The President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, paid tribute this Friday to the pianist, composer, opera singer and orchestra director Teresa Carreño, on the occasion of the 164th anniversary of his birth.
“We commemorate today, 164 years of the birth of one of the greatest composers and pianists of the musical history of our country and the world, I am talking about María Teresa Carreño, a worthy example of the Venezuelan woman”, wrote the Head of State in social networks.
To his message, the President attached a video which includes a short biography of this illustrious pianist born on December 22, 1853 in Caracas and who died in New York, United States, on June 12, 1917. Her ashes were brought to Venezuela in 1938 and rest in the National Pantheon since December 9, 1977.
María Teresa Gertrudis de Jesús Carreño García is considered one of the main creators of the 19th and 20th centuries. She began his piano studies with his father, Manuel Antonio Carreño, and continued with Julio Hohené. On November 25, 1862, being just nine years old, she gave her first concert at the Irving Hall Theater in New York.
Residing in Paris, France, she began her career as a concert artist that took her to visit all the countries of Europe, as well as the United States and South Africa, accompanied by the most important orchestras led by eminent masters. In mid-1885 she returned to Venezuela after an absence of 25 years, when invited by President Joaquín Crespo to give a concert in Caracas. The last recital was offered in Havana, Cuba, which had seen her triumph, in March 1917.
Among her compositions include Anthem to Bolivar; Hymn to The Illustrious American, dedicated to President Antonio Guzmán Blanco; Greetings to Caracas; The prayer, Op. 12, composed because of the death of her mother and which is part of more than 30 compositions for piano that she made, and the Waltz to Teresita, dedicated to her daughter.
