Juan Francisco Meserón (1779-1842)
- Misa en Mi bemol
Performers: Marina Auristela Guanche (soprano); Yolanda Correa (mezzo-soprano); Delia Leal (contralto);
Manuel Aguilar (tenor);
Coro y Orquesta Agrupación Polifonía; Nazyl Báez-Finol (conductor)
Further info: No available
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Venezuelan flautist, teacher and composer. He came from a family of
Venezuelan musicians, initiated by his father, Alejandro Mezerón, a
Frenchman who settled in Caracas in his youth, Hispanicized his surname,
and Ana María Victoria de Acosta, a Venezuelan. He began his music
studies with his father. In 1803, he appeared as a musician in the
Veterans Battalion of Caracas. He was the best flautist of his time, and
he is found as a soloist with the orchestra that accompanied Espenu's
opera company in 1808. He continued in the orchestra of the Teatro El
Conde until an earthquake (1814) destroyed it. Then, with the
independence political upheavals, he emigrated to eastern Venezuela.
Around 1821, he settled in Petare, seeking peace in the turbulent
capital, where, apart from being a school teacher, he also served as a
choirmaster. It was there that he composed most of his sacred music
works, without neglecting, more innovatively, the cultivation of
symphonic music, with overtures and symphonies (of a single movement,
that is, concert overtures); his 8th Symphony is dated "Petare, 1822."
He also composed some patriotic songs, of which two are preserved, as
well as waltzes and polkas. In 1824, he published the book 'Explicación y
conocimiento de los principios generales de la música' in Caracas,
which is the first printed musical teaching work in Venezuela; he
himself says in the prologue: "It is the first attempt made in the
country." In 1837, the Petare city council appointed him municipal
secretary, and in 1831, revenue administrator for the entire canton. At
the end of 1834, the Caracas Philharmonic Society appointed him director
of the Philharmonic Orchestra, also performing as a solo flautist. He
was also a music teacher in renowned schools in Caracas. On May 25,
1800, he married Candelaria de Alva, with whom he had two sons: José
Nicanor Meserón de Alva (1806-?) and José Idelfonso Meserón de Alva
(c.1808-?), both musicians; compositions by the latter, belonging to the
period of the Republic of Venezuela, are preserved.
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