Juan Pedro Esnaola 

Child prodigy Juan Pedro Esnaola was a disciple of his uncle José Antonio Picasarri, who was forced to leave Argentina for political reasons, and traveled with him to Europe in 1818 at the age of ten. Esnaola pursued composition, singing, and piano studies in Madrid and Paris, and probably in Vienna and Naples. Back in Buenos Aires, Picasarri founded in 1822 the Music and Singing School, where his nephew charmed all who heard him sing and play the piano, becoming a teacher when he was barely 14 years old. This marked the beginning of Esnaola's music career. A sensitive composer, Juan Pedro's talent dazzled salon circles and made him a celebrity in his hometown Buenos Aires.

Historian and musicologist Carlos Vega says:

"Broadly speaking, each period of his life coincides with the political periods that link together the history of 19th-century Argentina. His childhood covers the Emancipation period; his teenage years, Rivadavia's time; his prime, Romantic salons in Rosas's times; and his senior years, the Organization period. Unlike many, Esnaola can fairly be called a man of his time and motherland; unlike many, amidst the most extraordinary events, he was a singular and pure artist."

The first waves of Romanticism reached the Rio de la Plata region around 1830, politically and poetically inspired by Spain and France, but musically influenced by Italy. Our first local Romantics were youths from prominent families who travelled to complete their studies and returned home strongly impacted by their European experiences and the cultural and political scene in the Old Continent. Music, politics, and poetry stirred salon life.

French, Spanish, and English travelers have documented their stays in Montevideo and Buenos Aires, recounting their memories of salon soirées. In his Voyage dans l'Amérique Méridionale (written between 1826 and 1828), French naturalist, explorer, malacologist, and paleontologist Alcide Dessalines d'Orbigny described frequent tertulias (social gatherings held by the local elite) as ruled by music and merry socializing. Dances included minuets, montoneros, and waltzes, and singing was accompanied by piano and guitar.

An accomplished singer and virtuoso pianist, a remarkable and prolific composer, and a man committed to his art and times, Esnaola marked a new beginning for Argentinean music. Regarded by some as the first professional musician in Argentina and as a pioneer by others, Esnaola stands on a par with the best musicians of his time, challenging all classifications. His works encompass a variety of genres, such as liturgical music (motets, hymns, elegies, requiems, masses, misereres), symphonies, chamber music, and music for the piano and the guitar.

An heir to the salons that shaped him and witnessed his first musical experiences, where he amazed listeners with his boundless talent, Esnaola remained loyal to that musical tradition even when theaters took center stage for music performances due to new trends and society's taste for the opera. He composed his own dances and songs and performed them to perfection.

Weekly magazine Mefistófeles said in 1882:

"Not only a great composer, but an accomplished pianist too, with a perfect musical education from the school of Thalberg, the true master of piano-playing-expressive though not excessive, elegant though not pedantic, he managed to draw the most delicate effects from the piano without any beatings, gymnastics, or mime. His fingers stroked the keyboard, which in turn seemed to give back the tenderest sounds."

He set to music poems by the most prominent Argentinean contemporary authors, showing admirable finesse in his use of compositional techniques and the deepest understanding of the meaning of the texts. A man of his time, loyal to the ethics of a responsible composer, his aesthetic program was aimed at the consolidation of a national project. Together with poet Esteban Echeverría, he created a new song, and it was precisely at the tertulias where they made known the fruit of their work in the search for their own voice and a national identity.