Puerto Rican Women from the Jazz Age: Stories of Success

By Basilio Serrano

The topic of this book may seem unusual to some since there may be those who believe that Puerto Rican women may not have entered the jazz milieu during its early history. Nevertheless, an aim of the book is to dispel this and other false generalizations. The contents of this volume will document how Puerto Rican women were not only present in early jazz but how they played trailblazing and innovative roles and contributed to the emergence of the genre in the States and abroad.

This work will present information that is confirmable through a variety of sources. The book may not be the definitive work on the subject but will serve as a starting point to:

-document the success and achievement of several Puerto Rican women from the jazz age
-consider the different strategies used for success in jazz and film by women
-illustrate the evolution of various careers
-consider the different personal circumstances under which success was achieved
-consider how women in contemporary jazz and film can learn from their predecessors
-provide women: older, young, and youthful, examples of success with documentary evidence on how to achieve

Book Organization

The book is organized into sections that cover a brief history of significant Puerto Rican women in music and the performing arts followed by biographical descriptions of pioneering women in jazz and film. The book also contains a brief discussion on Puerto Rican women in jazz today followed by a discussion surrounding issues affecting women in the arts today. Throughout the text there is commentary on the situations facing women, especially, male chauvinism, colonialism, racism, and anti-women prejudice in jazz. Every effort was made to include only facts that are easily confirmable. Unsupported tales or questionable events are avoided to ensure that the material contained in the volume can be used for teaching purposes and for curriculum development when credit is given to this work.

In the process of developing the central theme of this volume, special effort was made to document those experiences where Puerto Rican women collaborate with members of the African American community to confirm how the cross-cultural collaboration resulted beneficial to both ethnic peoples. The book will detail the many instances where members of the African-American community assisted the fledgling Puerto Rican artists achieve success and stardom. Figures such as Helen Elise Smith, David J. Martin, Will Marion Cook, Ada ‘Bricktop’ Smith, Dr. Laurence Clifton Jones, and other distinguished African-Americans are described. My hope is that this information will be added to historic works in African-American Studies.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Aug 29, 2019
• ISBN: 9781728316352

Basilio Serrano

Basilio Serrano is Professor Emeritus from the State University of New York - College at Old Westbury. He holds a BS, MS, and Graduate Diploma from City College of New York (CCNY) and a PhD from New York University. He has published articles on the history and music of Puerto Ricans in the States and in the homeland. He author of: Juan Tizol - His Caravan Through American Life and Culture and Puerto Rican Pioneers in Jazz 190-1939.

Book preview

© 2019 Basilio Serrano. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse  08/29/2019

ISBN: 978-1-7283-1636-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-7283-1634-5 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-7283-1635-2 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2019908123

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

CONTENTS

Preface

Introduction

Part : I          The First Boricua Jazz Family: Los Rivera

Chapter 1     Antonio Anthony Rivera

Chapter 2     Angelina Rivera (Angela Rivera y Cosme)

Chapter 3     Lolita Córdoba (Santos Dolores Rivera y Cosme)

Part : II         The Bayrón Family

Chapter 4     Elsie Bayrón (Elsa Bayrón y Nogueras)

Chapter 5     Grace & Judy Bayrón (Grecia and Julia Bayrón y Nogueras)

Part : III       Singers, Dancers, Actors and More

Chapter 6     Diosa Costello (Diosa Castrelo y Cruz)

Chapter 7     Olga Medolago Albani (née Olga Hernández y Rodríguez)

Chapter 8     Marquita Rivera (Heroína María Rivera y Santiago)

Part : IV       Jazzer in the Homeland

Chapter 9     Lucy Fabery (Luz García)

