Name Manuel Ponce | Role Composer | |
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Died April 24, 1948, Mexico City, Mexico Education Conservatorio Nacional de Musica Compositions Scherzino Mexicano, Scherzino Mexicano, Estrellita, Estrellita, Por ti mi corazon, Por ti mi corazon, Tres canciones populares mexicanas, Tres canciones populares mexicanas, Seis preludios cortos, Seis preludios cortos, Theme - Variations and Finale, Theme - Variations and Finale, Serenata mexicana, Serenata mexicana, Sonatina meridional: I Campo, Sonatina meridional: I Campo, Sonata romantica: II Andante espressivo, Sonata romantica: II Andante espressivo, Twenty-Four Preludes: No 11 in B major, Twenty-Four Preludes: No 11 in B major, Twenty-Four Preludes: No 1 in C major, Twenty-Four Preludes: No 1 in C major, Suite in A minor: IV Sarabande, Suite in A minor: IV Sarabande, Sonata mexicana: IV Allegretto - un poco vivace, Sonata mexicana: IV Allegretto - un poco vivace, Canzone y rondo, Canzone y rondo, Andantino variato - after Paganini, Andantino variato - after Paganini, Sonata clasica: III Menuet, Sonata clasica: III Menuet, Sonata clasica: IV Allegro, Sonata clasica: IV Allegro, Sonata no 3: I Allegro moderato, Sonata no 3: I Allegro moderato, Suite in A minor: II Allemande, Suite in A minor: II Allemande, Sonata romantica: IV Allegro non troppo e serioso, Sonata romantica: IV Allegro non troppo e serioso, Suite Antigua in D major: I Preambulo, Suite Antigua in D major: I Preambulo, Sonatina meridional: II Copla, Sonatina meridional: II Copla, Sonata romantica: III Allegretto vivo - piu lento espressivo, Sonata romantica: III Allegretto vivo - piu lento espressivo, Sonata romantica: I Allegro moderato, Sonata romantica: I Allegro moderato, Bailecito del rebozo, Bailecito del rebozo, Tres canciones populares mexicanas - nº 1: La pajarera (Allegro), Tres canciones populares mexicanas - nº 1: La pajarera (Allegro), Concierto del sur: II Andante, Concierto del sur: II Andante, Concierto del sur: III Allegro moderato e festivo, Concierto del sur: III Allegro moderato e festivo, Suite in A minor: III Gavotte, Suite in A minor: III Gavotte, Ritmos y cantos aztecas, Ritmos y cantos aztecas, Tres canciones populares mexicanas - nº 3: La Valentina (Allegro), Tres canciones populares mexicanas - nº 3: La Valentina (Allegro), Prelude, Prelude, Twenty-Four Preludes: No 8 in F-sharp minor, Twenty-Four Preludes: No 8 in F-sharp minor, Twenty-Four Preludes: No 2 in A minor, Twenty-Four Preludes: No 2 in A minor, Sonata mexicana: III Intermezzo: Allegretto in tempo di serenata, Sonata mexicana: III Intermezzo: Allegretto in tempo di serenata, Sonata mexicana: II Andantino affettuoso, Sonata mexicana: II Andantino affettuoso, Twenty-Four Preludes: No 10 in C-sharp minor, Twenty-Four Preludes: No 10 in C-sharp minor, Sonata no 3: III Allegro non troppo, Sonata no 3: III Allegro non troppo, Diferencias sobre 'La Folia' de Espana y Fuga, Diferencias sobre 'La Folia' de Espana y Fuga, El ahahuete recuerda, El ahahuete recuerda, Twenty-Four Preludes: No 9 in E major, Twenty-Four Preludes: No 9 in E major, Cuiden su vida, Cuiden su vida, Cancion mexicana - No X, Cancion mexicana - No X, Twenty-Four Preludes: No 7 in A major, Twenty-Four Preludes: No 7 in A major, Sonata mexicana: I Allegro moderato, Sonata mexicana: I Allegro moderato, Sonata no 3: II Cancion, Sonata no 3: II Cancion, Cancion y paisaje, Cancion y paisaje, Suite in A minor: I Prelude, Suite in A minor: I Prelude, Sonata clasica: II Andante, Sonata clasica: II Andante, Suite in A minor: V Gigue, Suite in A minor: V Gigue, Cancion Popular Mexicana, Cancion Popular Mexicana Similar People Andres Segovia, Agustin Barrios, Heitor Villa‑Lobos, Joaquin Rodrigo, John Williams | ||
Intermezzo No. 1 // MANUEL PONCE
Manuel Maria Ponce Cuellar (8 December 1882 – 24 April 1948) was a Mexican composer active in the 20th century. His work as a composer, music educator and scholar of Mexican music connected the concert scene with a usually forgotten tradition of popular song and Mexican folklore. Many of his compositions are strongly influenced by the harmonies and form of traditional songs.
