Luis Sandi

Luis Sandi Meneses

Works for Cello

Hoja de álbum (1956), for cello and piano.

Sonatina (1958), for cello and piano.

Sonata (1983), for cello and piano.

Works for Viola

Miniaturas, for viola solo.

Hoja de álbum no. 2 (1956), for viola and piano.

Sources:

  • Béhague, G (1983). La música en América Latina. Caracas: Monte Ávila Editores.

  • Furman Schleifer, M., and Galván, G (2016). Latin American Classical Composers, A Biographical Dictionary. London: Rowman & Littlefield.

  • Sociedad de Autores y Compositores de México. (n.d.). Luis Sandi. Nuestros Socios y su obra. Luis Sandi Meneses. http://www.sacm.org.mx

Luis Sandi Meneses

Mexican composer, conductor and violinist, born February 22, 1905, died April 10, 1996.

Luis Sandi was born in Mexico City in 1905. In 1923, he attended the Conservatory Nacional de Música of Mexico City, where he studied violin with José Rocabruna and composition with Gustavo Campa and Estanislao Mejía. In 1922, he founded the Coro de Madrigalistas, the leading Mexican chorus, and acted as its conductor until 1965. 

He taught in numerous schools and eventually took on administrative roles. He also went on to found the Liga de Compositores de Música de Concerto of Mexico and become the director of the opera of INBA. He retired from Mexican administrative posts in 1965 but continued to work as a writer and critic.

His unpublished one-act opera, Carlota (‘Charlotte;’ Mexico City, Palacio de Bellas Artes, 23 Oct 1948) is set in the last days of the Second Mexican Empire. Two interlocutors serving as a chorus – Patria [Native Land] and Destino [Destiny] – comment on the catastrophe awaiting Charlotte and her husband, Emperor Maximilian. Their recitations contrast the period dances (waltz and mazurka), during which courtiers rejoice, even though they are on the brink of doom. Sandi’s other one-act opera, La Señora en su Balcón (1964), remains unpublished and unperformed.