We spoke Sunday with Fernando Hernandez (author of The Cubans) about Ernesto Lecuona and Moises Simons, two great Cuban composers.
Lecuona was a legendary composer:
"Ernesto Lecuona was the most important musician in
Cuban musical life during the first half of the 20th century. Born in
Guanabacoa, a suburb of Havana, in 1895, Lecuona first established
himself as an outstanding pianist, graduating from the National
Conservatory with the Gold Medal in performance at the age of seventeen.
He went to New York City to concertize and there, in 1916, made his
first public appearance outside of Havana. International success as a
pianist occurred seven years later, once more in New York but, thanks to
the huge success of pieces like Malaguena and Siboney,
composition superceded pianism as Lecuona's primary activity. Still,
Lecuona continued to actively tour and perform widely as pianist and
conductor for most of his life
Among Lecuona's many achievements were
the founding of the Havana Symphony (with Gonzalo Roig), the Lecuona
Cuban Boys Band, and La Orquesta de La Habana. Lecuona, also, wrote a
great deal of film music in the '30s and '40s for such major studios as
MGM, 20th Century Fox and Warner Brothers; in 1942, he was nominated for
an Academy Award."
Simons composed "El Manicero", or the most famous Cuban song.
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