José Marín Varona (

Camagüey Camagüey () is a city and municipality in central Cuba and is the nation's third-largest city with more than 321,000 inhabitants. It is the capital of the Camagüey Province. It was founded as Santa María del Puerto del Príncipe in 1514, by S ...

, March 10, 1859

Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

, September 17, 1912) was a Cuban composer, conductor, pianist and professor.Marín Varona, José: Orovio, Helio: uban Music from A to Z, DukeUniversity Press, Durham, U. S., 2004

Biographical note

José Marín Varona was born on March 10, 1859 in the city of

, where he began his musical studies with professor Mariano Agüero. At a later time, Varona established his residence in

Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

. In 1896, the composer included in his

zarzuela () is a Spanish lyric-dramatic genre that alternates between spoken and sung scenes, the latter incorporating operatic and popular songs, as well as dance. The etymology of the name is uncertain, but some propose it may derive from the name of ...

"El Brujo" the first Cuban guajira which has been historically documented. About this piece, composer

Eduardo Sánchez de Fuentes Eduardo Sánchez de Fuentes (3 April 1874, in Havana – 7 September 1944) was a Cuban composer, and an author of books on the history of Cuban folk music. The outstanding habanera ''Tú'', written when he was sixteen, was his best-known com ...

said: "The honest critique of a not very far day will bestow the author of the immortal guajira of "El Brujo" the honor to which he is undoubtedly entitled at any time".Sánchez de Fuentes, Eduardo: Artículo en “Folklorismo”editado por Imprenta “Molina y Compañía”, Ricla, Num 55-57, La Habana, 1928. Shortly after the premiere of "El Brujo", Marín Varona travelled to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

because of threats received from the Spanish government because of his support of the Cuban independence movement. During his exile he continued his musical activity and offered presentations with the purpose of collaborating with the national independence cause. In Key West he contributed to the local media with news articles and musical critique. Upon returning to Cuba, Marín Varona was married to the Spanish singer Amalia Rodríguez and travelled through the Americas with

and

operetta Operetta is a form of theatre and a genre of light opera. It includes spoken dialogue, songs, and dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, length of the work, and at face value, subject matter. Apart from its s ...

companies. In 1913, Cuban composer José Mauri offered a lecture about his work at the National Academy of Arts and Literature; and in 1916, the Infantry Band of the Army recorded four of his caprices called "Tropicales" (Esperanza, Ensueños, Novelita and Íntima) for the VIctor Recording Company.

Professional activity

The work of José Marín Varona links the musical activity of the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century in Cuba. After his arrival to

Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

at a very young age, Marín Varona worked as a

sight singing In music, sight-reading, also called ''a prima vista'' (Italian meaning "at first sight"), is the practice of reading and performing of a piece in a music notation that the performer has not seen or learned before. Sight-singing is used to descri ...

and

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

at the Municipal Conservatory; and after the Republic inauguration, in 1902, he founded the Army

Staff (military) A military staff or general staff (also referred to as army staff, navy staff, or air staff within the individual services) is a group of officers, enlisted and civilian staff who serve the commander of a division or other large military u ...

Band. In 1905 Marín Varona also organized the Artillery Band, for which he composed and arranged numerous pieces, such as the Tributo al Maine, Himno para el Yara, Huérfanos de la Patria, Gobernador Magoon and La Independencia, among others. José Marín Varona created the "Cuba Musical" magazine where he exerted musical critique and published numorous articles abour the Havana artistic activity during the first years of the Republic. He also collaborated as a journalist to other local publications. Marín Varona was a professor at the Municipal Conservatory of

Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

and a member of National Academy of Arts and Literature, where he participated as President of the Music Section for many years. He also wrote "Complete treatise on music theory". Marín Varona served for a long time as conductor of the Albisu Theater orchestra along with Spanish conductor Modesto Julián. He also regularly collaborated with the famous Alhambra Theater (since its foundation to 1912), for which he composed pieces such as the

"La Guaracha". He shared the podium at that venue with Maestro Rafael Palau.

