Gaspar Agüero Barreras

First music pedagogue in the history of Cuba. He was a professor at the National Conservatory and of the Music Department of the Normal School for Teachers of La Habana; member of the National Academy of Arts and Letters of the Economic Society Friends of the Country; as well as author of various musical works for large and small orchestra, of countless theatrical works and a collection of school songs, as well as conferences and folkloric works, demonstrative of his erudition and talent.

He received his first musical studies at age 9, with his father Oliverio Agüero, who had studied piano in Germany and was considered a pianist of great level. Attracted by musical activity, he composed his first work while still young; a patriotic march.

With the objective of studying Law, he entered the university, but later decided to abandon it due to lack of motivation. From then on, he dedicated himself entirely to music, as this was his true vocation.

From a very young age he began to work. He was a chorus master in zarzuela and operetta theater companies and traveled throughout the island of Cuba and many countries in America. He acquired professional experience that allowed him to establish criteria about the method of learning singing through imitation of Commercial Employees of La Habana, acquiring his first teaching experiences. From 1902 onwards he decided to dedicate himself definitively to teaching, starting as a solfège professor at the National Conservatory, directed by maestro Hubert de Blanck.

In 1906 he was appointed official professor in the association of Commercial Employees, where he directed the choirs and musical activities, a function he performed for 58 years. From 1915 until 1946 he served as titular professor of music at the Normal School for Teachers of La Habana, a period that was very decisive in his formation as a music pedagogue, as this work allowed him to delve into specific musical didactics for the training of teachers and that directed at children.

As a result of his professional maturity, he decided to teach the Modern Musical Didactics course at the Summer school of the University of La Habana, the first course of this type in Cuba and with a clear reflection of the influences of the New School.

Although his first occupations were predominantly that of music professor, a field for which he had his greatest affection, he also stood out as a composer, musicologist, chronicler, researcher and lecturer. He composed musical works in several genres: symphony, religious music, music for piano, vocal music, school songs and hymns and music for the stage.

He left us an important work of musicology, criticism and music teaching and collaborated with Cuban ethnologist don Fernando Ortiz in his investigations, and culminated with him the works Africania in the Folkloric Music in Cuba and The Dances and Theater of Blacks in the Folkloric Music of Cuba, which places him in a high position as a scientific collaborator in the History of Cuban Music.

Composer and pedagogue. He was part of the zarzuela companies of Rafael Palau and Marín Varona in the capacity of accompanying pianist, orchestra director and choir coordinator. He directed the Orfeó Catalá. He taught at numerous specialized institutions, such as the National Conservatory H. de Blanck (1902) and the Normal School for Teachers of La Habana (1917). He collaborated with don Fernando Ortiz in his musicological investigations. His catalog includes pieces of diverse genres (symphonic sketches, rhapsodies for piano, two masses) and about six zarzuelas, among which, El combate naval, La fonda de don Tadeo and La Loma del Ángel, the latter, in collaboration with Jorge Anckermann (1904).

Gaspar Agüero died in La Habana, on May 18, 1951.