Gustavo Sánchez Galarraga

Cuban poet, playwright and musical lyricist, born in Havana in 1893 and died in his native city in 1934. A writer, poet and theater promoter, he wielded words with as much facility as he did when writing texts for major authors of Cuban traditional trovador music.

Only son of a well-to-do family, he was born on February 2, 1893 on Calzada del Cerro. He wrote a vast literary body of work, which abounded in theatrical pieces and poetry collections, in addition to narrative, journalistic articles and the creation of libretti for sainetes and zarzuelas.

Despite his bourgeois social status, he always maintained very close ties with humble sectors. As a playwright and promoter of Cuban lyric theater, his works were always linked to characters of the people. He was a creator of arguments for zarzuelas, operettas, lyrics for romances and songs. From this latter genre, his inspirations stand out alongside Graciano Gómez, and especially his anthological "En Falso" ("…because there are wounds/ that close improperly/ and if someone touches them/ they open again").

Considered one of the most outstanding figures in Cuban popular literature of the first third of the twentieth century, his work reached a large number of readers and listeners thanks to Sánchez Galarraga's ability to capture the essence of the traditions and ways of life of his compatriots, and express them in a literary language of great simplicity and expressive effectiveness.

As a writer, he cultivated poetic creation with success and inspiration, a genre in which, during his lifetime, he ranked among the first lyrical voices of the Caribbean island, thanks to a body of work of extraordinary musical delicacy that is also characterized by its frequent—but well-measured—concessions to sentimentalism. Among the most outstanding poetic titles of the literary output of the Havana writer, it is worth recalling La fuente matinal, La barca sonora, Cancionero de la vida and Humo azul.

Apart from this fruitful poetic activity, Gustavo Sánchez Galarraga also successfully cultivated the theatrical genre, and premiered several pieces in Havana that earned him great literary recognition in his time. Some of his most well-known dramatic works are those titled El héroe, Carmen, El mundo de los muñecos and La verdad de la vida. Furthermore, the renowned Havana writer notably increased his popularity as a result of the close collaboration he maintained with the great Cuban pianist and musical composer Ernesto Lecuona, for whom he composed the lyrics for numerous songs.

A profound friendship and professional relationship united the poet, playwright, essayist, orator and lecturer Gustavo Sánchez Galárraga and Ernesto Lecuona from the days when the latter was still studying at the National Conservatory of Music, directed by maestro Hubert de Blanck.

Programs from 1916 reflect the participation of both in shows offered at the National Theater and the Ateneo de La Habana. One of them will be the tribute paid to Lecuona at this institution on July 12 on the occasion of his upcoming trip to the United States of North America. On that occasion Sánchez Galarraga read his poems dedicated to Lecuona, among others, Al amigo mudo.

With the operetta "El recluta del amor" and the zarzuela "La caravana," premiered in different months of 1919 at the Martí theater, the duo Sánchez Galárraga-Lecuona was founded. Eight years later, during the golden age of lyric sainete and zarzuela with defined national characteristics, this authorial signature began to promote key titles in the history of Creole lyric art. This assertion is justified by "La despalilladora," "Alma de raza" (1928), "El cafetal," "El batey," "La flor del sitio," "El amor del guarachero" (1929), "María la O," "El maizal," "El calesero" (1930), "La guaracha musulmana," "Rosa la China" (1932), "Julián el Gallo" (1934) and "Lola Cruz" (1935), works in which libretto and music achieved critical and public success.

The contributions of this duo of creators to Cuban songwriting cannot be overlooked either. Ernesto Lecuona invariably showed a predilection for the poetry of Gustavo Sánchez Galárraga, cultivated in a romantic, intimate tone, with frequent allusions to love and death and in which the descriptions of atmospheres and feelings maintain a close relationship with the emotional state of the bard.

Lecuona used numerous texts by Sánchez Galárraga to compose songs. In certain cases they would fall within the realm of popular music. But others, due to their great poetic-musical elaboration, correspond to concert literature. In an extensive catalog of titles, Funeral, Soy razonable, Desengaño, Madrigal, La hermana, Ya sé que me olvidaste, Por allá se ha ido, Vestal serena and Bajo el claro de la luna stand out, which the maestro dedicated to the bard and which features as lyrics one of his poems.

Awards and Recognition
Among other significant events in the life of Gustavo Sánchez Galarraga are: his participation in 1915, together with professor Salvador Salazar and Gonzalo Roig in the Pro-Teatro Cubano Society, which lasted several years; his presence—alongside Ernesto Lecuona and José Cid—in the founding of the theatrical company Compañía Hispano Cubana de Autores Nacionales (1927); his election as president of the first board of directors of the Cuban Society of Theatrical Authors (1934); the gold medals that the National Academy of Arts and Letters conferred on him in Havana for his poetry collections Lámpara votiva and Excelsior; the award in a continental contest for his poem Canto a América received from the hands of Argentine president Hipólito Yrigoyen (1921); the granting of the Simón Bolívar insignia for his song Bronce heroico, dedicated to the Liberator of America; the Royal Cross of Isabella the Catholic presented to him in the Spanish capital by King Alfonso XIII (1922); the poetic recitals he offered at the Ateneos of Madrid and Seville, as well as at the Universities of Santiago de Compostela, Columbia and Sorbona.

In 1916 he presided over the Cuban Theater Society and in 1934 the first board of directors of the Cuban Society of Theatrical Authors, a position he held at the time of his death.

Source: www.mcnbiografias.com