Gisela Hernández Gonzalo

Composer, pedagogue, choral director and researcher. She was a member of the Musical Renovation Group and was one of the most representative composers of the neocolonial period, in whose works are found the greatest and most important contributions of women to concert music. She received the Gisela Hernández. Cuban composer, pedagogue, choral director and researcher. She was a member of the Musical Renovation Group and was one of the most representative composers of the neocolonial period, in whose works are found the greatest and most important contributions of women to concert music. She won the National Composition Prize in 1940. Her most outstanding work is the Zapateo Cubano.

She was born in Cárdenas. She began her musical studies at the "Santa Cecilia" School in her hometown.

In 1924 she moved to La Habana, where she completed them four years later at the National Conservatory and, in 1929, she entered the "Bach" Conservatory to study Harmony, Aesthetics, History of Music and Choral Direction with María Muñoz de Quevedo.

In 1940 she had José Ardévol as her professor and in 1944 she expanded her studies with Gustav Stube and Theodor Chandler at the Peabody Institute of Music in Baltimore, United States.

From 1935 she was a member of the Coral de La Habana as a singer and was its director from 1947 to 1953.

She was part of the Musical Renovation Group (1942-1948) directed by José Ardévol and comprised of Argeliers León, Harold Gramatges, Virginia Fleites, Dolores Torres, Esther Rodríguez and Edgardo Martín, among others.

She also developed her teaching career in various educational institutions and carried out notable work in musical promotion through concerts offered in theaters and cultural societies in La Habana, Pinar del Río, Matanzas and Cárdenas.

In 1949 she organized and directed the Women's Chorus of the Lyceum Lawn Tennis Club and was professor of Harmony, History of Music, Pedagogy and Composition at the National Conservatory of Music of La Habana Hubert de Blanck, of which she later became technical subdirector and general subdirector until the institution's closure in 1962.

As founder of the Musical Kindergarten, she distinguished herself as a composer of children's songs, musical stories and pedagogical texts.

Furthermore, she was in charge of the revision of 40 piano dances by Ignacio Cervantes, published by Ediciones de Blanck in 1959.

During the period from 1960 to 1971 she taught classes at the National Institute of Culture and at the School of Art Instructors; she advised the Direction of Cultural Extension of the Direction of Music of the National Council of Culture, the National Library of Cuba José Martí, schools for educators of children's circles and was a member of the Organizing Council of the National Museum of Music.

She was the first Cuban woman to write lieder in Cuba; the first to compose musical scores for theatrical works and the first in the cultivation of the Christmas carol.

Her first period of creation (1924-1940) is characterized by the use of minor forms and the search for elements to shape her musical language, as in Pequeña suite (1929), Tema y variaciones (1930) and Dos preludios (1938-1939), pieces that were never published by their author.

Her second period of creation (1940-1947) stands out for the deepening of her academic knowledge and for the diversity of genres she addressed: instrumental music, vocal music and vocal-instrumental music; she also worked with large forms such as the sonata.

During this period she won the 1940 National Composition Prize, awarded by the Ministry of Education for the work Suite coral, premiered in La Habana, presented in Mexico and published in 1945 by the Inter-American Institute of Musicology, Montevideo, Uruguay.

Her third and final period (1947-1971) is distinguished by her nationalist aesthetic attitude and by her creation in both piano and vocal music as well as vocal-instrumental, where she achieved a high level of accomplishment.

She developed in her melodies Afro-Cuban resources and procedures and made references to genres such as son and guajira, using their metrics and rhythmic cells and the use of musical texts by Mirta Aguirre, Nicolás Guillén, Emilio Ballagas and Dora Alonso, among others.

It was during this period that she introduced children's songs into her creation, producing 50 works written in the rhythm of habanera, criolla, guajira, danza and son; she also worked with the march, the minuet and the song proper. Cantares martianos, Tres retratos and Cantares y más cantares stand out, as well as her two works of lyric theater for children: La muñeca negra and Blanca Nieves.

She was co-author, with Olga de Blanck, of a New Pedagogical Method and Musical Pedagogical Games.

As a researcher she distinguished herself in numerous articles of musical criticism and musicological research.

Catalog of works:
Incidental music
Hamlet, theatrical work, for chorus, soloists and orchestra, text: William Shakespeare, 1948
El alcalde de Zalamea, theatrical work, for chorus, voice and guitar, text: Calderón de la Barca, 1949
Pedro de Urdemala, theatrical work, for string orchestra, voice and violoncello, text: Miguel de Cervantes y Saavedra, 1950
Juana de Lorena, theatrical work, text: Maxwell Anderson, 1956
Blanca Nieves y los siete enanitos, verses: Dora Alonso, 1965

Symphonic music
Tríptico cubano, 1954
Diálogo de octubre, for two soloists, chorus and orchestra, 1965

Chamber music
Pequeña suite, for violin and violoncello, 1941
Sonatina, for violin and piano, 1945
Salmo Davídico, for chorus and string orchestra, 1954
Cubana No. 3 (guajira), for 2 oboes, 2 violins, viola, violoncello and double bass, 1963

