Oscar Hernández Falcón

Cuban composer and guitarist. His musical inclinations were directed toward the trova, where he developed. He formed a trio with Manuel Corona and Juan Carbonell. He is the author of the song Justicia de amor (first prize in 1955 at the Cuban Song Competition). Some of his works are part of the classical repertoire of Cuban trova, such as Rosa roja and Ella y yo.

He was born in La Habana. He studied music with Félix Guerrero (father), and completed the third year of violin. He participated, along with Manuel Corona, Rosendo Ruiz Suárez, Sindo Garay, the duo Floro y Miguel, María Teresa Vera, Rafael Zequeira, Ramoncito García and Miguel Doble, in different venues where Cuban troubadour song was performed.

Between 1914 and 1919 he formed a vocal trio with Manuel Corona and Juan Carbonell; with Luis Martínez and Rodolfo Usatorres; with Nicolás Núñez and Juanito Valdés, and with his siblings Piedad and Mario Hernández, with whom he performed on radio stations and theaters in the capital.

About one of his best-known boleros, Ella y yo, better known as En el sendero de mi vida, Margarita Mateo Palmer says: "... The typical comparison of the rose with the beloved appears already from the well-known Rosa número 2 by the initiator Pepe Sánchez, and reaches in the following creation by Oscar Hernández a careful poetic expression, achieved despite the triteness of the motif:

The elusive and delicate condition of the beloved woman allows identification with the flower [...].» And referring to the same author regarding Rosa roja, she expresses: «One of the amorous motifs that has a long tradition in troubadour song is, not the untraceable comparison of flowers with the beloved woman, but the identification —also very ancient— of the amorous condition itself with the flower, which acquires extraordinary strength —to mention an example from our close cultural roots— in the poetry of the Spanish Golden Age. Rosa roja, by Oscar Hernández, serves as an example, an author in whose songs this association is reiterated:
On the sad morning of a winter day
I saw a red rose in your rosebush.
I wanted to offer it as proof of love
and when I went to touch it the rose pricked me.
Blood flowed from my fingers in reddish drops
as red and vivid as that of the flower,
and I said right away: love with a wound, what sweet pain.
Thus was my first and only love.
It was born from a rose,
perfume and thorns
love and pain.

Love, as a contradictory sentiment, source at once of pleasure and pain, is identified here, as so many other times, with the rare condition of the rose; the piercing capacity that hides behind its dazzling beauty. In the song Ella y yo, by the same author, one can see that the association of the flower with the beloved woman goes beyond the simple desire for exaltation and leads to an identification of the fleeting beauty of the rose with the transience of the romantic relationship.»

In Oscar Hernández's work the harmony is discreet, but accurate; what is most characteristic in him is the eloquence of his rhythmic movements. In his manner of playing guitar he always plucked with greater intensity the chords that form the harmonic pillars; likewise he executed with great precision the rhythmic flourishes, as genuine and decisive as they are in Cuban troubadour song.

Works

Bambuco

La espina, 1928.
Bolero

Tus ojos, 1916;
Ella y yo and Tristes recuerdos, 1918;
El palacio de las cadenas and Quisiera no pensar, 1920;
Perdónala, señor, 1924;
No me toques, 1931;
Sobre una boca, Hora dichosa and Para adorarte, 1935;
Hojas negras, 1938;
Súplica ingenua, 1945;
Justicia de amor, 1955;
Mi senda.
Canción

Sufrir me hiciste, 1916;
Belleza minerviana, 1927;
Lo imposible, 1928;
A la que va conmigo, 1929;
La imagen de ella.
Canción-habanera

Rosa roja, 1926.
Canción-serenata

Asómate al balcón, 1928.
Criolla

Cuando yo muera, 1917;
Mi ruta, 1924.
Guajira

Rosita y Cristina, 1920.
Son

Ya no canta el trovador, 1928.
Vals-canción

Ráfaga de ayer, 1954.