Ernesto de Quesada
Encyclopedia
Ernesto de Quesada López Chaves (1 November 1886 — 1972) was the Cuba
n-born impresario
who founded Conciertos Daniel, the classical
music management agency now known as Hispania Clásica
.
, when Cuba was still a Spanish colony
(see the history of Cuba
). After he completed high school
and college
, he devoted himself for a time to teaching guajiros* how to read, riding his horse or walking long distances to reach them. (In Cuba, guajiro* is a synonym for campesino
.)
In 1905, with his income from teaching and some additional funds borrowed from his parents, de Quesada went to the United States
. There he studied English
for some months in Boston, Massachusetts, attending church on Sundays to listen to the services and accustom his ears to the new language. He enrolled at Harvard University
, where one of his fellow students was Julio Cesar Tello
, who would later become an archaeologist in Peru
. They remained friends for many years. After completing his philosophy
studies at Harvard, de Quesada went to Germany
.
, de Quesada founded the concert management company Konzertdirektion H. Daniel. As he was only 22 years old and the agency's sole proprietor, he invented an imaginary senior business partner, "Herr Heinrich Daniel," who was said to be out of town whenever anyone asked to speak to him.
In 1914, on the verge of World War I
, de Quesada moved to Madrid
, there re-establishing his agency as Conciertos Daniel, with plaques for "H. Daniel" and "Ympresario E. de Quesada" on the doorway, where the artists he would represent included Gaspar Cassadó
and Andrés Segovia
. In 1916, he married Ascensión Delgado Casarreales, a graduate (guitar
and violin
) of the Conservatorio de Música
.
In 1917, as Arthur Rubinstein
's music manager for his concerts in Spain and Latin America (from 1916), de Quesada travelled with him from Cádiz
to South America
on the cruiser
Infanta Isabel. Rubinstein performed his Argentina
debut concert in Buenos Aires
at the Teatro Odéon
(Teatro Colón?) on 2 July 1917, in a tour which included concerts in Montevideo
, Santiago de Chile
and Valparaíso
as well.
In Spain, Ernesto de Quesada also created “Associations for Musical Culture,” founding an Asociación de Cultura Musical in each of more than fifty cities in Spain
, including small towns where people had never before heard a classical music recital. He also loaned each of them a piano de cola — a grand piano — without asking for payment. These associations nearly disappeared during the Spanish Civil War, as did the pianos.
During the Spanish Civil War
and World War II
, Conciertos Daniel was primarily active in Latin America
, expanding throughout the continent, where de Quesada's sons Alfonso, Enrique, and Ernesto Jr. worked closely with him. (As correspondence in the mid-1940s with members of the Léner Quartet
reveals, concert management tasks were not always straightforward or simple.) Ernesto de Quesada's youngest son, Ricardo de Quesada, head of the agency in Madrid since his father died in 1972, reorganised it as Hispania Clásica
in 1996. One of the founder's grandsons, Enrique de Quesada, Jr. in Caracas
, is its director for Latin America
.
Ernesto de Quesada also founded La Sociedad Artística Daniel and La Sociedad Musical Daniel. La Sociedad Musical Daniel was the organizing force on the Latin American side for a twenty-eight week U.S. government-sponsored ballet
tour of Latin America in 1941, which was said by Dance Magazine
to have been "the first example of an American government's support of dance."
With fellow impresario Sol Hurok
and others, de Quesada was present when Daniel Barenboim
(then age 13) and Arthur Rubinstein
met for the first time, in Paris
in 1955.
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
n-born impresario
Impresario
An impresario is a person who organizes and often finances concerts, plays or operas; analogous to a film producer in filmmaking, television production and an angel investor in business...
who founded Conciertos Daniel, the classical
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
music management agency now known as Hispania Clásica
Hispania Clásica
Hispania Clásica, known from 1914 to 1996 as Conciertos Daniel, is a classical music concert promotion agency active in Europe and in the Americas. The agency's primary base is in Madrid, Spain....
.
