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Enriqueta Legorreta
Black and white photograph of a woman in evening attire with short hair and a wide necklace with five rows of gems
Legorreta in 1943
Born
Enriqueta Legorreta López

(1914-07-25)25 July 1914
Mexico City, Mexico
Died15 December 2010(2010-12-15) (aged 96)
Education Conservatorio Nacional de Música
Occupations
Years active1941–1998
Children5, including Enriqueta and Rodrigo

Enriqueta Legorreta (25 July 1914 – 15 December 2010) was a Mexican soprano and activist. She grew up in Mexico City and studied opera at the Conservatorio Nacional de Música. Debuting in 1941, she earned praise for her portrayal of Sieglinde in Wagner's Die Walküre and was noted as the first Mexican woman to sing a Wagnerian opera. She was one of the pioneering singers who joined and performed in the inaugural season of the Ópera Nacional (National Opera), performing Leonora in Beethoven's Fidelio in 1943. During her career, which lasted into the mid-1970s, she sang with many well-known conductors and musicians, including Claudio Arrau, Leonard Bernstein, Pablo Casals, Igor Stravinsky, and Isaac Stern. She was also involved in protests against the opera association to ensure that singers were paid for their professional work, rather than their affiliations with officials.

From the 1980s, Legorreta became concerned about links between pollutants and health. She volunteered for clean-up efforts at the Parque Real de San Lucas (Royal Park of San Lucas) sponsored by the Asociación Ecológica de Coyoacán (Ecological Association of Coyoacán). After the 1985 Mexico City earthquake, she and her family participated in humanitarian efforts to help victims of the disaster. Seeking healthier surroundings, the extended family moved to Aguascalientes in 1987. Concerned at the lack of interest in addressing environmental issues, she organized recycling measures and related projects. These led in 1992 to the establishment of the Asociación Conciencia Ecológica (Ecological Consciousness Association), for which she served as director until 1998 and as life president until her death in 2010. She was twice recognized with the Aguascalientes state prize for Environmental Merit, in 2007 and posthumously in 2019.

Early life and education

Enriqueta Legorreta López was born on 25 July 1914 in Mexico City to Enriqueta López-Valdés Ocampo and Juan de Dios Legorreta. [1] Her father was a social reformer, motivational speaker, and author. [2] [3] [4] She studied music under Franz Steiner, [5] an Austrian refugee who served as professor of opera at the Conservatorio Nacional de Música and would later become a co-founder of the Compañía Ópera de México (Opera of Mexico Company). [6] [7] She performed her first aria with the company in 1940, the year it was created. [5] [8]

Career

Opera (1941–1976)

Legorreta made her public debut in 1941 at the Palacio de Bellas Artes, performing the role of Sieglinde in Wagner's Die Walküre. [5] [8] A review by Jesús Bal y Gay written for Musical America noted that she "overshadowed all the other artists on the stage" and showed promise for the future. [8] Ricardo Miranda, a musicologist, professor at the Universidad Veracruzana and collaborator for The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, [9] noted that the highlight of the inaugural season was the discovery of three Mexican women singers, María Luisa Enríquez, Irma González, and Legorreta. [10] In 1943, the opera season was organized by the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes y Literatura (National Institute of Fine Arts and Literature) and led to the creation of the new company the Asociación Nacional de Ópera (National Opera Association). The season was launched with the performance of Beethoven's Fidelio at the Palacio, [11] with Legorreta singing the title role. [5] Verna Millan in a review for Musical America said of Legorreta's performance, that it was a warm and relatable interpretation, although the singer was inexperienced and her voice had a more lyric than dramatic quality. [12]

