Biography
Luis Antonio Calvo (Gámbita, Santander, August 28, 1882 - Agua de Dios, Cundinamarca, April 22, 1945). Was a Colombian composer considered one of the most important in the musical field of Colombia.
Since he was a child he showed an enormous interest in music. when he was still very young, his family was abandoned by his father. When he was 9 years old, the small family, made up of Luis Antonio, his mother and his sister Florinda, moved to Tunja looking for a better future. In Tunja, Calvo became a messenger for Pedro León Gómez's store, a man who practiced piano and introduced the future great musician to the use of this instrument. Sensing that his vocation was calling him with an ever stronger intensity, Calvo began piano studies with maestro Tomás Posada.
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He joined the Departmental Band of Boyacá as a cymbaler, and some time later he was in charge of the bass drum, a position in which he lasted just over four years, until the governor of the department granted him the appointment to play the euphonium; during this time, Calvo continued with his violin studies. At this time he composed his first work, Livia, whose harmonic beauty also makes it one of his best compositions.
To seek a better economic situation, his family moved to Bogotá, arriving in the capital on May 11, 1905. In that same year, he presented himself to the army by taking refuge in the law of President Rafael Reyes, entering the band as the third piston. His salary, for being a third-class musician, was '50 pesos', which would soon become only 25 due to a government decree that also lowered him one grade. This aggravated the situation of his family, who lived in a rented room in very bad conditions.
Calvo tried to obtain a scholarship to study at the Music Academy that the government granted to every member of a musical band, but he was unable to obtain it because he did not have the necessary recommendations. He dedicated himself then to the composition and instrumentation of musical pieces for the band; he did the instrumentation of his work “Livia”, and in this way he was able to play it with the band. Two years later, a new government decree restored his military rank and his old salary, while he was promoted thanks to his musical ability. Calvo was also finally invited to join the music academy, with which he was able to complete his musical education properly. There he was able to meet the teacher Guillermo Uribe Holguín, who instructed him in the interpretation of the cello, he studied the Russian musical school, French and German compositions.
On October 14, 1916, Luis Antonio Calvo discovered, through the medical care of Dr. Carlos Tirado Macías, that he suffered from Hansen's disease, leprosy, for which he had to be admitted to the Agua de Dios lazaretto, where later would compose most of his works. A tribute was paid to him at the Teatro Colón as a farewell, and on May 12, 1916 he was imprisoned in Agua de Dios, where the Salesian priests, directors of the pest control hospital, provided him with all kinds of comforts, giving Calvo and his family a house. Shortly after his imprisonment, a piano was presented to him by the citizens of Bogotá. Because of that, Calvo devoted himself almost entirely to this instrument.
On October 18, 1942, he married with Doña Ana Rodríguez, who lived in the lazaretto accompanying a sister of hers who suffered from the disease.
Luis Antonio Calvo died on April 22, 1945 at 3 in the afternoon at the Agua de Dios Sanatorium, due to an attack of uremia. Various sources indicate that his leprosy was possibly cured long before the moment of his death; It is impossible, however, to confirm or refute these theories because the musician's clinical history was destroyed, along with several of his works. It was recorded by the BBC in London, concerts were held in his name in Paris in reproduction of his works.
Biography text from Last.fm, available under CC BY-SA.