Lauro Ayestarán collection, 1830-1966

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Biographical Sketch

Date	Event
1913 July 9	Lauro Sebastián Ayestarán is born in Montevideo, to Nicolás Ayestarán and his wife Ana María Fernández.
1919-1931	Receives his elementary and high school education at the Colegio del Sagrado Corazón (Jesuits), in Montevideo.
1921	Begins his musical education at the Conservatory Larrimbe, Montevideo.
1931	"El Bien Público" music critic.
1932-1935	Enrolls in the School of Law, University of Montevideo; after three years he abandons his legal studies and dedicates full time to musicological and archival research, teaching, and music criticism.
1933	"El País" music critic.
1937-1957	Professor of History of Music and Director of Choral Activities in Montevideo High Schools.
1940 August 5	Marries Flor de María Rodríguez-Romero, a dancer and dance-researcher and author on dance/choreography, and his collaborator. They have six children: Flor, Ana María, Liliana, Alejandro, Sol and Angel.
1940	"El Plata," "El Día" and "Semanario Marcha" music critic.
1941	Publishes his first book "Domenico Zipoli, el gran compositor y organista romano del 1700 en el Río de la Plata."
1943	Begins the systematic recollection of the Uruguayan folklore in situ; a total of his 4.000 recordings are hold in the Musicological Section of the Museum of National History, Montevideo; Publishes "Crónica de una temporada musical en el Montevideo de 1830."
1945	Awarded with the "National Prize Pablo Blanco Acevedo" for his book "La Música en el Uruguay." Professor of History of Music at the "Instituto de Profesores Artigas." Contributor to "Músicos argentinos durante la dominación hispánica," Buenos Aires.
1946-1966	Professor of Musical Research, and Uruguayan Folklore at the School of Humanities, Department of Musicology, University of Montevideo; Professor of History of Music at the National Conservatory.
1947	Publishes "Fuentes para el estudio de la música colonial uruguaya." Contributor to "Música y Músicos de Latino América" ed. by Otto Mayer Serra, Mexico.
1948	Contributor to "Folklore de las Américas," Buenos Aires.
1949	Publishes "Un antecedente de la poesía tradicional uruguaya" and "La música indígena en el Uruguay."
1950	Publishes "La primitiva poesía gauchesca en el Uruguay," Vol. I, and "El minué montonero." Contributor to "Diccionario de la Música," ed. A. Della Corte and G. M. Gatti, Buenos Aires; and "El cancionero popular americano," Washington, D.C.
1951	Represents Uruguay at the First International Conference of Musical Libraries and Archives sponsored by UNESCO, Paris.
1952	Publishes "La misa para día de difuntos de Fray Manuel Ubeda, 1802; comentario y reconstrucción."
1953	Publishes "La Música en el Uruguay," Vol. I (First Prize National Award on History), and "Virgilio Scarabelli."
1954	Represents Uruguay at the International Conference of Folklore, São Paulo, Brazil. Contributor to "Diccionario de la Música Labor," ed. Higinio Anglés and Joaquín Pena, Barcelona.
1955-1966	Professor of Ethnology at the Facultad de Artes y Ciencias Musicales (Catholic University), Buenos Aires.
1956	Publishes "Luis Sambucetti, vida y obra," and "El centenario del Teatro Solís."
1957	Prologue to "Vocabulario rioplatense razonado" by Daniel Granada, Montevideo.
1959	Publishes "La primera edición uruguaya del Fausto de Estanislao del Campo," and "Domenico Zipoli, vida y obra."
1960	Travels to the United States to visit the Musicology Departments of 14 American universities; lectured at the University of California, Los Angeles. Musical Advisor to the Department of Culture and Education, Uruguay.
1961	Prologue and editor to "La vida rural en el Uruguay" by Roberto J. Bouton, Montevideo.
1963	Represents Uruguay at the First International Conference of Ethnomusicology, Cartagena de Indias, Colombia. Travels to Washington, D.C. and represents Uruguay at the First Inter-American Conference of Ethnomusicology. Lectures at Tulane University about his essay "Transcripción y hallazgo del barroco musical hispanoamericano."
1965	Attends the Second Inter-American Conference of Ethnomusicology at Indiana University, Bloomington, and reads his essay "El tamboril afro-montevideano." Publishes "El minué montonero" with his wife Flor de María Rodríguez (author of the dance choreography). Writes "El Tamboril, la Llamada y la Comparsa," choreography by Flor de María Rodríguez (published posthumously). Prologue to "Versos criollos" by Elías Regules, Montevideo.
1966 January	Represents Uruguay, as president of the Latin-American Music Committee, at the Conference of Latin American Culture, in Arica, Chile.
1966 March	Co-author with Susana Salgado of the Music Section of "Cronología Comparada de la Historia del Uruguay," Universidad de la República, Montevideo.
1966 July 22	Dies suddenly of a heart attack, at his home in Montevideo.
1966 August 5	The Municipality of Montevideo decrees to name a street of the city in memory of Lauro Ayestarán.
1967 Nov. 16	The Department of Musicology, School of Humanities, dedicates the Lauro Ayestarán Room in his honor.
1974	The Department of Musicology, School of Humanities, organizes a one-month-cycle homage with lectures and concerts in musical and cultural institutions in fifty-two Uruguayan cities.
1986 July	Academic homage sponsored by the "Sociedad de Autores del Uruguay" in commemoration of the 20th anniversary of his death.