Rodrigo Ricardo Prats Llorens

Composer, violinist, orchestra conductor. One of the most relevant creators of the Cuban lyric scene.

Rodrigo Prats was born in Sagua la Grande (former province of Las Villas). He grew up in a family with a musical tradition, as his father was flautist and composer Jaime Prats (1883-1946), author of the famous bolero Ausencia, founder of one of the country's first jazz bands, and a prolific author of music for vernacular theater.

It was precisely with his father that Rodrigo Prats began his musical studies. He was later a student of Mauricio Ortega and Emilio Reinoso.

He entered the Orbón Conservatory in La Habana to take classes in solfege and theory with Cándido Herrera. His violin teachers were Juan Torroella, Joaquín Molina Torres, and Fernando G. Aday. Benjamín Orbón was his piano teacher, and Buenaventura Sánchez taught him harmony and composition. He completed his musical training at the Iranzo Conservatory.

He made his debut in 1922 with the Cuban Jazz Band directed by his father, and that same year he joined the newly founded Orquesta Sinfónica de La Habana, conducted by Gonzalo Roig. He had previously been a member of orchestras led by Tata Pereira, Rojito Barba, and Felipe Palau.

In an interview, Prats declared that he was proud to be a "danzonero," as he had played violin in orchestras that performed danzones when he was barely twelve years old, and had written his first piece in the genre at Academia Habana, against the opinions of his professors.

In 1924 he wrote the criolla-bolero Una rosa de Francia. He was fifteen years old when he composed the music, based on the lyrics of a poem given to him by Gabriel Gravier, a family friend. Una Rosa de Francia was premiered by the popular singer Fernando Collazo.

Prats conducted the orchestra of Arquímedes Pous's Theatrical Company in 1926, as his father had done before him.

Later he was founder and director of the Orquesta Sinfónica del Aire, as well as the Orquesta de Cámara del Círculo de Bellas Artes, and assistant conductor of the Orquesta Filarmónica de La Habana.

He directed the music programming at the radio station RHC Cadena Azul, which specialized in musical programs of various genres.

In the early 1930s, along with his colleague Gonzalo Roig and theater director and writer Agustín Rodríguez—librettist of many zarzuelas and author of song lyrics—Prats joined as master concertador for the Cuban lyric art seasons at the Martí theater, for more than five years.

In that context he premiered the zarzuelas Soledad, María Belén Chacón, and Amalia Batista, considered the most complete of those he wrote.

Musician and researcher Alberto Joya maintains that Amalia Batista is, in Rodrigo Prats's work, what María la O by Ernesto Lecuona and Cecilia Valdés by Gonzalo Roig are for Cuban zarzuela. These three works form a triad representing Cuban lyric theater. Their arguments are similar, and they feature three mulatas as protagonists, representative of the exuberance, sensuality, and passion of the tropics, in hidden romances with white men. The illegitimate affairs lead to dramatic situations nourished by illusions, hopes, passions, misfortunes, and vengeances. Such themes, common in lyric theater, in these three works responded to real problems in Cuban society at that time.

Amalia Batista premiered as a sainete with resounding success at the Martí theater in La Habana on August 21, 1936. Its libretto was by Agustín Rodríguez, and the principal roles were performed by soprano Maruja González and tenor Miguel de Grandy. The lead role had been conceived for Rita Montaner, who performed it on August 9, 1940 at the teatro Nacional. In 1952 Prats rewrote the work as a single act, and in 1979 premiered another version with which he definitively gave it the category of zarzuela.

Prats obtained through competitive examination the position of director of the Orquesta Sinfónica del Ministerio de Educación, and when television was inaugurated in 1950, he was appointed musical director of Channel 4.

In 1954 he organized an orchestra with qualified musicians to perform danzones with his own arrangements on a record titled Danzones para bailar, distributed by the Puchito company. This luxury danzonero orchestra was made up of, among others, José Antonio Fajardo (flute); Jesús López (piano); Israel "Cachao" López (bass); and Ulpiano Díaz (timpani). Its repertoire consisted of pieces considered "classics" of the genre, such as Masacre by Silvio Contreras; Virgen de Regla by Pablo O'Farrill; Fefita by José Urfé; La Gioconda by Juan Quevedo; La flauta Mágica by Antonio María Romeu; La mora and Si muero en la carretera by Eliseo Grenet.

The success achieved by this recording production allowed maestro Prats to repeat the experience and, basically with the same cast, recorded Danzones para bailar. Vol. II for Puchito, and Danzones completos for the Montilla label. These records include danzonero arrangements of Una rosa de Francia and Amalia Batista, and Ausencia by Jaime Prats.

Another significant production in Rodrigo Prats's recording career was Estampas de Cuba, with instrumental arrangements by the maestro of dances by Ignacio Cervantes, José White, and Ernesto Lecuona, and songs by Eduardo Sánchez de Fuentes, Gonzalo Roig, Jorge Anckermann, Eliseo Grenet, and Moisés Simons.

On this record, recorded for the Kubaney label with program notes by Luis Carbonell, Prats's work Canta el carretero cuando dan las seis is included. This piece was orchestrated years later by Gonzalo Roig to be performed by the Banda Nacional de Conciertos.

Rodrigo Prats composed several pregones, among which stand out El churrero, El tamalero, and El verdulero. Among his songs, Aquella noche, Espero de ti, Tú que no sabes mentir, Creo que te quiero, Eres rayo de sol, and Miedo al desengaño achieved fame, the latter preferred since its premiere by numerous performers of the Cuban lyric repertoire.

In January 1960, maestro Rodrigo Prats conducted the Orquesta Típica Nacional, formed for the Danzón Festival by the best performers of the genre. In 1961, with his work Yo sí tumbo caña, performed by the quartet D'Aida, he won the grand prize of the First Contest of Cuban Songs held after the revolutionary triumph of 1959.

Until his final days he dedicated his efforts to the cultivation and promotion of lyric genre, traditional genres, and the best national song.

His Misa Cubana, originally composed for his son's wedding, was sung in the liturgical celebration that took place in La Habana in 1998 during the visit of His Holiness Juan Pablo II to Cuba.

Source: EnCaribe.org