José Eulalio Loyola Fernández

Composer, musicologist, and flutist.

Born in Cienfuegos. In 1985 he received his Doctor's degree in Music Theory from the Fryderyk Chopin Academy in Warsaw.

Professor of Composition and Orchestration and member of the Scientific Degrees Commission of the Institute of Art (ISA). Founder and President since 1987 of the International Boleros de Oro Festivals.

In 1992 he received the Annual Recognition Prize for his body of creative work.

He began his flute studies with his father, Efraín Loyola; he continued them in 1963 at the National School of Art with Juan Pablo Ondina and Emigdio Mayo; in 1967 he completed his intermediate studies; at that same institution he studied composition with Federico Smith.

In 1967 he traveled to Poland to study composition at the Higher School of Music of that country with Grazyna Bacewicz, Andrzej Dobrolski, and Witold Rudzinski, with the latter he studied composition; in 1973 he concluded his studies with the degree of Master in Art in Composition. From 1981 to 1985, he completed his doctorate in music at the Frederik Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw, specializing in music theory.

He began his artistic career as a band flutist in Efraín Loyola's charanga; he made arrangements for the orchestras of Elio Revé, Pancho el Bravo, and Modelo. In Poland he worked as flutist and arranger for the quartet of Polish pianist Frederyk Babinski, with which he participated in the Polish Jazz Jamboree festivals in Warsaw and Jazz in Oder in the city of Wroclaw, as well as in the Komeda Festival. With this quartet he worked on the soundtracks of several Polish films.

He participated in the Symposium on Opera, Ballet, and Musical Theater in Sofia, Bulgaria, 1976; Colloquium on Black Civilization and Education, Lagos, Nigeria, 1977; Meeting of Music Directors and Composers of Socialist Countries, Moscow and Tbilisi, 1977; International Music Colloquium, Buenos Aires, 1988; International Colloquium on the Bambuco, Mexico, 1990; International Colloquium on the Bolero, Venezuela, 1994 and 1995. In 1987 he founded the Boleros de Oro festivals, organized by the National Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba.

In his work, Cuban rhythmic elements and Yoruba melodies appear, recreated sometimes and other times in a "pure" state, sonorities of European music, spatial countertreatments, and some improvisation. As for influences, the composer says: "I feel influenced by all Cuban composers directly or indirectly, fundamentally by Caturla, because he is the one who comes closest to my way of seeing things and has purposes similar to mine; also by Roldán, because Caturla and Roldán had that attitude of searching for what is theirs which is what moves me [...], since they searched in the sources and in direct data, regardless of the technique they used [...]."

Regarding his opera Monzón y el rey de Koré, the composer has said: "The overture begins with a brief dialogue between the timpani and brass instruments, which announce the main theme of the opera. This theme will appear in the course of the work in different variants. Thus, at the beginning of the overture two fundamental elements appear: the theme and the rhythm of the percussion instruments, which play a major role throughout the work.

After the timpani-brass dialogue, a march begins in the form of a canon by instrumental sections that become increasingly denser, until reaching aleatory blocks at the culminating point of the overture, whose most important characteristic in terms of formal structure is that, with the exception of percussion, all other layers constitute a development and expansion of the main theme. In subsequent scenes reminiscences of this theme also appear, which serves to give the entire opera cohesion and homogeneity.

Each of the main characters possesses a vocal line with defined contours. For example, the griot Tiécura, the axis of the work's action, thanks to his impulsive character, is expressed here through a restless vocal line where large intervallic jumps (sevenths and ninths) predominate. In contradiction to Monzón and his advisor Tiétiguiba Danté, they possess a more static, more fluid line. However, Sarán, a woman full of passion, Da Monzón, a brave and daring man, carry a varied and rich line. For his part, Dugá has a stable line that expresses the firmness of the energetic king.

The contrasts used are more or less the following: the differences in character of time among the different scenes, II and IV, which are distinguished by their popular character through the application of living folklore.

