Juan París (

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

, 1759 –

Santiago de Cuba Santiago de Cuba is the second-largest city in Cuba and the capital city of Santiago de Cuba Province. It lies in the southeastern area of the island, some southeast of the Cuban capital of Havana. The municipality extends over , and contains t ...

, 10 July 1845) was a priest and composer in Spanish Cuba. He followed Esteban Salas y Castro in the Cathedral of Santiago de Cuba. His election as ''Maestro de Capilla'' (

choirmaster A choir ( ), also known as a chorale or chorus (from Latin ''chorus'', meaning 'a dance in a circle') is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform or in other words ...

), after the death of Salas in 1803, was an extraordinary event. It had been a foregone conclusion that ''Francisco José Hierrezuelo'', long-time assistant of Salas, would be elected. Came the day, and Hierrezuelo spotted a well-qualified German priest in the choir. Blind with rage, and fearing the bishop had planned a conspiracy to thwart him, Hierrezuelo refused to take the examination, picked up his pen and wrote infuriated letters. The bishop persuaded the German, Juan Nepomucino Goetz, to renounce his candidacy, but Hierrezuelo had so offended the bishop and the town council by his irate letters that, despite grovelling apologies, he got only a minor position in the chapel. He was never to become maestro. Goetz moved on to Havana, where his arrival also had remarkable consequences. So Juan París took the exam, and was appointed as choirmaster. París was an exceptionally industrious man, and an important composer. Under his hand, the church became a library, an academy, a concert hall and a rehearsal space. It encouraged continuous and diverse musical events.Carpentier, Alejo 2001

945 Year 945 (Roman numerals, CMXLV) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * January 27 – The co-emperors Stephen Lekapenos, Stephen and Constantine Lekapenos, Constantine a ...

''Music in Cuba''. Minneapolis MN. p132 et seq.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Paris, Juan 1759 births 1845 deaths Cuban composers Cuban male composers 19th-century Cuban Roman Catholic priests People from Santiago de Cuba Cuban people of Spanish descent Cuban male musicians 19th-century Cuban musicians 19th-century Cuban male musicians 19th-century composers