Paniagua y Vasques, Cenobio (1821–1882)

Cenobio Paniagua y Vasques (b. 30 October 1821; d. 2 November 1882), Mexican composer. Born in Tlalpujahua, Paniagua began his musical career as a violinist in the orchestra of the Morelia cathedral, under the direction of his uncle. He later joined the orchestra of the Mexico City cathedral, where he made contact with European musicians who had settled in Mexico, such as the Italian double-bass virtuoso Giovanni Bottesini, who also conducted opera in several cities of the New World. With Bottesini's help, Paniagua's first opera, with Italian libretto, premiered in September 1859. Catalina de Guisa (1845), the first opera written and staged in Mexico, created an appreciation for opera in the country. Paniagua's second opera, Pietro d'Abano, premiered in 1863, around the time Paniagua organized an opera company to tour the country. The enterprise failed, and in 1868, Paniagua moved to the city of Có rdoba, Veracruz, where he composed religious works, among them the cantata Siete palabras (1869), the oratorio Tobías (1870), a requiem (1882), and about seventy masses. He died in Có rdoba.

See alsoMusic: Art Music .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Robert Stevenson, Music in Mexico (1952; 2d ed., 1971); New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, vol. 14 (1980).

Additional Bibliography

Casares, Emilio, and Alvaro Torrente, eds. La opera en España e Hispanoamérica: Actas del Congreso Internacional La Opera en España e Hispanoamérica, una Creación Propia: Madrid, 29. XI-3. XII de 1999. Madrid: Ediciones del ICCMU, 2001.

                                          Susana Salgado