MADRID, Spain.- Serafín Ramírez Fernández, a prominent composer and music critic, was born in Havana on August 31, 1832. From a young age, he demonstrated great skill with various musical instruments, and trained in piano under the tutelage of Manuel Saumell, considered the precursor of nationalism in Cuban music.
Ramírez distinguished himself not only as a musician, but also as an educator. He taught piano, solfeggio and music theory classes, and turned his home into a meeting point for artists, where he organized sessions that introduced prominent teachers of his time. His work in promoting musical culture led him to be named director of the Liceo Artístico y Literario de La Habana, one of the most influential cultural institutions of the 19th century in Cuba. In addition, he directed the Sociedad de Música Clásica and founded the Havana Musical Gazette in 1899.
Among his most notable contributions is his work “Artistic Havana. Historical Notes”, first published in 1891 and reissued in 2017 by the Museum of Music in two volumes. This book, considered essential for the study of the musical and artistic life of Havana in the 19th century, compiles newspaper articles and explores in depth the culture of Havana, its composers and its performers.
Ramírez is also recognized as the founder of musical criticism in Cuba, with his first works published in 1859 in newspapers such as Navy Diary and The Triumph, as well as in specialized magazines such as Musical Cuba and Cuban Magazine. Serafin Ramirez Fernandez died in Havana on May 11, 1907.
