Can an opera be inspired by the love of a Cuban native?

In "Doreya", an opera written by the Cuban composer Eduardo Sanchez de Fuentes, opened in 1918; is told the story of the adorable Doreya, daughter of a Siboney chieftain and her love for Manfredo, the Spanish conqueror.

With a script by Hilarion Cabrisas, Eduardo Sanchez de Fuentes recreates the genuine Siboney rhythms in the opera that give a convincing air and dramatic atmosphere to an old Cuban legend.

Eduardo Sanchez de Fuentes was born in Havana, Cuba , on April 3th, 1874, to a family of artists. His father, Eugenio, was a dramatist and poet; his mother Josefina, was a pianist and singer.

He studied Law because of the influence of his family and graduated in Civil Law. But the fancy office that his parents set up for him was never visited by clients or jurists.

Music was his passion. Eduardo had been born to be a musician and in addition "knew how to become one" with long years of study and hard work on method.

His teachers were the most important musicians of the time and he attended the Hubert de Blanck Conservatory.

In 1898 he published his first opera "Yumuri" and in 1909 "Naufrago" (Shipwreck Victim). Two years later he attended the International Music Conference in Rome representing Cuba, and that same year, the demanding European audience fully confirmed his talent at the opening on the old continent of the opera "Dolorosa" in Turin, Italy.

He traveled in Mexico, France and the United States. He published two new operas, "Doreya" (1918) and "El Caminante" (1921) which opened in the National Theater of Havana with the popular tenor Tito Schipa and the Cuban soprano Ofelia Nieto.

Sanchez de Fuentes was the conductor of the first typical Cuban concerts in the National Theater in 1922; President of the Academy of Arts and Literature and of the Society of Cuban Authors; He received awards both as a composer and as an expert in Creole musical art; He wrote texts on Cuban music, such as: "Folklore in Cuban Music”, "Cuba and its Musicians", "Influence of African Rhythms in our Songs", "Contredance and the Habanera" and "Native Music of America".

As a composer he left us one more opera, "Kabelia (1942); Dione, a ballet; Christmas, an oratory; and Anaconda, a choral composition.

His world fame and his lasting importance up to the current times, however, is due to his traditional songs, such as: Mirame asi, Corazon, Vivir sin tus caricias, Linda cubana, Silenciosamente, Por tus ojos and mainly for the "anthology piece", according to Alejo Carpentier, "the Habanera by antonomasia", the internationally famous, “TU” (You).

Sanchez de Fuentes, died in 1944. In his time he was the most inspired, the most popular and above all, the most loved of the musicians of his country.

Eduardo Sanchez de Fuentes, an example of the best of the latin spirit.