The Three National Anthems of the Philippines and Patriotic Marches of the Revolution & War (1896-1902)

Original publication of the National Anthem

    An often overlooked factor when discussing history is the importance of music. During wars, the military would have bands play marches and other pieces to boost morale to their soldiers. Even before the Revolution, there were already the Spanish Regimental Bands organized in the Philippines, as well as town bands such as the Peñaranda and Zabat Bands of Nueva Ecija. 

    The Philippine Revolution and the later Philippine-American War sure has no deficiency in having these works for band. Although there are songs such as local kundiman sung among the soldiers, this article focuses on band music such as paso-dobles and hymns composed during and shortly after the Philippine Revolution and the Philippine-American war, including our current National Anthem and the two lesser-known anthems that came before it (as well as other patriotic works produced by composers of the Revolution)

The "Misa Pastorela" Tradition of Provincial Philippine Churches

    Pastoral Masses "Misa Pastorela" are traditionally sung during Simbang Gabi (Dawn Masses celebrated for 9 days before Christmas.) As in the name, the Misa Pastorela were composed in the 'pastoral' fashion - they are primarily written in 6/8, with prominent dotted rhythms in the melody, sometimes with a drone to depict shepherds and the countryside. 

    Back then, singing the Misa Pastorela is a staple of the Simbang Gabi tradition in the Philippines. However, with the introduction of the New Roman Missal (Novus Ordo) in 1969 brought by Vatican II, the tradition singing the Pastorela started to disappear. Some churches translated the lyrics into the vernacular to adhere with Vatican II, but most abandoned the old Pastorela settings. In addition, recent composers wrote new Pastorela settings modeled after the New Mass. Only a few places today still sing the old Pastorelas of the olden times.

Teodoro Araullo - The other Filipino Waltz King

    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!

Huang Chen-Mou 黃楨茂 - Filipino-Chinese composer

    I first encountered Huang Chen-Mou's music in the book Rizal: The Songwriter, Musician, and Music Lover by Danny Yson, published in 1995. In the last chapter, he reproduced some works by composers that set Rizal's poetry into music. One of them was Huang's setting of Rizal's "Ultimo Adios." It immediately caught my curiosity, because the lyrics were translated to Chinese! It's also by a composer I've totally never heard of before. About a week later I found myself deep in the rabbit hole researching all I could find about this composer.

Juan C. Bañez - A Short Biography

Juan Banez, c1950s

    Juan Claudio Bañez (1908-1965) was a Filipino teacher, composer, arranger, concert pianist, organist, and choral conductor. He is primarily known today as the pianist who reconstructed Francisco Santiago’s Piano Concerto after the original was destroyed. This essay provides a short biographical sketch of the man, in hopes of bringing his legacy to light.

Early Filipino Symphonies

    It is without a doubt that Filipino composers have written many symphonies during its musical history. Rosalina Abejo wrote 14 symphonies, Pajaro wrote 3, Alfredo Buenaventura also wrote 3, and many more. However, our interest for today focuses on Philippine symphonies produced before World War 2. While most of them are now lost, this post sought to create awareness and new appreciation to these innovative works by the composers of the olden times.

Filipina Composers (Filipino Women Composers)

    I believe Filipina women today in the field of the arts are equally given opportunities in teaching, performance, and in education. Filipina musicians like Cecile Licad, Ernestina Crisologo, Jovita Fuentes, Camille Lopez-Molina, Carmencita Sipin-Aspiras, Carmencita Lozada, Ingrid Santamaria and many many others are widely celebrated locally and internationally. 

    However, Filipina composers seem to be an unpopular choice during those days. Though today there are now a lot more Filipina composers, in the 19th and 20th centuries there are very few who reached prominence. Here are some of them: