José Silvestre de los Dolores White Laffite

He was born in Matanzas. His parents, Charles White, a French merchant, and María Escolástica Laffite, a Cuban woman of Black ancestry, encouraged the early musical vocation of their young son, who at 8 years of age would receive violin lessons from professor José Miguel Román and, later, from Pedro F. Lecerff.

At fifteen years old he composed his first piece: Mass for two voices and orchestra. At 18 years old he won the First Grand Prize at the Paris Conservatory -where he studied and where he would later serve as a professor- with Viotti's Concerto Opus 29, on July 29, 1856.

Four years later he would compose the piece that would identify him universally: La bella cubana, considered one of the musical pillars that identify our homeland.

Celebrated and decorated by emperors, kings and presidents, and acclaimed by the most demanding audiences, the great violinist returned for the second and final time to his beloved Island in 1875 (he had already visited it in 1858, an occasion on which he offered concerts in Havana, Santiago de Cuba and in his native Matanzas), but at the suggestion of Spanish authorities he had to leave, due to alleged relations with persons opposed to the colonial regime.

His regal art was admired in Spain, England, Venezuela, Peru, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil -a country where he remained for several years-, the United States (New York, Philadelphia and Boston) and Mexico. Founder of Cuban violin music, creator and interpreter of magnificent concert works and, furthermore, an eminent professor, his art was recognized by José Martí.

Considered one of the most famous violinists of his century, he was truly astonishing and unsurpassable for his technique, good taste, intonation, elegance and interpretive sense.

Son of a cultured French merchant and a Cuban woman of Black ancestry, he was born in the city of Matanzas on January 17, 1836, where without having any technical knowledge of music, he showed a desire to use the violin as his favorite toy from the age of four. At eight, he was already studying the elements of musical art, and at fifteen he was capable of composing his first work: a mass for orchestra.

When he turned nineteen years old, this musical genius already knew and played sixteen musical instruments, among them the violin, the viola, the cello, the double bass, the piano, the guitar, the flute, the cornet and the French horn.

On March 21, 1855, he offered his first concert in the city of Matanzas, accompanied by the celebrated American pianist Luis M. Gottschalk. And the following year, in July of 1856, he won the first prize for violin at the Paris Conservatory, which definitively consecrated him in the aristocracy of virtuosos of the instrument.

José White rubbed shoulders with the greatest musical celebrities of his time, and merited the admiration and friendship of his teacher, Alard, as well as Thomas, Rossini, Gounod, Sarasate, David, Saint-Sains, and all the great musicians who knew him.

White was acclaimed by the public and critics of Paris, Madrid, New York and other major cities. He also had the honor of being invited to play his Stradivarius in the Palace of the Tuileries in Paris before emperors Napoleon III and Eugenia; in the Royal Palace of Madrid before Queen Isabel II, who granted him the Grand Cross of Charles III and gave him a set of diamond buttons, as well as in other mansions of European aristocracy.

José Silvestre White Laffite, as he was named, was honored with the appointment of director of the Imperial Conservatory of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil and was teacher of the children of Emperor Dom Pedro II of Braganza; positions he held until 1889, when, with the fall of the Carioca Empire, White resigned and returned to Paris where he became a teacher at the Conservatory of the city; and later he continued transmitting his teachings to some students in his house on the Seine.

Despite the many accolades and distance, he never forgot his homeland, to whose redemption he contributed, which is why he was persecuted in 1875 until he was forced into exile. To his distant Cuba he dedicated one of his last creations, Marcha Cubana, written in 1909.

His splendid creative talent was made manifest forever in his various works, among them, works for piano, for harpsichord and orchestra, and for string quartet. His fame as a composer rests principally on the excellent Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, on the always popular La Bella Cubana for violin and piano, later transcribed for voice and piano, his Six great studies for violin, approved by the Paris Conservatory; various fantasies, works of sacred music and his beautiful concert dances such as Juventud, in which Cuban temperament vibrates in warm waves of exquisite melodies.

José Martí felt great admiration and respect for this notable violinist and composer whom he was able to appreciate when he performed in May of 1875 in the Mexican capital.

In Paris, on March 15, 1918, at the age of eighty-two years, the most learned master of masters passed away.

Currently, schools, institutions and conservatories on the Island bear his name. For his greatness, a prize for interpretive excellence for violinists has been established and he has served as inspiration for the creation of important works, among them, Tributo a José White, a ballet inspired by the Concerto in F minor for violin and orchestra, a work composed in 1864 by José White himself.

The score of this concerto was lost for more than a century; it was restored to the international repertoire by Ruggiero Ricci in 1974 when he performed it at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center in New York. It was also recorded in 1975 on Columbia Records by Aaron Rosand and the London Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Paul Freeman.

The choreographer draws from both the structure and melodic atmosphere of the concerto as well as from his desire to exalt, through dance, the intrinsic cubanidad in the composer, within the cosmopolitan style of the musical work.