Manuel Ponce

Distinguished Mexican composer; b. Fresnillo, Dec. 8, 1882; dead in Mexico City, April 24,1948. During the world war 1, he lived in New-York and in Havana; then went to Paris for additional study, and took lessons with Paul Dukas. His contact with French music wrought a radical change in his style of composition; his later works are more polyphonic in structure and more economical in form. He possessed a great gift of melody; one of his songs, Estrellita (1914), became a universale favorite, and was often mistaken for a folk song. He was the first Mexican composer of the 20th century to employ an identifiably modern musical language; his place in the history of Mexican music is very important one. His works are often performed in Mexico; a concert hall was named after him in the Instituto de Bellas Artes.