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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.

Tabla de contenidos provista por Syndetics

• Preface(p. vii)
• 1. Chroniclers of Conquest: Aboriginal Music Observed and Envisioned(p. 1)
• A Taino Musical Instrument. "La Relacion de Fray Ramon" (1495-1498?)(p. 2)
• An Early Chronicler. Fray Bartolome de Las Casas: Apologetica historia de las Indias (1527-1550)(p. 3)
• The Areito(p. 3)
• Gonzalo Fernandez de Oviedo y Valdes: Historia general y natural de las Indias (1535)(p. 3)
• Pietro Martire d'Anghiera: Decadas del Nuevo Mundo (1511-1530)(p. 5)
• Francisco Lopez de Gomara: Hispania victrix (1552)(p. 7)
• Fray Ramon Revisited. Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas: Historia general de los hechos de los castellanos (1601-1615)(p. 8)
• 2. Mountain, Plain, and Town: Traditional Folk and Popular Music(p. 11)
• A Dance. Fray Inigo Abbad y Lasierra: Historia geografica, civil y politica de la isla de San Juan Bautista de Puerto Rico (1788)(p. 12)
• Slave Life. "Reglamento. Sobre la educacion, trato y ocupaciones que deben dar a sus esclavos los duenos y mayordomos en esta Isla" (1826)(p. 13)
• Puerto Rican Dances and Native Musical Instruments. Manuel A. Alonso: El gibaro (1849)(p. 14)
• Carnival. Luis Bonafoux: "El Carnaval en las Antillas" (1879)(p. 20)
• Folk Instruments and the Decline of Traditional Dances. Francisco del Valle Atiles: El campesino puertorriqueno (1887)(p. 21)
• A Professional Musician's View. Julio Carlos de Arteaga: "Breve memoria sobre los cantos populares de Puerto-Rico" (1893)(p. 23)
• A Folk Dance. Manuel Fernandez Juncos: "El seis enojao" (1922)(p. 26)
• 3. Nineteenth-Century Musical Life(p. 31)
• A Visiting Virtuoso Honored: Gottschalk in Ponce. "Baile" (1858)(p. 32)
• Saint John's Day Mass in the Cathedral. Federico Asenjo y Arteaga: Las Fiestas de San Juan (1868)(p. 34)
• An Italian Opera Company. R.S.: "Revista y critica teatral" (1877)(p. 36)
• A Competition: The Ponce Exposition. Jose Ramon Abad: Puerto Rico en la Feria-Exposicion de Ponce en 1882. Memoria redactada de orden de la junta directiva de la misma (1885)(p. 38)
• The Philharmonic Society. Alejandro Tapia y Rivera: Mis memorias [1880](p. 40)
• The San Juan Municipal Theater. Manuel Fernandez Juncos: "El Teatro" (1883)(p. 42)
• Music and Advertising in Nineteenth-Century San Juan. Edgardo Diaz Diaz: "Musica para anunciar en la sociedad sanjuanera del siglo XIX" (1987)(p. 44)
• 4. The Puerto Rican Danza(p. 57)
• The Danza Controversy: An Early Skirmish. Letters to the Editor, El Ponceno (1853)(p. 57)
• The Dangerous Danza. Carlos Penaranda: Cartas puerto-riquenas dirigidas al celebre poeta don Ventura Ruiz Aguilera (1878-1880)(p. 62)
• The Danza: The Traditional View. Amaury Veray: "La mision social de la danza de Juan Morel Campos"(p. 64)
• The Danza: A Sociopolitical View. Angel G. Quintero Rivera: "Ponce, la danza y lo nacional: apuntes para una sociologia de la musica puertorriquena" (1986)(p. 71)
• 5. The Twentieth Century(p. 85)
• Concert Life
• Musical Culture at the Turn of the Century. La Hija del Caribe (Trinidad Padilla de Sanz): "Notas musicales" (1906)(p. 86)
• 1898 and the Change of Government. Fernando Callejo Ferrer: Musica y musicos portorriquenos (1915)(p. 87)
• The Revival of a Tradition: Concerts on the Plaza. "Tambien los musicos son hijos de Dios" (1934)(p. 89)
• A Plea for Music in the Schools. Aristides Chavier: "Disquisiciones musicales" (1936)(p. 90)
• A Government-Sponsored Symphony Orchestra. Alfredo Matilla Jimeno: "La Sinfonica y la 'Sinfonieta'" (1948)(p. 92)
• A Twentieth-Century Opera. Samuel B. Cherson: "Estreno plateado de 'El mensajero de plata'" (1986)(p. 95)
• The Avant Garde. Francis Schwartz: "Grupo Fluxus de Puerto Rico" (1990)(p. 98)
• The Puerto Rico Casals Festival: Views and Controversies
• Early Hopes and High Ideals. Rafael Montanez: "El significado del Festival Casals" (1957)(p. 99)
• 1957: The Inaugural Concert. Alfredo Matilla Jimeno: "El mejor tributo a Casals" (1957)(p. 101)
• A Divergent Opinion. Rafael Aponte-Ledee: "Casals: un agente para la penetracion cultural" (1972)(p. 102)
• A Composer Speaks. [Francis Schwartz]: "Un festival que se llama Casals" (1973)(p. 104)
• Pablo Casals in Puerto Rico: An Overview and a Conclusion. Donald Thompson: "Pablo Casals, 1876-1973" (1994)(p. 106)
• Urban Popular and Commercial Music
• The Songs of Rafael Hernandez. Margot Arce: "Puerto Rico en las canciones de Rafael Hernandez" (1939)(p. 108)
• "Jibaro" Dances. Miguel Melendez Munoz: "Los 'bailes jibaros'" (1963)(p. 112)
• Salsa: Two Early Views (1973)(p. 114)
• Manuel Silva Casanova: "Salsa!"(p. 114)
• Manuel Silva Casanova: "Salsa no es nada nuevo: Curet Alonso"(p. 119)
• The Passing of a Pioneer. Edgardo Rodriguez Julia: El entierro de Cortijo (1983)(p. 120)
• 6. The Passing Panorama(p. 129)
• Music Criticism in Puerto Rico. Sylvia Lamoutte de Iglesias: "La critica musical: origen y desarrollo" (1997)(p. 129)
• Index(p. 137)
• About the Author(p. 145)

Notas de autor provistas por Syndetics

Donald Thompson is professor emeritus and former music department chairman of the University of Puerto Rico. He has also been active as an instrumentalist, conductor, researcher, and editor. His numerous writings have appeared in international research journals and reference works including the New Grove Dictionaries of Music . He was co-compiler of Music and Dance in Puerto Rico From the Age of Columbus to Modern Times: An Annotated Bibliography (Scarecrow Press, 1991) and co-author of Concert Life in Puerto Rico 1957-1992: Views and Reviews (The University of Puerto Rico Press, 1998).