Julio Alvarado Tricoche

Julio Alvarado Tricoche[note 1] (1886–1970) was a Puerto Rican flutist, composer, and director of the Banda Municipal de Ponce for seventeen years.

Julio Alvarado Tricoche
Birth nameJulio Alvarado Tricoche
Born18 February 1886
Ponce, Puerto Rico
Died24 September 1970
Ponce, Puerto Rico
Genresdanzas, plenas, valls, polkas, boleros and danzones
Occupation(s)flutist, composer, and band director
Years active1912-1970
Associated actsMingo and the Whoopee Kids

Early years

Julio Alvarado Tricoche was born on 18 February 1886 in Ponce, Puerto Rico.[1][2] His father was Spaniard and his mother was Puerto Rican.[3] Alvarado Tricoche was the first male baby born at the just-built Hospital Valentín Tricoche.[3] As a young man he worked as a blacksmith and a tobacco salesperson before he dedicated the rest of his life to music.[2][3]

Training

In 1903 he started playing the guitar with music professor Clemente Acosta. He studied music theory and flute with Jesús R. Ramos Antonini and for his advanced music education Alvarado Tricoche was a student of Domingo Cruz (Cocolía) and Juan Ríos Ovalle.[2]

Music career

Alvarado Tricoche started in the world of music from very young.[3] He first performed with the flute.[3]

In 1912, Domingo Cruz "Cocolía", then director of the Ponce Municipal Band contracted Julio Alvarado as flutist and conductor.[2]

Alvarado Tricoche initiated his work as a composer in 1914, creating danzas, valses, pasodobles, pasillos, boleros and plenas. Among his favorite themes was love and womanhood. His romantic melodies continue to be played in modern Puerto Rico. Among his best known compositions are Ausencia (1920), Una Noche de Algodon (1926), Ambición (1938), Lejos de ti (1937) and Cenizas (1942).[2][4]

In 1920, Alvarado Tricoche became director of the Ponce School Band and also joined the Ponce Symphony Orchestra whose conductor was Arturo Pasarell. Concurrent with his duties directing two bands (the municipal and school bands) and as a member of the Symphony Orchestra, he also participated in various local for-profit bands and orchestras working, among them, with Mingo and his Whoopee Kids band as an arranger, guitarist, and flutist.[2]

From 1937 to 1955, he directed the Orchestra at the Ponce Casino and was also a professor of music theory (solfeo) at the Escuela Libre de Música de Ponce, then headquartered at Salud and Cristina streets. In 1953 he became director of the Banda Municipal de Ponce, which he directed until his death.[2]

Death, legacy and honors

Alvarado Tricoche directed the Ponce Municipal Band from 1953 until his death (24 September 1970). He was 84 years old. Under his direction, the Band achieved much recognition and received many accolades, both in Puerto Rico as well as internationally.[2] In Ponce a school was named after him.[4][5] He is also recognized at the Ponce Tricentennial Park for his contributions to music.[6]

Personal life

Alvarado Tricoche married Georgina Santos and they had six children: Emilio, Georgina, Luisa Angélica, Julio, Antonia and Santiago.[7]

See also

Notes
  1. In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Alvarado and the second or maternal family name is Tricoche.

References
  1. Music of Puerto Rico. 2016. Accessed 3 May 2016.
  2. ¿Quien es Don Julio Alvarado Tricoche? Escuela Julio Alvarado Tricoche. Ponce, Puerto Rico. 2016. Accessed 3 May 2016.
  3. Don Julio Alvarado. Luciano Quinones. 2016. Accessed 3 May 2016.
  4. Biblioteca Escuela Elemental Julio Alvarado Tricoche. Escuela Elemental Julio Alvarado Tricoche. 2016. Accessed 3 May 2016.
  5. Nuestra Escuela. J. Loyola. 1999. Accessed 3 May 2016.
  6. Music. TravelPonce. Accessed 3 May 2016.
  7. ¿Quien es Don Julio Alvarado Tricoche? Escuela Julio Alvarado Tricoche. Ponce, Puerto Rico. 2016. Accessed 3 May 2016.
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