{"id":12933,"date":"2023-02-06T00:00:46","date_gmt":"2023-02-06T05:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magazineampm.com\/?p=12933"},"modified":"2023-02-07T11:03:01","modified_gmt":"2023-02-07T16:03:01","slug":"ramon-c-solis-recuerdos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magazineampm.com\/en\/ramon-c-solis-recuerdos\/","title":{"rendered":"Ram\u00f3n C. Sol\u00eds (Memories)"},"content":{"rendered":"

When we started this magazine, almost five years ago, we started by recognizing the long tradition of music journalism in Cuba, publishing a sort of magazine chronology<\/a> especially dedicated to music, who preceded us or who still accompany us in time. It remains for us to talk about the columns that the general media of each era dedicated to music and Cuban musicians during the last two centuries.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

With this article, in which the sensitive flutist, music band conductor and music critic Guillemo M. Tom\u00e1s highlighted the figure of another great musician of the patio, Ram\u00f3n Sol\u00eds<\/span><\/i> \u2014<\/span><\/i>already deceased by the time of the article's circulation in Bohemia in 1910<\/span><\/i>\u2014<\/span><\/i>With the same intention as we do with old record notes, we want to revisit part of the history of music journalism in Cuba, publishing, with some comments or glosses, texts that seem relevant to us for various reasons.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

In the one we bring today, a musician speaks praiseworthy of another one <\/span><\/i>\u2014<\/span><\/i>a custom that has almost disappeared in these times of self-promotion and self-importance. But it is also interesting to perceive some of the writer's concerns in the first part, which could be summarized in the popular saying \"nobody is a prophet in his own land\". Another particularly valuable element is Tom\u00e1s' description of Sol\u00eds' \"sound\" on his instrument, taking into account that, at the time when the sag\u00fcero flutist lived and was applauded, the devices capable of recording music had only begun to develop and, as far as we know, there are no recordings of his interpretations.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

For the occasion, special thanks to flutists Niurka Gonzalez and Orlando Valle <\/span><\/i>Maraca<\/span>The following people gave us their impressions on the value of this document.<\/span><\/i> (Magazine AM:PM).<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

Say what you will, those who, blinded by a misunderstood patriotism, insist on denying the truth of the facts: Cuba very rarely, I am almost about to say never, has rendered the protection and homage to which some of its sons, who by their works and talent occupy abroad a very prominent place in the sphere of art, have become deserving.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Laureano Fuentes, father, the most fecund and spontaneous of Cuban composers, the one who gave us to taste such good things as <\/span>Stella d' Amore <\/span><\/i>and <\/span>Steila<\/span><\/i>He lived in a corner of Cuba, relegated to oblivion, and his works, in general, only saw the light of day thanks to the influence of very few admirers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Manuel Jim\u00e9nez, the great Jim\u00e9nez, the happy author of the admirable <\/span>Elegy<\/span><\/i>He who one day was embraced by Lizt and applauded by Wagner, while he lived in his beloved homeland was persecuted by the malversity of some envious and almost always rejected by those who saw in his color an imaginary obstacle to the foolish social concerns.... And when this great man, without spiritual friends, in the midst of the most icy artistic indifference, jaded by life and forgetting his excellent art, sought in artificial means the soothing for the pain that made his heart burn, he was applied the most vicious and denigrating epithets, just as that same society ridicules, satirizes and points the finger at the unfortunate husband whose honor is outraged by the adulterous wife.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Cervantes, the brilliant creator of the <\/span>Cuban Dances<\/span><\/i>Despite the advantages that his social position gave him, he could not escape the envy of a few who, acting as <\/span>Aristarcos<\/span><\/i>In the last years of his life, poor and wounded by a fatal illness, his homeland disputed with him the humble position of delegate to an American Exposition... of the second order... To him, who in the first musical center of Europe had honored the land of his own!<\/span><\/p>\n

Brindis de Salas, the Black Paganini, feted by the whole of Europe, arrives in Cuba and is the object of the crudest satire...<\/span><\/p>\n

