Ponce (Cullar), Manuel (Mara)

(b Fresnillo, Zacatecas, 8 Dec 1882; d Mexico City, 24 April 1948).

Mexican pianist and composer. He was the leading Mexican
musician of his time, and made a primary contribution to the
development of a Mexican national style a style that could
embrace, in succession, impressionist and neo-classical
influences.
1. Life.
Born into a musical family, Ponce began his studies with his sister
Josefna and went on to study with Cipriano vila. Around 1893 he
joined the choir at S Diego, Aguascalientes, where he later became
assistant organist (1895) and organist (1898). Between 1900 and
1901 he studied in Mexico City with Vicente Maas (piano) and
Eduardo Gabrielli (harmony). The latter encouraged him to
continue his studies in Europe and offered to introduce him to
Marco Enrico Bossi, director of the Liceo Musicale in Bologna,
where he duly arrived in 1904 with the intention of studying
composition. Bossi introduced him to Cesare Dall'Olio (Puccini's
teacher) who became his teacher for a few months. Also in
Bologna he met Torchi, whose friendship and lessons undoubtedly
determined Ponce's subsequent career as an editor and
musicologist. In December 1905, following the death of Dall'Olio,
he moved to Berlin, where he decided to continue studying the
piano with Martin Krause. However, financial circumstances forced
him to return to Mexico in January 1907.
Back in Aguascalientes he taught the piano and at the end of that
year moved to Mexico City to take up a post teaching the piano at
the Conservatorio Nacional. In 1910 he formed part of a prestigious
panel of judges, also including Pedrell, Faur and Saint-Sans, in a
composing competition marking the centenary of Mexican
independence. Among the numerous recitals given by his pupils
was one in 1912 dedicated to the music of Debussy (the first public
performance of Debussy's music in Mexico); the recital was
opened by the 11-year-old Carlos Chvez. Also in 1912 Ponce
gave a concert of his own works, including the premire of his
Piano Concerto, which confirmed him as the most important figure
in Mexican music at the time. In 1913 he gave a lecture entitled,
La musica y la cancin mexicana, which was immediately
published and formed the catalyst for the Mexican nationalist
school. Ponce's prominence in Mexican intellectual life was
assured.
However, political and social difficulties arising from the Mexican
Revolution (191020) forced him to vacate the country from 1915
to 1917. Like other Mexican artists and intellectuals, he went to
Havana, where he gave concerts, lectures and classes and wrote
music reviews for El heraldo de Cuba and La reforma social. In
March 1916 he gave a recital of his works which went virtually

unnoticed, coinciding with the attack on the frontier town of

Columbus by Francisco Villa.
Returning to Mexico, he took up his piano teaching post at the
conservatory again (1917). He also conducted the National SO
(191719), which accompanied soloists such as Rubinstein and
Casals, and gave numerous Mexican premires. From 1919 to
1920 he directed the first of his many publishing enterprises, the
magazine Revista musical de Mxico. In 1925, feeling the need to
update his idiom, and conscious of the rapid transformations taking
place in music at that time, he returned to Europe and settled in
Paris, where he studied with Dukas until 1933 and also founded
the Gaceta musical, a Spanish-language magazine which
numbered Villa-Lobos, Alejo Carpentier, Dukas and Milhaud among
its contributors. During this period he worked closely with Segovia,
whom he had met in Mexico (1923) and with whom he remained
friends until his death. Also during this period, on the
recommendation of Dukas, Albniz's family commissioned him to
finish the score of the opera Merln, on the basis of which he wrote
a symphonic suite.
Back again in Mexico in 1933, he concentrated on teaching and
composing. He was director of the National Conservatory (1933),
founded the chair in folklore at the National School of Music (1934)
and edited a third magazine, Cultura musical (19367). A prolific
writer, he published numerous articles and features on musical
topics ranging from piano technique to issues surrounding the
media. The 1930s and 40s saw the most important premires and
performances of his works, including Chapultepec (Philadelphia
Orchestra under Stokowski, 1934), Poemaelegaco (Mexico SO
under Chvez, 1935), Suite en estilo antiguo (Mexico SO under
Ansermet, 1935), Merln (Mexico SO under Revuletas, 1938),
Ferial (Mexico SO under Kleiber, 1943) and the Violin Concerto
(Szeryng and the Mexico SO under Chvez, 1943). During a tour
of South America in 1941 he attended the premire in Montevideo
of his Concierto del sur with Segovia as soloist. In 1945 he was
appointed director of the National Music School. He died having
received numerous prizes and distinctions, including the Premio
Nacional de Artes (1947).
2. Works.
Although he is best known internationally for his song Estrellita,
Ponce's work embraces a whole spectrum of genres and styles. An
obviously eclectic composer, he could integrate a variety of
tendencies and styles, ranging from the Romanticism of his first
piano works to the almost atonal language of his Sonata for violin
and viola or the bitonality of his Quatre pices for piano. At the
same time he was Mexico's first nationalist composer, though his
musical language later evolved away from Romanticism,
nationalism and the use of popular Mexican themes towards a
more personal and contemporary style. He wrote a large number of
works reflecting his preoccupations with style, such as his six guitar

