While he was a student at the Paris Conservatory between 1866 and 1870, in contrast to Debussy, Bizet or Gounod, the Cuban composer Ignacio Cervantes could not access the Prix de Rome, due to his status as a foreigner. However, the first year of his stay he was awarded the First Prize in piano performance. Two years later, he would obtain the First Prize in harmony.
Born in Havana in 1847, he took the first steps in music from the hand of his father, a pianist, and continue his studies later with other tutors. The visit to Cuba in those years of Louis Moreau Gottschalk, who until then was the only internationally recognized American pianist, was providential for the family to decide that the nineteen-year-old Ignacio should finish his training in Europe, more precisely, at the Paris Conservatory.
A pianist trained in Paris
After a four-year stay at the prestigious institution, he returned to Havana in 1870 covered with honors because, in addition to the aforementioned awards, he had achieved an important recognition among renowned colleagues of such standing as Rossini, Liszt and Gounod. The promising Cuban student was returning trained as Ignacio Fernández, a Paris-educated concert pianist.
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| Ignacio Cervantes (1847 - 1905) |
On his return, he found that his homeland had already been involved in the first war of independence with Spain for two years. So, he decided to make his revolutionary contribution from the trench of art, offering concertos throughout the Island, whose benefits would go to the hands of the rioters.
It wasn't long before the Spanish authorities became aware of the ruse. Fernández, along with a renowned violinist, were expelled from Cuba in 1876.
(The insurrection failed and Cuban independence had to wait more than twenty years, until in 1898, with the help of the United States (!), Cuban-American troops achieved the unconditional surrender of the Spanish army.)
Five Cuban dances
Fernández composed an opera, Maledetto, and several chamber and zarzuelas works, but today he is remembered mainly for his piano works, in which his popular 45 Cuban Dances stand out.
Five of them are offered here by the graceful Cuban-Canadian pianist Beatriz Boizán, who, like Japan's Mitsuko Uchida, also makes faces, but charmingly.
0:07 Invitación / 2:05 Ilusiones perdidas / 3:26 La encantadora / 4:44 Adiós a Cuba /
6:42 Improvisada
