Eduardo Sánchez de Fuentes (3 April 1874, in
Havana
Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center. – 7 September 1944) was a Cuban composer, and an author of books on the history of Cuban folk music.
The outstanding
habanera ''Tú'', written when he was sixteen, was his best-known composition. As an adult, he composed the scores for the opera ''Yumurí'', the ballet ''Dioné'', the oratorio ''Navidad'' and the cantata ''Anacaona''.
His writings are still charming and informative today, though their standing has suffered from an accurate criticism by later musicologists. They realized that he had systematically underestimated the contribution of the Africans in Cuba. He insisted, instead, on the supposed contribution of Cuba's original aboriginal population, which was subsequently disproved.
:"It is a shame that a succession of errors should have spoilt the greatest work of a man who had carried his musicianship for almost half a century with rare dignity. Because in the end...Sanchez de Fuentes will remain, above all, a composer of habaneras and songs. In a hundred years his Cuban melodies will occupy a place of honor in our traditions..."
[Carpentier, Alejo 2001 945 ''Music in Cuba''. Minneapolis MN. p254 (this comment by Carpentier applies to the books and also to some of the musical works)]
His books
*''El folklore en la música cubana''
*''Cuba y sus músicos''
*''Influencia de los ritmos africanos en nuestro cancionero''
*''La contradanza y la habanera''
*''Ignacio Cervantes''
*''Consideraciones sobre la música cubana''
*''Viejos ritmos cubanos''
*''La última firma de Brindis de Sala''
*''La música aborigen de América''
*''Foklorismo''
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sanchez de Fuentes, Eduardo
1874 births
1944 deaths
Contradanza
Cuban composers
Male composers
Cuban songwriters
Male songwriters
Cuban non-fiction writers
Cuban male writers
Male non-fiction writers
Cuban male musicians