Fuentes, Laureano (EN)

Fuentes Laureano, *1825 Santiago de Cuba, †1898 Santiago de Cuba, Cuban composer, violinist and conductor. He initially studied under J. París (music theory) and subsequently under J. Casamitjana (harmony and composition). From 1840, he was first violinist in the cathedral orchestra in Santiago de Cuba; in 1844, he founded a symphony orchestra there, and in the following years the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia [National Academy of St Cecilia] and the short-lived Apollo Academy. Until the final years of his life, he remained an extremely active promoter of European music, particularly that of Beethoven.

Fuentes was one of the most highly regarded Cuban composers of the second half of the 19th century. His orchestral works, which are of great local significance, do not display a uniform musical style, oscillating between the influences of French composers such as F. Suppè, Ch. Gounod (the Galatea overture) and the influence of German music from the Liszt circle (America – the first Cuban symphonic poem; its programme illustrated Columbus’s exploratory expedition on the 400th anniversary of the event). Gounod’s influence is also evident in Fuentes’s sole opera – Seila. Fuentes’s creative individuality came into its own in his sacred works, in which he drew upon the traditional choral style of Cuban sacred music, itself inspired by the works of Pergolesi and Handel, as well as Haydn. In these works (primarily in the Stabat Mater), Fuentes demonstrated a mastery of contrapuntal technique, combined with a freshness of melodic invention, at times gravitating towards the stylisation of folk elements. Fuentes’s songs enjoyed immense popularity in Cuba, particularly La Candelita, as well as his piano Danzas.

Literature: A. Carpentier La música en Cuba, Hawana 1961, Plish edition Muzyka na Kubie, Polish translation J. Popiel, Krakow 1980.