Part : V         Puerto Rican Women from the Jazz Age in Film

Chapter 10

-Blanca de Castejón

-Cecilia Callejo

-Mapy Cortés

-Olga San Juan

Part : VI       A Look at Contemporary Women in Jazz

Chapter 11   Today’s Puerto Rican Jazz Singers and Instrumentalists

Epilogue: A Final Note

Acknowledgements

Dedication

Selected Bibliography

PREFACE

The idea for this book came as I finished Puerto Rican Pioneers in Jazz 1900-1939: Bomba Beats to Latin Jazz in 2015. In writing that book I realized that there was much more to document on the roles of women in the expansion of jazz. I was also intrigued by the success of Puerto Rican women who ventured into jazz during "the jazz-age" when it was highly competitive and dominated by men. The 2015 book included brief biographical sketches of the performers included in this text. This volume, however, presents a more detailed look into the lives of these successful women in jazz and beyond.

I’m elated to present the facts associated with the achievements of women who chose to meet the challenges of jazz and in doing so reached national and international acclaim. Unfortunately, these women are largely forgotten. My hope is that this volume will stimulate further research, conversations, and publications that will help bring-back these women to the consciousness of today.

My motivation to write the book increased after reading Licia Fiol-Matta’s The Great Woman Singer Gender and Voice in Puerto Rican Women (2017) and Olga Jiménez de Wagenheim’s Nationalist Heroines: Puerto Rican Women History Forgot 1930s-1950s (2016). Both books present the lives of women who have been overlooked and, in some cases, forgotten. Both of these books are valuable contributions to the documented history of Puerto Rican women. My hope is that this volume on Puerto Rican Women from the jazz-age is another contribution that helps more fully explain the significant roles undertaken by women and the extent to which they were successful.

The topic of this book may seem unusual to some since there may be those who believe that Puerto Rican women may not have entered the jazz milieu during its early history. Nevertheless, an aim of the book is to dispel this and other false generalizations. The contents of this volume will document how Puerto Rican women were not only present in early jazz but how they played trailblazing and innovative roles and contributed to the emergence of the genre in the States and abroad.

This work will present information that is confirmable through a variety of sources. The book may not be the definitive work on the subject but will serve as a starting point to:

- document the success and achievement of several Puerto Rican women from the jazz age

- consider the different strategies used for success in jazz and film by women

- illustrate the evolution of various careers

- consider the different personal circumstances under which success was achieved

- consider how women in contemporary jazz and film can learn from their predecessors

- provide women: older, young, and youthful, examples of success with documentary evidence on how to achieve

Book Organization

The book is organized into sections that cover a brief history of significant Puerto Rican women in music and the performing arts followed by biographical descriptions of pioneering women in jazz and film. The book also contains a brief discussion on Puerto Rican women in jazz today followed by a discussion surrounding issues affecting women in the arts today. Throughout the text there is commentary on the situations facing women, especially, male chauvinism, colonialism, racism, and anti-women prejudice in jazz. Every effort was made to include only facts that are easily confirmable. Unsupported tales or questionable events are avoided to ensure that the material contained in the volume can be used for teaching purposes and for curriculum development when credit is given to this work.

In the process of developing the central theme of this volume, special effort was made to document those experiences where Puerto Rican women collaborate with members of the African American community to confirm how the cross-cultural collaboration resulted beneficial to both ethnic peoples. The book will detail the many instances where members of the African-American community assisted the fledgling Puerto Rican artists achieve success and stardom. Figures such as Helen Elise Smith, David J. Martin, Will Marion Cook, Ada ‘Bricktop’ Smith, Dr. Laurence Clifton Jones, and other distinguished African-Americans are described. My hope is that this information will be added to historic works in African-American Studies.

Essentially, the instrumentalists, vocalists, and actors biographed in this work came to the States as youngsters. They came from homes where only Spanish was spoken and where the culture of Puerto Rico dominated. They were essentially immigrants in every way except that they did not come from a country with full sovereignty. Instead they came from a Latin-American nation that was acquired by the United States through the questionable Treaty of Paris of 1898 that was signed by Spain. The Puerto Rican people played no role in determining the parameters of the treaty that relinquished the sovereignty of their homeland to the United States.

