José Mauri Esteve

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Orchestra conductor and composer. Author of La Esclava, the first opera with a Cuban setting.

He was born in Valencia, Spain. Three months after his birth, his parents, who were Cuban, moved to Cuba.
José Mauri began his musical training, like his brother Manuel, with his father, who was a notable music enthusiast.

When the family settled in Lima, Peru, José Mauri took violin lessons with Reinaldo Rabagliatti, who presented him to the audience of the Teatro Principal of that capital in 1864 to perform a "Fantasia," based on Lucia de Lammermoor, by Donizetti.

Upon returning to Havana, he received violin lessons from Anselmo López, and completed his musical training with Manuel Úbeda, in piano, organ, harmony, counterpoint, and composition.

He worked as a violinist in the orchestra of the Tacón theater; later at the Albisu theater, and served as organist in several Havana churches, until in 1874 he began his career as director and composer of zarzuelas at the Cervantes theater.

In 1881 he toured Colombia as an orchestra conductor, and later held a position in the orchestra of the Teatro Real in Madrid, where he orchestrated the opera Mefistófeles, by Arrigo Boito.

In Madrid, after premiering his Ave María, he wrote several of his most memorable songs, such as Esperanza and Rosas y violetas, both with verses by Heinrich Heine, translated by Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer.

He presented in 1886, at the Sociedad de Conciertos de La Habana —which was based at the Irijoa theater— his Symphony in A. He also premiered in the Cuban capital his Adagio for large orchestra.

He traveled to Guatemala and returned to Colombia, where he was appointed director of a zarzuela company. He went to Venezuela, from where he returned to Havana to direct the Palau company, at the Tacón Theater.

Between 1889 and 1890 he premiered several of his zarzuelas in Havana, such as Seguridad personal and El colono de Louisiana. He traveled through several Caribbean and Central American countries.

Around 1894 he completed Padre nuestro, a cappella work for four voices, and began composing a Miserere inspired by a Bécquer legend. He donated a large portion of the considerable income he obtained from his artistic tours to the cause of Cuba's independence from Spanish colonial rule.

After a stay in Mexico, Mauri returned to Havana, where he was hired to conduct the orchestra of the Albisu theater. He was appointed to direct the band of the boys' reformatory in Guanajay, near the capital, a position he held from 1902 onwards, which he occupied for several years, with sporadic stays in Havana to conduct the Albisu orchestra.

In 1910 he was elected a member of the Sociedad Filarmónica de La Habana and of the Music section of the Academia Nacional de Artes y Letras.

In 1911 some of his works were recorded on disc: El triunfo de Macantalla, Bolero a Pilar Jiménez, Recuerdas, hermosa niña; Cuba, Cuba and Asómate a la ventana.

In 1914 he founded the Conservatorio Mauri, where he taught violin and piano lessons. He composed new songs with texts by Heine and Bécquer which, according to critics of the time, can be considered true examples of art and exquisite sensibility that —because of their language, style, and inseparable link between music and poetic idea— brought him close to the Viennese composer Hugo Wolff.

A master of stage music, Mauri decided, at the urging of Tomás Juliá, author of the libretto, to compose an opera: La esclava. This work, which stirred great controversy, was the first to address a distinctly Cuban theme, with participation of almost all genres of the island's popular music. Its plot takes place in 1860, on a sugar mill or factory in the Camagüey region.

Mauri wrote the music for this first national opera between 1917 and 1918, which premiered on June 6, 1921 at the Teatro Nacional by the Adolfo Bracale company, with a cast that included soprano Ofelia Nieto, contralto Rhea Toniolo, tenor Julián Oliver, baritone Néstor de la Torre, and bass Antonio Nocolich. The orchestra was conducted by Arturo Padovani.

José Mauri died in Havana on July 11, 1937. Among his students was conductor, orchestrator, and composer Félix Guerrero. In 1978, 1979, and 1980 La esclava returned to the stage at the Teatro García Lorca (now Gran Teatro de La Habana).

Mauri left several notable symphonic works, such as Locura y grandeza de Don Quijote; Fugue in C Minor, Sonata in G Major, and Gavota.

In his religious music production stand out Salve, Ave María, Miserere, Himno al Sagrado Corazón, and A la Purísima Concepción.

He created popular songs such as Ven, chinita, as well as the Himno a los Emigrados.

Throughout his artistic career he wrote the music for more than thirty zarzuelas, among them El sombrero de Felipe II, El barberillo de Jesús María, Los amores de Eloísa, Globos Dirigibles, almost all premiered at the Teatro Alhambra, where his brother Manuel (December 28, 1857–June 7, 1939) worked as musical director from 1900 to 1912, sharing his artistic work with José Marín Varona and Rafael Palau.

Manuel Mauri was one of the first composers to write music for bufo theater. He directed the orchestras of the Lara and Alhambra theaters, for which he composed several works. He also created the scores for various zarzuelas, such as Para dos primas, dos primos, Regino ciclista, Tin tan te comiste un pan (or El velorio de Pachencho), Los baños de San Rafael, Gran encerrona, and La cruz de San Fernando. Similarly, he created pieces of popular music: guajiras, songs, and danzones.

Source: EnCaribe.org