Zenón Rolón

Zenón Rolón (25 June 1856 – 13 May 1902) was an Afro Argentine musician and composer. Born in Buenos Aires, he composed approximately 80 works including operas, operettas, zarzuelas and sacred music. Rolón also founded a music publishing company which published numerous works by contemporary Argentine composers. Many of his manuscripts are now held by the Instituto Nacional de Estudios de Teatro, in Buenos Aires, and by the Museo Histórico de Morón, the city where he died at the age of 45. Biography Rolón was born in Buenos Aires to an Afro Argentine family and first studied music in his native city with Alfredo Quiroga, a fellow Afro Argentine and organist of the (Church of Our Lady of Mercy). In 1873, when he was only 17 years old, he went to Florence for further study and remained there until 1879. In 1877 he wrote (Two Words to my Caste Brothers), a political pamphlet on the role of Afro Argentines in wider Argentine culture. When it was published in , an Afro Argentine newspaper in Buenos Aires, he was severely criticised, but opinion changed in his favour upon his return from Italy. Once back in Buenos Aires, he continued to study music, this time with Basilio Basili, and com