Manuel Maria Ponce Essay

Manuel Maria Ponce

Manuel Maria Ponce is “one of Mexico’s most beloved figures in the world of classical music” (Encyclo.com). Ponce was born in Fresnillo, Mexico in 1882 and he died in Mexico City in 1948. Ponce was twelfth child of his parents, Felipe de Jesus Ponce Leon and María de Jesus Cuellar. Felipe de Jesus Ponce Leon fought in during Mexico’s revolution in 1867. Maria de Jesus Cuellar loved music and urged her children to learn it. Ponce received his first musical lesson when he was five years old by his sister Josefina whom was in the Templo de San Diego (St. Diego’s Temple) choir. When he was 12 years old the Cathedral of Aguascalient3es appointed him organist. This was the beginning for his carrier in music.

According to Oxford Music Online, Ponce studied in Mexico City, in Bologna, Italy, and in Berlin, Germany. He stayed in Havana, Cuba from 1915-1917. He also spent eight years in Paris, where he studied with composer Paul Dukas from 1925-1933. Ponce was the first composer to study Mexico’s folk music. Each of the laces where he traveled influenced his work.

When he was 18

years old, Ponce moved to Mexico City in search of “wider musical experiences” (Encyclo.com). Ponce decided to study composition, solfee, analysis, and music theory at Mexico’s National Conservatory of Music. He had a preference for Mexican folk music, even though there was a large European influence in Mexico’s music composition. Because he studied music from a very young age “Ponce already had a strong grasp of musical fundamentals” (Encyclo.com). After one year in the capital, he returned to Aguascalientes to teach in a music school.
In the following years, Ponce organized concerts in in cities, such as San Luis Potosi, Guadalajara, and Saint Louis in Missouri, USA. All of the hard work gained him a letter of recommendation from Italian teacher Eduardo Gabrielle to study in Italy. In Italy, Ponce met Marco Enrico Bossi, who was the director of the Conservatory of Music in Bologna and encourage Ponce to study music in the prestigious music school “Liceo Rossini.” In 1905, Ponce traveled to Berlin, Germany to complete his studies. In Berlin, Ponce studied Piano with Martin Krauser, who led Ponce perform “La Partida” by Juan Sebastian Bach at the Beethoven Halle in July of 1906. “He had written a body of new music that showed a new level of sophistication reflecting his studies in Europe, and his piano technique was now at concert level” (Encyclo.com).
Ponce returned to Mexico in 1907. The Conservatorio Nacional appointed Ponce professor and he began to composed songs and piano works. He held a concert to present his work in July 7, 1912 at the Teatro Arbeu, in Mexico’s capital. In this concert he presented his “piano concerto,” and “Trio for piano, violin, and cello.” This concert marked a new era for “Mexican musical expression”(guitarrama.com). People considered this concert the initiation for a nationalist movement in music in Mexico. In the following years several works by Ponce were published, including one of the world’s most beloved songs, Estrellita.
Ponce moved to Havana, Cuba in 1915 to avoid the political turmoil of the revolution against Porfirio Diaz. In his stay in Cuba, Ponce incorporated the tropical style into his work. He was well recognized by the citizens of Cuba.
In 1923, Ponce met Spanish guitarist Andres Segovia in Mexico City after writing a review for his concert. Ponce was inspired and encouraged by Segovia to start writing for the guitar in classical music. They developed a friendship that lasted until Ponce’s death in 1948.
From 1925 to 1933, he settled in Paris, France, where he enrolled at Ecole Normale de Musique, a music institution that was founded by pianist Alfred Cortot in 1919. In this institution Ponce took lessons with Paul Dukas . While in Europe, Ponce reunited with Segovia, which inspired new guitar compositions by Ponce; he met many other European composers. Thus he decided to establish, La Gaceta Musical, the first Spanish language magazine in France. By the end of his stay Ponce was a well-rounded musician. “Dukas was so impressed with Ponce's work that he gave him a ‘30’ at his final exam; the highest grade one could get was a ‘10’” (guitar mag.com).
After his long trip, Ponce returned to Mexico in 1933.

He continued to teach and composed at the Conservatorio Nacional, for which he became director in 1934. He also worked at the Universidad Nacional Autonoma. Some important works in the 40s include, Ferial, which he dedicated to a popular festival in Mexico, Violin Concerto (1943), dedicated to Polish violinist Henryck Szeryng, and Seis Preludios Cortos in guitar, which he dedicated to Carlos Chavez daughter. Dos Vinetas is believed to be Ponce’s last composition. He also held the Concerto of the South in Uruguay in 1941. In 1948, Ponce was awarded Mexico’s National Prize for Arts and Science. In April of 1948, Manuel Maria Ponce died of uremic poisoning. “Ponce is remembered as the founder of Mexican musical nationalism, and his music is considered central to the tradition of classical music for the guitar”

(encyclo.com).