Early life
Ernesto de Quesada was born in the Oriente, in Manzanillo, CubaManzanillo, Cuba
Manzanillo is a municipality and city in the Granma Province of Cuba.It is a port city in the Granma Province in eastern Cuba on the Gulf of Guacanayabo, near the delta of the Cauto River...
, when Cuba was still a Spanish colony
Spanish Empire
The Spanish Empire comprised territories and colonies administered directly by Spain in Europe, in America, Africa, Asia and Oceania. It originated during the Age of Exploration and was therefore one of the first global empires. At the time of Habsburgs, Spain reached the peak of its world power....
(see the history of Cuba
History of Cuba
The known history of Cuba, the largest of the Caribbean islands, predates Christopher Columbus' sighting of the island during his first voyage of discovery on 27 October 1492...
). After he completed high school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
and college
College
A college is an educational institution or a constituent part of an educational institution. Usage varies in English-speaking nations...
, he devoted himself for a time to teaching guajiros* how to read, riding his horse or walking long distances to reach them. (In Cuba, guajiro* is a synonym for campesino
Campesino
Campesino may refer to:Peasant in Spanish.The arts* Los Campesinos!, an indie pop band from Cardiff, Wales* Teatro Campesino, a theater group founded by the United Farm WorkersPeople...
.)
In 1905, with his income from teaching and some additional funds borrowed from his parents, de Quesada went to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. There he studied English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
for some months in Boston, Massachusetts, attending church on Sundays to listen to the services and accustom his ears to the new language. He enrolled at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
, where one of his fellow students was Julio Cesar Tello
Julio C. Tello
Julio César Tello was a Peruvian archaeologist. Tello is considered the "father of Peruvian archeology" and was America's first indigenous archaeologist...
, who would later become an archaeologist in Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
. They remained friends for many years. After completing his philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
studies at Harvard, de Quesada went to Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
.
Career
In 1908, in BerlinBerlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, de Quesada founded the concert management company Konzertdirektion H. Daniel. As he was only 22 years old and the agency's sole proprietor, he invented an imaginary senior business partner, "Herr Heinrich Daniel," who was said to be out of town whenever anyone asked to speak to him.
In 1914, on the verge of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, de Quesada moved to Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
, there re-establishing his agency as Conciertos Daniel, with plaques for "H. Daniel" and "Ympresario E. de Quesada" on the doorway, where the artists he would represent included Gaspar Cassadó
Gaspar Cassadó
Gaspar Cassadó i Moreu was a Spanish cellist and composer of the early 20th century. He was born in Barcelona to a church musician father and began taking cello lessons at age seven. When he was nine, he played in a recital where Pablo Casals was in the audience; Casals immediately offered to...
and Andrés Segovia
Andrés Segovia
Andrés Torres Segovia, 1st Marquis of Salobreña , known as Andrés Segovia, was a virtuoso Spanish classical guitarist from Linares, Jaén, Andalucia, Spain...
. In 1916, he married Ascensión Delgado Casarreales, a graduate (guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
and violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
) of the Conservatorio de Música
Madrid Conservatory
-History:The Royal Conservatory of Music was founded on July 15, 1830, by royal decree, and was originally located in Mostenses Square, Madrid. In 1852 it was moved to the Royal Opera, where it remained until the building was condemned by royal order and classes ordered to halt in 1925. For the...
.
In 1917, as Arthur Rubinstein
Arthur Rubinstein
Arthur Rubinstein KBE was a Polish-American pianist. He received international acclaim for his performances of the music of a variety of composers...
's music manager for his concerts in Spain and Latin America (from 1916), de Quesada travelled with him from Cádiz
Cádiz
Cadiz is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the homonymous province, one of eight which make up the autonomous community of Andalusia....
to South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
on the cruiser
Cruiser
A cruiser is a type of warship. The term has been in use for several hundreds of years, and has had different meanings throughout this period...
