Jesús María Sanromá

Puerto Rican-born classical pianist

• Born: November 7, 1902
• Birthplace: Carolina, Puerto Rico
• Died: October 12, 1984
• Place of death: Guaynabo, Puerto Rico

Internationally recognized as a one of the foremost concert pianists of the twentieth century, Sanromá also championed and advocated for Puerto Rican art music. In addition to giving concerts, he made numerous significant recordings. He also taught piano and founded the piano department of the Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music.

Early Life

Jesús María Sanromá (sahn-roh-MAH) was born on November 7, 1902, in Carolina, Puerto Rico. Three years later, he moved to the town of Fajardo when his father accepted a position as an organist there. At home, the young Sanromá corrected mistakes his father made while he practiced at the keyboard, poking at him for every wrong note. In early piano lessons, his first piano teacher complained that he progressed too quickly.

At an early age, Sanromá displayed promise as a professional musician, mastering the piano sonatas of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven, and at age twelve, he debuted as a concert pianist in Fajardo. In 1915, his family moved to Santurce, a city outside of the capital San Juan. Sanromá quickly gained recognition in Puerto Rico for his talent, receiving a scholarship in 1916 from the government to study at the New England Conservatory of Music. Shortly afterward, father and son moved to Boston. The fourteen-year-old Sanromá studied at the conservatory with Nicaraguan pianist David Sequeira. Under his piano teacher, he trained in classical and Romantic piano repertory as well as the music of Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel. Graduating in 1920, Sanromá won the annual piano competition, which included a new piano. His next teacher was the Polish pianist Antoinette Szumowska-Adamowska, newly appointed to the New England Conservatory of Music. Following his success in Boston, Sanromá traveled to Europe and studied piano with Alfred Cortot in Paris and Artur Schnabel in Berlin.

Life’s Work

Beginning in 1926, Sanromá embarked on his long-lasting collaboration as a solo pianist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra under Serge Koussevitzky. The relationship lasted until 1944 and produced numerous recordings. Sanromá returned to his alma mater, the New England Conservatory of Music, where he taught piano from 1930 to 1941. Sought out by many contemporary composers because of his abilities, he gave numerous premieres as a pianist. In 1939, he gave the world premiere of Walter Piston’s concertino for piano along with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Sanromá met the celebrated German composer Paul Hindemith in 1940 at the prestigious Berkshire Music Center (now Tanglewood Music Center), and the two formed a long-term friendship. In 1945, the Puerto Rican pianist commissioned Hindemith to compose a concerto that highlighted the piano in a virtuosic and modern manner. The world premiere of the piano concerto took place in 1947 with the Cleveland Orchestra under conductor George Szell.

Sanromá signed with the talent agency Columbia Concerts Corporation in 1943, leading to numerous tours in both North America and South America. His repertoire remained immense and diverse; the public, in particular, recognized his talents at playing George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue (1924). During the 1940’s, he frequently returned to his native Puerto Rico, and he moved back there permanently in 1950.

In Puerto Rico, Sanromá served as an important musical figure, assisting in the development of the island’s emerging musical culture. He played a vital role in the improvement of the Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music, Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra, Institute of Puerto Rican Culture, and the Pablo Casals Festival. In addition to the classical canon and the works of modern European composers, Sanromá performed, recorded, and advanced the importance of music by Puerto Rican composers such as Rafael Balseiro Dávila, Héctor Campos-Parsi, Rafael Hernández Marín, José Enrique Pedreira, Manuel Gregorio Tavárez, and Amaury Veray. Sanromá served as the head of the music department at the University of Puerto Rico in 1951 and later as the chair of the piano department at the Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music. He died on October 12, 1984, in Guaynabo.

Significance

One of the leading pianists of the Western Hemisphere, Sanromá excelled as a concert pianist, recording artist, and teacher. He gave more than three thousand concerts, performed in more than twenty countries, and was featured as a soloist with hundreds of the top orchestras in the world. He masterfully performed works belonging to the classical and Romantic piano repertory; however, he also was a leading promoter of modern music, giving world premieres of works by Walter Piston and Paul Hindemith and U.S. premieres of works by Igor Stravinsky, Maurice Ravel, Francis Poulenc, and Arthur Honegger. He served as one of the most important interpreters and advocates of Puerto Rican music.

Bibliography

Hernández, Alberto. Jesús María Sanromá: An American Twentieth-Century Pianist. Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press, 2008. A comprehensive work, this is the essential biography of Sanromá.

Noss, Luther. Paul Hindemith in the United States. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1989. Chronicles the musical activities in the United States of the celebrated European composer who collaborated with Sanromá.

Thompson, Donald. “Sanromá.” In Concert Life in Puerto Rico, 1957-1992, edited by Donald Thompson and Francis Schwartz. San Juan: University of Puerto Rico Press, 1998. A chapter on the life and works of the celebrated Puerto Rican pianist.