This book is not a novel. Its focus is on facts in the lives of the people described. Some facts may be repeated to ensure that they stay with the reader. My hope is that the documented history of the people presented is interesting although it is not creative prose.

My Interest in Women’s Studies

I became interested in women’s studies, especially as it relates to Boricuas¹, when I was on the full-time faculty of Brooklyn College of the City University of New York in the 1970s. During those years, as instructor and Deputy Chair of the Department of Puerto Rican Studies (PRS), I developed and introduced a proposed course syllabus for a class titled Women in Puerto Rican Society that was approved after some deliberations. With the contributions from my colleagues of the department that included Dr. Loida Figueroa, and Professors Antonio Nadal, Richie Pérez, and, María E. Sánchez the proposal took a more complete form. I also collaborated with Fredrica Wachsberger who was coordinating the new Women’s Studies Program at the college. The course content was ready for presentation to students and the community at-large as Puerto Rican Studies (PRS) 19 circa 1978. It has been offered to undergraduate students for approximately forty years. Recently, the title was changed to include aspects of the overall Latinx experience. The collaboration of the two interdisciplinary programs at Brooklyn College may have been a first of its kind in the 1970s. In the 1970s I did not foresee a course that would place emphasis on women in the world of music. Today, however, I realize that classes or segments on women and music are totally feasible and academically extremely enlightening. The contents of this book would be valuable to a course on Puerto Rican women.

After Brooklyn College, when I joined the faculty at the State University of New York College at Old Westbury, I had the opportunity to be introduced to the staff of The Feminist Press that was housed on campus and directed by American and Women’s Studies Professor Florence Howe. The Press was on the cutting-edge of Women’s Studies publications when the college was new, experimental, and progressive. The Press continued as a leader in the field for decades. Aware of the work of Florence Howe and The Feminist Press, I developed a heightened sense of the importance of Women’s Studies that has remained with me to this day.

In the 1960s, Women’s Studies as an academic-discipline, was considered an innovation in higher education that was very similar to the concept of Puerto Rican Studies. Both fledgling area-studies were exploratory in colleges of the States. The new academic foci were confronted by skeptics, critics, and opponents; but both survived and thrived. Today, the academic innovations are accepted members of the academy that undertake sophisticated course-work, produce quality research, journals, as well as a variety of publications, national, and international conferences. The disciplines have nationally organized associations and leading scholars.

The subject of this work goes one step further with the inclusion of jazz and film studies as a primary focal point. In essence, this work is a fusion of Puerto Rican, Women, Jazz and Film Studies. Together, they are areas of interests for millions of researchers and educators. Much of this work also features scholarly inquiry in African-American Studies.

As a teacher and curriculum-developer with New York City Board of Education, and as a teacher educator for decades at Brooklyn College (CUNY) and the College at Old Westbury (SUNY), I realized that the curriculum for almost all levels of education in the States has profound omissions. Those areas where contributions of women are omitted or minimally addressed include the role of women in history, the social sciences, the natural sciences, the arts, and music history.

Puerto Rican pioneers in jazz, is the subject of a book that I published in 2015. It focused primarily on the men and several women who entered the jazz ambiance during its incipient period. That book contained biographical sketches of the musicians who entered the world of jazz between 1900 and 1939. Although the book included essays on women, the critiques were brief and, essentially, introductory. In this work, the focus is entirely on the many accomplishments of Puerto Rican women who had experiences in jazz primarily before 1940. Included are detailed accounts of each of the women’s contributions to jazz and, in several cases, other genres and fields outside of jazz.

