Braulio Dueno Colon
Braulio Dueño Colon (March 26, 1854-April 4, 1934) born in the City of San Juan, Puerto Rico was a renowned musician and composer.
At a young age Dueño's father, who also loved music, taught him the basics of music and served as his inspiration. Dueño took music classes with the "Maestro" Aruti, with whom he learned about composition and armony.
Normally, when an Opera or Zarzuela company visited Puerto Rico, they would hire a local orquestra to play their musical scores. When Dueño was a young man he would look for a job to play the flute in many of these orquestras.
In 1879, He composed the music for the Zarzuela "Los Baños de Coamo" (The Bathes of Coamo" which was originally written by Genaro de Arazamendi.
Dueño participated in many literary-musical contests in the Overture "La Amistad (1877)" (Friendship); a prize for his "Sinfonia Dramatica" (Dramatic Symphony); for his compositions "Noche de Otoño (1887)"
(Nights of Fall); and "Estudio sobre la Danza Puertorriqueña (1914)" (A Study of the Puerto Rican Danzas).
However, it would be the series of the "Canciones Escolares (1912)" (School Songs), which were co-written with Virgilio Davila and Manuel Fernandez Juncos, that would give him the recognition, which he longed for, as being one Puerto Rico's greatest composers. The "Canciones Escolares" not only won the highest honors in the Ateneo but, was also acclaimed and honored at the Buffalo exposition of 1901. The "Canciones Escolares" became an important part of the Puerto Rican Culture.
Braulio Dueño Colon lived most of his life in the City of Bayamon where he died on April 4, 1934.
The City of Bayamon has honored the memory of Braulio Dueño Colon by naming a school, a suburb and even the municipal cementary after him.
Also see
