Elízaga Prado, José Damián (27 September 1786 – 2 October 1842) was a Mexican composer,

music theorist Music theory is the study of theoretical frameworks for understanding the practices and possibilities of music. '' The Oxford Companion to Music'' describes three interrelated uses of the term "music theory": The first is the " rudiments", that ...

pianist A pianist ( , ) is a musician who plays the piano. A pianist's repertoire may include music from a diverse variety of styles, such as traditional classical music, jazz piano, jazz, blues piano, blues, and popular music, including rock music, ...

organist An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ (music), organ. An organist may play organ repertoire, solo organ works, play with an musical ensemble, ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumentalist, instrumental ...

and teacher. He was the

Kapellmeister ( , , ), from German (chapel) and (master), literally "master of the chapel choir", designates the leader of an ensemble of musicians. Originally used to refer to somebody in charge of music in a chapel, the term has evolved considerably in i ...

of emperor Agustín I of Mexico and was the first great Mexican composer of the beginning of the 19th century.

Life

Elízaga was born in Valladolid (Morelia), and was a child prodigy. He played before the

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Juan Vicente de Güemes, 2nd Count of Revillagigedo ''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish and Manx versions of '' John''. The name is of Hebrew origin and has the meaning "God has been gracious." It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking countries around the world and in the Phili ...

when he was 6. The viceroy became his main protector and sent him to the Colegio de Infantes de la Catedral. Elízaga later returned to Valladolid and in 1799 to

Morelia Morelia (; from 1545 to 1828 known as Valladolid; Otomi language, Otomi: ) is a city and municipal seat of the municipalities of Mexico, municipality of Morelia in the north-central part of the state of Michoacán in central Mexico. It is both th ...

where he worked as an organist. He acquired the best

pianoforte A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an action mechanism where hammers strike strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a chromatic scale in equal temp ...

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

to teach the local

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. One of his pupils was

Ana María de Huarte y Muñiz Ana or ANA may refer to: People * Ana (given name), a list of people with the name * Ana people or Atakpame people, an ethnic group of West Africa * ana (gamer), Anathan Pham, an Australian professional ''Dota 2'' player known as ana Places * A ...

who later became the wife of

Agustín de Iturbide Agustín Cosme Damián de Iturbide y Arámburu (; 27 September 178319 July 1824), commonly known as Agustín de Iturbide and later by his regnal name Agustín I, was the first Emperor of Mexico from 1822 until his abdication in 1823. An offi ...

, the

emperor The word ''emperor'' (from , via ) can mean the male ruler of an empire. ''Empress'', the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), mother/grandmother (empress dowager/grand empress dowager), or a woman who rules ...

of the

First Mexican Empire The Mexican Empire (, ) was a constitutional monarchy and the first independent government of Mexico. It was also the only former viceroyalty of the Spanish Empire to establish a monarchy after gaining independence. The empire existed from 18 ...

. In 1822, Elízaga was appointed ¨maestro de capilla¨ (

) of the Capilla Imperial. In 1823 he published his ''Elementos de música'' in

, a copy can be found in the Biblioteca Nacional in Mexico. The end of the

damaged Elizaga's reputation but the Mexican government continued to support him. Elizaga settled the bases for the musical life of Mexico in the 19th century. He promoted the first Philharmonic Society of Mexico. In 1825 he founded the Philharmonic Academy which became the first conservatory of the

Americas The Americas, sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America and South America.''Webster's New World College Dictionary'', 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. When viewed as a sing ...

. In 1826 he founded the first

music press Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on ...

in Mexico where he published his works and of other Mexican composers. Elízaga was soon considered the best Mexican composer of his time. In 1835 he published his

treatise A treatise is a Formality, formal and systematic written discourse on some subject concerned with investigating or exposing the main principles of the subject and its conclusions."mwod:treatise, Treatise." Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. Acc ...

''Principios de la armonía y de la melodía'' (''Principles of harmony and melody'') which was a great contribution to the Mexican

music theory Music theory is the study of theoretical frameworks for understanding the practices and possibilities of music. ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' describes three interrelated uses of the term "music theory": The first is the "Elements of music, ...

in the 19th century. He retired to Morelia in 1842 where he died at 56. Until today very few scores of Elízaga have survived, since 1994 many of his scores have been found like the ''Ultimas Variaciones'' (''Last variations'') for

keyboard Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Mus ...

which show a strong influence of

Joseph Haydn Franz Joseph Haydn ( ; ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions ...

Works

Church music: ''Dúo de las siete palabras'', ''Lamentaciones'', ''Maitines de la transfiguración'', Misas, Miserere, Oficios. Secular music: ''El 16 de Septiembre''. ''Inclito gran Morelos'', ''Seis valses'', ''Vals con variaciones a la memoria de Rossini'', ''Ultimas variaciones''.

Sources

* ''Diccionario de la música española e hispanoamericana tomo 4'' * ''The New Grove Dictionary of music and musicians''. Second edition. 8 * ''Enciclopedia de México. 5''

External links

Mexican male classical composers Mexican classical composers Mexican Classical-period composers Mexican music theorists Mexican Romantic composers 1786 births 1842 deaths 19th-century male musicians Musicians from New Spain {{Mexico-composer-stub