Esteban Salas: The First Cuban Composer

He wasn’t a Santiago-born man –he was born in Havana on December 25, 1725- but he got his reputation as a musician and composer in Santiago de Cuba, where he unleashed his creative talent and died on July 14, 1803.

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In his well-documented Music in Cuba, a book published in Mexico in 1946, Alejo Carpentier wrote: “…The first Cuban composer whose work lasted through our time had spent one year in Santiago de Cuba: Esteban Salas Castro. We can’t say for sure the reason why Esteban Salas’ work and personality have been so far shrouded in the most absolute darkness. He is not even mentioned in the books that are officially studied in conservatoires. His name is not included in any Cuban biographic dictionary. Laureano Fuentes, who briefly mentions him in his Arts in Santiago de Cuba book, doesn’t seem to have worked hard to dig out Salas’ scores. (…) Nevertheless, because of the remarkable role played by Salas in the history of Cuban music, he deserved an appropriate research.”

Esteban Salas was a priest and an outstanding composer of the American baroque, with notable elements of classicism. Although there was some influence of Italian and Spanish musicians, the American sensitivity prevails in his work.

He studied plainsong, violin, organ, counterpoint and composition at the Parochial School of the Cuban capital. He entered Havana’s San Carlos Seminary at the age of 15. He fulfilled his education by studying Philosophy, Theology and Canon Law.   

On February 8, 1764, he arrived in Santiago de Cuba as Bishop Francisco Agustín Morell de Santa Cruz appointed him Substitute Master of the Cathedral’s Music Chapel. He was ordained as a priest in 1790.

A true mystic and cult man, he lived humbly and was always dressed in black. He was thin and short. He carried out an amazing composition work on religious music, and sometimes he even wrote their lyrics. Salas devoted 39 years of his life to this work at the eastern Cuban capital city.

His vast musical catalogue is made up of seven masses, seven-teen Hail Maries and motets, psalms, anthems, religious plays, and gorgeous carols, both religious and profanes.

Nowadays, and as a result of meticulous researches and musicological studies, his scores have been printed and the most valuable pieces of his musical heritage have been recorded.                                

As a tribute to this man, Santiago de Cuba’s has been named after him, as well as the Choral Music International Festival that is held there on alternate years, and the Ancient Music Festival that annually takes place in Havana.

Esteban Salas, a pride figure to the people of Santiago, has been definitely rescued from oblivion, and is part of Cuba’s memory and historic and cultural heritage.