Luis Jordá

Luis Gonzaga Jordá y Gascón (Barcelona, 1869 – Barcelona, 1951) was a composer, pianist and conductor. Born in Catalonia, he spent much of his career in Mexico City, and he is therefore often regarded as a musician linked to the Mexican musical renaissance of the early twentieth century. His name is associated above all with zarzuela, the genre in which he achieved great success.

He came to the Mexican capital to conduct a season of zarzuelas at the Teatro Principal in 1898, and he stayed there. In 1903 he founded the Quinteto Jordá-Rocabruna, which played a significant role in introducing chamber music to the city, and in 1910 he created the publication El arte musical. He was also a founding member of the Sociedad Mexicana de Autores. Three of his most outstanding zarzuelas, Chin chun chan, El sueño de un loco and La buena moza, premiered at the Principal in 1904.

He also cultivated other genres. His Himno patriótico won first prize in a national composition competition in 1902, and the symphonic poem Independencia was awarded a prize in a competition held to mark the centenary of Mexican independence, whose jury included Manuel Ponce, Felipe Pedrell and Charles-Marie Widor. He composed numerous pieces for piano; his mazurka Elodia was among the best-selling scores of nineteenth-century Mexico. In the vocal field, Ardientes desvaríos and Amar y sufrir are popular.

His legacy lies in the dissemination of zarzuela, chamber music and the salon song in Mexico during the first decades of the twentieth century. His work, closely tied to the musical life of the capital, remains a testimony to that period.