sonatas (Clsica, Romntica, de Paganini, Mexicana etc.), his

preludes and fugues on themes by Bach and Handel (which fall
within the neo-classical tradition), his works in Spanish style
(Diferencias sobre las fola de Espaa) or his works inspired by
Cuban music (Suite cubana, Elega de la ausencia). The influence
of the impressionists is also evident, especially in Chapultepec, a
symphonic poem which marked him as one of the most important
exponents of American impressionism.
According to Segovia, Ponce was the composer who had the
greatest influence on the revival of the guitar repertory and the
reinstatement of the guitar as a concerto instrument. Indeed his
sonatas, preludes and other works form a corpus of guitar music
rivalled in the 20th century only by the works of Villa-Lobos or
Brouwer, and his Concierto del sur is unequalled in its balance of
soloist with orchestra. Notwithstanding, Ponce was also a
consummate pianist and wrote a large number of piano works
which combine a profound knowledge of the instrument with his
Romantic heritage and, in many cases, nationalist tendencies. His
works display a happy combination of Lisztian virtuosity, Romantic
genre (ballade, rhapsody, barcarolle, albumleaf, mazurka) and
popular Mexican tunes or melodic turns of phrase inspired by
Mexican songs. He also transcribed and edited a large quantity of
Mexican songs, the recovery and preservation of which put him on
a par with such as Bartk or Grieg, and his interest in his Mexican
musical heritage is also given didactic expression in his Veinte
piezas fciles, which offer the young Mexican pianist a
representative selection of traditional Mexican music.
The transformation of the Mexican idiom in Ponce's hands had
great significance: heir to a rich and well-established Romantic
tradition, he passed through nationalism and Impressionism before
producing, in his late works, some of the most significant works of
Latin American modernism. These late, lesser known works include
some of his best moments. Particularly fine examples are his Violin
Concerto, in which he seems to synthesize the whole of his
musical evolution, his sonatas for harpsichord and guitar or cello
and piano, and the symphonic poem Ferial, which uses indigenous
Spanish and Mexican melodies for the first time, and in an allembracing sense, to portray the cultural mosaic of a typical
Mexican village. His high place in musical history will be due as
much to these works as to his more popular output.
WORKS
dramatic
El patio florido (op, 2, C. Gonzlez Pea), 1913, inc.; La verdad sospechosa (incid.
music, J. Ruiz de Alarcn), 1934
orchestral
Pf Conc., 1912; Interludio elegaco, 1919; Estampas nocturnas, 1923; Merln, [suite
after Albniz' opera], 1929; Danse des anciens mexicains, 1930; Suite en estilo
antiguo, 1933; Poema elegaco, 1934; Chapultepec, sym. poem, 1934; Ferial, sym.

