ANTONIO NEUMANE MARNO: BIOGRAPHY - HISTORY - 2025

Antonio Neumane Marno was born on the island of Corsica, France, on June 13, 1818. Being European by birth, he chose Ecuador as his home. And as an adoptive son of that country, he wrote the music for the national anthem of Ecuador. In addition to being a composer, Neumane was a pianist and also a conductor.

His marked musical vocation made him graduate as a music teacher and in 1851, once installed in Guayaquil, he created a music academy. Years later, in 1870, he would travel to the Ecuadorian capital to found the Quito Conservatory of Music, with the help of the then president of the nation, Gabriel García Moreno.

In addition to the music of the national anthem of Ecuador, Antonio Neumane composed other works that earned him prestige as a composer. These works include "La suite ecuatoriana", "Nocturnos para fagot" and one of his most famous creations: "Pour une damme".

In his artistic career, Antonio Neumane composed many more high-quality musical pieces. However, the scores of most of these pieces were burned in the so-called Great Fire of Guayaquil, a mishap that occurred in 1896 that lasted 3 days and affected half of the population.

Childhood

His parents, Serafín Neumane and Margarita Marno, were Germans who lived in French territory. It was a family with economic comfort.

Antonio's parents dreamed him a doctor; however, he confessed that he wanted to study music. The family crisis broke out, but the teenager went to Vienna, Austria, to study at a conservatory far from his parents. At age 16, in 1834, Antonio is in Milan, Italy, already as a music teacher.

Early nuptials and recognitions

Three years later he returned to Austria and got married, but soon after he was widowed. He then moved to Turin, Italy, in the midst of sadness over the recent loss. There he falls in love with a mezzo-soprano named Idálide Turri and with her he has a daughter: Nina.

It was 1837, Neumane Marno back in Vienna makes a series of musical arrangements. These move Emperor Ferdinand I of Austria, who gives the musician a decoration for his work. Antonio will proudly wear this recognition that will open new doors for him.

The tour of South America

María Malibrán was a singer who managed to be very successful in Europe. Taking advantage of her name, Marno founded the Malibrán opera company, a year after the artist's death. With this company he goes on a tour of South America.

The troupe was made up as follows: Zambiatti (tenor), Ferretti (bass), Gastaldi (bufo), Amina and Teresa Rossi (treble), Idálide Turri de Neumane (alto), Irene Turri (soprano), Grandi (baritone), Rizzoli (chorus tenor) and Antonio Neumane Marno, conducting the orchestra.

The first stop they have in the American continent is Buenos Aires, Argentina. His second station is Santiago de Chile, where his musical work leads him to be a band director.

In that condition he managed to conduct six bands at the same time in a show. The Chilean government appoints him director of the National Conservatory of Music.

Arrival in Ecuador

In 1841 the company arrived in Guayaquil. There, as there was no theater to perform, they mounted the event in a private house, located on the corner of Pichincha and Illingworth.

The ladies of the local oligarchy get excited and invite Neumane to stay to teach singing. The following year a yellow fever epidemic broke out, three of its singers died and the company was dissolved.

Antonio, his wife and daughter survive. In 1843 he was hired as a music teacher for the city's No. 1 battalion.

At 27 he was already well known and respected. For that reason they asked him to create the music for a poem written by José Joaquín de Olmedo.

A lawyer and politician, Olmedo is one of the great Ecuadorian writers. His creation, "Canción patriótica", is a symbol of Ecuadorian identity.

In 1851 Antonio Neumane moved with his family to Lima, Peru. Then he left for Europe alone and returned with a new musical company. By 1856 he had returned to Guayaquil to direct the opera La Hija de las flores, by Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda. That was during the inauguration of the Olmedo Theater.

In Ecuador, Antonio's adoptive homeland, his other two children are born: Ricardo and Rosa. Neumane is very restless and constantly travels to Chile and Peru.

Birth of the national anthem of Ecuador

In 1865 an Argentine musician, Juan José Allende, presented to the Ecuadorian Congress a proposal that would serve as a national anthem. The music was his and the lyrics of a poet whose name was never revealed.

This proposal was rejected. However, the president of the Senate, Rafael Espinosa Rivadeneira, calls the writer Juan León Mena to write the lyrics for the hymn.

According to the Jesuit priest Aurelio Espinoza Pólit, what Juan León Mena did to fulfill the commitment in the little time he had was to be inspired by the lyrics of Olmedo's Patriotic Song. And in this way, within hours of the assignment, he delivered his proposal.

General Secundino Darquea, the District commander, knows Antonio Neumane perfectly. He calls him and gives him as a commission to compose music to the newly obtained stanzas.

At first, the musician refuses, alluding that he had too much work. However, the military does not give up and places a sentry at the door of his house. Neumane Marno has no choice but to accept the assignment.

So he decides to make himself comfortable, sit at the piano with three muffins and a glass of water, and in one attempt he composed the score that, from that moment, has accompanied the Ecuadorian national anthem.

Hail oh country! It was released on August 10, 1870 in Quito. It was performed by members of the Pablo Ferreti Opera Company.

Last mission

In that same year, the Ecuadorian president Gabriel García Moreno invited Neumane to direct the National Conservatory of Music, in Quito. He was barely 52 years old, and the respect earned placed him in a position to take on a task that he enjoyed very much.

The following year, on March 3, 1871, in the middle of work he had a sudden heart attack and died.

His son Ricardo does the corresponding procedures to transfer his father's remains to Guayaquil. There they were buried in the temple of San Francisco, a church that disappeared in 1896 as a result of what became known as the Great Fire, a kind of repetitive tragedy that has devastated Guayaquil multiple times.

His widow survives him seven more years. Her children show her great love, protecting the few works that remained intact after the different fires.

Antonio Neumane Marno was a tireless traveler, music lover, arranger and composer, German-Viennese-Italian, but above all: Ecuadorian.

References

1. Cuetos Lavinia, María Luisa (1987) Guayaquil in the 18th century. Natural Resources and Economic development. School of Hispanic-American Studies of Seville.
2. Gonzáles, B. (1896) Chronicle of the great fire that occurred in Guayaquil on October 5 and 6, 1896. Typography El grito del pueblo. National Library of Ecuador Eugenio Espejo. Recovered at casadela cultura.gob.ec
3. Paz y Miño Cepeda, Juan (2005) Citizenship and national identity in Ecuador. In the participation of Ecuadorian society in the formation of Cultural Identity. Permanent National Commission for Civic Commemorations of the Presidency of the Republic of Ecuador. Quito, Global Graphics, pp. 79-98.
4. Pérez P, Rodolfo (s / f) Antonio Neumene Marno. Biographical Dictionary of Ecuador.com. Recovered in: dictionarybiograficoecuador.com
5. Meierovich, Clara (2006) "On criticism and critics: between questions and some enigmas". Notebooks of music theory and criticism, number 97, pp.46-56. Recovered at: scholar.google.es.