On 8 July 1944, in Miguel Hidalgo, Mexico City, Legorreta married Mario Medellín Ocádiz. [13] He was an accountant and would later found an ice cream factory in Mexico City. They had five children — Mario Pintor, a musician; Enriqueta, an environmental activist; Alejandro Claudio; Juan; and Rodrigo, an ecologist. [14] In 1945, Legorreta and pianist Carmen Castillo Betancourt presented Mozart's Requiem with the choir of the Conservatorio Nacional and the Orchestra of the Musician's Union. The orchestra was under the direction of José Yves Limantour [ es] and the performance was part of the Mozart Festival hosted by the Palacio de Bellas Artes. [15] Legorreta was one of the featured soloists, along with pianist Claudio Arrau, contralto Oralia Domínguez, soprano González, and violinist Isaac Stern for a special concert given for Mexico's fifth opera season in 1948. Igor Stravinsky conducted the soloists in the event which featured his own works, Jeu de cartes (Card Party), Concerto for Strings, the Divertimento from Le Baiser de la fée (The Fairy's Kiss), and Le chant du rossignol (The Song of the Nightingale). [16] Legorreta performed a solo concert accompanied by Maria Kokowska in the Ponce Salon of the Instituto Mexicano Norteamericano (Mexican-North American Institute) which featured two pieces each by Salvador Moreno and Manuel Ponce, Spirituals and pieces by George Gershwin, and Jerome Kern in 1956. [17]

Legorreta continued singing with several different groups in the 1960s and 1970s, performing with Pablo Casals as a soloist at the festival bearing his name in Acapulco in 1960, [18] with the Symphonic Orchestra of the National Autonomous University of Mexico in 1961, [19] and sang on KQED TV's program Spanish-American Hour in a 1964 broadcast. [20] She appeared as Madame Lidoine in Poulenc's Dialogues of the Carmelites for the 1965 opera season, [5] and the following year sang under the direction of Luis Ximénez [ es] in the second season of the Orquesta Sinfónica del Noroeste (Northwest Symphony Orchestra). [21] In 1967, Legorreta performed music accompanied by Ramón Mier and the Mexican Children's Choir for a lecture made by Carmen Sordo of the Musical Research Department of the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes, which focused on music from the period of Benito Juárez's presidency. The concert-lecture was held at the Mexican-Israeli Cultural Institute. [22] She performed with Leonard Bernstein in 1969 in the opera-concerto Trouble in Tahiti. [5] Legorreta and Guillermo Salvador were the featured soloists for the 1972 summer season of the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional, conducted by Luis Herrera de la Fuente at the Alcazar del Castillo de Chapultepec (Imperial Chamber of Chapultepec Castle) and repeated later that year at the Conservatorio Nacional. [23] In 1976, she was part of the production Música en la Pinacoteca (Music in the Art Gallery), which was performed with the Orquesta de Cámara de la Ciudad de México [ es] (Chamber Orchestra of Mexico City), under the direction of Miguel Bernal. [24]

Beginning in the late 1960s, social unrest led to political actions both globally and in Mexico. [21] [25] Student protests in 1968 erupted because of frustration with the economy, repressive government policies and widespread corruption, as well as unequal opportunity and treatment for broad sectors of Mexican society. [26] Though begun by students, the movement spread quickly to other segments of the population, which demanded social change. [27] Sopranos Legorreta, Judith Sierra, and Aurora Woodrow led demonstrations of musicians against the policies of the National Institute of Fine Arts and Secretariat of Public Education. [28] [29] They protested the pay scheme that distributed the national subsidy or scholarships for opera to singers who were not qualified, working, or performing. In 1975, they formed the Asociación Nacional de Cantantes de Opera (National Association of Opera Singers) advocating payment based on merit, professionalism, and free of political allegiance. [28]

Environmental activism (1980s–2010)

The Mexican environmental movement began to emerge at the end of the 1970s and early 1980s. Increases in pollution soared in Mexico City, causing health complications for inhabitants. [30] Concentration of contaminants like carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, nitrous oxide, sulfur dioxide and levels of cadmium and lead in the blood of the city's residents was four times higher than those in Tokyo and routinely exceeded international standard amounts. [31] People whose family members had died from cancer and other diseases like dysentery, hepatitis, and typhoid, began to question the links between disease and the environment. [32] [33] Concerned activists formed the Asociación Ecológica de Coyoacán (Ecological Association of Coyoacán) around this time, [33] and Legorreta volunteered for the organization. She urged her children to participate in activities to clean up the Parque Real de San Lucas (Royal Park of San Lucas) in the borough of Coyoacán. [32] [34]

