Claudio Brindis de Salas Garrido

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Claudio Jose Brindis de Salas Garrido
Claudio Brindis de Salas in 1880 with his Stradivarius and his Prussian decoration
"Order of the Black Eagle".
Claudio Brindis de Salas in 1880 with his Stradivarius and his Prussian decoration
"Order of the Black Eagle".
Background information
Also known as El Paganini Negro, El Rey de las Octavas
Born 4 August 1852
Origin Havana, Cuba.
Died 1 June 1911 (aged 58)
Occupation(s) Concert violinist, Composer.
Instruments Violin

Claudio José Domingo Brindis de Salas Garrido (4 August 1852 – 1 June 1911) was a
Cuban concert violinist. His father was the violinist and bandleader, Claudio
Brindis de Salas. The son surpassed his father, and was a violinist of world
renown.[1][2][3] He studied under his father, and then with maestros José Redondo
and the Belgian José Van der Gutch (who lived in Havana). In 1863 he first
performed in public, in Havana, with Van der Gutch as accompanist. Ignacio
Cervantes also played at the same function.

In 1864 he toured with his father and his brother José del Rosario in the Cuban
cities of Matanzas, Cárdenas, Cienfuegos and Güines; in 1869 to Veracruz, México.
He went from México to Paris, to study under Hubert Léonard and Charles Dancla, and
gained entry to Conservatoire de Paris, where he won first prize in 1871. He then
toured Florence, Turin and Milan, where he played at La Scala. His tours in Europe
brought great critical and public enthusiasm.

In 1875, he returned to the Americas, and was appointed director of the

Conservatoire de Haiti. He played in Caracas (1876), in Cuba in Havana (1878) and
Santiago de Cuba, then to Veracruz again and México City, where he performed
Mendelssohn's Concerto for violin and orchestra. In later years he played in St
Petersburg (1881), New York (1887), Barcelona (1889), Santo Domingo (1895), San
Juan, Puerto Rico, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago (1896), Caracas (1899),
Tenerife (1902), Ronda, Spain (1911), and ended his career in Argentina.[4]

Claudio composed a few works, but he was primarily a concert performer, and to
judge from critical notices, one of the best in the world at that time. Alejo
Carpentier called him "the most extraordinary of the black musicians of the
nineteenth century... an unprecedented case in the musical history of the
continent".[5] The French government made him a member of the Légion d'Honneur, and
the German Kaiser gave him the title of Baron de Salas. In Buenos Aires he was
given a genuine Stradivarius; when he stayed in Berlin, he married a German woman,
was appointed chamber musician to the Emperor, and became a German citizen. He died
in 1911, now in poverty, from tuberculosis in Buenos Aires. In 1930 his remains
were transferred to Havana with great honours.

The church, Iglesia de San Francisco de Paula, Havana, contains his ashes.[6]
References

Orovio, Helio 1981. Diccionario de la música cubana. La Habana. p60

Guillén, Nicolás 1935. Brindis de Salas: el rey de las octavas. La Habana.
Giro, Radamés 2007. Diccionario encyclopédico de la música en Cuba. vol 1, La
Havana. p161
These tours were puntuated with returns and concerts in Cuba, mainly Havana.
Carpentier, Alejo 2001 [1945]. Music in Cuba. Minneapolis MN. p162
"La Iglesia de San Franc

isco de Paula". Retrieved 6 January 2019.

External links

Dispatch from Havana: Brindis de Salas, and Master Class on the Ysaÿe Ballade
Brindis de Salas, Claudio José Domingo 1852-1911
Claudio Brindis de Salas (1852-1911)
Brindis de Salas, Claudio José Domingo by Victoria Eli Rodríguez
The Black Paganini, Saeta