José Mariano Elízaga

José Mariano Elízaga (Morelia, 1786 – Morelia, 1842) is among the musicians who shaped Mexico's musical life after independence. His training, his work as a teacher and his determination to promote the European music of the day make him a key reference for understanding how musical education was organised in the country in the first decades of the nineteenth century.

His musical education began very early. At the age of six he already performed in public in Mexico City at the request of the viceroy. He studied in Morelia with José María Carrasco, maestro de capilla of the cathedral of Valladolid, and later, with a scholarship from the cathedral chapter, travelled to the capital to train with Soto Carrillo, an enthusiast of Haydn and the city's leading piano teacher. On his return in 1799 he was appointed assistant organist at the Colegio de San Nicolás, and the cathedral chapter bought a piano so that he could teach the new pianistic art to the local aristocracy. Among his pupils was Ana María Huarte, who later became the wife of Agustín de Iturbide.

In 1822 he was appointed imperial maestro de capilla, although the post was rather nominal. That same year he published Elementos de música, a notable didactic work, and in 1824 he founded the Sociedad Filarmónica with José Antonio Gómez; the following year the society supported the young country's first conservatory. In 1826 he established a music publishing house. After a second marriage in 1828, he served as maestro de capilla at the cathedral of Guadalajara between 1829 and 1830, and then returned to the capital, where he gave private lessons. In 1835 he published Principios de la armonía y de la melodía, and in 1842 he retired to Morelia.

His surviving output, held in the archive of the cathedral of Morelia, consists of two masses, a Miserere, some Lamentations, a set of responsories and music for Matins of the Transfiguration, all written for choir with orchestral accompaniment. He knew the works of Mozart and Beethoven and was among the first to promote their music in Mexico, a role that is now valued as highly as his own compositions.