José Ardévol was a Cuba

Cuba

The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...

n composer and conductor of Spanish derivation.

As a child, Ardévol studied under his father, Fernando, who was a musician and conductor. He emigrate

Emigrate

Emigrate is a heavy metal band based in New York, led by Richard Z. Kruspe, the lead guitarist of the German band Rammstein.-History:Kruspe started the band in 2005, when Rammstein decided to take a year off from touring and recording...

d to Cuba in 1930, and from 1934 to 1952 was the director of the Orquestra de cámara de la Habana. He was a professor in Cuba from 1936 to 1951, teaching in universities in Havana and Oriente. In 1942 he founded a movement called Grupo de renovación musical, which included several of his students devoted to his aesthetic ideals. Ardévol supported the Cuban Revolution

Cuban Revolution

The Cuban Revolution was an armed revolt by Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement against the regime of Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista between 1953 and 1959. Batista was finally ousted on 1 January 1959, and was replaced by a revolutionary government led by Castro...

 and was appointed head musical administrator after Fidel Castro

Fidel Castro

Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary and politician, having held the position of Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961 until 2011...

 came to power in 1959. As part of his duties, he conducted the orchestra of the government's Ministry of Education. He continued teaching, working as a professor of composition at Havana Conservatory from 1965 and at the National School of Music from 1968.

Ardévol's early compositions fall generally into the style of neoclassicism

Neoclassicism

Neoclassicism is the name given to Western movements in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that draw inspiration from the "classical" art and culture of Ancient Greece or Ancient Rome...

, but later in his life he began to explore the techniques of aleatory music and serialism

Serialism

In music, serialism is a method or technique of composition that uses a series of values to manipulate different musical elements. Serialism began primarily with Arnold Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique, though his contemporaries were also working to establish serialism as one example of...

. Some of his vocal works praise communism

Communism

Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...

and address other political/revolutionary topics.

Works

Note:this list is incomplete.

• 3 symphonies
• 2 Cuban suites for orchestra
• Forma, ballet, 1942
• La burla de Don Pedro a caballo, for soloists, chorus and orchestra, 1943
• Cantos de la Revolución, vocal work, 1962
• Che comandante, cantata, 1968
• Lenin, vocal work, 1970
• 6 Sonate a 3, chamber work
• 3 piano sonatas
• Tensiones, for piano left hand