Jesus Maria Sanroma: An American Twentieth-Century Pianist - Softcover

Hernández, Alberto

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0810860457 ISBN 13: 9780810860452

Publisher: Scarecrow Press, 2008

Synopsis

Puerto Rican born Jesus Maria Sanroma (1902-1984) was one of the leading pianists in the United States. After graduating from the New England Conservatory, he embarked on an enviable concert career as official pianist for the Boston Symphony Orchestra, as well as soloist with other leading American orchestras. He was an accompanist, a recording artist, and a teacher, and he also stimulated and commissioned composers to write new music, fueled by his eagerness to present it to the general public. Jesus Maria Sanroma: An American Twentieth-Century Pianist is the first biography of this talented performer and one of the first books written about a native Puerto Rican classical musician. The book depicts many facets of Sanroma's life: his youth in Puerto Rico; his training at the Conservatory and abroad; his amazing concert career and collaboration with first-class musicians, conductors, and composers; his historical performances and recordings; and the zenith of his musical life when he returned home. Alberto Hernandez provides abundant information about Sanroma's life, career, and professional relationships, uniquely documenting the pianist's close association and collaboration with Paul Hindemith, Serge Koussevitzky, Walter Piston, Nicolas Slonimsky, Vladimir Dukelsky, Mrs. Edward MacDowell, Arthur Fiedler, William Primrose, and many others. Two appendixes offer the complete sound archives and a list of Sanroma's impressive orchestra repertory, making this book a valuable reference as well as an informative read for music lovers and students of American and Latin American history.

About this title

Review:

Though the book one sees a vast amount of data unearthed from the pianist's family collection and memorabilia donated to the Archivo General de Puerto Rico. Although the material if this collection still remain to be exhausted, Hernández included and digested to his best as much of it as he could possibly deal with, for the sake of English-language readers willing to appreciate the true magnitude of the Sanromá as a world-ranked concert pianist. Puerto Rico's musical education will hopefully be addressed in subsequent studies that may potentially enhance the contributions of the now indispensable book by Albert Hernández.--Centro: The Center for Puerto Rican Studies, Winter 2010

About the Author:

Alberto Hernandez is the Humanities Research Librarian at the University of West Florida. He has published articles and entries in American Music Teacher, Psychology Education, and The Latino Encyclopedia (1996).

About this edition

• Publisher: Scarecrow Press
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0810860457
• ISBN 13: 9780810860452
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 380