The government was unable to address the devastation which occurred following the 1985 Mexico City earthquake. As a result, Legorreta and her family organized soup kitchens, gathered and distributed medical supplies, and provided shortwave radio services to their community. In 1987, hoping to enjoy a better quality of life, the extended family relocated to Aguascalientes City, Mexico. When she arrived, Legorreta searched for another environmental organization with which she could participate. She discovered a group that was working to stop a housing development in the Fraccionamiento Bosques (Bosques neighborhood) in favor of creating a park. The group was successful, but soon disbanded. [34] Wishing to continue efforts aimed at environmental protection, she broadcast an invitation to form an ecological association on the radio station of the Autonomous University of Aguascalientes in 1988. [34] [35] In addition to members of her own family, those who answered the call included David Avalos; Juan Claudio, Liliana, Mariana, and Pablo Juárez; Rosalba Landeros; Carmen López de Tenorio; Esther Naranjo; and Gerardo, Humberto, and Marisol Tenorio. [34]

The group contacted the priest of the Templo de los Dolores and worked out a plan to exchange recyclable waste for tree saplings. A local facility agreed to remove the recyclable donations and the Directorate of Parks and Gardens provided the trees. The event was successful and led the group to take on other projects, such as clean up of local parks and rivers. [36] [35] In 1992, the group was formally organized into the Asociación Conciencia Ecológica (Ecological Consciousness Association), directed by Legorreta. For the next six years, she headed the association, before handing the directorship over to her daughter. She remained the honorary life president until 2010. [37] In 2007, she was awarded the Aguascalientes state prize for Environmental Merit. [38]

Death and legacy

Legorreta died on 15 December 2010 in Aguascalientes City and a memorial honoring her life's work was held two days later. [39] [40] Legorreta is remembered as one of the Mexican opera singers who performed in the inaugural season of the Ópera Nacional (National Opera) and the first Mexican woman to perform a Wagnerian opera in Mexico. [41] [42] Posthumously, she was honored in 2019 with a second award of the Aguascalientes state prize for Environmental Merit, in recognition of her pioneering role in developing environmental awareness in the state. [35]

