Nicolás Ruiz Espadero

Biography

Cuba at the time was a Spanish colony, a colonial backwater plagued by malaria and yellow fever, with a society sharply divided between a privileged class of landowners and Spanish administrators and black and mulatto slaves; virtually no middle class existed. Espadero was born in Havana to a mother who was a pianist from Cádiz, Spain, known for performing Haydn and Mozart in Havana salons around 1810, and a father who worked as a civil servant in the colonial administration.

Musical training: 1840–1853

His father wanted him to become a lawyer, officer, or administrator, not a musician, and permitted only half an hour of daily piano lessons, but with his mother's complicity the young Espadero played for several hours each day. He never attended school and received no formal education, learning instead from fragments of European culture, mixed readings, and the surroundings of Cuban upper-class society; Havana's opera house, the Teatro Colón, hosted only operas by Bellini, Donizetti, and later Verdi, performed by itinerant troupes.

On July 8, 1844, Polish pianist and composer Julian Fontana, a close friend of Frédéric Chopin, gave concerts in Havana playing works by Liszt, Chopin, Thalberg, and himself, marking the first time Chopin's music was heard in Cuba; Fontana stayed until November 1845, and Espadero became one of his piano students. By age twenty, Espadero already showed traces of the withdrawn and unsociable character that would intensify in later life. Alejo Carpentier wrote that he had no friends his own age, living exclusively with his family under his mother's constant vigilance.

Later life and death: 1870–1890

When Espadero was sixteen, his father dropped dead in his presence without warning, and this blow, along with his mother's widowhood and long mourning, further reduced his horizon. He would not go out, did not accept invitations, and would not frequent promenades, spending his days reading, drawing, and composing. At twilight he would go to a music store close to his house to play the piano until eight o'clock at night, unable to tolerate anyone at his side during those moments.

Carpentier believed Espadero later felt he had been overly influenced by bravura piano music by composers like Sigismond Thalberg, Émile Prudent, and Joseph Ascher, so he turned to classical European forms, writing a piano trio, a scherzo, a sonata, and various longer études—none of which saw print. Once he eschewed bravura pieces, publishers lost interest. His mother's death in 1885 was devastating; though free to travel, he became a total recluse, isolating himself almost totally from society, living only for his cats and his piano.

Carpentier noted he distanced himself from colleagues, reproaching them for not creating a serious music teaching institution. His last biographer wrote that Espadero could not enter a house without rearranging the furniture to suit his orderliness. For a long time he had the habit of taking baths in alcohol. On August 22, 1890, after an alcohol bath, he did not rub himself completely dry; when he tried to extinguish a gas light, he was suddenly engulfed by flames and suffered horrifying burns, dying eight days later.

Some biographers speculated his death was actually suicide. Since he died childless, his estate was scattered, and many unprinted manuscripts are considered lost.

Did You Know?

• Polish pianist Julian Fontana, a close friend of Frédéric Chopin, gave the first performance of Chopin's music in Cuba in 1844 and became Espadero's piano teacher.
• A CD of his piano music was released in 2006 by EGREM, featuring works like his Balada Op. 20, Scherzo Op. 58, and Barcarola Op. 18.