Argeliers León Pérez

Musicologist, composer, ethnologist and pedagogue, considered the "father of Cuban musicology".

Between 1926 and 1934, Argeliers León studied music at the Municipal Conservatory of La Habana, with Domingo Fortún, Antonio Mompó, Manuel Luaces and César Pérez Sentenat. From 1943 to 1949, he studied harmony and composition with José Ardévol at the same institution. In París, in 1957, he completed his training in composition and musical analysis (he studied almost all the works of Russian composer Igor Stravinsky) with the renowned professor Nadia Boulanger.

Argeliers León's general studies were complemented by his enrollment at the University of La Habana in the Pedagogy program, after interrupting his degree in accounting. He graduated in 1943 with extensive preparation in subjects that influenced his future professional career.

At the same time, he carried out his teaching work, his original compositions and the results of research carried out through his participation in multidisciplinary working groups.

Along with his work as a professor of arts, he taught different subjects in the Faculty of Humanities at the University of La Habana, in whose classrooms prestigious professionals dedicated to the study of different aspects and processes of culture were trained.

Argeliers León was responsible for the organization and implementation of the curriculum and programs of the musicology degree, as well as the training of the first specialists graduated from the Superior Institute of Art in La Habana, who became professors of the discipline. His contributions to the field stemmed from his early research into traditional popular music initiated under the auspices of Fernando Ortiz. His method was based on field research and was complemented by analytical processes derived from his academic training.

In the field of composition, an area into which Argeliers León was introduced by his teacher José Ardévol, creation was part of a purpose and resulted from daily practice that allowed the perfection of a work until its complete conclusion.

The development of his work is framed in three stages: the first, of tonality tending toward nationalism, where he used folkloric elements, especially in rhythm and form; the second, which manifested itself mainly through dodecaphonism that prevailed in European musical creation, which Argeliers León engaged with during his stay in París; the third, where his work resorted essentially to aleatoric techniques, electroacoustics and serialism among others, without totally renouncing tonality and conventional formats.

In 1970, UNESCO commissioned León to conduct a study on the integration of Black people into Latin American societies, where the historical, economic, social, linguistic and theological causes of this process were to be explored. The result—unpublished for 32 years—came to light under the title Tras las huellas de las civilizaciones negras en América, research that included the religious factor and that helped make this book a work of great interest for knowledge and breadth of studies related to religious themes.

The results of the research that Argeliers León conducted over more than six decades were collected in articles published in periodicals or books, in many cases in both formats as partial reports or completed studies. Some of these writings and documents were awarded, and they included criticism, musical analyses, ethnographic studies, didactic assessments and all of the maestro's musicological thought.

Many of his works can be found in specialized journals such as: Scientific World of Londres, Algerié Actualité of Argel, América Indígena of México, Música of the National Library (Cuba), Actas del Folklore y Etnología and Folklore, the latter two founded by the maestro.

Instrumental in his preparation as a researcher were the Summer Courses taught by professors María Muñoz de Quevedo and Fernando Ortiz, which provided the maestro with the theoretical and methodological knowledge necessary to undertake the study of traditional popular culture and which helped him develop his own methods based on musical and ethnological analysis.

Because of the results of his teaching activity and the original work that was already beginning to be recognized, he was awarded a scholarship to study folklore and musical didactics at the University of Chile in 1950.

His concern for self-improvement was constant. Thus, León deepened his studies of grammar, a subject that would allow him to apply methods of linguistic analysis to musical analysis.

Of utmost importance in Argeliers León's career was the fact that he was part of the founding, in 1942, along with Harold Gramatges, Edgardo Martín, Serafín Pro, Virginia Fleites, Julián Orbón, Juan Antonio Cámara and others, of the Musical Renovation Group, directed by composer José Ardévol. This was a collective that left a transcendent mark on the development of cultured or academic music in Cuba.

Argeliers León's professional performance included various management functions in centers and institutions related to music. Thus, parallel to his work as Director of the Folklore Department at the National Theater, he assumed the functions of Head of the Music Department of the José Martí National Library, within which he formed a working team in which the work of Zoila Lapique and José María Bidot stood out. His most important contributions at the National Library were made in the organization of seminars and conferences, the publication of musical scores and the founding of the Music Review of that institution.

In 1961 he assumed the direction of the Institute of Ethnology and Folklore of the Academy of Sciences of Cuba, where he managed to consolidate a team of researchers that came together around ethnological studies.

From 1974 onwards he joined the Music Department of Casa de Las Américas, where he remained for 15 years, and directed the Music Bulletin of Casa. There he promoted exchange among musicologists from throughout the Continent, as well as the formation of musical collections of great patrimonial value that were treasured in the institution. He was also responsible for the establishment of the International Colloquium and Prize in Musicology that has continued to this day.

Throughout his career he gave lectures, courses and presentations of works in various countries and also acted as a representative of international and Cuban organizations at recognized events. His interventions are documented in: First National Congress of Art, 1936, Santiago de Cuba; VIII International Congress of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences, Moscú, 1964; African-American Colloquium, Benin, 1966; Meeting of Cultures of Latin America, 1967; Seminar on Afro-American Studies, Habana, 1968; Meeting of Experts, Caracas, 1971; Colloquia and Musicology Prizes Casa de Las Américas (From 1979 to 1984); among others.

Various were the awards and honors granted to Argeliers León throughout his career, in accordance with his achievements in the field of creation, research and his professional performance in general. The following can be mentioned for their importance: Annual Prize for his artistic work, 1984; Prize for his work: "Llanto por el grito en la Plaza de Mayo", 1985; María Teresa Montes Prize for the essay "The African Influence on Cuban Music"; and the honorary title of Professor of Merit.

As various scholars of Musicology, Ethnology and Cultural Studies have stated, the work of Argeliers León has provided a comprehensive vision of Cuban culture, with the application of the most advanced trends and techniques in the field of scientific research. His rational analysis in the study of folkloric music, as well as a correct orientation in the study of the factors and antecedents that have influenced the formation of Cuban music, make him deserve the title of "father of musicology" in Cuba.

Source: EnCaribe.org