This book primarily centers on the accomplishments of the following women:

• Angelina, Lolita and Anita Rivera

• Elsie, Grace and Judy Bayrón

• Olga Albani

• Diosa Costello

• Marquita Rivera

• Lucy Fabery

There is information presented on additional Puerto Rican women from the jazz-age who were success in the film industry in the States and Latin America including Puerto Rico. This section will detail information on the following:

• Blanca de Castejón

• Cecilia Callejo

• Mapy Cortés

• Olga San Juan

INTRODUCTION

Women as primary transmitters of cultures, is a topic that has been addressed by anthropologists and other scholars. Their findings have been presented in various worldwide forums as was the case in 1999 in Tehran, Iran when the INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON THE ROLE OF WOMEN IN TRANSMISSION OF INTANGIBLE CULTURAL HERITAGE was held. The symposium was sponsored by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to focus on how women transmit the ‘intangible’ characteristics of culture that are manifested through traditions and folklore. The paper describing the symposium defined the term in the following manner: Intangible, or immaterial heritage, concerns aspects of our lives which are essential to the continuity and expression of cultural identity. The same publication states that women’s involvement in various spheres of intangible cultural heritage is both central and vital. In addition, the paper informs us that:

Women are also custodians of intangible cultural heritage which encompasses, among other forms, the performing arts including music, culinary and medicinal knowledge and the know-how for the creation of material culture.

This forum was followed by additional proceedings in 2001 in Tehran. In addition to the conferences, an ever-growing number of publications on the subject have been widely circulated, and, many are easily accessible thanks to the postings on the internet.

Despite the recognition offered to women in the transmission and preservation of culture, the role of women can be better documented to ensure that they receive the credit deserved. This work identifies several women who can be considered prominent in the transmission of culture in various aspects of human endeavor in the United States and within the Puerto Rican and other Spanish-speaking peoples. This study is unique in that it considers the transmission of culture primarily within the jazz environment when the genre was young.

As a child growing-up in a typical, extended, Latin-American family, I was aware of the roles played by my grandmothers, aunts, and my mother in the diffusion of our treasured Puerto Rican traditions. They played a key role in exposing their offspring to the music, dance, foods, and the non-salient cultural attributes of our Caribbean homeland. I vividly recall how my mother and aunts dressed and danced to the music of the time. When the pachanga dance-craze engulfed the New York Latin community, its airwaves and social clubs, my family elders became avid enthusiasts. I was mesmerized when observing their every move as they danced the new sensation. Without realizing, my family elders were teaching the younger generation to value all aspects of our culture. For me, the message was clear and profound because I have never stopped celebrating our cultural heritage. The efforts of the women (and men) in my family were a small part of a much larger body of work that has been undertaken by many, many generations.

Beyond the Homeland:

The Puerto Rican homeland and its diasporic communities have been fortunate to have had and continue to have many women that have played vital roles in organizing institutions that serve the people and, in the process, transmit the culture. The stateside women who are cultural advocates and ambassadors include but are not limited to Antonia Pantojas, Evelina Antonetty, Yolanda Sánchez, Miriam Colón, Victoria Hernández, Pura Belpré, Josefina Nieves, Rosalba Rolón, María Canino, Marta Moreno-Vega, Tina Ramírez, Esmeralda Santiago, among many others. Their work and lasting contributions must be studied and conveyed to future generations. Their achievements would serve as a core to coursework on women’s studies in the Puerto Rican context.

Unfortunately, despite significant success of Puerto Rican women and the many examples of success in public and private sector service, there are still glaring vestiges of female oppression, male chauvinism and domination. This may be especially true in the homeland where leaders of the past such as Luisa Capetillo, Juana Colón, Nilita Vientós Gastón, Felisa Rincón de Gautier, Trina Rivera de Ríos, Marta Montañez Casals Istomin, among others successfully led struggles to achieve a degree of equality. Numerous women have been government leaders and candidates for elected offices; many have won elections including the governorship when Sila Calderón Serra triumphed in 2000. As recently as 2016, two of five candidates for the governorship were women: María de Lourdes Santiago and Alexandra Lúgaro; both were formidable contenders. Despite the many achievements, women are still subjected to discrimination, abuse, and violence.

Women musicians who were teachers of the past:

Puerto Rican women were part of the early jazz island-based ensembles as leaders, instrumentalists, and, or vocalists. Photographs and promotional material of the 1930s (and possibly earlier) bands in Cayey, Humacao, Yauco, and other places in Puerto Rico confirm women as band-members.

Women have also played significant roles in the development of musicians in Puerto Rico. These women were first outstanding musicians and most started to play instruments or sing as children. The women served as role-models for young women and girls and this may explain the omnipresence of females in many music ensembles throughout recent history. It was common to see women as members of popular music groups and, or early jazz bands.

There were women who fronted and led orchestras such as Josefa ‘Pepita’ Nazario Alsina (b. 1910) who was with Orquesta Happy Hills of San Germán. This small city, known as Ciudad de las Lomas (City of Hills) is the second oldest European settlement of Puerto Rico. Today, it is an inspiring town, located on the southwest of the main Puerto Rican island. It has produced many significant civic leaders and numerous outstanding musicians. It is from where Ernesto ‘Tito’ Puente’s father originates; Ernesto Puente Sr. was born there in 1902 to Santos Puente (b. 1878) and Camila Rivera (b. 1883). Ernesto ‘Tito’ Puente (b. 1923) is considered one of the greatest Latin music and Latin-jazz musicians produced by the Puerto Rican community in the diaspora. The term diaspora in this work is used in a manner that is similar to that used by immigrant communities since Puerto Ricans have maintained their cultural characteristics distinct from those of the United States.

In Cayey, Angelica Duchesne was the pianist for the band that entertained at a family-owned movie-house. The band included members of the family who performed a variety of music that was highly influenced by the music coming from the States. Curiously, a cousin born in Cuba, Olga Duchesne, was a trumpeter for the legendary all-woman orchestra from Havana, Anacaona. This orchestra was instituted by several Castro sisters in 1932 and was known to play jazz when it came into vogue in Cuba. A revived version of the band continues to this day. (In the mid-19th century, several Puerto Rican families had relatives settled in Cuba. In addition to the Duchesne, these families included the Tizol and the Montañez. The families continue to produce significant contributors to Cuban society.)

In contemporary music venues, you can see women playing every-type of instrument from the trumpet, trombone, bassoon, to bomba-drums. The current director of Orquesta Happy Hills is Ethel Miranda who is a bassist.

The following discussion is on four women who taught music and served as role models to many. It is limited to four of many women whose lives began in the 19th century. The descriptions are also limited to those who, perhaps, may have influenced the women in jazz described in this work.

Anita Otero (1861-1905)

Anita Otero was born on the 24th of July 1861 in Humacao. Her given name is Ana Otero y Hernández. She was the daughter of Humacao-native, Carmen Hernández and, a Spanish immigrant, Ignacio Otero. The couple had eight children; all studied music. They received their initial instruction from their father plus Concepción Gadea, and Ramón Tinajero. Anita Otero evolved into one of the finest pianist from Puerto Rico of the 19th century. Some have described her as following in the footsteps of Manuel Gregorio Tavárez, pianist and father of the Puerto Rican danza. Danza has been considered the national genre and dance from Puerto Rico. It is also considered semi-classical and based on the Spanish contra-danza but blended with Caribbean creole rhythms and melodies.

Otero is important for several reasons. She was a pioneering woman who challenged the dominance of men in the world of classical music in Puerto Rico. She honed her talents as a pianist to be considered equal to the finest male pianist of her time. Otero served as a role-model for girls and women who sought to pursue careers as instrumentalists and as pianists specifically. Otero was a teacher who eagerly sought to transfer her skills and musical ideas to all kinds of students but especially young women.

The pianist was extremely charitable and performed to raise funds for several causes including those organized by the Catholic Church. The pianist traveled extensively through her native-land, Europe and Latin-America to present herself as an exemplary representative of her homeland. Many consider Otero the most famous woman from Puerto Rico of the 19th and early 20th centuries.

