Edgardo Martín Cantero

Distinguished composer, piano student of Russian pianist Jascha Fischermann, studied piano pedagogy with César Pérez Sentenat and composition at the Conservatorio Municipal with José Ardévol.

He was born in Cienfuegos, former province of Las Villas. He began his studies in his native city with Áurea Suárez.

In 1935 he moved to Havana. He was a member of the Coral de La Habana, directed by María Muñoz de Quevedo, professor of music history and musical aesthetics at the Conservatorio Municipal, and at the Escuela Nacional de Música (Cubanacán), teaching integral musical analysis.

He was music critic for the periodicals Información, Conservatorio, La Música, Nuestro Tiempo, Revista de Música de la Biblioteca Nacional José Martí, Boletín de Música de la Unión Panamericana and Granma, and for several years he wrote program notes for the Sociedad de Música de Cámara, Sociedad de Conciertos, Instituto Nacional de Música, Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional and the Orquesta de Cámara.

He was part of, along with Harold Gramatges, Hilario González, Argeliers León, Julián Orbón and others, the Grupo de Renovación Musical, led by José Ardévol.

In 1945 Alejo Carpentier stated: "For the austerity of his aesthetic principles—sometimes debatable, but always respectable—Edgardo Martín is a perfect representative of the new Cuban generation that aspires to reach the great truths of art by passing through the "narrow gate" of the Evangelist.

In Cuba instinct, mere intuition, has always gone astray in attempts situated below their own possibilities; reason, on the other hand, has given us great creations in all orders of intelligent activity, without its action excluding the vivifying presence of atavistic impulses, controlled by an exact sense of their useful functions.

Despite the rigidity of some of his concepts—opposed, almost always, to romantic "sturm und drang"—Edgardo Martín does not deny himself the expressive possibilities that usually appeal to a man of his age. Restraint of feelings does not mean, in him, absence of lyricism. His love of discipline does not equal insecurity.

Years later Martín expressed:

...I am not a very intellectual composer and I try to let music emerge spontaneously, expressively, conceived rather so that many people can understand it and like it. I do not restrain a natural lyrical tendency. I am not interested in technique in itself as such, but insofar as it is a resource for musical creation that results in something I myself can consider as art.

Nor do I strive for experimentation, because I consider that, while important throughout human history, ultimately the purpose of art is creation and not the invention of new means. In any case, I am among those who take advantage of others' discoveries, as far as it suits me or pleases me.

I share Schönberg's criticisms directed against simulators of any kind of modernity and against those who do nothing but boast of the means they employ or the resources of which they feel themselves discoverers. I consider it dishonest to try to deceive the people, in any measure and in any sense, and to subjugate the listener without allowing their own sensibility to proceed with full freedom.

Death

He died in Havana on May 16, 2004.

Works

Harp
Variations in rondo, 1944.

Ballet
Four Fugues, 1950 La quimbumbia, 1963.
The Coral Horse, 1960, text: Onelio Jorge Cardoso.

Film
Ismaelillo, 1962, sixteen instruments.

Chorus
Romance of Hunters, text: Justo Rodríguez Santos and Oh, Face and Sight!, 1942, text: Sonnet by Petrarca.
The Sound of Santiago, 1946, text: Federico García Lorca, soprano, tenor and double mixed chorus.
A Moon in the Palm, 1947, text: Samuel Feijóo, double choral fugue.
Six Cuban Christmas Carols, 1953, text: Dora Carvajal.
Singing Stories, 1977-1978, text: Rolando López del Amo, children's or women's chorus.

Chorus and Orchestra
The Two Grandfathers, text: Nicolás Guillén, 1949, cantata for mixed chorus and orchestra.
The Soldier's Letter, text: A Prensa Latina Press Cable, 1970, cantata for reciter, spoken chorus, singing chorus and orchestra.
Song of September, 1975, text: Editorial of the newspaper Granma about the popular uprising of September 5 in Cienfuegos
Cantata for spoken chorus, mixed singing chorus and orchestra.
Granma, 1976, cantata for mixed chorus and orchestra.

Guitar
Variations.

Chamber Music
Concerto, for nine wind instruments: flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, two trumpets, two French horns and trombone.
The Death of the Bacchante, text: Joaquín Lorenzo Luaces, 1944, voice, flute, English horn and bassoon.
General Overture, clarinet, trumpet, violin, viola, cello and piano.
Prologue for Puppet Show, 1951, reciting voice, violin, viola, cello and piano.
Jagua Trio, 1963, oboe, clarinet and bassoon.
String Quartet no. 4, 1967, two violins, viola and cello.
String Quartet no. 2, 1968, two violins, viola and cello.
Five Songs of Ho, 1969, text: Ho Chi-Minh, voice, flute, viola and piano.
Three Sonnets for Marinello, 1977-1978, texts: Juan R. Cabrera, Juan Marinello, Nicolás Guillén, voice, flute, clarinet, viola and cello.
Recitative and Aria, 1979, viola and piano.

Symphonic Orchestra
Fugues, string orchestra and First Symphony, 1947.
Second Symphony, 1948.
Concertante, harp and small orchestra, 1949.
Soneras no. 1, 1951.
Danzón no. 1, 1954.
Pictures from Ismaelillo, 1970.
Soneras no. 2, 1973.
Soneras no. 3, 1973.
Danzón no. 2, 1979.
Piano Sonata, 1942, for four hands.
Sonata, 1943.
The Conga of Jagua, 1944, two pianos.
Six Preludes, 1949.
Two Preludes, 1950.
Soneras no. 1, 1950-1975.
Soneras no. 2, 1971.
Soneras no. 3, 1975.

Voice and Orchestra
Song of the Hero, 1968, cantata for soprano, baritone and orchestra.

Voice and Piano
You Are the Fountain, 1937, text: Anonymous.
Romance of the Daughter of the King of France, 1943, text: Ancient Anonymous Romance.
Maiden So Fair, 1944, text: Marqués de Santillana.
Among the Palms, 1946, text: Edgardo Martín.
Old Creole Romance, 1955, text: Edgardo Martín.
Seven Songs of Impossible Love, 1964, text: Edgardo Martín.
Thus Guevara, text: Nicolás Guillén and Ode for Giraldo Piloto, 1967 text: Edgardo Martín.
Three Lyric Songs, 1971, text: Sidroc Ramos.
Ancient Communions, 1972, text: Rolando López del Amo.
Song for Camilo, 1974, text: Nicolás Guillén.
Songs of Martí, 1976, text: José Martí.

Passive Bibliography
Gerard Béhague. Music in Latin America. Caracas, Monte Ávila Editores, C.A., 1983.
Alejo Carpentier "The Cuban-North American Musical Group". Conservatorio de La Habana (5): 12-13. October - December 1945.
Music in Cuba. Mexico, Fondo de Cultura Económica, 1972.
Ela Galvani (compiler). Catalog of Musical Works by Edgardo Martín. Havana, Cenda, 1981.
Tamara Martín. "Our Composers: Edgardo Martín". La Nueva Gaceta (Havana) (4): 10-11; 1981.
Elena Pérez Sanjurjo. History of Cuban Music. Miami, La Moderna Poesía, INC, 1986.