Ernesto Lecuona

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Ernesto Lecuona y Casado (August 6, 1895 Guanabacoa, now part of Havana, Cuba - November 29, 1963 Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands) was a Cuban composer and performer, perhaps the greatest and most legendary Cuban musician of his time.

Lecuona started early studying piano under his sister Ernestina, a famed composer in her own right. He later studied at the Peyrellade Conservatoire under Antonio Saavedra and the famous Joaquin Nin. Lecuona graduated from the National Conservatory of Havana with a Gold Medal for interpretation when he was sixteen. And he performed outside of Cuba at the Aeolian Hall (New York) in 1916.

He first travelled to Spain in 1924 on a concert tour with violinist Maria de la Torre; his successful piano recitals in 1928 at Paris coincided with a rise in interest in Cuban music.

He was a prolific composer of songs and music for stage and film. His works consisted of zarzuela, Afro-Cuban and Cuban rhythms, suites and many songs which are still very famous. They include "Siboney" (Canto Siboney), "Malagueña" and "The Breeze And I" (Andalucía). In 1942, his great hit, "Always in My Heart" (Siempre en mi Corazon) was nominated for an Oscar for Best Song; however, it lost to "White Christmas." Lecuona was a master of the symphonic form and conducted the Ernesto Lecuona Symphonic Orchestra. The Orchestra performed in the Cuban Liberation Day Concert at Carnegie Hall on October 10, 1943. The concert included the world premiere of Lecuona's "Black Rhapsody." Lecuona also played popular music with his Lecuona Cuban Boys band.

The headstone of Ernesto Lecuona in Gate of Heaven Cemetery

In 1960, thoroughly unhappy with Castro's new regime, Lecuona moved to Tampa. He died 3 years later at Santa Cruz de Tenerife and is interred at Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Hawthorne, New York.

Lecuona's talent for composition has influenced the Latin American world in a way quite similar to George Gershwin in the United States, raising in this case Cuban music to classical status.

Ernesto and Ernestina's cousin, Margarita, was another accomplished musician and composer. She was the author of the song "Babalú", made popular in the Latin American world by Miguelito Valdés, and in the United States by Desi Arnaz (who, contrary to popular folk, did not write the song).

[edit] Music (selected)

For Piano

- Suite Andalucía
  - Córdova/Córdoba
  - Andaluza
  - Alhambra
  - Gitanerías
  - Guadalquivir
  - Malagueña
- San Francisco El Grande
- Ante El Escorial
- Zambra Gitana
- Aragonesa
- Granada
- Valencia Mora
- Aragón

Waltz

- Si menor (Rococó)
- La bemol
- Apasionado
- Crisantemo
- Vals Azul
- Maravilloso
- Romántico
- Poético

Others

- Zapateo y Guajira
- Rapsodia Negra
- Canto del Guajiro
- La Habanera
- Tres miniaturas
- Polichinela
- Bell Flower
- Cajita de música
- Mazurka en glissado
- Preludio en la noche
- Diario de un niño
- Yumurí
- Zenaida
- Benilde
- No me olvides
- Melancolía
- Orquídeas
- La primera en la frente
- La Comparsa
- El tanguito de mamá (también llamada A la antigua)
- La danza interrumpida
- La mulata
- Arabesque
- Ella y yo
- La Cardenense
- Al fin te vi
- Impromptu
- Los Minstrels
- Gonzalo, ¡no bailes más!
- ¡Que risa me da! Mi abuela bailaba así
- ¡No hables más!
- No puedo contigo
- ¡Echate pa'llá María!
- Ahí viene el chino
- ¿Por qué te vas?
- Lola está de fiesta
- En tres por cuatro
- Danza Lucumí
- ¡Y la negra bailaba!
- La conga de medianoche
- Danza de los Ñáñigos
- Yo soy así
- Pensaba en ti
- Dame tu amor
- Amorosa
- Mis tristezas
- Como baila el muñeco
- Futurista
- Burlesca
- Mientras yo comía maullaba el gato
- La 32
- ¡Y sigue la lloviznita!
- El miriñaque
- Eres tú el amor
- Andar
- Muñequita
- Tú serás
- Negrita
- Aquí está
- Melancolía
- Lloraba en sueños
- Negra Mercé
- La negra Lucumí