Choral music
Canción, for 4 mixed voices, verses: Emilio Ballagas, 1942
Dos canciones, for 3 and 6 mixed voices, verses: Juan Ramón Jiménez, 1942
Romance, for 7 mixed voices, verses: Rodríguez Santos, 1942
Suite coral, for 4 mixed voices, verses: Federico García Lorca, 1942, published by the Inter-American Institute of Musicology, Montevideo, Uruguay, 1945
Soneto coral, for 5 mixed voices, verses: Luis de Góngora, 1943
Corofonía, for 4 mixed voices, verses: Nicolás Guillén, 1967
Como allá, for 4 mixed voices, verses: José Martí, 1967

Religious works
Dos villancicos tradicionales (Noche Buena and Tres Reyes) for 2 and 3 mixed voices, verses: Mirta Aguirre, 1943-1944
Aleluya, for 3 mixed voices, verses: Federico García Lorca, 1944
Dos villancicos cubanos (Son de navidad and Palmas reales) for 4 mixed voices, verses: Concha Méndez, 1948-1949, Ediciones de Blanck, La Habana, 1951

Piano
Pequeña suite, 1929
Tema y variaciones, 1930
Dos preludios, 1939
Preludio y Giga, mimeographic edition, 1943
Sonata No. 1 in C, mimeographic edition, V. Ifurri, 1943
Sonatina Scarlatiana, 1944
Estudio en son, 1953
Preludio cubano, 1953
Zapateo cubano, Ediciones de Blanck, La Habana, 1954
Cubanas (Toque clave, Son, Guajira and Preludio en son), Ediciones de Blanck, La Habana, 1957

Songs
(All lieder, for voice and piano, Editora Musical de Cuba, 1981)
Música Vocal I. Editora Musical de Cuba. Collection Cuban Songs. Concert Songs Series. 1981
Única mar, verses: Mirta Aguirre, Ediciones de Blanck, La Habana, 1943
Mi corazón lo trajo el mar, verses: Mirta Aguirre, Ediciones de Blanck, La Habana, 1943
Romancillo, verses: Federico García Lorca, Ediciones de Blanck, La Habana, 1944
Solo por el rocío, verses: Federico García Lorca, Ediciones de Blanck, La Habana, 1944
Huerto de marzo, verses: Federico García Lorca, Ediciones de Blanck, La Habana, 1944
De prisa tierra de prisa, verses: Juan Ramón Jiménez, Ediciones de Blanck, La Habana, 1945
La palma, verses: Juan Ramón Jiménez, La Habana, 1945
Tránsito, verses: Rabindranath Tagore, Ediciones de Blanck, La Habana, 1945
Dos cantos de cuna, 1944-1948
Diálogo, verses: Dulce María Loynaz, Ediciones de Blanck, La Habana, 1955
Víspera, 1: Mariano Brull, 1957
Voy a medirme el amor, verses: Dulce María Loynaz, 1958
Miraba la noche el alma, text: Ángel Gaztelu, 1964
Dones, text: Cleva Solís, 1964
Si acudirás, text: José Lezama Lima, 1964
Cómo vendrás, 1964
Canto X, text: Cintio Vitier, dedicated to tenor Daniel Marcos, 1966
Iba yo por un camino, verses: Nicolás Guillén, 1970.

Children's songs
50 Cuban children's songs, verses: José Martí, Mirta Aguirre, Adelaida Clemente, Nicolás Guillén, Emilio Ballagas, Dora Alonso, David Chericián, Gisela Hernández, Editorial Pueblo y Educación, La Habana, 1960-1970

Pedagogical works
Theoretical
Armonía Práctica (first course), in collaboration with Olga de Blanck, 1964.
Escritura musical (2 workbooks), in collaboration with Olga de Blanck, 1952.
Lecciones elementales de teoría (2 workbooks), in collaboration with Olga de Blanck, 1953.
Caligrafía musical, in collaboration with Olga de Blanck, 1953.
Dictado musical y educación musical del oído (3 workbooks), in collaboration with Olga de Blanck, 1953.
Juegos Pedagógicos musicales (3 workbooks), in collaboration with Olga de Blanck, 1953 **Apreciación musical (5 workbooks), 1953-1956.

Piano
El pequeño pianista, in collaboration with Olga de Blanck, 1949.
Lecciones a 4 manos, in collaboration with Olga de Blanck, 1952.

Solfège
Lectura musical (3 workbooks), in collaboration with Olga de Blanck, 1954-1956.

Choral singing
Didáctica del canto coral, 1942.
Música coral, selection and arrangement, Ediciones de Blanck, La Habana, 1954.
Canciones infantiles cubanas, published by the Ministry of Education, La Habana, 1974.

Musicological works
The value of the phonographic record in music education; The extravagant life of Pierro Cesimo; Leonardo Da Vinci, musician; The Schubert lied, published in the Student Bulletin of the Municipal Conservatory of Music "Felix Ernesto Alpízar", La Habana, 1941.
Revisions (all in collaboration with Olga de Blanck):
Of Hubert de Blanck: Nueva escuela para el piano (3 workbooks), 1951-1953.
Of Ignacio Cervantes: 40 Piano Dances, 1959-1962.
Of Gaspar Villate: Siete danzas cubanas para piano, 1967.
Of José White: Seis estudios de concierto para violín, 1967.