenced the Latin American world in a way quite similar to George Gershwin in the United States, in his case raising Cuban music to classical status.

Ernesto and Ernestina's cousin

Babalú", made popular in the Latin American world by Miguelito Valdés
, and in the United States by Desi Arnaz.

Selected compositions

For piano

Waltz

  • Apasionado
  • Crisantemo
  • La bemol
  • Maravilloso
  • Poético
  • Romántico
  • Si menor (Rococó)
  • Vals Azul

Others

  • Afro-Cuban suite
  • Ahí viene el chino
  • Al fin te vi
  • Amorosa
  • Andar
  • Aquí está
  • Arabesque
  • Bell Flower
  • Benilde
  • Burlesca
  • Canto del guajiro
  • Cajita de música
  • Como arrullo de palmas
  • Como baila el muñeco
  • Dame tu amor
  • Danza de los Ñáñigos
  • Danza Lucumí
  • Diario de un niño
  • Ella y yo
  • ¡Échate pa'llá María!
  • El batey
  • El miriñaque
  • El sombrero de yarey
  • El tanguito de Mamá (también llamada A la Antigua)
  • En tres por cuatro
  • Eres tú el amor
  • Futurista
  • Gonzalo, ¡no bailes más!
  • Impromptu
  • Jungle Drums
  • La 32
  • La primera en la frente
  • La Comparsa
  • La conga de medianoche
  • La habanera
  • La danza interrumpida
  • La mulata
  • La negra Lucumí
  • La Cardenense
  • Los Minstrels
  • Lola Cruz
  • Lola está de fiesta
  • Lloraba en sueños
  • Mazurka en glissando
  • Melancolía
  • Mientras yo comía maullaba el gato
  • Mis tristezas
  • María la O
  • Muneca de Cristal
  • Muñequita
  • Negra Mercé
  • Negrita
  • ¡No hables más!
  • No me olvides
  • No puedo contigo
  • Noche Azul
  • Orquídeas
  • Pensaba en ti
  • Polichinela
  • ¿Por qué te vas?
  • Preludio en la noche
  • ¡Que risa me da! Mi abuela bailaba así
  • Rapsodia Negra
  • Rosa, la china
  • Tú serás
  • Tres miniaturas
  • ¡Y la negra bailaba!
  • ¡Y sigue la lloviznita!
  • Yo soy así
  • Yumurí
  • Zapateo y guajira
  • Zenaida

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d Marks, Edward (1928). "Malaguena - Piano Solo (Foreword)". Edward B. Marks Music Co. 9677–7.
  2. ^ a b "Cuban Composer Is Dead At 68". Times-Leader. Wilkes-Barre, PA. December 2, 1963.
  3. ISBN 0-8223-3186-1
    A biographical dictionary of Cuban music, artists, composers, groups and terms. Duke University, Durham NC; Tumi, Bath.
  4. ^ Díaz Ayala, Cristóbal (1981). Música cubana del Areyto a la Nueva Trova. 2nd rev ed, San Juan P.R.: Cubanacan, p. 135 et seq.
  5. ^
    ISBN 0-85112-939-0
    .
  6. ^ Brian Dyde, Caribbean Companion: The A-Z Reference, Macmillan, 1992, p. 98
  7. ISBN 978-1467056229
    .

External links
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