References

Citations

Bibliography

  • Adame Goddard, Jorge (1981). El pensamiento político y social de los católicos mexicanos, 1867–1914 [The Political and Social Thought of Mexican Catholics: 1867–1914] (in Spanish) (1a ed.). Mexico City, Mexico: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Instituto de Investigaciones Históricas. ISBN  978-968-5801-75-1.
  • Bal y Gay, Jesús (August 1941). "Brief Opera Season Given by New Mexican Company". Musical America. Vol. 61, no. 13. New York, New York: Musical America Corporation. p. 18. ISSN  0735-7788. Retrieved 16 October 2022.
  • Baqueiro Foster, G. (February 1945). "Un Año de Vida Musical" [A Year of Musical Life] (PDF). Futuro (in Spanish). 14 (1). Mexico City, Mexico: Universidad Obrera de México: 56–58. Archived (PDF) from the original on 17 October 2022. Retrieved 17 October 2022.
  • Brenner, Leah (April 1943). "Opera in Mexico Reaches Mid-Season". Musical America. Vol. 63, no. 7. New York, New York: Musical America Corporation. p. 13. ISSN  0735-7788. Retrieved 17 October 2022.
  • Cano Sotomayor, Yoana Daniela; Ramírez Camino, Eduardo (2014). "Conciencia Ecológica de Aguascalientes, A. C. [Ecological Consciousness of Aguascalientes]". In Cañal Antuña, María del Pilar (ed.). Cielos de Ciudadanía [Skies of Citizenship] (PDF) (in Spanish) (Primera ed.). Aguascalientes, Mexico: Instituto Nacional de Desarrollo Social for Funcación Ahora. pp. 147–173. Archived (PDF) from the original on 15 October 2022.
  • Dalton, Vane C. (July 1951). "Current Attractions: New Playhouses". Mexican Life. 27 (7). Mexico City, Mexico: 37–39. ISSN  0026-170X. OCLC  1608196. Retrieved 18 October 2022.
  • Fuentes, Armando (20 February 2018). "Les come AMLO el mandado" [AMLO Eats the Mandate]. El Diario (in Spanish). Mexico City, Mexico. Archived from the original on 21 November 2019. Retrieved 16 October 2022.
  • García de Mendoza, Adalberto (1941). Primeros anales del Conservatorio Nacional de Música [First Annals of the National Conservatory of Music] (in Spanish). Vol. 1. Mexico City, Mexico: Artes Gráficas del Edo. 67. –Franz Steiner.—Profesor de Conjuntos de Opera. Actuación en companies de Viena, Berlín, París y Nueva York. Ingresó al Conservatorio en el año de 1939. [–Franz Steiner.—Teacher of Opera Ensembles. Acting in companies in Vienna, Berlin, Paris and New York. He entered the Conservatory in the year 1939.]
  • Guzmán, Victoria (18 December 2010). "Familiares y amigos rinden homenaje póstumo a Enriqueta Legorreta López" [Family and Friends Pay Posthumous Tribute to Enriqueta Legorreta López]. La Jornada Aguascalientes (in Spanish). Aguascalientes, Mexico. p. 10. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
  • Kahan, Solomon (July 1948). "Mexico Hears Brilliant Opera Series". Musical America. Vol. 68, no. 8. New York, New York: Musical America Corporation. pp. 9, 17. ISSN  0735-7788. Retrieved 17 October 2022.
  • Kloyber, Christian (6 May 2005). "La música austriaca exiliada en México 1938–1946" [Austrian Music Exiled in Mexico 1938–1946]. festivaldemayo.org (in Spanish). Guadalajara, Mexico: Jalisco Ministry of Culture. Archived from the original on 17 August 2016. Retrieved 16 October 2022.
  • Legorreta, Juan de Dios (1946). Fundamentos del éxito en la vida [Foundations of Success in Life] (in Spanish) (1 ed.). Mexico City, Mexico: Angarca. OCLC  40253399.
  • Millan, Verna Carleton (April 1943). "Mexico Welcomes Debut of Its New National Opera". Musical America. Vol. 127, no. 8. New York, New York: Musical America Corporation. pp. 3, 15. ISSN  0735-7788. Retrieved 16 October 2022.
  • Miranda, Ricardo (1993). El sonido de lo propio: José Rolón (1876–1945) [The Sound of One's Own: José Rolón (1876–1945)] (in Spanish) (1. ed.). Mexico City, Mexico: CENIDIM. ISBN  978-968-29-5806-9.
  • Muñoz, Raúl (8 March 2013). "'El activismo es genético'" ['Activism is Genetic']. Reforma (in Spanish). Mexico City, Mexico. Retrieved 13 October 2022. – via  VLEX.com (subscription required)
  • Pareyón, Gabriel (2007). "Legorreta, Enriqueta". Diccionario enciclopédico de música en México [Encyclopedic Dictionary of Music in Mexico] (PDF) (in Spanish). Vol. 2. L=Z. Zapopan, México: Universidad Panamericana, Guadalajara campus. p. 582. ISBN  978-968-5557-82-5. Archived (PDF) from the original on 23 October 2021.
  • Poore, Charles (15 September 1956). "Music and Musicians in Mexico". The Christian Science Monitor. Vol. 48, no. 248. Boston, Massachusetts. p. 6A. Retrieved 17 October 2022.
  • Pulido, Esperanza (January–February 1975). "De los Editores" [From the Editors] (PDF). Heterofonia (in Spanish). VIII (40). Mexico City, Mexico: Imprenta Ideal for the Conservatorio Nacional de Musica: 3–5. ISSN  0018-1137. Archived (PDF) from the original on 15 August 2022.
  • Pulido, Esperanza (1956). "La mujer mexicana en la música" [Mexican Women in Music]. Filosofía y Letras (in Spanish). 3 (60–62). Mexico City, Mexico: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México: 119–134. OCLC  1027244979.