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Early years
Born in Fresnillo, Zacatecas, Manuel Maria Ponce moved with his family to the city of Aguascalientes only a few weeks after his birth and lived there until he was 15 years old.
He was famous for being a musical prodigy; according to his biographers, he was barely four years of age when, after having listened to the piano classes received by his sister, Josefina, he sat in front of the instrument and interpreted one of the pieces that he had heard. Immediately, his parents had him receive classes in piano and musical notation.
Traveling years
In 1901 Ponce entered the National Conservatory of Music, already with a certain prestige as a pianist and composer. There he remained until 1903, the year in which he returned to the city of Aguascalientes. This was only the beginning of his travels. In 1904 he traveled to Italy for advanced musical studies at the School of Bologna.
He studied in Germany as a pupil of Martin Krause at the Stern conservatory in Berlin between 1906 and 1908.
Years at the National Conservatory
After his years abroad, Ponce returned to Mexico to teach piano and music history at the National Conservatory of Music from 1909 to 1915 and from 1917 to 1922. He spent the intervening years of 1915 to 1917 in Havana, Cuba.
In 1912 he composed his most famous work "Estrellita" (little star), which is not a normal love song, as is usually thought, but "Nostalgia Viva" (live nostalgia).
That same year, Ponce gave in the "Arbeau Theater" a memorable concert of Mexican popular music which, though it scandalized ardent defenders of European classical music, became a landmark in the history of the national song.
Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959), who met Ponce in Paris in the 1920s, wrote
With valuable activity promoting music of the country and writing melodias like "Estrellita", "A la orilla de un palmar", "Alevantate", "La Pajarera", "Marchita el Alma" and "Una Multitud Mas", Ponce gained the honorific title Creator of the Modern Mexican Song. He was also the first Mexican composer to project popular music onto the world stage: "Estrellita", for example, has been part of the repertoire of the main orchestras of the world and countless singers, although quite often the interpreter ignores the origin of the song as well as its author.
In 1947 he received the National Science and Arts Prize.
He was married to Clementina Maurel, next to whom he died in Mexico City. His body was buried in the Roundhouse of the Illustrious Men in the Pantheon of Dolores in Mexico City. In his honor there is a board of recognition by the state of Aguascalientes at the base of the column of The Exedra, next to the fountain from a spring dedicated to this musical poet, in the city of Aguascalientes where he grew up and first studied music.
Recordings by Ponce
Ponce participated in the following recordings:
Ponce recorded the following works on Duo-Art piano rolls between 1916 and 1920:
Music
Ponce wrote music for solo instruments, chamber ensembles, and orchestra. His piano and guitar works outnumber those dedicated to other solo instruments within the set of pieces we know. Estrellita is Ponce's best known work.
Guitar music
Ponce's guitar music is a core part of the instrument's repertory, the best-known works being Variations and Fugue on 'La Folia' (1929) and Sonatina meridional (1939). He also wrote a guitar concerto Concierto del sur, which is dedicated to his long-time friend and guitar virtuoso Andres Segovia. His last known work dedicated to Father Antonio Brambila, Variations on a Theme of Cabezon, was written in 1948, a few months before his death. It is unclear whether the variations are indeed based upon a theme by Antonio de Cabezon or if the theme was the work of Ponce's teacher, the organist Enrico Bossi. The following is only a select number of his most 'significant' contributions.
It was Ponce who anonymously created the striking arrangement for guitar of J. S. Bach's Prelude from the first cello suite as performed and recorded by Segovia. Ponce also composed the prelude for lute ascribed by Segovia on record and program notes to lutenist/Bach contemporary S. L. Weiss. Segovia recorded this piece both as a solo and as a duet, performed with harpsichordist Rafael Puyana.
Piano works
Songs
Folk song arrangements
Chamber music
Orchestral works
Concertos
Notes about the works
An important group of Ponce's works were previously unknown to the public, as self-proclaimed heir Carlos Vazquez, a Mexican piano performer and educator who studied with Ponce, kept most of the original manuscripts in his possession. Most of them were finally donated to the National School of Music (UNAM) in Mexico City, as an analytic catalogue of his works could still be published.
One of Ponce's melodies still heard today in various arrangements is "Estrellita" (1912).