José Ignacio QuintónPara versión en Español Oprima AQUÍ
He was born in Caguas in February 1st. 1881, but his family moved to the nearby of Coamo when he was only two years old. He began studying music at a very young age, his own father - the French Juan Bautista Quintón and Luzón who was himself a composer and organist with vast knowledge on orchestation and musical theory and a graduate from the Conservatory of Paris - being his first teacher. He later took lessons with noted Spanish pianist Don Ernesto del Castillo.
This is how the house where Quintón lived looks today.
At the tender age of nine years old Quintón had already presented his first concert and at age eleven he accompannied the noted cuban violinist Brindis de Salas who, at the end of the concert exclaimed with much emotion in the stage (and accurately predicted): "Bravo, young boy. You'll be a musical glory." Since those first succeses, Quintón, with confidence in himself and really in love with his art, dedicated all his efforts to the study of music in different forms, including conducting school and municipal bands, and giving private lessons on piano, violin and other instruments. By 1917, when they were barely known in Puerto Rico, he played pieces by Debussy, Ravel, Schoenberg and other composers, of whom he got information by reading musical magazines he got in English, language he patiently learned by himself to be able to get the benefits of such readings. Quintón was a prolific composer. Even in his first danzas, which he composed being just a teenager, as: Confía, Mi estrella, Amor Imposible and others, his interest in innovation which he pursued during all his career, can be perceived. Aside from the danza, he also composed other types of music, getting many awards in local competitions: Quartet for stringed instruments, Variations on a theme by Hummel, Operture, Triumphal March, etc. are some of his winning compositions. He also wrote waltzes, marches, nocturnes, religious music and some masses, being of some relief a Requiem Mass he wrote as a posthumous tribute to Puerto Rican composer Angel Mislán. As a pianist he was noted both by his pure technic as for his ability as a performer: a very fast and accurate left hand and great use of the pedal; a great reader, able to sight read and transpose without hesitation any music written for piano, no matter how complicated. As Tavárez and Morel, Quintón also wanted to elevate the danza to concert level and he tried his best in that direction. His Concert Danzas are notable, where he makes a display of his knowledge and musical abilities. Nevertheless, his most popular and recognized danza is El coquí , a danza with a simple melody and an unpretentious armonic progression. In it the maestro uses and obstinato theme in octaves that sounds like the song of this little Puerto Rican frog, symbol of this country.
In this tomb lies the remains of Quintón
He was a very humble and simple man. He died in the town where he spent most of his life, on December 19, 1925. The main street of the old San Blás de Illescas Village (as Coamo is also known) now bears his name. * * * * *
Al Indice de CompositoresAl Indice de Danzas
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