  • Rebolledo Ayerdi, Anituy (3 June 2021). "Pablo Casals en Acapulco" [Pablo Casals in Acapulco]. El Sur (in Spanish). Guerrero, Mexico. Archived from the original on 6 December 2021. Retrieved 17 October 2022.
  • Rodríguez, Gerardo (6 January 2022). "Fallece 'Queta' Medellín, reconocida activista ambiental" ['Queta' Medellín, Renowned Environmental Activist, Dies]. Lider Empresarial (in Spanish). Aguascalientes, Mexico. Archived from the original on 13 October 2022. Retrieved 13 October 2022.
  • Ruffo Kelly, Mónica (16 March 2016). "Mi ciudad hace 50 y 25 años" [My City Fifty and Twenty-five Years Ago]. El Debate (in Spanish). Culiacán, Mexico. Archived from the original on 24 March 2016. Retrieved 18 October 2022.
  • Simonian, Lane (1999). "10. La Revolución Verde: El movimiento ambiental mexicano [The Green Revolution: The Mexican Environmental Movement]". La defensa de la tierra del jaguar: una historia de la conservación en México [The Defense of the Land of the Jaguar: A History of Conservation in Mexico] (PDF) (in Spanish) (1. ed.). Mexico City, Mexico: Comisión Nacional para el Conocimiento y Uso de la Biodiversidad. pp. 231–246. ISBN  978-970-9000-09-2. Archived (PDF) from the original on 14 October 2022.
  • Vargas Valdez, Jesús (2015). "Student Movement of 1968". In Werner, Michael S. (ed.). Concise Encyclopedia of Mexico. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. pp. 737–742. ISBN  978-1-135-97370-4.
  • "Acta de Matriomonio: Medellín Ocadiz/López de Legorreta" [Birth Registry: Enriqueta Legorreta López-Valdez]. FamilySearch (in Spanish). Mexico City, Mexico: Archivo de Registro Civil de Distrito Federal. 1 October 1914. p. 27. Registration #25. Retrieved 16 October 2022.(subscription required)
  • "Ceremonia de Entriga del Premio Estatal al Mérito Ambiental Aguascalientes" [Award Ceremony for the State Award for Environmental Merit Aguascalientes]. Expo-Ambiente (in Spanish). Aguascalientes, Mexico: Gobierno del Estado, Instituto del Medio Ambiente. 2007. p. 2. Retrieved 18 October 2022.
  • "Contigo al 100: Presentación" [With You at 100: Presentation] (PDF). Procuraduría estatal de protección al ambiente (Proespa) (in Spanish). Aguascalientes, Mexico: Gobierno del Estado. 2019. Archived (PDF) from the original on 16 October 2022. Retrieved 18 October 2022.
  • "El fallecimiento de la Mtra. Enriqueta Legorreta López" [The Death of the Maestra Enriqueta Legorreta López]. La Jornada Aguascalientes (in Spanish). Aguascalientes, Mexico. 16 December 2010. p. 11. Archived from the original on 16 October 2022. Retrieved 16 October 2022.
  • "Los héroes verdes" [The Green Heroes]. Expansión (in Spanish). Mexico City, Mexico: Grupo Expansión. 31 August 2007. OCLC  232114866. Archived from the original on 18 October 2022. Retrieved 18 October 2022.
  • "Mario Pintor". sacm.org (in Spanish). Mexico City, Mexico: Sociedad de Autores y Compositores de México. 2019. Archived from the original on 13 October 2022. Retrieved 13 October 2022.
  • "Música sobre República Restaurada" [Music about the Restored Republic] (PDF). Prensa Israelita (in Spanish). Mexico City, Mexico. 26 August 1967. p. 2. Archived (PDF) from the original on 17 October 2022. Retrieved 17 October 2022.
  • "Registros de Nacimientos: Enriqueta Legorreta y López-Valdés Ocampo" [Birth Registry: Enriqueta Legorreta López-Valdez]. FamilySearch (in Spanish). Mexico City, Mexico: Archivo de Registro Civil de Distrito Federal. 1 October 1914. p. 184. Certificate No. 383, Film 81390220, roll 39, image 3035. Retrieved 16 October 2022.(subscription required)
  • "Ricardo Miranda". akal.mx (in Spanish). Madrid, Spain: Ediciones Akal. 2022. Archived from the original on 24 February 2021. Retrieved 22 October 2022.
  • "Spanish-American Hour". The Salinas Californian. Salinas, California. 10 September 1964. p. 10. Retrieved 18 October 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  • "Temporada orquesta sinfonica de la universidad" [University Symphony Orchestra Season]. Gaceta de la Universidad (in Spanish). VIII (44). Mexico City, Mexico: National Autonomous University of Mexico: 2. 30 October 1961. OCLC  7909057. Archived from the original on 17 October 2022. Retrieved 17 October 2022.
  • "Vida cultural y artistic" [Cultural and Artistic Life]. Revista de Bellas Artes (in Spanish) (1–6). Mexico City, Mexico: Imprenta Madero for the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes y Literatura: 169–192. 1972. OCLC  40931084. Retrieved 17 October 2022.
  • "Vida cultural y artistic" [Cultural and Artistic Life]. Revista de Bellas Artes (in Spanish) (28). Mexico City, Mexico: Imprenta Madero for the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes y Literatura: 39–42. July–August 1976. OCLC  40931084. Retrieved 17 October 2022.
This is a good article. Click here for more information.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Enriqueta Legorreta
Black and white photograph of a woman in evening attire with short hair and a wide necklace with five rows of gems
Legorreta in 1943
Born
Enriqueta Legorreta López

