Latin American composers and their muses

Latin Beat Magazine, March, 1998 by Fran M. Figueroa

According to Greek mythology, all creative activity was inspired but he gods. In the areas of literature and the arts and sciences, specific goddesses were designated as the appropriate source of inspiration for the artists. These goddesses were called Muses, a name derived from the Greek word mousa or music and eloquence. There were nine Muses: Calliope, the Muse of eloquence and epic and poetry; Clio, the Muse of history; Euterpe, the Muse of music and lyric poetry; Melpomene, the Muse of tragedy; Terpsichore, the Muse of dance; Erato, the Muse of sacred poetry; Urania, the Muse of astronomy; and Thalia, the Muse of comedy and pastoral poetry.

As usual, the Greek philosophers were close to the truth. The creative act is by definition godlike. Most believers hold that it takes divine intervention for a human being to create. To give existence to something, to cause, and to produce are all undertakings that seem to be beyond the scope of uninspired mortals. It is not surprising, therefore, that throughout history, artists have appealed to the spirits or the Muses to help them produce something original.

In modern times, the Muses have taken human form and assumed earthly names such as María, Conchita, Linda, and Heloisa. Those are some of the names of the Muses who inspired Latin American composers Agustín Lara, Nilo Menéndez, Pedro Flores, and Antonio Carlos Jobim. In this brief article we will only focus on four of them, but we all know that there are probably as many Muses as there are composers. It is also true that many of the songwriters had more than one source of inspiration.

Agustín Lara, the prodigious Mexican composer, had many Muses. lt can be said that he was inspired by femina, or women collectively. His first demigoddesses were fallen women he met as a teenager while playing the piano in a house of prostitution. Their tragic fascination moved him to dedicate his first compositions to them. Lara's first published song was Imposible, written for a prostitute with whom he had fallen in love. As expressed in the title, he knew that it was impossible for this woman to reciprocate his love without reservation. The lyrics of his song say:

Yo sé que es imposible que me quieras, que tu amor para mí fue pasajero, y que cambias tus besos por dinero envenenando así mi corazón

I know that it's impossible for you to love me. that your passion for me is fleeting... And that you trade your kisses for money... which is like poison to my heart.

One of these early Muses, whose name was Estrella, made sure he would never forget her. In a jealous rage she cut his face with a razor leaving a deep scar that was to torment Agustín Lara for the rest of his life. Many years later he said: "That woman not only marked my face, she also scarred my soul."

His first true love companion was Angelina Bruschetta, the Muse who moved him to write his hymn to womanhood which he entitled Mujer or Woman. This was Lara's favorite song and many lovers of Latin romantic music can still recite its lyrics by heart. The last few lines go like this:

Tiene en el ritmo de tu ser todo el palpitar de una cancíon eres la ilusión de mi existir, mujer.

The throbbing of your being, has all the cadence of a song. Woman, you're the reason for my existence.

In 1945, Agustín Lara met the Muse of all Muses, the woman considered at that time to be the most beautiful in the world, Mexican movie star María Félix. The composer thought that the woman who would bring him total happiness had come into his life at last. Theirs was a love affair that rivaled those of the novels of the Romantic period in literature. Here was Agustín, an emaciated figure of a man with an ugly scar on his face in love with one of the world's raving beauties. These circumstances were the most propitious for a poet to write his most inspired verses and Lara did just that. He wrote several songs for María Félix, but the most remembered is María Bonita, Mary The Beautiful. This song has become the love anthem for most lovers in the Hispanic world. Unfortunately for Agustín Lara, this Muse did not return his love, much as his earliest Muse had done. Disillusioned with love, he died alone in his home in Mexico City on November 6, 1970.

A green-eyed Muse inspired Cuban pianist and composer Nilo Menéndez to write a bolero that has become a classic in popular music, Aquellos Ojos Verdes (Green Eyes). This young girl whose beauty rivaled that of the Greek Muses, was born in Havana, Cuba. Her name was Conchita Utrera. She grew up in an atmosphere saturated with music, poetry and art provided by her upper-class, cultured family. Her brother was the talented tenor and composer, Adolfo Utrera. While still young, she went to live in New York City. lt was there that composer Nilo Menéndez met the lovely woman with the most alluring green eyes. Here is the way Nilo Menéndez explains what happened:

"Well, look here, my song was dedicated to a woman; a beautiful young blond, Cuban girl called Conchita. Conchita Utrera, whom I met in New York. Being a poet, and believing in love at first sight, I fell in love with her that very same day and that night I wrote the music for the song. Later, I asked her brother, the ill-fated poet and great tenor Adolfo Utrera, to write the lyrics. I suggested some of the words including, "your eyes gave me the sweet theme for my song."