Music in Puerto Rico

Donald Thompson

doi:10.5771/9781461669876

Summary

Puerto Rico's rich musical history is chronicled in Donald Thompson's translated texts, a history that is often unavailable to those who do not read Spanish easily. Music in Puerto Rico details the Caribbean island's musical roots from Christopher Columbus' second voyage to the New World in the late fifteenth century to twentieth century developments. It explores a multitude of topics, including native instruments, the introduction of music in schools, folk traditions, the legendary salsa, urban pop, and commercial music. The volume also examines musical differences in various regions, including mountains and plains.

Documents from historical figures such as Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas and Manuel Alonso have been excerpted and translated. In addition, Music in Puerto Rico explores the various modes of musical expression that have been unique to different geographic regions, including the mountains and the plains. The documented texts also simplify bibliographic search, as many of the anthology's original sources are difficult to locate.

Thompson's book provides a glimpse into a society in which cultures intersect and in which magic was born in the form of the popular salsa. Musicians, musicologists, historians, students of Hispanic culture, and anyone interested in the musical foundations of Puerto Rican life will find Music in Puerto Rico a valuable resource.

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Bibliographic data

Copyright year: 2002
ISBN-Print: 978-0-8108-3914-4
ISBN-Online: 978-1-4616-6987-6
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham
Language: English
Pages: 145
Product type: Edited Book

1. Table of Contents No access
2. Preface No access
1. A Taíno Musical Instrument No access
2. An Early Chronicler No access
3. The Areíto No access
4. Fray Ramón Revisited No access
1. A Dance No access
2. Slave Life No access
3. Puerto Rican Dances and Native Musical Instruments No access
4. Carnival No access
5. A Professional Musician's View No access
6. A Folk Dance No access
1. A Visiting Virtuoso Honored: Gottschalk in Ponce No access
2. Saint John's Day Mass in the Cathedral No access
3. An Italian Opera Company No access
4. A Competition: The Ponce Exposition No access
5. The Philharmonic Society No access
6. The San Juan Municipal Theater No access
7. Music and Advertising in Nineteenth-Century San Juan No access
1. The Danza Controversy: An Early Skirmish No access
2. The Dangerous Danza No access
3. The Danza: The Traditional View No access
4. The Danza: A Sociopolitical View No access
1. Musical Culture at the Turn of the Century No access
2. 1898 and the Change of Government No access
3. The Revival of a Tradition: Concerts on the Plaza No access
4. A Plea for Music in the Schools No access
5. A Government-Sponsored Symphony Orchestra No access
6. A Twentieth-Century Opera No access
7. The Avant Garde No access
8. 1. Early Hopes and High Ideals No access
  2. 1957: The Inaugural Concert No access
  3. A Divergent Opinion No access
  4. A Composer Speaks No access
9. Pablo Casals in Puerto Rico: An Overview and a Conclusion No access
10. Urban Popular and Commercial Music: The Songs of Rafael Hernández No access
11. "Jibaro" Dances No access
12. Salsa: Two Early Views No access
13. The Passing of a Pioneer No access
1. Music Criticism in Puerto Rico No access
Index No access Pages 137 - 144
About The AUthor No access Pages 145 - 145