José de la Cruz Mena (3 May 187422 September 1907) was a Nicaraguan composer. When he was twenty-one years old he contracted leprosy, but continued to compose until his death twelve years later. Mena is considered to have been one of the most prominent Nicaraguan composers of his time and one of the most important composers from that country.

Biography

Mena was born in

León, Nicaragua León () is the second largest city in Nicaragua, after Managua. Founded by the Spanish as Santiago de los Caballeros de León, it is the capital and largest city of León Department. , the municipality of León has an estimated population of ...

, on 3 May 1874, to a family which included a number of musicians. He attended the ''Escuela Nacional de Música'' in

Managua Managua () is the capital city, capital and largest city of Nicaragua, and one of the List of largest cities in Central America, largest cities in Central America. Located on the shores of Lake Managua, the city had an estimated population of 1, ...

as a child, and played trumpet in bands in the city, composing several famous waltzes. He fell ill with

leprosy Leprosy, also known as Hansen's disease (HD), is a Chronic condition, long-term infection by the bacteria ''Mycobacterium leprae'' or ''Mycobacterium lepromatosis''. Infection can lead to damage of the Peripheral nervous system, nerves, respir ...

when he was twenty-one years old, but was not sent to the nation's

leper colony A leper colony, also known by many other names, is an isolated community for the quarantining and treatment of lepers, people suffering from leprosy. '' M. leprae'', the bacterium responsible for leprosy, is believed to have spread from East ...

after writing three items of music that he dedicated to

José Santos Zelaya José Santos Zelaya López (1 November 1853 – 17 May 1919) was the President of Nicaragua from 25 July 1893 to 21 December 1909. He was liberal. In 1909, Zelaya was ousted from office in a rebellion led by conservative Juan José Estrada w ...

, the

President of Nicaragua The co-presidents of Nicaragua (), officially known as the presidency of the Republic of Nicaragua (), are the heads of state and head of government, government of Nicaragua. The office was created in the Constitution of 1854. From 1825 until ...

. He was completely blind after five years, by 1896, and rarely appeared in public due to his disease. Regardless, his entry in ''

The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' is an encyclopedic dictionary of music and musicians. Along with the German-language '' Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart'', it is one of the largest reference works on the history and t ...

'' described Mena as "the pre-eminent Nicaraguan composer of his time". He died twelve years after contracting leprosy, near the Chiquito River in León, on 22 September 1907. He is sometimes known as "the divine leper" and a theatre in León is named in his memory. Much of the music Mena composed was religious in nature, and while he composed numerous works, much of it is lost. In 2008 Mena was described in ''Culture and Customs of Nicaragua'' as one of the "four most important academic composers in the history of music in Nicaragua", in addition to Alejandro Vega Matus, Carlos Alberto Ramirez, and Luis Abraham Delgadillo. He has been cited as one of the most important composers in the country of his era, along with Matus.

References

Bibliography

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:De la Cruz Mena, Jose Nicaraguan composers Nicaraguan male composers Deaths from leprosy People from León, Nicaragua 1874 births 1907 deaths 19th-century composers 19th-century male musicians 20th-century composers 20th-century male composers Infectious disease deaths in Nicaragua