José Pablo Moncayo

José Pablo Moncayo García (June 29, 1912 – June 16, 1958) was a Mexican pianist, percussionist, music teacher, composer and conductor. "As composer, José Pablo Moncayo represents one of the most important legacies of the Mexican nationalism in art music, after Silvestre Revueltas and Carlos Chávez." He produced some of the masterworks that best symbolize the essence of the national aspirations and contradictions of Mexico in the 20th century.

Born in Guadalajara, Jalisco, José Pablo Moncayo was introduced to music by his elder brother Francisco.Eduardo Hernández Moncada is reported as the first teacher of José Pablo Moncayo in 1926, when the teenager was fourteen years old. According to Aurelio Tello, Hernández Moncada suggested his pupil Moncayo study at the National Conservatory. Tello reports that Moncayo was admitted to the conservatory in 1929; meanwhile, in order to finance his studies, he worked as a jazz pianist. According to the research of Torres-Chibrás, different sources point out the fact that Moncayo took composition lessons with Candelario Huízar, and it is known that he continued his piano instruction with Hernández Moncada. It is not certain in which courses Moncayo registered at the conservatory and who his other teachers were, but thanks to the biographies of his contemporaries Salvador Contreras, Blas Galindo and Daniel Ayala we may assume that Moncayo followed a similar path during his instruction at the National Conservatory. It is known that Huízar taught courses such as harmony, counterpoint and analysis (also called musical forms). Solfège or sight reading was taught by the eminent professors Vicente T. Mendoza and Gerónimo Baqueiro Foster. Music history was taught by Ernesto Enríquez. Luis Sandi was the conductor of the conservatory chorale and Eduardo Hernández Moncada, the associate conductor. In different periods Hernández Moncada taught, in addition to his piano lessons, harmony, sight reading, and later, opera ensembles. José Rolón, who had studied under Nadia Boulanger and Paul Dukas in Paris (and also met Arnold Schoenberg), taught harmony, counterpoint and fugue. Chávez was highly concerned with the general education and culture of the conservatory students and established literature courses taught by the contemporary poets Salvador Novo and Carlos Pellicer, world history by Jesús C. Romero, and history of Mexican culture by Agustín Loera and Chávez himself.

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