Aponte–Ledée, Rafael (1938–)

Rafael Aponte-Ledée (b. 15 October 1938), Puerto Rican composer. Born in Guayama, Puerto Rico, where he was educated, Aponte-Ledée left Puerto Rico in 1957 to study with Cristóbal Halffter at the Madrid Conservatory. He remained in Madrid until 1964, when he left to begin studies with Alberto Ginastera and Gerardo Gandini at the Torcuato di Tella Institute in Buenos Aires. After returning to Puerto Rico in 1965, Aponte-Ledée moved to the forefront of the new music movements of the 1960s. In San Juan he cofounded the Fluxus group (1967) with Francis Schwartz. He also spent several years teaching music composition and theory at the University of Puerto Rico (1968–1973) and at the Puerto Rico Conservatory (from 1968).

Aponte-Ledée's works include Tema y 6 diferencias for piano (1963); elegies for strings (1965, 1967); Presagio de pájaros muertos (1966); Impulsos … in memoriam Julia de Burgos for orchestra (1967); La ventana abierta (two versions; 1968, 1969); SSSSSS² (1971); and El palacio en sombras for orchestra (1977). He also published a biography of the Puerto Rican singer Fatty (1902–1941) in 1996.

See alsoGandini, Gerardo; Ginastera, Alberto Evaristo.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Isabel Aretz, América latina en su música (1977).

Gérard Béhague, Music in Latin America (1979).

Additional Bibliography

Thompson, Donald. "Film Music and Community Development in Rural Puerto Rico: The DIVEDCO Program (1948–91)." Latin American Music Review, 26:1 (Spring/Summer 2005): 102-114.

                                      Sara Fleming