Juventino Rosas

Juventino Rosas (1868-1894)

Mexican composer with a wide range of music background, we can say that he was born to be an artist. Rosa’s family focused on the artistic scene, his father was a harpist, his two brothers were both into music, His big brother Manuel was a guitarist and his other brother Patronicio was a singer.  At an early stage of his life he was already playing in a family quartet in Mexico City. 

Rosa’s passion for music was so natural that he didn’t have to attend to musical schools in order to succeed, referring to the fact that around 1884-1888 he was matriculated twice into the conservatory but he wasn’t able to finish the process either time. Therefore he concentrated himself playing in dances and in the streets of Mexico City.  Settling in his native Mexico, he began to compose and publish and enormous number of waltez, polkas, mazurkas and schottisches.

He was part of a military band and an orchestra that gave in a chance to participate in a tour through the USA.  Rosas was one the best known Mexican composers of salon music, he was famous for several works such as:“Sobre las Olas” (Over the Waves.

He also found his way into New Orleans Jazz and Tejano music.  His music still remains popular with country and old-time fiddlers in the United States. 

Bibliography:

J.A. Coral: Compositores mexicanos (Mexico City, 1971, enlarged 6/1993)

• Hugo Barreiro Lastra: Los días cubanos de Juventino Rosas, Guanajuato 1994
• Helmut Brenner: Juventino Rosas, His Life, His Work, His Time (=Detroit Monographs in Musicology/Studies in Music 32), Warren, Michigan 2000
• Jesús Rodríguez Frausto: Juventino Rosas. Notas nuevas sobre su vida, Guanajuato 1969
• Víctor Manuel García Flores: "Juventino Rosas Cadenas, Síntesis Biográfica", Guanajuato 2006

Discography:

Compositions

Waltzes

• Dos pensamientos (before 1888, no publisher mentioned)
• Sobre las Olas (Über den Wellen) (Over the Waves) (1888, A. Wagner y Levien, Mexico City)
• Carmen (1888, A. Wagner y Levien, Mexico City / Friedrich Hofmeister, Leipzig)
• Amelia (1890, A. Wagner y Levien, Mexico City / Friedrich Hofmeister, Leipzig)
• Aurora (1890, A. Wagner y Levien, Mexico City / Friedrich Hofmeister, Leipzig)
• Ensueño seductor (1890, A. Wagner y Levien, Mexico City / Friedrich Hofmeister, Leipzig)
• Ilusiones juveniles (1890, A. Wagner y Levien, Mexico City / Friedrich Hofmeister, Leipzig)
• Eva (1888–1891, publisher not clear, most probably A. Wagner y Levien, Mexico City)
• Josefina (1892, A. Wagner y Levien Sucs., Mexico City / Friedrich Hofmeister, Leipzig)
• Flores de margarita (1893, Eduardo Gariel, Saltillo / Robert Forberg, Leipzig)
• Soledad (1893, Eduardo Gariel, Saltillo / Robert Forberg, Leipzig)

Polkas

• La cantinera (1888, A. Wagner y Levien, Mexico City / Friedrich Hofmeister, Leipzig)
• Carmela (1890, A. Wagner y Levien, Mexico City / Friedrich Hofmeister, Leipzig)
• Ojos negros (1891, A. Wagner y Levien, Mexico City / Friedrich Hofmeister, Leipzig)
• Flores de México (1893, Eduardo Gariel, Saltillo / Robert Forberg, Leipzig)

Mazurcas

• Acuérdate (before 1888, A. Wagner y Levien, Mexico City)
• Lejos de ti (before 1888, H. Nagl. Sucs.)
• Juanita (1890, A. Wagner y Levien Sucs., Mexico City / Friedrich Hofmeister, Leipzig)
• Último adiós (1899, A. Wagner y Levien Sucs., Mexico City / Friedrich Hofmeister, Leipzig)

Schottishes

• El sueño de las flores (1888, (before 1888, A. Wagner y Levien, Mexico City / Friedrich Hofmeister, Leipzig)
• Floricultura-Schottisch (1888, (before 1888, A. Wagner y Levien, Mexico City / Friedrich Hofmeister, Leipzig)
• Lazos de amor (1888, A. Wagner y Levien Sucs., Mexico City / Friedrich Hofmeister, Leipzig)
• Julia (1890, A. Wagner y Levien Sucs., Mexico City / Friedrich Hofmeister, Leipzig)
• Salud y pesetas (1890, A. Wagner y Levien Sucs., Mexico City / Friedrich Hofmeister, Leipzig)
• Juventa (1892, A. Wagner y Levien Sucs., Mexico City / Friedrich Hofmeister, Leipzig)
• El espirituano (1894, Autograph Archivo Provincial de Sancti Spíritus, Kuba)

Danzas

• A Lupe (1888, A. Wagner y Levien, Mexico City / Friedrich Hofmeister, Leipzig)
• En el casino (1888, A. Wagner y Levien, Mexico City / Friedrich Hofmeister, Leipzig)
• Juanita (1888, A. Wagner y Levien, Mexico City / Friedrich Hofmeister, Leipzig)
• No me acuerdo (1888, A. Wagner y Levien, Mexico City / Friedrich Hofmeister, Leipzig)
• ¡Qué bueno! (1888, A. Wagner y Levien, Mexico City / Friedrich Hofmeister, Leipzig)
• ¿Y para qué? (1888, A. Wagner y Levien, Mexico City / Friedrich Hofmeister, Leipzig)
• Flores de Romana (1893, Eduardo Gariel, Saltillo)