José Enrique Pedreira (February 2, 1904 – January 6, 1959) was a Puerto Rican composer noted for

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Early years

Pedreira was one of four siblings born to José María Pedreira and Rosa Kehrham in San Juan,

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...

. His family, who was financially prosperous, sent him to the best private schools in the island. He began to take private music lessons at a young age. In 1922, he graduated from high school and was sent to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, by his parents, to continue his musical education.Music of Puerto Rico
/ref> He enrolled in the music school of Zygmunt Stojowski and learned

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 keybo ...

and music composition. It was there that he met a fellow student who was to become his wife, Alicia Hutchinson."Concert life in Puerto Rico, 1957-1992: views and reviews"; By Donald Thompson, Francis Schwartz During his student years he composed his first work, the waltz “Alicia”.Homenaje a José Enrique Pedreira
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Musical career

In 1932, Pedreira returned to Puerto Rico with his wife and established the Pedreira Academy of Music in San Juan. He gave piano lessons while she (a pianist in her own right) gave

and violin lessons. During his spare time he composed music and danzas for piano, violin and

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C2, G ...

. The couple had one child, José Enrique “Quique” Pedreira Hutchinson.

Musical compositions

Besides “Alicia”, his first composition, he composed "Canción Criolla" in 1934, for which he was awarded the Elzaburu priz from the Ateneo Puertorriqueño. He also composed "Concierto en re menor para piano y orquestra" (Concert in R minor for Piano and Orquestra) and in 1942, “Ensueño de Marta” his first

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 dan ...

. In October 1946. Pedreira's composition “Estudio de Concierto en Do Sostenido Menor” was included in Hilda Andino's concert at Carnegie Hall. Pedreira also received many awards. He won a competition sponsored by the Juilliard School of Music in New York, with his composition "Tus Caricias" and a first prize for his danza "Siempre", during the celebration of

Juan Morel Campos Juan Morel Campos (16 May 1857 – 12 May 1896), sometimes erroneously spelled ''Juan Morell Campos'', was a Puerto Rican composer, considered by many to be responsible for taking the genre of danza to its highest level. He composed over ...

100th birthday in 1957. Many of his compositions were used by other Puerto Rican artists, among them Jesús Maria Sanromá and Graciela Rivera. His compositions were not all piano related. He also composed various works to be played on the violin. In 1953, Pedreira and José Raúl Ramírez created the Dúo Piano-Organo “Pedreira-Ramírez”. The duo performed in various weekly radio and television programs. They also performed in various cities in the United States.

Legacy

José Enrique Pedreira died on January 6, 1959, in San Juan, Puerto Rico. José Raúl Ramírez was petitioned by his widow, Alicia Hutchinson, to become custodian of his works. During the years, Ramírez published many of the works by Pedreira. In 1985, Pedreira was posthumously inducted into the Danza Composers Hall of Fame located in the town of San German, Puerto Rico.

Selected compositions

* ''Canción de cuna para un infante moribundo'' (Lullaby for a Dying Child) for cello (or viola) and piano (1954) * ''Caricias'' (Your Tender Touch) * ''Colibrí'' * Concerto in D minor for piano and orchestra * ''Elegía India, Poema y Souvenir'' * ''El Jardín de piedra'' (Garden of Rock), Ballet; libretto by Lotti Tischer * ''Encanto'' * ''Ensueño de Marta'' (Martha's Dream), Danza for piano (1956) * ''Nocturne melancholique'' for piano (1950) * ''No podrás olvidarme'', Canción Bolero for voice and piano (1947) * ''Plenitude'', Nocturne for piano (1948) * ''Ritmo'', Zapateado for piano (1956) * ''Siempre'' (Always), Danza for piano (1960); dedicated to

* Sonata in B minor for piano * ''Súplica'', Danza for piano (1949) * ''Tus caricias'', Danza for piano (1948) * ''Vals en la major'' (Waltz in A major) for piano (1949) * ''Valses de Concierto'' (Concert Waltzes)

Awards and recognitions

Pedreira received many awards and recognitions during his lifetime. Some of the institutions that honored him were: * The

University of Puerto Rico The University of Puerto Rico ( es, Universidad de Puerto Rico, UPR) is the main public university system in the U.S. Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. It is a government-owned corporation with 11 campuses and approximately 58,000 students and 5,3 ...

* The Puerto Rican Athenaeum * The Juilliard School of Music * The Women's Civic Club of San Juan

References

External links

''Siempre'' by José Enrique Pedreira
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pedreira, Jose Enrique 1904 births 1959 deaths Puerto Rican composers Puerto Rican male composers Puerto Rican musicians People from San Juan, Puerto Rico 20th-century American composers 20th-century American male musicians