(1914-07-25)25 July 1914
Mexico City, Mexico
Died15 December 2010(2010-12-15) (aged 96)
Education Conservatorio Nacional de Música
Occupations
Years active1941–1998
Children5, including Enriqueta and Rodrigo

Enriqueta Legorreta (25 July 1914 – 15 December 2010) was a Mexican soprano and activist. She grew up in Mexico City and studied opera at the Conservatorio Nacional de Música. Debuting in 1941, she earned praise for her portrayal of Sieglinde in Wagner's Die Walküre and was noted as the first Mexican woman to sing a Wagnerian opera. She was one of the pioneering singers who joined and performed in the inaugural season of the Ópera Nacional (National Opera), performing Leonora in Beethoven's Fidelio in 1943. During her career, which lasted into the mid-1970s, she sang with many well-known conductors and musicians, including Claudio Arrau, Leonard Bernstein, Pablo Casals, Igor Stravinsky, and Isaac Stern. She was also involved in protests against the opera association to ensure that singers were paid for their professional work, rather than their affiliations with officials.

From the 1980s, Legorreta became concerned about links between pollutants and health. She volunteered for clean-up efforts at the Parque Real de San Lucas (Royal Park of San Lucas) sponsored by the Asociación Ecológica de Coyoacán (Ecological Association of Coyoacán). After the 1985 Mexico City earthquake, she and her family participated in humanitarian efforts to help victims of the disaster. Seeking healthier surroundings, the extended family moved to Aguascalientes in 1987. Concerned at the lack of interest in addressing environmental issues, she organized recycling measures and related projects. These led in 1992 to the establishment of the Asociación Conciencia Ecológica (Ecological Consciousness Association), for which she served as director until 1998 and as life president until her death in 2010. She was twice recognized with the Aguascalientes state prize for Environmental Merit, in 2007 and posthumously in 2019.

