Harold Gramatges (26 September 1918 – 16 December 2008) was a

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 ...

n composer, pianist, and teacher. Gramatges was born in

Santiago, Cuba Santiago de Cuba is the second-largest city in Cuba and the capital city of Santiago de Cuba Province. It lies in the southeastern area of the island, some southeast of the Cuban capital of Havana. The municipality extends over , and contains t ...

. In 1941, he entered the conservatory in Santiago de Cuba to study under professor

Dulce María Serret Dulce María Serret Danger (1898 – 30 May 1989) was a Cuban pianist and music teacher. She studied in Spain and France, and toured in Europe for several years before returning to Cuba, where she taught for most of the rest of her life. Early yea ...

, and went on to study composition at the Municipal Conservatoire of Havana with

Amadeo Roldán Amadeo Roldán y Gardes (Paris, 12 June 1900 – Havana, 7 March 1939) was a Cuban composer and violinist. Roldán was born in Paris to a Cuban mulatta and a Spanish father. It was his mother, the pianist Albertina Gardes, who initiated her ch ...

and

José Ardévol José Ardévol (13 March 1911, in Barcelona – 7 January 1981, in Havana) was a Cuban composer and conductor of Spanish derivation. As a child, Ardévol studied under his father, Fernando, who was a musician and conductor. He emigrated to Cub ...

(Rodriguez 2001), and with professor Flora Mora.In 1942, he travelled to United States to complete his studies at

Berkshire Music Center The Tanglewood Music Center is an annual summer music academy in Lenox, Massachusetts, United States, in which emerging professional musicians participate in performances, master classes and workshops. The center operates as a part of the Tanglew ...

under

Aaron Copland Aaron Copland (, ; November 14, 1900December 2, 1990) was an American composer, composition teacher, writer, and later a conductor of his own and other American music. Copland was referred to by his peers and critics as "the Dean of American Com ...

(composition) and

Serge Koussevitzky Sergei Alexandrovich KoussevitzkyKoussevitzky's original Russian forename is usually transliterated into English as either "Sergei" or "Sergey"; however, he himself adopted the French spelling "Serge", using it in his signature. (SeThe Koussevit ...

(conducting) (Rodriguez 2001). He later founded and directed Cuba's Municipal Conservatory Orchestra, where he worked as professor of

Harmony In music, harmony is the process by which individual sounds are joined together or composed into whole units or compositions. Often, the term harmony refers to simultaneously occurring frequencies, pitches ( tones, notes), or chords. However ...

Composition Composition or Compositions may refer to: Arts and literature *Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography *Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include v ...

Aesthetics Aesthetics, or esthetics, is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of beauty and taste, as well as the philosophy of art (its own area of philosophy that comes out of aesthetics). It examines aesthetic values, often expressed thr ...

and

Music History Music history, sometimes called historical musicology, is a highly diverse subfield of the broader discipline of musicology that studies music from a historical point of view. In theory, "music history" could refer to the study of the history o ...

. In 1958, he received the Reichold of Caribbean and Central America Prize, conferred by the Detroit Orchestra for his ''Sinfonía en mi''. In 1959, he created the Musical Department at Casa de las Américas. He has spent his life working on transforming and developing musical education in Cuba. In 1961 and 1964, he was the Cuban Ambassador to

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. His work tends to bridge the forms of contemporary classical and modern Cuban or Latin American music. His catalog includes symphonic, chamber, vocal and incidental music for theater and movies. He died in December 2008 in

La Habana 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.

, Cuba.

Works

* Music about Juan Ramón Jiménez, Góngora, Rafael Alberti and Justo Rodríguez Santos texts; * Icaro, for percussion and piano. Ballet as request of Alicia Alonso; * Sonata for piano; * Duet for flute and piano; * trio for clarinet, violoncello and piano; * Prelude for Mensaje al futuro Ballet; * Symphony in mi; * Caprice for flute, clarinet, viola and violoncello; * Concertino for piano and wind instruments; * Serenade for strings orchestras (Serenata para cuerdas), 1947; * Two Cuban dances (Montuna and Sonera); * Sinfonietta for orchestra; * Triptico for voice and piano (having texts of José Martí); * Woodwind quintet; * Toccata for Bandoneon; * In Memorian homage to Frank País, La Muerte de un Guerrillero for orchestra; * Movil I for piano; * Movil II for flute, corno, piano-celesta, Xilophono and percussion; * Cantata for Abel; * Concert for guitar and orchestra

References

*Rodriguez, Victoria Eli. 2001. "Gramatges, Harold". ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', second edition, edited by

Stanley Sadie Stanley John Sadie (; 30 October 1930 – 21 March 2005) was an influential and prolific British musicologist, music critic, and editor. He was editor of the sixth edition of the '' Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' (1980), which was publ ...

and John Tyrrell. London: Macmillan Publishers.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Gramatges, Harold 1918 births 2008 deaths 20th-century classical composers Cuban classical composers Male classical composers Ambassadors of Cuba to France 20th-century male musicians Cuban expatriates in the United States