Luz Elisa Borja Martínez
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Luz Elisa Borja Martínez (15 May 1903 – 10 July 1927) was an Ecuadorian poet, pianist, painter, and sculptor.


Biography

Borja Martínez was born in Riobamba in 1903, the daughter of Ricardo Borja León and Victoria Martínez Dávalos. Through her father, she was a direct descendant of Juan de Borja y Enríquez de Luna, the third Duke of Gandía, and Juana de Aragón y Gurrea. The former was the grandson of
Pope Alexander VI Pope Alexander VI ( it, Alessandro VI, va, Alexandre VI, es, Alejandro VI; born Rodrigo de Borja; ca-valencia, Roderic Llançol i de Borja ; es, Rodrigo Lanzol y de Borja, lang ; 1431 – 18 August 1503) was head of the Catholic Churc ...
and the latter was granddaughter of King Ferdinand II, descended from the rulers of
Navarre Navarre (; es, Navarra ; eu, Nafarroa ), officially the Chartered Community of Navarre ( es, Comunidad Foral de Navarra, links=no ; eu, Nafarroako Foru Komunitatea, links=no ), is a foral autonomous community and province in northern Spain, ...
and
Aragon Aragon ( , ; Spanish and an, Aragón ; ca, Aragó ) is an autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces (from north to sou ...
. From a wealthy family, she was allowed the resources to develop her artistic talents. She was educated at the San Vicente de Paúl college in Riobamba, run by the Sisters of Charity. As a multidisciplinary artist since childhood, Borja studied poetry, music, painting, and sculpture. Some of her original works are housed at the
Casa de la Cultura Casa de la Cultura (English: "House of Culture"), or Casa de la Cultura en Puebla, is a cultural center in the city of Puebla (city), Puebla's Historic centre of Puebla, historic centre, in the Mexican state of Puebla. See also * Biblioteca Pala ...
in Chimborazo. During her lifetime, she amassed an extensive body of written work that, after her death, her brother Luis Alberto published in two books named ''Cofre Romántico'' and ''La Bella Durmiente''. The second includes the poem "Quiero Llorar" (I Mourn), which she wrote in 1918 at age 15, saddened by the death of the mother superior of the Sisters of Charity of Riobamba. It consists of seven
stanza In poetry, a stanza (; from Italian language, Italian ''stanza'' , "room") is a group of lines within a poem, usually set off from others by a blank line or Indentation (typesetting), indentation. Stanzas can have regular rhyme scheme, rhyme and ...
s, two of which went on to become the lyrics of the Ecuadorian
pasillo Pasillo ( en, little step, hallway or aisle) is a Colombian, genre of music extremely popular in the territories that composed the 19th century Viceroyalty of New Granada: Born in the Colombian Andes during the independence wars, it spread to oth ...
known as "Lamparilla". Miguel Ángel Casares Viteri composed the music, inspired by the poem and dismayed by the damage caused by a flood of the
Chanchán River The Chanchán River is a river of Ecuador. See also * List of rivers of Ecuador References * Rand McNally, The New International Atlas, 1993. GEOnet Names Server Water Resources Assessment of Ecuador Rivers of Ecuador Geography of Chimbor ...
. She achieved success and awards in several Ecuadorian cities, and was cited by the foreign press at the time as one of that country's most illustrious poets. Ever since, she has been known as "La Alondra del Chimborazo" (The Lark of Chimborazo). In Ecuador, she was influenced by the modernist literary movement known as the "
generación decapitada The ''Generación decapitada'' (Spanish for "Beheaded/Decapitated Generation") was a literary group formed by four young Ecuadorian poets in the first decades of the 20th century. The group comprised two men from the city of Guayaquil, Medardo Áng ...
", which included Medardo Ángel Silva, Arturo Borja (her second cousin), Ernesto Noboa y Caamaño, and Humberto Fierro. Internationally, she was influenced by the French authors
Charles Baudelaire Charles Pierre Baudelaire (, ; ; 9 April 1821 – 31 August 1867) was a French poetry, French poet who also produced notable work as an essayist and art critic. His poems exhibit mastery in the handling of rhyme and rhythm, contain an exoticis ...
and
Stéphane Mallarmé Stéphane Mallarmé ( , ; 18 March 1842 – 9 September 1898), pen name of Étienne Mallarmé, was a French poet and critic. He was a major French symbolist poet, and his work anticipated and inspired several revolutionary artistic schools of ...
. In the field of music, she appreciated and exquisitely interpreted the works of Liszt, Schubert, and Beethoven. She died in Riobamba on 10 July 1927, aged 24, and was buried in the cemetery of that city.


Tributes

The
Casa de la Cultura Casa de la Cultura (English: "House of Culture"), or Casa de la Cultura en Puebla, is a cultural center in the city of Puebla (city), Puebla's Historic centre of Puebla, historic centre, in the Mexican state of Puebla. See also * Biblioteca Pala ...
in Chimborazo created a library named for the poet, in a building ceded by the City Council of Riobamba on 21 April 1954. It had been willed by Borja's mother, with the provision that it be used as a library and cultural center. In Borja's native Riobamba, there is a street bearing her name. Considered a classic of its kind, the
pasillo Pasillo ( en, little step, hallway or aisle) is a Colombian, genre of music extremely popular in the territories that composed the 19th century Viceroyalty of New Granada: Born in the Colombian Andes during the independence wars, it spread to oth ...
"Lamparilla" has been traditionally played by the most important singers and musical groups in Ecuador, as well as by prominent vocalists from other countries.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Borja Martínez, Luz Elisa 1903 births 1927 deaths Ecuadorian composers Ecuadorian women poets
Luz Elisa Borja Martínez Luz Elisa Borja Martínez (15 May 1903 – 10 July 1927) was an Ecuadorians, Ecuadorian poet, pianist, painter, and sculptor. Biography Borja Martínez was born in Riobamba in 1903, the daughter of Ricardo Borja León and Victoria Martínez D ...
People from Riobamba 20th-century Ecuadorian poets 20th-century Ecuadorian women writers 20th-century Ecuadorian writers