Ram\u00f3n Sol\u00eds, the first Cuban flutist, had the same fate. Filled with applause in the first European capitals, with a first prize at the Conservatory of Madrid, laureate in the capital of France, decorated by D. Pedro of Brazil with the White Rose and with the Order of Christ by the King of Portugal, he arrived in Cuba sick, organized some concerts to which not enough spectators attended to cover the expenses and his homeland saw him die poor, very poor and almost ignored.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

***<\/span><\/p>\n

Sol\u00eds was a flautist of the first order and possessed an admirably balanced artistic temperament. I have heard eminent flutists, but none who, like him, overcame that kind of tonal monotony which causes so much boredom and which is one of the characteristic defects of the instrument.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Endowed with a fiery inspiration, an admirable embouchure and purity of sound, an astonishing and impeccable subtlety of language and a brilliant and sure execution, if great was the courage and firmness with which he attacked the most rugged passages, noble and elevated was the feeling he imprinted on the most tender and loving phrase. The flute in her hands imitated the prodigious charms of the Patti's throats.<\/span> and the Nilsson.<\/span><\/p>\n

***<\/span><\/p>\n

Sol\u00eds was born for great affections. He loved his art, and more than anything else, his country, with true delirium, and the artist or helpless countryman, always found in him a friend and companion generous in help and spontaneous in sacrifice.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

***<\/span><\/p>\n

One night, while leaving one of his brilliant concerts in Madrid, Sol\u00eds happened to stumble upon an old and blind beggar, who, in a deserted street, was imploring public charity by playing the flute. Such a cruel contrast deeply wounded the name Solis' heart, and to take the instrument from the unhappy beggar and begin to pour forth true cataracts of scales and arpeggios, as he knew how to do, was all the work of a few seconds. The result was not long in coming, and Sol\u00eds, his heart swollen with pleasure, watched as a crowd of onlookers and late-nighters multiplied around him. Solis took off his hat and passed it over the <\/span>elite group<\/span><\/i>... It was a winter night; a sad and very cold night. Except for the argentine sound produced by the coins falling into the hat, the deepest silence reigned there. In the corner, as if something supernatural was lulling his senses, the old, blind beggar stood motionless and static. Solis approaches him; with one hand he gives him back the instrument and with the other he puts the collected coins in one of his pockets, saying in his ear, with a voice that overwhelms with emotion: \"Here, <\/span>partner<\/span><\/i>... that is the product of <\/span>our concert<\/span><\/i>...\"\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

***<\/span><\/p>\n

One day, back in La Perla del Sur, land of my dear affections, a close friend, in the presence of Solis himself, told me about this touching scene, and I saw two thick tears run down the pale and haggard cheeks of the great and unfortunate Cuban flutist....<\/span><\/p>\n

Poor Solis!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

* Originally published in the magazine Bohemia<\/i>on July 16, 1910.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\nhttps:\/\/magazineampm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Niurka-Gonzalez-sobre-Ramon-C.-Solis.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

Niurka Gonz\u00e1lez on Cuban flautist Ram\u00f3n C. Sol\u00eds<\/em><\/h5>\n

 <\/p>\nhttps:\/\/magazineampm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Orlando-Valle-Maraca-sobre-Ramon-C.-Solis.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

Orlando Valle <\/em>Maraca about the Cuban flautist Ram\u00f3n C. Sol\u00eds<\/em><\/h5>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With this article, in which the sensitive flutist, music band director and music critic Guillemo M. Tom\u00e1s highlighted the figure of another great musician of the patio, Ram\u00f3n Sol\u00eds, we want to begin a series of revisitations to the history of music journalism in Cuba; publishing, with some comments or glosses, texts that seem relevant for various reasons.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1597,"featured_media":12934,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1039,8906],"tags":[9544,9545,9543],"coauthors":[9542],"class_list":["post-12933","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dando-la-nota","category-variaciones","tag-flautista","tag-guillemo-m-tomas","tag-ramon-solis"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/magazineampm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/ramon_solis_ok_baja-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C548&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazineampm.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12933","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazineampm.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazineampm.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazineampm.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1597"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazineampm.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12933"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/magazineampm.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12933\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12951,"href":"https:\/\/magazineampm.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12933\/revisions\/12951"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazineampm.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12934"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazineampm.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazineampm.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazineampm.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12933"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazineampm.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=12933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}