Composer

José Marín Varona was a prolific composer of musica that included

s, romanzas, children music for piano, pot-pourris and

danza Danza is a musical genre that originated in Ponce, a city in southern Puerto Rico. It is a popular turn-of-the-twentieth-century ballroom dance genre slightly similar to the waltz. Both the danza and its cousin the contradanza are sequence danc ...

s. His work belongs to the most significative output within the Cuban nationalist movement from the end of the 19th century. The first piece he composed, the "Consuelo" waltz, was created by him when he was just twenty years old. The "Tropicales" pieces (subtiled tropical caprices) from Marín Varona, which received an award at the Paris Universal Exposition in 1900, were defined as "real concert dances, marked by the end of the Century creole style". In his songs it is possible to notice a notable relation between elements characteristic of

popular music Popular music is music with wide appeal that is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. These forms and styles can be enjoyed and performed by people with little or no musical training.Popular Music. (2015). ''Fun ...

and those of concert music. "Siempre tú" and "Ilusión" – denominations that correspond to certain "Tropicales" pieces for, voice and piano- show an evident influence from Italian lyric style and the technical melodic difficulties of the operatic

aria In music, an aria (Italian: ; plural: ''arie'' , or ''arias'' in common usage, diminutive form arietta , plural ariette, or in English simply air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrumental or orchestral accompanime ...

; while the accompaniment rhythm presents the most popular characteristics of Cuban music. Such treats may be perceived in many other of his pieces. José Marín Varona passed away in

Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

on September 17, 1912. During the funeral service the Infantry Band interpreted his song "Acuérdate de mí", and that same year the famous Cuban soprano Chalía Herrera recorded some of his works in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

Works

;Zarzuelas * Ábreme la puerta, F. Villoch * El 10 de Octubre, décimas, 2V, A. Díaz * El alcalde de la Güira, dúo amoroso, J. Robeño * El Brujo, J. R. Barreiro * El hijo de Camagüey, A. del Pozo * La guaracha, F. Villoch, 1902 * La víspera de san Juan, Gua, J. B. Ubago * Las excursionistas en la Habana, F. Villoch * Tute arrastrado, M. Zardoya ;Himns y marches * General Rojas; Gobernador Maggon's, Bnd (Ed. Artillery Corps Printing, 1908) * Himno de Bayano, Himno invasor, 1899 * Himno para el Yara * Hermanos de la Patria * José de la Luz y Caballero * La independencia * La Paz; Néstor Aranguren * The Havana Post * Tributo al Maine ;Voice and piano * A ti * A una mascarita * Acuérdate de mi * Amar es la vida * Amor y odio * Anhelos, 1903 * Any Name * Banquete, concierto y baile * Canto de amor * Dame un beso * Desde el mar * El desobediente * El desvalido * El día * El dulce beso * El estudio * El libro * El Maestro * El mar de Levante, 1912 * El mendigo * El recuerdo de la infancia * El veinte de Mayo * Es el amor la mitad de la vida * Ilusión * In memoriam * La flor marchita * La guaracha * La oración * la puerta de mi Bohío * Los caleseros * Mi bandera * Mi dulce amor * Mi patria * Perla de las Antillas * Piedad * Recuerdos del Bloqueo, rumba * Serenata criolla * Siempre tú * Solo tú * Tristezas * Tu amor es mi aventura * Tu recuerdo * Tu canción * Ven vida mía ;Piano * Ábreme la puerta * Borincana * Camagüeyana * Dulce anhelo * En el circo me verás * Florimel * Gitanilla * Íntima * Juguete español * La guajira, danzón * La hija de Oriente * La Yuquita * Lola * Mal de amor * Mi niña * Mignon * Misteriosa * Nocturno * Nostalgia * Novelita * Page of life * Para ti * Petit Minuet * Piña mamey y zapote, danzón * Por ti, * danzón * Recuerdo * Tú ves como Cuba es libre, danzón

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marín Varona, José 1859 births 20th-century classical composers 20th-century male musicians Cuban classical composers Latin music composers 1912 deaths

Biographical note

Professional activity

Composer

Works

See also

References