Eduardo Sánchez de Fuentes, Cuban writer, composer, educator, and historian, was born on April 3, 1874, in Havana. He is the author of several books on the history of Cuban folk music.
From childhood, he showed an aptitude for music that, guided by his studies, allowed him to establish an extensive body of work, encompassing diverse musical genres. He began his musical studies at the age of 12 at the Conservatory of the Dutch pedagogue and pianist Hubert de Blanck. He later received lessons from Carlos Anckermann and Ignacio Cervantes. As a teenager, he composed his first internationally acclaimed piece, the habanera Tú, which was published in 1894 with a text by his brother Fernando.
That same year, he graduated with a law degree; and from 1904 he worked as a property registrar in Manzanillo and other cities on the island. Upon his return to Havana, in 1910, he founded the National Academy of Arts and Letters with other intellectuals, serving as its president from 1930 to 1942.
In 1911, Eduardo Sánchez de Fuentes traveled to the International Music Congress in Rome as a Cuban delegate. On June 7, 1921, he premiered his opera “El caminante” (The Wanderer) at the National Theater (Paseo and 39th Street, Vedado, Plaza de la Revolución, Havana). He later organized a Cuban Song Festival at the same venue with the aim of weakening the influence of foreign, primarily North American, rhythms on Cuban music.
Also in 1921, during a visit to Mexico, he was honored by the Cultural and Artistic Council. It was here that his friendships began with prominent Mexican musicians: Julián Carrillo, Manuel M. Ponce, Lerdo de Tejada, and Luis G. Urbina, who appointed him a member of the Ateneo de Ciencias y Artes (Athenaeum of Sciences and Arts) and the Mexican Geographical and Statistical Society.
Among his works for orchestra and choir, we must highlight the oratorio, Navidad, first known in the courtyard of La Salle School, on December 29, 1924. Its interpretation was carried out by a choir made up of 150 people and its orchestral performance was incurred by the Havana Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Maestro Gonzalo Roig. This religious poem would later be sung at the Payret Theater (Paseo Martí No., Old Havana, Havana) in 1925 and later at the National Theater (Paseo and 39 Street, Vedado, Plaza de la Revolución, Havana), always establishing its staging as an artistic event, since it constituted the first work of this genre composed in Cuba.
Eduardo Sánchez de Fuentes’s works were presented at prestigious international events on the Iberian Peninsula. In 1933, his pieces were performed at the Liceo in Milan, and his song “Rosalinda” was heard at the Italian-American Music Festival.
In 1939, he represented Cuba in the United States, alongside Gonzalo Roig, at the International Music Congress sponsored by the American Musicological Society of New York. He served as a critic for the newspaper El Mundo and the magazine Pro Arte Musical; he also contributed to El Fígaro, El País, Diario de la Marina, the National Archives Bulletin, and the Annals of the National Academy of Arts and Letters.
Among his books we should mention: The Aboriginal Music of America (1939); The Last Signature of Brindis de Sala; Old Cuban Rhythms (1937); Considerations on Cuban Music (1936); Ignacio Cervantes Kawanag, Eminent Pianist and Composer (1936); The Contradanza and the Havana Era (1935); Folklorism (1928); Influence of African Rhythms on Our Songbook (1927); Cuba and Its Musicians; and Folklore in Cuban Music (1923).
He composed zarzuelas, operettas, and operas. Among his zarzuelas are “Por citarse en el corral” (To Meet in the Corral) and “Los líos de Perdiduela” (The Troubles of Perdiduela), “Entre primos” (Between Cousins), “Cuartel General” (General Headquarters), and “La dulce caña” (The Sweet Cane). His operettas include “El caballero de plata” (The Silver Knight) and “despues de un beso” (After a Kiss). His work is a blend of styles and includes the operas “El náufrago” (The Shipwrecked Man), “Doreya” (Doreya), and “Kabelia,” as well as the symphonic poem “Anacaona.”
Eduardo Sánchez de Fuentes died on September 7, 1944. He was a prominent figure who brought about significant changes in music education in Cuba.