Infanta Isabel. Rubinstein performed his Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
debut concert in Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
at the Teatro Odéon
Teatro Odeón
The Teatro Odeón was a theater in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It was built by Don Emilio Bieckert in the end of the 19th century. In July 1896, it hosted the first ever film screening in Argentina. It was demolished in 1991 in order to make space for the construction of a parking lot....
(Teatro Colón?) on 2 July 1917, in a tour which included concerts in Montevideo
Montevideo
Montevideo is the largest city, the capital, and the chief port of Uruguay. The settlement was established in 1726 by Bruno Mauricio de Zabala, as a strategic move amidst a Spanish-Portuguese dispute over the platine region, and as a counter to the Portuguese colony at Colonia del Sacramento...
, Santiago de Chile
Santiago, Chile
Santiago , also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile, and the center of its largest conurbation . It is located in the country's central valley, at an elevation of above mean sea level...
and Valparaíso
Valparaíso
Valparaíso is a city and commune of Chile, center of its third largest conurbation and one of the country's most important seaports and an increasing cultural center in the Southwest Pacific hemisphere. The city is the capital of the Valparaíso Province and the Valparaíso Region...
as well.
In Spain, Ernesto de Quesada also created “Associations for Musical Culture,” founding an Asociación de Cultura Musical in each of more than fifty cities in Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, including small towns where people had never before heard a classical music recital. He also loaned each of them a piano de cola — a grand piano — without asking for payment. These associations nearly disappeared during the Spanish Civil War, as did the pianos.
During the Spanish Civil War
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
and World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Conciertos Daniel was primarily active in Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
, expanding throughout the continent, where de Quesada's sons Alfonso, Enrique, and Ernesto Jr. worked closely with him. (As correspondence in the mid-1940s with members of the Léner Quartet
Léner Quartet
The Léner String Quartet, sometimes written the Lehner String Quartet, was a string quartet of Hungarian origin, founded in Budapest in 1918, which for most of its pre-war career operated in or from London...
reveals, concert management tasks were not always straightforward or simple.) Ernesto de Quesada's youngest son, Ricardo de Quesada, head of the agency in Madrid since his father died in 1972, reorganised it as Hispania Clásica
Hispania Clásica
Hispania Clásica, known from 1914 to 1996 as Conciertos Daniel, is a classical music concert promotion agency active in Europe and in the Americas. The agency's primary base is in Madrid, Spain....
in 1996. One of the founder's grandsons, Enrique de Quesada, Jr. in Caracas
Caracas
Caracas , officially Santiago de León de Caracas, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela; natives or residents are known as Caraquenians in English . It is located in the northern part of the country, following the contours of the narrow Caracas Valley on the Venezuelan coastal mountain range...
, is its director for Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
.
Ernesto de Quesada also founded La Sociedad Artística Daniel and La Sociedad Musical Daniel. La Sociedad Musical Daniel was the organizing force on the Latin American side for a twenty-eight week U.S. government-sponsored ballet
Ballet
Ballet is a type of performance dance, that originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th century, and which was further developed in France and Russia as a concert dance form. The early portions preceded the invention of the proscenium stage and were presented in large chambers with...
tour of Latin America in 1941, which was said by Dance Magazine
Dance Magazine
Dance Magazine is an "influential" American trade publication for dance, currently published by the Macfadden Communications Group. It was first published in June 1927 as The American Dancer. William Como was its editor-in-chief from 1970 to his death in 1989. Wendy Perron became its editor-in...
to have been "the first example of an American government's support of dance."
With fellow impresario Sol Hurok
Sol Hurok
Sol Hurok was a world-famous 20th century American impresario.-Biography:...
and others, de Quesada was present when Daniel Barenboim
Daniel Barenboim
Daniel Barenboim, KBE is an Argentinian-Israeli pianist and conductor. He has served as music director of several major symphonic and operatic orchestras and made numerous recordings....
(then age 13) and Arthur Rubinstein
Arthur Rubinstein
Arthur Rubinstein KBE was a Polish-American pianist. He received international acclaim for his performances of the music of a variety of composers...
met for the first time, in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
in 1955.