poem, 1940; Concierto del sur, gui, orch, 1941; Vn Conc., 1943; Instantneas
mexicanas, 1947
chamber
Andante, str qt, 1902; Pf Trio, 1912; Sonata, vc, pf, 1922; Sonata, gui, hpd, 1926;
Str Qt, 1929; 3 preludios, vc, pf, 1930; Sonata breve, vn, pf, 1932; Preludio, gui,
hpd, 1936; Sonata, vn, va, 1939; Str Trio, 1943; Cancin de otoo, vn, pf
songs
Forse, 1905; Ho bisogno, 1905; Romanzetta, 1905; Sperando, sognando, 1905;
Dos poemas alemanes, 1906; Toi, 1909; Ultimo ensueo (L.G. Urbina), 1909; So
mi mente loca (Urbina), 1909; Estrellita, 1912, also arr. 1v, chbr orch; Por t mi
corazn (Urbina), 1912; Serenata mexicana, 1v, chbr orch, 1915, also arr. 2vv, chbr
orch; Ofrenda, 1916; Aleluya (L. Espinoza), c1921, also arr. 1v, chbr orch
3 poemas de R. Tagore, 1921; 3 poemas de Lermontow, 1925; 5 poemas chinos (F.
Toussaint), 1934, also arr. 1v, chbr orch; 3 poemas de M. Brull, 1934, also arr. 1v,
chbr orch; 3 poemas franceses, c1934; 4 poemas de F.A. de Icaza, 1936; 3 poemas
de E. Gonzlez Martnez, 1938; Acurdate de m; Adis mi bien; 2 poemas de B.
Dvalos; Insomnio; Poema de primavera; 6 poemas arcaicos, also arr. 1v, chbr orch
Folksong arr.: A la orilla de un palmar, A ti va, Acurdate de m, Adis mi bien, Ah,
que bonito, Cerca de m, Cielito lindo, Cuiden su vida, China de mi alma, De tres
flores, Dolores hay, Dos seres hay, El bracero, El desterrado, Estrella del norte,
Hace ocho meses, La barca del marino, La despedida, La ola, Palomita, La palma,
La pea, La visita, Nunca, nunca, Ojitos aceitunados, Oye la voz, Para amar sin
consuelo, Para qu quiero la vida, Perd un amor, Perdida ya toda esperanza,
Pobre del hombre pobre, Por esas calles, Por t mujer, Que chulos ojos, Que lejos
ando, Que pronto, Quisiera morir, Si algna vez, Si eres recuerdo, Si algn ser, Son
las horas, Soy paloma errante, Te amo, Todo pas, Triguea hermosa, Valentina,
Ven oh luna, Vengo a saber si tu me amas, Voy a partir, Ya sin tu amor, Yo me
propuse, Yo mismo no comprendo, Yo te quiero
piano
Marcha del sarampin, 1891; Malgr tout, 1900; Gavota, 1901; Bersagliera, 1903;
11 miniaturas, 1903; 3 preludios, 1905; Arrulladora mexicana [II], 1905; 4 fugas,
1906; Nocturno, 1906; Arrulladora mexicana, 1909; Primer amor, 1909; Scherzino
mexicano, 1909; 13 romnticos, 1910; Mayo (1910); Rapsodia mexicana I, 1911;
Album de amor, 1912; 2 nocturnos, 1912; Leyenda, 1912; Preludio y fuga sobre un
tema de Bach, 1912; Scherzino (Homenaje a Debussy), 1912; Tema variado
mexicano, 1912; A la memoria de un artista, 1913; En una desolacin, 1913;
Sonata no.1, 1913; Rapsodia cubana I, 1914; Rapsodia cubana II, 1914
Rapsodia cubana III, 1914; Rapsodia mexicana II; 1914; Balada mexicana, 1915;
Barcarola mexicana (Xochimilco), 1915; Romanza, 1915; Serenata mexicana,
1915; Guateque, 1916; Morire habemus, 1916; Preludio cubano, 1916; Preludio y
fuga sobre un tema de Haendel, 1916; Sonata no.2, 1916; Suite cubana, 1916;
Hojas de lbum, 1917; Elega de la ausencia, 1918; Canon, 1919; Glosario ntimo,
1919; Momento doloroso, 1919; Preludio mexicano, 1919; Rapsodia mexicana III
(yucateca), 1919; Scherzino maya, 1919; La vida sonre (1919); Minueto (1919);
Gavota y mussette, 1920; Evocaciones, 1921; Hacia la cima, 1921; Preludios
encadenados, 1927
4 piezas, 1929; Sonatina, 1932; Preludio romntico, 1934; Danza de la pascola,
1937; Idilio mexicano, 2 pf, 1939; 20 piezas fciles, 1939; 4 danzas mexicanas

(1941); 2 tudes (1942); Estrellita (Metamorfsis de concierto), 1943; 20 mazurkas;

Alma en primavera; Apasionadamente; Bocetos nocturnos; Cadenza for J.C. Bach:
Sinfonia concertante; Cancin del martirio; 5 hojas de Album; 2 cadenzas for
Beethoven: Pf Conc. no.4; 2 danzas (mexicana y cubana); 2 danzas (sobre temas
de J. Gilbert); Horas augustas; Intermezzos) nos.1 and 2; Jarabe; Juventud;
Nocturno II; Preludio trgico; Preludio y fuga, left hand; Rapsodia cubana; Serenata
arcaica
guitar
Sonata mexicana, 1923; 3 canciones mexicanas, 19237; 24 preludios, 192630;
Tema variado y final, 1926; Alborada, 1927; Sonata III, 1927; Sonata clsica, 1928;
Sonata romntica, 1929; Diferencias sobre la fola de Espaa y fuga, 1930;
Estudio, 1930; Sonata de Paganini, 1930; Suite, A, 1930 [orig. attrib. S.L. Weiss];
Homenaje a Trrega, 1932; Mazurca, 1932; Sonatina meridional, 1932; Rumba,
1932; Trpico, 1932; Vals, 1932; Variaciones sobre un tema de A. de Cabezn,
1948
MSS in US-NYp, PHff
Principal publishers: Peer, Schott

WRITINGS
selected
Escritos y composiciones musicales, Cultura, iv/4 (Mexico, 1917)
Nuevos escritos musicales (Mexico City, 1948)
La msica despus de la guerra, Revista musical de Mxico, i/1
(1919), 59
La msica norteamericana, Revista musical de Mxico i/2 (1919),
223
Apuntes sobre msica mexicana, Boletn latinoamericano de
msca, iii/3 (1937), 3742
BIBLIOGRAPHY
A. Segovia: Manuel M. Ponce: Notas y Recuerdos, Guitar
Review, no.7 (1948), 1516
M. Pincherle: A la memoria de Manuel M. Ponce, Nuestra
msica, v/18 (1950), 16063
J.C. Romero: Efemrides de Manuel (Mara) Ponce, Nuestra
msica, v/2 (1950), 164202 [incl. work-list]
P. Castellanos: Manuel M. Ponce: ensayo (Mexico City, 1982)
C. Sordo Sodi, ed.: Centenario Manuel M. Ponce 18821982
(Aguascalientes, 1982)
C. Otero: Manuel M. Ponce y la guitarra (Mexico City, 1981; Eng.
trans., 1983)
M. Alczar, ed.: The SegoviaPonce Letters (Columbus, OH,
1989) [Eng. and Sp.]
RICARDO MIRANDA PREZ