After receiving her initial education from her father and hometown teachers, Otero embarked on offering concerts for her neighbors in Humacao. Among the neighbors were the young women and girls of the town. According to biographer Idsa Alegría Ortega, on one occasion on the 20th of February 1886, 30 girls participated in a zarzuela for children titled Choza y Palacio under the direction of Otero and her brother. On that occasion she also assumed the directorship of the orchestra and this may represent the first time that a woman assumes that role Puerto Rico. Later, she also directed the Juan Morel Campos orchestra in Ponce, and the Julián Andino orchestra in San Juan. She earned newspaper coverage in several towns when she assumed directorships of several insular bands.

The Otero family was not wealthy, nonetheless, its members pooled resources and this enabled Anita and her brother to travel to Barcelona to hone her abilities as a pianist while also offering concerts. When she arrived in the Catalán capital in July of 1887, she was received, ironically, by an existing Puerto Rican community. Her arrival was significant and received newspaper coverage when she performed at a benefit concert at el Teatro de Cataluña. According to El Diluvio of July 7: -tocó piano con delicadeza la señorita Otero… varias piezas que ejecutó con acertado colorido y buen gusto… (Miss Otero delicately played the piano; she played various pieces with colorful certainty and good taste). The concert was to raise funds for the Refugio de Escritores y Artistas españoles, according to the announcement by the theatre, El Dorado. Another publication, La Dinastía, provided a review of the concert on the following day and wrote of Otero: La aventajada pianista señorita Otero tocó algunas piezas con mucha precisión y colorido (the skilled pianist played several pieces with great precision and color).

In addition to her presentations in Spain, Otero competed in France for a scholarship offered by the conservatory in Paris in November of 1887; she earned a student-position without tuition. While in Paris she also studied piano and composition with the esteemed conservatory professor Alexis- Henri Fissot. She remained in Paris for some time despite health issues and during her stay consulted with pianist Antoine Francois Marmontel. According to Trina Padilla de Sanz who prepared a sketch included in a book by Fernando Callejo, Marmontel had a significant influence on Otero. Callejo is considered Puerto Rico’s first musicologist, his book on the leading musicians of the period was self-published in 1915; he made sure to include Anita Otero.

Based on available information, Otero established ties with the finest musicians from Paris and Spain and this explains, in part, her level of sophistication as a pianist.

In 1888 Otero returns to Barcelona to contribute to an international exposition. While there she meets and performs for Isaac Albéniz, a distinguished pianist and composer. The Spaniard was so impressed with Otero’s ability that he gave and dedicated several of his creations to her. In the meantime, thanks to the documentation and publication of Ana Roqué de Duprey, a committed Puerto Rican teacher, the Otero accomplishments were widely disseminated in the homeland. Duprey published a literary review called Euterpe and this served as a kind of newspaper of the arts.

In 1889, Otero was back in Paris where on April 22 she offered a concert at the 2nd and historic Salle Pleyel and shared the program with a cellist and two violinists. The presentation was entirely of classical music and featured the compositions of Mendelssohn, Albéniz, Chopin, Bemberg, among others. Among the attendees was Dr. Ramón Emeterio Betances, considered the maximum Puerto Rican patriotic leader of his time. He wrote a letter on the following day expressing how gratified and impressed he was with her performance. In November of that year she returned to Barcelona to offer another concert that consisted of the music of Schumann, Liszt, Chopin, Raff, among others.

At the start of 1890, after a three-year stay in Europe, Anita Otero and her brother Felipe, returned to Puerto Rico where they were received with many accolades, newspaper coverage, and receptions. She immediately embarked on a notable tour through many towns starting in her native Humacao. She also offered concerts in Yabucoa, Las Piedras, Ponce, Aguadilla, Arecibo, Utuado, Cayey, and San Juan. The recitals often ended with her playing La Borinqueña, already considered Puerto Rico’s national anthem. After one concert, an attendee was so impressed that he took steps to give her a new grand-piano.

