Ernesto Sixto de la Asunción Lecuona Casado

Cuban composer and pianist born in Guanabacoa.

Son of a Spanish journalist established in Cuba, from the age of five he studied piano alongside his sister Ernestina, fourteen years his senior. He studied under Hubert de Blanck, Joaquín Nin, and Peyrellade.

At only 13 years old he composed his first work, a two-step march titled Cuba y América for concert band, and later his first important works, Danzas Cubanas (1911) and Vals del Rhin (1912), whose score, despite its title, reiterates his folkloric tendency.

In 1913 he graduated from the Cuban National Conservatory and began a long tour through the United States, Spain, and France. Outside of Cuba he began his career at Aeolian Hall (New York) and continued his studies in France with Maurice Ravel.

Together with Gonzalo Roig and Rodrigo Prats, he forms the most important trilogy of composers of Cuban lyrical theater and especially of zarzuela. Lecuona's most important contribution to theatrical genre is the definitive formula of the Cuban romance. He introduced the first Latin orchestra to the United States, the Lecuona Cuban Boys.

With a multifaceted and comprehensive personality in the context of creation, Lecuona cultivated diverse musical genres. In his catalog we can find all expressions of songwriting, from the most popular to those with greater stylization and elaborate craftsmanship. For musical theater he composed an immense quantity of works of all genres, while his works for piano constitute the support and pillar of the most relevant production of national and Ibero-American piano music.

His extraordinary abilities as a piano performer led him to perform representative works from the universal repertoire for this instrument and to gain the approval of distinguished personalities, among whom should be mentioned Maurice Ravel, Joaquín Turina, Adolfo Salazar, Joaquín Nin, and George Gershwin, among others.

Among his outstanding works are the zarzuelas Canto Siboney, Damisela Encantadora, Diablos y Fantasías, El Amor del Guarachero, El Batey (1929), El Cafetal, El Calesero, El Maizal, La Flor del Sitio, Tierra de Venus (1927), María la O (1930), and Rosa la China (1932); the songs Canto Carabalí, La Comparsa (world-famous) and Malagueña (1933), belonging to his suite Andalucía; his works for dance, Danza de los Ñáñígos and Danza Lucumí; the opera El Rumbero de Yarey, the Rapsodia Negra for piano and orchestra, as well as his Suite Española.

With his most important zarzuelas, he gave a classically defined form to Cuban zarzuela in terms of genre and style, and for their dramatic and musical achievements they come very close to opera. Some of the zarzuelas mentioned here are the only Latin American productions that have been integrated into repertoires in Spain. In 1942 his composition Siempre en mi corazón was nominated for the Oscar as a song; in its place White Christmas was chosen.

In 1938 he performed in the Argentine film Adiós Buenos Aires directed by Leopoldo Torres Ríos.

In 1960 he moved to Tampa. Many musicians and orchestra directors disseminated his musical work; such is the case of conductor Xavier Cugat, of Catalan Spanish origin. It must be recognized that important efforts in the collection and dissemination of his work were dedicated by his friend and artistic collaborator Orlando Martínez, as well as the Cuban pianist and musicologist Odilio Urfé. The truth is that the press and criticism—both foreign and domestic—were always favorable to Lecuona.

Ernesto Lecuona is an indispensable piece of the history of Cuban, Ibero-American, and universal music.

Works:
Operas
El Sombrero de Yarey.

Zarzuelas
Niña Rita or Havana in 1830 (with Eliseo Grenet)
El Batey
Lola Cruz
María La O
Rosa la China
El Cafetal
The Land of Venus
Diablos y Fantasías
El Maizal
La Flor del Sitio
El Calesero
The Love of the Guarachero
La Guaracha Musulmana

Music (selected)
For Piano
Suite Andalucía.
Córdova/Córdoba.
Andaluza.
Alhambra.
Gitanerías.
Guadalquivir.
Malagueña (song).
San Francisco El Grande.
Before El Escorial.
Zambra Gitana.
Aragonesa.
Granada.
Valencia Mora.
Aragón.
Waltzes
B Minor (Rococo).
A Flat.
Passionate.
Chrysanthemum.
Blue Waltz.
Marvelous.
Romantic.
Poetic.
Other Songs
Zapateado and Guajira.
Black Rhapsody.
Song of the Peasant.
The Habanera.
Three Miniatures.
Polichinella.
Bell Flower.
Music Box.
Mazurka in Glissando.
Prelude in the Night.
Diary of a Child.
Yumurí.
Zenaida.
Benilde.
Forget Me Not.
Melancholy.
Orchids.
The First on the Forehead.
The Parade.
The Little Tango of Mama (also called Old Style).
The Interrupted Dance.
The Mulatta.
Arabesque.
She and I.
The Cardenense.
Finally I Saw You.
Impromptu.
The Minstrels.
Gonzalo, Dance No More!.
What a Laugh That Gives Me! My Grandmother Danced Like That.
Don't Say Another Word!.
I Can't With You.
Move Over Maria!.
Here Comes the Chinese Man.
Why Are You Leaving?.
Lola Is Celebrating.
In Three by Four.
Danza Lucumí.
And the Black Woman Danced!.
The Midnight Conga.
Dance of the Ñáñigos.
That's How I Am.
I Was Thinking of You.
Give Me Your Love.
Loving.
My Sorrows.
How the Doll Dances.
Futuristic.
Burlesque.
While I Ate the Cat Meowed.
The 32.
And the Little Rain Continues!.
The Crinoline.
You Are Love.
To Walk.
Little Doll.
You Will Be.
Little Black Girl.
Here It Is.
Melancholy.
I Cried in Dreams.
Black Mercé.
The Black Lucumí Woman.

Films with Lecuona's Music
Under Cuban Skies, MGM (1931).
Free Soul, MGM (1931).
Susana Lenox, MGM (1931).
Pearl Harbor, MGM.
The Cross and the Sword, MGM.
Always in My Heart, Warner Bros. (1942).
One More Tomorrow, Warner Bros. (1946).
Carnival in Costa Rica, 20th Century Fox (1947).
María la O (Mexican film).
Adiós Buenos Aires (1938) (Argentine film).
Love Came from Mexico (1940) (Argentine film).
The Last Melody (Cuban film).
2046 (2004) (Chinese film).
The Island (2005).
Strawberry and Chocolate (1993) (Cuban film).