María Emma de las Mercedes Adam de Aróstegui (24 September 1873 – 20 October 1957) was a Cuban pianist and composer who lived and worked in Spain. She was born in

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 ...

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

, and moved to Spain with her family when she was nine years old. She studied with Joaquin Zuazagoitia in

Santiago de Compostela Santiago de Compostela is the capital of the autonomous community of Galicia, in northwestern Spain. The city has its origin in the shrine of Saint James the Great, now the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, as the destination of the Way of St ...

and continued her studies in the Conservatorio Real in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

. She studied with Louis Diemer and

Jules Massenet Jules Émile Frédéric Massenet (; 12 May 1842 – 13 August 1912) was a French composer of the Romantic era best known for his operas, of which he wrote more than thirty. The two most frequently staged are '' Manon'' (1884) and ''Werther' ...

in Paris and with

Vincent d'Indy Paul Marie Théodore Vincent d'Indy (; 27 March 18512 December 1931) was a French composer and teacher. His influence as a teacher, in particular, was considerable. He was a co-founder of the Schola Cantorum de Paris and also taught at the Par ...

. After completing her education, she worked as a composer and pianist, giving concerts with

Pablo Casals Pau Casals i Defilló (Catalan: ; 29 December 187622 October 1973), usually known in English by his Castilian Spanish name Pablo Casals,

. Her music was performed in Paris and in Cuba. She died in Madrid.

Works

Selected works include: *''Serenata Española'' *''La Peregrinacion de Childe Harold'' *''Poemo sinfonico'' *''En el Campo de Waterloo'' *''La vida de sueño'', opera *''La infancia'' *''Danzas Cubanas'' *''Seranata andaluza'' *''Ballade guerriere ecossaise'' (text: Sir Walter Scott) *''A une femme'' for voice and cello She also published an essay ''La etica y la estitica en la obra musical''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Adam de Arostegui, Maria de las Mercedes 1873 births 1917 deaths 19th-century classical composers 20th-century classical composers Cuban music educators Women classical composers Cuban classical pianists Women classical pianists Cuban women pianists Cuban classical composers People from Camagüey Women music educators 20th-century women composers 19th-century women composers 19th-century women pianists 20th-century women pianists Emigrants from Spanish Cuba to Spain