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drplaceboIt's Forgotten Masterpiece Friday!
The Afro-Cuban composer José Silvestre White (1835-1918) was perhaps that nation's earliest notable composer. He was born in Matanzas, long one of Cuba's major culture centers -- the city is known today as the birthplace of the danzón and the rumba. White received his earliest musical training from his father, an amateur violinist, and first made his own name as a violinist. His earliest appearance as a composer was at 18, when he played two of his own compositions at a recital; his accompanist at that recital, the visiting American composer-pianist Louis Moreau Gottschalk, recommended him to the Paris Conservatory and raised funds for him to study there. White won the Paris Conservatory's First Grand Prize in violin performance in 1856 and was highly in demand as both a soloist and a chamber musician. He stayed in Paris until 1875, then went on an extended concert tour of the Americas from 1875 to 1877, during which he may have been the first black soloist to perform with the New York Philharmonic. He eventually settled in Rio de Janeiro as director of the Imperial Conservatory there. In 1889 he returned to Paris, where he would live the rest of his life. He continued to perform, teach, and compose; his violin students from this last part of his life included the noted Romanian composer George Enescu. White's most famous composition, the habañera La Bella Cubana, is regarded as an unofficial national anthem in Cuba.
Perhaps also worth mention: in his concert tours, White played the 1737 "Swan" Stradivarius, believed to be the last violin made by Antonio Stradivari.
José White's violin concerto was composed between 1864 and 1867, around the time he began touring outside Paris as a soloist. The key, F-sharp minor, is a rare one, but perhaps an intentional choice as Henryk Wieniawski, one of the leading violinists of the day, had recently composed a concerto in the same key. Perhaps not at all coincidentally, White was sometimes referred to as "the Cuban Wieniawski." And although the French press praised the concerto's economy of writing, with "not a single note . . . for mere virtuosity," the concerto certainly has no lack of pyrotechnics. The concerto appears to have been influenced by opera: the more lyrical passages are orchestrated sparsely so as to resemble operatic recitative, giving entire extended passages the feel of cadenzas. While it was highly praised at its premiere and frequently performed in France for decades, White's concerto was rarely played outside Cuba after his death; the US premiere did not occur until 1974.
The Afro-Cuban composer José Silvestre White (1835-1918) was perhaps that nation's earliest notable composer. He was born in Matanzas, long one of Cuba's major culture centers -- the city is known today as the birthplace of the danzón and the rumba. White received his earliest musical training from his father, an amateur violinist, and first made his own name as a violinist. His earliest appearance as a composer was at 18, when he played two of his own compositions at a recital; his accompanist at that recital, the visiting American composer-pianist Louis Moreau Gottschalk, recommended him to the Paris Conservatory and raised funds for him to study there. White won the Paris Conservatory's First Grand Prize in violin performance in 1856 and was highly in demand as both a soloist and a chamber musician. He stayed in Paris until 1875, then went on an extended concert tour of the Americas from 1875 to 1877, during which he may have been the first black soloist to perform with the New York Philharmonic. He eventually settled in Rio de Janeiro as director of the Imperial Conservatory there. In 1889 he returned to Paris, where he would live the rest of his life. He continued to perform, teach, and compose; his violin students from this last part of his life included the noted Romanian composer George Enescu. White's most famous composition, the habañera La Bella Cubana, is regarded as an unofficial national anthem in Cuba.
Perhaps also worth mention: in his concert tours, White played the 1737 "Swan" Stradivarius, believed to be the last violin made by Antonio Stradivari.
José White's violin concerto was composed between 1864 and 1867, around the time he began touring outside Paris as a soloist. The key, F-sharp minor, is a rare one, but perhaps an intentional choice as Henryk Wieniawski, one of the leading violinists of the day, had recently composed a concerto in the same key. Perhaps not at all coincidentally, White was sometimes referred to as "the Cuban Wieniawski." And although the French press praised the concerto's economy of writing, with "not a single note . . . for mere virtuosity," the concerto certainly has no lack of pyrotechnics. The concerto appears to have been influenced by opera: the more lyrical passages are orchestrated sparsely so as to resemble operatic recitative, giving entire extended passages the feel of cadenzas. While it was highly praised at its premiere and frequently performed in France for decades, White's concerto was rarely played outside Cuba after his death; the US premiere did not occur until 1974.