After an almost two-year stay in the homeland, on December 1891, Anita and her sister Julia, who was also a fine musician, embarked on a tour through Latin America; starting in Venezuela. At the start of 1892, Otero performs in Caracas before an audience that included the president of that nation. Otero appeared to have an extreme commitment to representing Puerto Rico world-wide at a time when her homeland was involved in a quest for sovereignty from Spain. She was, arguably, Puerto Rico’s best un-official ambassador. While in South America, she performed in Carabobo, Jacarigua, Valencia, Maracaibo, Cartagena, Puerto Cabello, and Barranquilla. This was followed by a trip to Curacao. From there she went to Costa Rica and then New York.

In New York, Otero participated in several concerts including one to commemorate the fourth centennial of the arrival of Europeans in the Americas. The concert was sponsored by the Sociedad Literaria Hispanoamericana at the then famous Manhattan Athletic Club. In attendance for that concert José Martí, Cuba’s leader of the struggle for independence. While in New York, she also met with Nicaraguan maximum poet Rubén Darío. The poet dedicated a poem to the pianist; it is still readily available.

At an 1892 gathering of Cuban and Puerto Rican distinguished-leaders who sought the independence of their respective homelands, Otero made a presentation that included the Puerto Rican national anthem La Borinqueña. She then wrote the music to the anthem so that it would be published in the newspaper Patria, the official organ of the revolutionary movement based in New York. Chronicler Bernardo Vega reprinted the lyric that was, plausibly, sung on that occasion. Memorias de Bernardo Vega is a classic of Puerto Rican diaries.

Otero had an extended stay in the States where she performed in Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, and Philadelphia. At one point she was selected to represent the Chikering piano company. And, she also taught piano in New York to earn income that would facilitate her stay.

In 1894, because her father was ill, Ana Otero returned to Humacao. There she assumed teaching responsibilities and sought contributions to send a student to study music in Paris. In 1896, Otero re-establishes herself in San Juan to teach piano. In 1897, with the help of the government, she creates an academy of music for girls; she recruited three sisters as teachers: Modesta, Josefa, and Julia Otero. Several outstanding pianists were graduates of the pioneering academy including: Carmen Belén Barbosa, Alicia Sicardó, Rosita Galiñes, and Monsita Ferrer. While teaching, Anita Otero Hernández also evolved into a composer of danzas and waltzes.

Anita Otero Hernández died on the 4th of April of 1905; she was only 44 years of age. She left a lasting legacy that is recalled to this day. She remains an important role-model for all women. It is plausible that Anita Otero was related to Olga Hernández since both had roots in Humacao. Miguel Hernández, Olga’s father, was born in Humacao. Anita Otero’s grandfather was named Miguel Hernández; both were from the same town.

Elisa Tavárez (1879-1960)

Elisa Tavárez y Colón was born in Ponce on June 21, 1879 to the father of the danza Manuel Gregorio Tavárez y Ropero and Julia Colón y Monge. Elisa Tavárez initially studied music with the distinguished Puerto Rican pianist Arístides Chavier then in Spain under Pilar de la Mora in Madrid at the Royal Music Conservatory. She spent four years in Spain and while there, she received financial assistance and gained recognition as a pianist.

At a time, she won first-place in a performance competition and as result was invited to perform for the Queen of Spain, María Cristina. As a token of appreciation, the queen gave her a beautiful example of traditional Spanish fan that she retained her entire life.

After returning to Puerto Rico she presented numerous concerts, and, as was true of Anita Otero, she was focused on the classical music of Chopin, Liszt, Mendelssohn, Beethoven, among others. According to writer-poet Trina Padilla de Sanz, Tavárez had a style that resembled that of Chopin (ironically, her father Gregorio Tavárez was sometimes called the Chopin from Puerto Rico). Padilla wrote that, as with Chopin, Elisa’s piano never ‘screamed’ instead it focused on the soft and romantic approach to her interpretations.

During World War I, the pianist performed concerts for the soldiers of the all-Puerto Rican 375th Regiment that was stationed in Campamento Las Casas in Santurce. That regiment included many musicians including Pedro Flores and Augusto Coén.