José Marín Varona

Professor, composer of zarzuelas, songs, and works for Cuban piano. Director of orchestras and military bands.

He was born in the city of Camagüey, where he began his musical studies with professor Mariano Agüero. He took up residence in La Habana from a young age, and there, together with maestro Modesto Julián, he directed the orchestra of the Albisu theater, one of the main Havana stages of the era.

In that venue, and in the Irijoa (named Martí after the establishment of the republic), Marín Varona introduced several of his works, performed by the bufos company directed by actor Gonzalo Hernández: Concha o los tres magos, De Guanabacoa a La Habana, La ganzúa de Juan José and Ábreme la puerta.

In 1896 he successfully premiered his zarzuela El brujo at the Albisu, to which belong guajiras that achieved popularity and are still celebrated by numerous musicologists who have examined them.

However, the success of El brujo was due, above all, to the song Es el amor la mitad de la vida (with lyrics by J. R. Barreiro), Marín Varona's most widely distributed work, which has been part of the repertoire of countless lyric performers and choral groups throughout generations.

Shortly after the premiere of El brujo, Marín Varona was forced to emigrate to Key West, United States, because, as a decided supporter of the independence cause, he had received threats from the Spanish colonial government. During his years of exile he continued his professional activity, offering performances in favor of the independence cause, and also collaborated with local publications through journalism and music criticism.

According to some researchers, he spent some time of his exile in Puerto Rico, but such information comes from unconfirmed indirect sources.

Upon his return to Cuba in 1899, he premiered new works at the Alhambra theater, among them the zarzuela La guaracha, which opened on stage in 1902. He was director of this theater's orchestra from its founding until 1912, sharing the podium with maestro Rafael Palau during the consolidation stage of the company directed by Regino López, called "El Lope Cubano".

After the proclamation of the republic in 1902, he founded and directed the Band of the Army General Staff, and, in 1905, the Band of the Artillery Corps, for which he wrote and arranged patriotic music, such as the anthems Tributo al Maine, Himno para Yara, Huérfanos de la Patria, Gobernador Magoon and La Independencia, among other pieces.

He founded the magazine Cuba Musical, where he practiced criticism, in addition to systematically collaborating in other publications. His chronicles and reviews faithfully reported the Havana musical atmosphere of the first years of the twentieth century.

He was professor at the Municipal Conservatory of La Habana and member of the National Academy of Arts and Letters, whose Music Section he presided over for years.

He wrote a Complete Treatise on Musical Theory.

His last theatrical premiere, in 1911, was the zarzuela Las maniobras militares —with libretto by Federico Villoch—, staged at the Alhambra, which was a huge success for Regino López's theatrical company.

On February 24, 1912, he directed in Camagüey the Band of the General Headquarters of the Republic at the premiere of his overture Patria, dedicated to the patriot Ignacio Agramonte, during the events marking the unveiling of the monument erected in his memory in the Plaza Mayor of that city. That was one of the last public activities in which the maestro participated.

José Marín Varona died in La Habana on September 17, 1912. At his funeral, the Infantry Band performed his song Acuérdate de mí. That year the renowned Cuban soprano Chalía Herrera recorded several of his works in New York.

His creations, originally conceived for voice and piano, are Any name, Canto de amor, Desde el mar, El mar de Levante, El 20 de mayo, La puerta de mi bohío, La flor marchita, Mi patria, Serenata criolla, La perla de las Antillas, Siempre tú, Tu amor es mi ventura and Tu canción, among many others.

He wrote an operetta, El 10 de octubre, and a comic sketch titled El crimen de Batabanó.

His grand concert waltz Esperanza was awarded in 1901 at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, United States, and his Tropicales —dances for piano— won him a prize at the Universal Exposition in Paris in 1900.

In 1916 the Infantry Regiment Band, under the direction of Luis Casas Romero, recorded four pieces from the Tropicales series for the RCA Víctor record label (Esperanza, Ensueños, Novelita and Íntima), in band arrangements.

In 1913, composer José Mauri gave a lecture on the musical work of José Marín Varona at the National Academy of Arts and Letters.

A few years after the musician's death, Eduardo Sánchez de Fuentes dedicated an article to him in the Havana magazine Música —later included in his book Folkorismo, published in La Habana in 1928 by Imprenta Molina y Compañía— in which he expressed his respect and admiration: "In the romantic genre and among Spanish American composers, Marín Varona rightfully occupies a place of honor".

Source: EnCaribe.org