Early life and education

Enriqueta Legorreta López was born on 25 July 1914 in Mexico City to Enriqueta López-Valdés Ocampo and Juan de Dios Legorreta. [1] Her father was a social reformer, motivational speaker, and author. [2] [3] [4] She studied music under Franz Steiner, [5] an Austrian refugee who served as professor of opera at the Conservatorio Nacional de Música and would later become a co-founder of the Compañía Ópera de México (Opera of Mexico Company). [6] [7] She performed her first aria with the company in 1940, the year it was created. [5] [8]

Career

Opera (1941–1976)

Legorreta made her public debut in 1941 at the Palacio de Bellas Artes, performing the role of Sieglinde in Wagner's Die Walküre. [5] [8] A review by Jesús Bal y Gay written for Musical America noted that she "overshadowed all the other artists on the stage" and showed promise for the future. [8] Ricardo Miranda, a musicologist, professor at the Universidad Veracruzana and collaborator for The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, [9] noted that the highlight of the inaugural season was the discovery of three Mexican women singers, María Luisa Enríquez, Irma González, and Legorreta. [10] In 1943, the opera season was organized by the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes y Literatura (National Institute of Fine Arts and Literature) and led to the creation of the new company the Asociación Nacional de Ópera (National Opera Association). The season was launched with the performance of Beethoven's Fidelio at the Palacio, [11] with Legorreta singing the title role. [5] Verna Millan in a review for Musical America said of Legorreta's performance, that it was a warm and relatable interpretation, although the singer was inexperienced and her voice had a more lyric than dramatic quality. [12]

On 8 July 1944, in Miguel Hidalgo, Mexico City, Legorreta married Mario Medellín Ocádiz. [13] He was an accountant and would later found an ice cream factory in Mexico City. They had five children — Mario Pintor, a musician; Enriqueta, an environmental activist; Alejandro Claudio; Juan; and Rodrigo, an ecologist. [14] In 1945, Legorreta and pianist Carmen Castillo Betancourt presented Mozart's Requiem with the choir of the Conservatorio Nacional and the Orchestra of the Musician's Union. The orchestra was under the direction of José Yves Limantour [ es] and the performance was part of the Mozart Festival hosted by the Palacio de Bellas Artes. [15] Legorreta was one of the featured soloists, along with pianist Claudio Arrau, contralto Oralia Domínguez, soprano González, and violinist Isaac Stern for a special concert given for Mexico's fifth opera season in 1948. Igor Stravinsky conducted the soloists in the event which featured his own works, Jeu de cartes (Card Party), Concerto for Strings, the Divertimento from Le Baiser de la fée (The Fairy's Kiss), and Le chant du rossignol (The Song of the Nightingale). [16] Legorreta performed a solo concert accompanied by Maria Kokowska in the Ponce Salon of the Instituto Mexicano Norteamericano (Mexican-North American Institute) which featured two pieces each by Salvador Moreno and Manuel Ponce, Spirituals and pieces by George Gershwin, and Jerome Kern in 1956. [17]

Legorreta continued singing with several different groups in the 1960s and 1970s, performing with Pablo Casals as a soloist at the festival bearing his name in Acapulco in 1960, [18] with the Symphonic Orchestra of the National Autonomous University of Mexico in 1961, [19] and sang on KQED TV's program Spanish-American Hour in a 1964 broadcast. [20] She appeared as Madame Lidoine in Poulenc's Dialogues of the Carmelites for the 1965 opera season, [5] and the following year sang under the direction of Luis Ximénez [ es] in the second season of the Orquesta Sinfónica del Noroeste (Northwest Symphony Orchestra). [21] In 1967, Legorreta performed music accompanied by Ramón Mier and the Mexican Children's Choir for a lecture made by Carmen Sordo of the Musical Research Department of the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes, which focused on music from the period of Benito Juárez's presidency. The concert-lecture was held at the Mexican-Israeli Cultural Institute. [22] She performed with Leonard Bernstein in 1969 in the opera-concerto Trouble in Tahiti. [5] Legorreta and Guillermo Salvador were the featured soloists for the 1972 summer season of the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional, conducted by Luis Herrera de la Fuente at the Alcazar del Castillo de Chapultepec (Imperial Chamber of Chapultepec Castle) and repeated later that year at the Conservatorio Nacional. [23] In 1976, she was part of the production Música en la Pinacoteca (Music in the Art Gallery), which was performed with the Orquesta de Cámara de la Ciudad de México [ es] (Chamber Orchestra of Mexico City), under the direction of Miguel Bernal. [24]

