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Juan Morel Campos  (1857-1896) Afro-Puerto Rican Composer & Musician Prolific Composer of Puerto Rican Danzas
Table of Contents   1 Birth   2 Ponce Firemen's Band   3 Critical Figure   4 Dance Orchestra   5 Concert Band   6 Death   7 Memorials	Cancion Sin Palabros Felices Dias, Laura y Georgina, No me toques Martha Marchena, piano MSR 1054 (2002)

1 Birth
Juan Morel Campos came into the world on May 16, 1857 in Ponce, Puerto Rico.  He was of Afro-Puerto Rican descent and grew up to be a quintessential composer of the Puerto Rican "danza".  In the Spring 2005 issue of the journal  Centro 7, Prof. Alan West-Duran of Northeastern University refers to him as "...the mulatto composer Juan Morel Campos."  Wikipedia Encyclopedia describes Morel Campos' rapid mastery of numerous brass instruments:

Campos began to study music at the young age of eight in Ponce under the guidance of Antonio Egipciaco.  He learned to play practically every Brass instrument.

2 Ponce Firemen's Band
Wikipedia reports that Juan Morel Campos was a founder and a director of the Ponce Firemen's Band (La Banda de Bombero's del Parque de Bombas de Ponce). The article continues:

Later, Campos became a student of the composer Manuel Gregorio Tavarez, "The Father of the Danza". Campos' first danza composition was called  Sopapos.

Tavarez was the most accomplished composer in Puerto Rico.

3 Critical Figure
In an article in Africana Encyclopedia, Carlos Dalmau describes Juan Morel Campos:

...Afro-Puerto Rican composer and musician, critical figure in the development of the danza, a musical style that incorporates Afro-Caribbean and European elements.                          ... His musical production was varied and rich, including zarzuelas (Spanish light opera), masses, symphonies, waltzes, marches, and danzas.  In the latter, Morel Campos made his most important and lasting contribution to classical music in Latin America.  Of the 550 works attributed to him, approximately half of them are danzas for piano, including  No me toques, El torbellino, Felices dias,  and  Vano empeno.

4 Dance Orchestra
Wikipedia Encyclopedia explains that Juan Morel Campos had a dance orchestra of his own:

Most of Campos' danzas were written for dances, because Campos had his own dance orchestra "La Lira Poncena".  He modified his compositions so that they may also be played on piano.  Campos is mostly known for his danza compositions even though he also composed Waltzes, Symphonies, Marches and Overtures.                          ... Among his best known compositions are Felices Dias (Happy Days), No Me Toques (Don't Touch Me), Idilio  and  Maldito Amor (Damned Love).

5 Concert Band
Another view of the career of Juan Morel Campos comes from the Web site of the Institute of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture:

Although Juan Morel Campos achieved great heights as a concert-pianist, his best scores are for the Concert Band, as he was also a flautist and an accomplished player of the Bass Trombone or Bombardino (an instrument which he richly featured in many of his Danzas). The obliggato part of the bass trombone in most of his scores has become inextricably identified with the Danza style as a genre.

The IPRAC Web site includes a photograph of the composer and his Orquesta Juan Morel Campos in 1875.

6 Death
Shortly before his death, Juan Morel Campos fell ill during a performance, we learn from Wikipedia:

Juan Morel Campos suffered a stroke on April 26, 1896 during a concert in Ponce.  He died of the stroke soon thereafter on May 16, in the City of Ponce.

7 Memorials
Memorials to Juan Morel Campos include The Juan Morel Campos Free School of Music in San Juan, Puerto Rico, a monument in his honor in the Parque las Delicias in Ponce, and a 1984 declaration by the Government of Puerto Rico establishing May 16 of each year as "Juan Morel Campos Day".
The composer was posthumously admitted to the International Latin Music Hall of Fame in 2001.

This page was last updated on September 19, 2006