Another type of contrast we find in the instrumentation where the roles played by percussion, the chorus, and the different instrumental sections of the orchestra are combined. Another form of contrast is the sound structures. At moments of greatest tension, the tritone comes to the foreground, both in the horizontal line and in vertical blocks, for example in scene III.

In the work, antiphonal dialogues appear: soloist-chorus, chorus-percussion, etcetera. Another element is the main role of percussion, both in rhythm and in color, thanks to the selection of instruments of that kind. There are no metallic sounds here, only membranophones, idiophones, and chordophones.

The chorus has a male makeup, in accordance with the tradition of war ceremonies where women cannot participate, sometimes receiving syllabic and onomatopoetic treatment, calls to cries of eia, hum, etcetera. The melodic line of the chorus moves within the framework of the pentatonic scale, for example in scene IV of the first act.

Each of the main characters possesses his intervallic structure, according to the role he develops. There is a search for certain character identification through those structures and to establish sound contrast between their interventions.

As for sonority, here a balance is sought between the cluster and unison. There is, therefore, a tendency to resolve the cluster in unison and vice versa. The work begins with a transparent texture, moves to a denser one, through the superposition of different sound structures or through pure cluster. For example, the overture begins with a canon, whose theme is performed by the horns and then acquires greater density thanks to the superposition of three layers of the same structure presented.

Clusters are presented in three variations: as a static block, as an unstable mass applying aleatory fragments with half-tone distances between the different instruments, or combining both variants at the same time. The application of aleaticism here is limited to presenting a model or fragment that will be repeated freely until the signal of the orchestra conductor.

These fragments are constructed in such a way that they do not coincide either from the point of view of duration time or from the height of the sounds of each line, which allows for true rhythmic, metric, and melodic independence in each of the lines." Recently he has created the Charanga de Oro.

The Charanga de Oro is a musical group whose structural formation, from the instrumental point of view, is based on the classic format called charanga, which has its genesis in its predecessor known as charanga à la française. This instrumental format "emerged in the early years of the twentieth century, as a derivation of the typical wind orchestra.

It interprets, mainly, danzones, although from the cha cha chá (1951) it is the ideal vehicle for this new genre. Originally it was formed by flute, violin, piano, double bass, timpani or creole kettle drum, and güiro; later the tumbadora, two more violins, and three singers were added."

The orchestra has featured renowned Cuban and foreign guests such as: Teresa García Caturla, Mundito González, Emilia Morales, Cuarteto Los Zafiros, Rolando Montero, "El Muso" (Singers); Tata Güines, Pancho Terry, and Basilio Márquez (instrumentalists). It has ventured into very experimental works, incorporating lyric singers from the National Opera, such as Manuel Riopedre, Lucy Provedo, and Ulises Aquino.

Works
Chorus
Antipoems, text: Nicanor Parra
Five poems, for mixed a cappella chorus
Folkloric variations, for baritone, chorus, piano, and percussion.

Instrumental ensemble
Song of I am all II, text: Eloy Machado, for oboe, reciter, and Afro-Cuban percussion
Black song, text: Nicolás Guillén, for baritone, mixed chorus, piano, and percussion
Homage to Brindis de Salas, for solo violin
Living music no. 3, for flute and Afro-Cuban percussion
Poetics of the Guerrilla fighter, text: Carlos Pellicer, for trumpet, chorus, and string orchestra
Three poetic images, for baritone, piano, and percussion instruments.

Chamber music
Construction, Assembly, for brass ensemble
Music, for flute and strings, 1970
Living music no. 4, for chamber ensemble
Chamber music, 1975; Pas de deux, for flute and oboe
Sinfonietta, for string orchestra, wind quintet, and piano
Trio, for oboe, clarinet, and bassoon.

Opera
Monzón y el rey de Koré, 1973, "based on an anonymous African Bambara epic from the Segú region, Democratic Republic of Mali."

Symphonic orchestra
Living music no. 2. Living music no. 3
Sound texture, 1979
Tropicalia.

Percussion
Living music no. 1.

Piano
Three Cuban pieces.

Source: Ecured