José White
The son of a well-educated French merchant and an Afro-Cuban mother, violinist and composer José White was born in Matanzas, Cuba, in 1835. After early musical studies with his father and others, in 1854 he began his artistic career by giving a recital that was accompanied by Louis Moreau Gottschalk. The following year he entered the Paris Conservatory, where he was a classmate of Pablo de Sarasate. He returned briefly to Matanzas in 1859, but soon left again for Europe, where he remained for a number of years. In 1877 he undertook a tour that took him to Panama, Venezuela and Peru. By the early part of the following year he had arrived in Chile, and while in Brazil, he may have seen a young Arturo Toscanini conduct for the first time. White continued to perform until well into the 20th century, and died in 1918 in Paris.
Maestro White’s Compositions
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