Beginning in the late 1960s, social unrest led to political actions both globally and in Mexico. [21] [25] Student protests in 1968 erupted because of frustration with the economy, repressive government policies and widespread corruption, as well as unequal opportunity and treatment for broad sectors of Mexican society. [26] Though begun by students, the movement spread quickly to other segments of the population, which demanded social change. [27] Sopranos Legorreta, Judith Sierra, and Aurora Woodrow led demonstrations of musicians against the policies of the National Institute of Fine Arts and Secretariat of Public Education. [28] [29] They protested the pay scheme that distributed the national subsidy or scholarships for opera to singers who were not qualified, working, or performing. In 1975, they formed the Asociación Nacional de Cantantes de Opera (National Association of Opera Singers) advocating payment based on merit, professionalism, and free of political allegiance. [28]

Environmental activism (1980s–2010)

The Mexican environmental movement began to emerge at the end of the 1970s and early 1980s. Increases in pollution soared in Mexico City, causing health complications for inhabitants. [30] Concentration of contaminants like carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, nitrous oxide, sulfur dioxide and levels of cadmium and lead in the blood of the city's residents was four times higher than those in Tokyo and routinely exceeded international standard amounts. [31] People whose family members had died from cancer and other diseases like dysentery, hepatitis, and typhoid, began to question the links between disease and the environment. [32] [33] Concerned activists formed the Asociación Ecológica de Coyoacán (Ecological Association of Coyoacán) around this time, [33] and Legorreta volunteered for the organization. She urged her children to participate in activities to clean up the Parque Real de San Lucas (Royal Park of San Lucas) in the borough of Coyoacán. [32] [34]

The government was unable to address the devastation which occurred following the 1985 Mexico City earthquake. As a result, Legorreta and her family organized soup kitchens, gathered and distributed medical supplies, and provided shortwave radio services to their community. In 1987, hoping to enjoy a better quality of life, the extended family relocated to Aguascalientes City, Mexico. When she arrived, Legorreta searched for another environmental organization with which she could participate. She discovered a group that was working to stop a housing development in the Fraccionamiento Bosques (Bosques neighborhood) in favor of creating a park. The group was successful, but soon disbanded. [34] Wishing to continue efforts aimed at environmental protection, she broadcast an invitation to form an ecological association on the radio station of the Autonomous University of Aguascalientes in 1988. [34] [35] In addition to members of her own family, those who answered the call included David Avalos; Juan Claudio, Liliana, Mariana, and Pablo Juárez; Rosalba Landeros; Carmen López de Tenorio; Esther Naranjo; and Gerardo, Humberto, and Marisol Tenorio. [34]

The group contacted the priest of the Templo de los Dolores and worked out a plan to exchange recyclable waste for tree saplings. A local facility agreed to remove the recyclable donations and the Directorate of Parks and Gardens provided the trees. The event was successful and led the group to take on other projects, such as clean up of local parks and rivers. [36] [35] In 1992, the group was formally organized into the Asociación Conciencia Ecológica (Ecological Consciousness Association), directed by Legorreta. For the next six years, she headed the association, before handing the directorship over to her daughter. She remained the honorary life president until 2010. [37] In 2007, she was awarded the Aguascalientes state prize for Environmental Merit. [38]

Death and legacy

Legorreta died on 15 December 2010 in Aguascalientes City and a memorial honoring her life's work was held two days later. [39] [40] Legorreta is remembered as one of the Mexican opera singers who performed in the inaugural season of the Ópera Nacional (National Opera) and the first Mexican woman to perform a Wagnerian opera in Mexico. [41] [42] Posthumously, she was honored in 2019 with a second award of the Aguascalientes state prize for Environmental Merit, in recognition of her pioneering role in developing environmental awareness in the state. [35]

References

Citations

Bibliography

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