Juan Pedro Esnaola

Juan Pedro Esnaola (17 August 1808, in Buenos Aires – 8 July 1878, in Buenos Aires) was an Argentine composer from the first half of the nineteenth century. He is remembered as the arranger of the Argentine National Anthem. Biography Esnaola was born in Buenos Aires to a Spanish-Basque father and a local-born mother of Basque background. He began musical training as a child, under his uncle, the priest José Antonio Picasarri (1769–1843), chapel master at the cathedral of Buenos Aires. As the region became independent from Spain in 1810, and Picasarri decided not to resign his Spanish citizenship, he was forced to leave the country (1818). He took along his nephew, who then was able to take piano and counterpoint lessons from European music teachers in Madrid and Paris (and perhaps also other cities). Esnaola wrote an unspecified number of piano pieces in Madrid (now lost). Picasarri and Esnaola could return to Buenos Aires on 29 June 1822 thanks to an amnesty law that Governor Martín Rodríguez issued on that year. They soon founded a “School of Music and Singing” supported by the provincial government, and participated in the performances of the local Philharmonic Society. Esnaola