Today marks 143
years since the birth of Jose de la Cruz Mena well known as "The Divine
Leper" composer, musician and conductor of the Nicaraguan orchestra.
He is recognized as
the classical musician who most assimilated the influence of the great Austrian
masters of the waltz giving him a personal touch in the composition of musical
works addressing autochthonous subjects.
José de la Cruz
Mena was born in the city of León, on May 3, 1874, he was the son of Mr.
Yanuario Mena and Mrs. Celedonia Ruiz. He began to study music with his father,
from whom he learned how to play the cornet. He was assisted by his older
brother Jesus Isidoro and later studied with the master Alejandro Cousin. In
the year 1888 at 16 years he entered the Band of the Supreme Powers, of which his
cousin was directing.
The waltz Ruins of
musician and composer Jose de la Cruz Mena Ruiz, known as the "Divine
leper", awarded in the first Florals Games of 1904 in León and performed
in a piano solo by Margarita Rochi de Alonso, continues to astonish the world
by Its grandeur, originality and musical creativity.
Ruins; Loves of
Abraham, dedicated to his friend Abraham Morazán; Rosalía, dedicated to Rosalía
de Icaza; Lola, to Lola de Alvarado; Bella Margarita, to the pianist Margarita
Rochi de Alonso; Memories of Engracia, In your eyes; Emilio; Isabel, Sleep,
Amores de Leonor, El Triunfo, and others that were lost. Profane songs: I think
of you, Suspiros de Amor, A memento, dedicated to pianist Dona Rosario Gil de
Fiallos; Dreams of love, I love you, To her, Daughters of Eve (romanza), I love
you like an echo, among others.
Between the years 1895-1896
he returned to Leon, and lived on the banks of the Chiquito River, about 200
yards from the bridge, where he built a rustic hut of horcones, from which hung
his hammock. Go blind.
He composes the
march General Zelaya, double passage, El Libertador, and El Triunfo, and is
freed from being confined and taken by train by the National Guard with other
lepers to the island of the Sawyers in Corinto.
In 1907 he dies at the
age of 33, on September 22, he is buried in the cemetery of Guadalupe, in Leon.
After words his remains were transferred to the Cathedral of Leon.
