Ignacio Cervantes

Ignacio Cervantes Kawanagh Havana 31 July 1847 – Havana 29 April 1905 Was A Cuban Virtuoso Pianist And Composer Considered To Be One Of The Most Influential To The Music Of Cuba. A Child Prodigy He Was Taught By Hometown Pianist Juan Miguel Joval Later By Composer And Tutor Nicolás Ruiz Espadero 1859 And By The Visiting American Composer Louis Moreau Gottschalk. Gottschalk Encouraged Cervantes To Study At The Conservatoire De Paris 1866-1870 Under Antoine François Marmontel And Charles-Valentin Alkan Where He Was Awarded First Prizes In Composition 1866 And Harmony 1867 . He Also Performed With Christina Nilsson And Adelina Patti. In 1875 Cervantes And José White Left Cuba When Warned By The Governor-General He Had Found Out That They Had Been Giving Concerts All Over The Country To Raise Money For The Rebel Cause In The Ten Years' War. In The USA And Mexico Cervantes Continued To Raise Money By Giving Concerts Until The Pact Of Zanjón Brought A Lull In Conflict. He Returned In 1878 And Left Again In 1895 When The Cuban War Of Independence Started. Cervantes Wrote One Opera Maledetto 1895 Various Chamber Pieces Scherzo Cappricioso 1885 Zarzuelas And The Famous Forty-One Danzas Cubanas. He Also Conducted For The Opera Company At Havana's Payret Theater. His Fusión De Almas Was Written To His Daughter María Cervantes 1885-1981 Who Became A Well-Known Pianist Composer And Singer.
"Cervantes Was One Of The First Musicians In The Americas To Consider Nationalism To Be A Consequence Of A People's Distinct Character He Was Thus A Great Forebear To Later Composers." read less