Musicatlas
DANZAS CUBANAS PARA PIANO / CUBAN DANCES FOR PIANO
Music
Main works: operettas "El Submarino Peral" and "Los Saltinbanquis"; opera "Meledetto"; a Symphony in C minor; orchestral pieces "Scherzo Capriccioso" and "Hectograph"; and the Dances for piano. His music is essentially a hybrid between the European romantic piano style of the composers he admired (i.e. Chopin, Schumann, Beethoven, Weber, Mendelssohn and Liszt) and the rhythms and song of his native Cuba.
Life
He mainly wrote dances (“danzas”) for the piano, using his beloved Chopin and the contredances of Manuel Saumell as models. He was a piano virtuoso, studied in Europe under the great Alkan, met Liszt (who admired his playing) but returned to Havana where he led a modest life, being forced into exile for political activities. This exile led to one of his most beautiful piano compositions, the melancholy “Adios a Cuba” (which hearing a recording of this piece, sparked my interest in this composer).