Arístides Chavier Arévalo (1867–1942) was Puerto Rican pianist

Pianist

A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...

 and composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

, born in Ponce, Puerto Rico

Ponce, Puerto Rico

Ponce is both a city and a municipality in the southern part of Puerto Rico. The city is the seat of the municipal government.The city of Ponce, the fourth most populated in Puerto Rico, and the most populated outside of the San Juan metropolitan area, is named for Juan Ponce de León y Loayza, the...

.

History

Chavier was born in Ponce in the second half of the nineteenth century. He studied music in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

 as a young man. He was a prominent music instructor. Among his students was Luis A. Ferré

Luis A. Ferré

Don Luis Alberto Ferré Aguayo was a Puerto Rican engineer, industrialist, politician, philanthropist, and a patron of the arts. He was the third Governor of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico from 1969 to 1973, and the founding father of the New Progressive Party which advocates for Puerto Rico...

, a concert-level pianist who would later become governor of Puerto Rico. Chavier composed many works for orchestra, band, piano and string instruments. Aristides himself was a student of Gonzalo Nuñez, whose students include the internationally-known musicians and composer Manuel Gregorio Tavarez

Manuel Gregorio Tavarez

Manuel Gregorio Tavarez , was Puerto Rico's first renowned classical and danza composer and the inspiration behind future generations of composers.-Early years:...

 and Juan Morel Campos

Juan Morel Campos

Juan Morel Campos , sometimes erroneously spelled Juan Morell Campos, was a Puerto Rican composer, considered by many to be responsible for taking the genre of danza to its highest level.-Early years:...

.

Legacy

• In Ponce, there is a government housing development named after him, which was inaugurated in the late 1950s by governor Luis Munoz Marin
  Luis Muñoz Marín
  Don José Luis Alberto Muñoz Marín was a Puerto Rican poet, journalist, and politician. Regarded as the "father of modern Puerto Rico," he was the first democratically elected Governor of Puerto Rico. Muñoz Marín was the son of Luis Muñoz Rivera, a renowned autonomist leader...
  
  . See a photo of Munoz Marin's housing inauguration and a picture of Aristides Chavier himself Here.
• In the Rio Piedras district of San Juan
  San Juan, Puerto Rico
  San Juan , officially Municipio de la Ciudad Capital San Juan Bautista , is the capital and most populous municipality in Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 395,326 making it the 46th-largest city under the jurisdiction of...
  
   there is street named in his honor.
• In Ponce, Chavier is recognized at the Park of the Illustrious Ponce Citizens

See also

Aristides Chavier: Humanista By Nestor Murray-Irizarry. Published 1993 by Casa Paoli

Casa Paoli

Casa Paoli on 2648 Mayor Street, Ponce, Puerto Rico, is nationally significant as the birthplace of Antonio Emilio Paoli y Marcano , a tenor who was the "first Puerto Rican to reach international recognition in the performing arts" and one of the most outstanding opera singers of all times...

. 267 pages, ISBN=1881706001