The early years of Filipino classical music during the late-Spanish and early-American period were less given attention compared to the times of Nicanor Abelardo onwards. Although recently, studies on composers from this early era (1869-1916) of music such as Jose Estella, Marcelo Adonay, and Julio Nakpil were being researched and published.
One composer from this era stood out to me for some reason. His name is Teodoro Araullo. Like other composers from this period, he was a composer of marches and waltzes. However, despite his almost total obscurity today, he is actually one of the most popular composers from the early American period, rivaled only by Jose Estella. For that reason, he might just be the "Prince" of Filipino Waltzes, but that's just an informal title by me!
Life
Information about his life are scarce - I can't find any information about his date of birth, and I could only find one biographical information about him: from the 1917 book "Galeria de filipinos ilustres" by Manuel Artigas y Cuerva. The book is in Spanish, so I had to translate the section about Araullo into English.
According to Cuerva, Araullo's mother was the zarzuela actress Valeriana Mauricio, better known as "Chananay." Jose Rizal mentioned Chananay in his novel Noli me Tangere as a singer in a stage performance. At a very young age, Teodoro Araullo started to pick up the violin, and eventually studying with the violinist Bibiano Morales. Araullo became a violinist at his mother's Zarzuela troupe the Chananay Company, and later principal violin to Yeyeng Fernandez's Zarzuela company - one of the biggest Zarzuela tropes at the time. He was later promoted to orchestra director, and also became a lyric director at the Ratia company of the actor Nemesio Ratia. He also became orchestra director of the famed Gran Campania Zarzuela Tagala of Severino Reyes.
Fame as composer
While being a violinist is Araullo's main profession, his compositions became a hit among the people. According to Cuerva, he said to have produced a waltz or a march once per week. His composition "Pepa y Chating" waltz is the most popular. It was so popular at the time that even American bands in America played it, after the US Publisher Carl Fischer published a band arrangement.
More proof of his popularity is in 1912-1913 when the recording company Victor recorded several marches and waltzes by Filipino composers. Teodoro Araullo got 8 works recorded, while Jose Estella only got 6 works recorded.
Numerous publications of his works also attested to his fame - In the catalog of the Filipino music publisher "Jose Oliver" lists publications of sheet music. Usually composers only have one to three published works, but only both Araullo and Estella had dozens published. They are also the only ones to have works republished in multiple editions.
He died on July 2, 1912.
Works
As mentioned before, his waltz "Pepa y Chating" was his most popular composition. The Manila publisher Jose Oliver published the piano work in 2 editions, and they also published an orchestral arrangement as well. In 1907, the American bandmaster and arranger F. H. Greissinger arranged the work into band, which was published by Carl Fischer.
Since then it was known in America as the "Philippine Waltz" for some time - played more than Estella's "La Tagala" (also published for band in the US.) In the 1943 book "United Nations folk songs and dances" the piano score of Pepa y Chating was reproduced, under the subtitle "Popular Philippine Waltz"
In 1907, he got the privilege of writing the music to one of Severino Reyes's zarzuelas. This zarzuela is called "Gloria" or "Habeas Corpus." According to Samson-Lauterwald, The music is 'strictly traditional' and incorporates traditional dances such as danzas and waltzes. The piano-score of the zarzuela is preserved in its entirety.
When Victor Records went to Manila for the first time, they recorded two works by Araullo in 1908. These were done from the same sessions as the legendary Maria Carpena recordings:
- Anday y Gloria (from the zarzuela "Gloria) [sung by Soccoro Basilio, Adriana Nicolas]
- Marikit Vals [played by the Orquesta Molina]
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| Courtesy of Pinoy Shellac |
As previously mentioned, Victor Records again made 8 recordings of Araullo's works. They were played by the Victor Military Band under Walter B. Rogers. These were made in 1912-1913:
- Katagalugan (two-step)
- Zamboanga (two-step)
- Antipolo (one-step)
- Flor de Sampaguita (Vals) [not the same as Dolores Paterno's Sampaguita]
- Flores Orientales (Vals)
- Madaling Araw (Vals)
- Tuyo (Vals)
- Media Noche (Hating Gabi) (Tanda de Valses) [not issued]
List of Compositions
This is not a complete list of compositions. Most of these are taken from a catalog of published works by the publisher Jose Oliver.
Tanda de Valses:
- Clases nocturnas
- Felicidad
- Flor de Sampaguita
- Flores orientales
- Mariquit [or Marikit; published in 2 editions]
- Morenda Carmen [published in 3 editions]
- Pepa y Chating [published in piano, band, and orchestra arrangements]
- Tu-yo
- Viaje de novios
- Nena y caring
- La Dalaga
- Hating Gabi
- Madaling Araw
Two-steps:
- A. Antipolo!! [listed as one-step in the Victor recording]
- La Perla de Jolo
- Electric Tranway
- Gold
- I Love You
- Navaja [Cuerva lists this as Navajo]
- New Manila Association
- The Luneta's Charms
- Zamboanga
- Dancing School
- Katagalugan
- All Salon-Town Step [mentioned in Orquiza 2020]
Stage Works
- Sumpaan. Words by Aurelio Tolentino. 1904
- Gloria, or Habeas Corpus. Words by Severino Reyes. 1907
References
- Araullo, T.. (2021). In Discography of American Historical Recordings. Retrieved August 30, 2021, from https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/301752.
- Artigas y Cuerva, M.. (1917). Galeria de filipinos ilustres. Manila.
- Estella, José A.. (2021). In Discography of American Historical Recordings. Retrieved August 30, 2021, from https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/104504.
- Kramer, A., Potter, H.. (1943). United Nations folk songs and dances. New York: Edwards.
- Rehrig, W.. (1991). The heritage encyclopedia of band music. Westerville, Ohio: Integrity Press.
- Samson-Lauaterwald, H. (2010). Music in the zarzuelas of Severino Reyes ("Lola Basyang"). Quezon City: UP Press.
- (c1910s). Obras Editadas Por Esta Casas. Manila: Almacen de Musica Jose Oliver.
- Pinoy Shellac Collection. Retrieved August 30, 2021, from https://www.facebook.com/pinoyshellac.
- Orquiza, R. (2020). Taste of Control. New Jersey.
- Rosenstock's Manila City Directory 1909
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