"TE AMO, TE ADORO"
by Abundio Martinez
Abundio Martinez Magos was born in Huichapan, Hidalgo, on February 8, 1875. A Mexican musician and composer of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries he is without doubt one of the most overlooked major musicians of Mexico. He is the author of waltzes, polkas, chotis, dances, pasos doubles, etc. His vast work is zealously and jealously stored in the library of the Escuela Nacional de Musica de la UNAM, and represents a transitional stage of Mexican music hitherto unknown.
His father was a carpenter and band director, and taught Abundio to play piano, violin, flute, guitar and a myriad of musical instruments. In composition, his greatest passion and function, he was very popular with publishing houses, who were also his undoing. It is known that he composed about 200 works. His most popular composition is the beautiful waltz "Arpa de Oro" (Golden Harp), dedicated to the then President General Porfirio Diaz.
His life, like many Mexican artists of the period, "was of extreme poverty and degradation. Such was the love of music to the extent of sacrificing welfare for creation." On April 27, 1914, in Mexico City, alone and sick with tuberculosis. Abundio Martinez was found dead wrapped in a tattered coat. In his room was a beautiful piano, several musical instruments, a cot and some containers. Tied to the foot of his bed was a chicken who according to him was the soul of Verdi. In the pocket of his vest was 22 pesos.
In Mexico today, the Paso Doble "El Hidalgo" is played at bullfights, yet without anyone realizing that this work is of the great Abundio Martinez.
"Te Amo, Te Adoro" was found among Federico Ronstadt's papers in the Ronstadt Family archives at Special Collections, The University of Arizona Library. Composed by Abundio Martinez probably for orchestra, it was transcribed as a band arrangement sometime around 1900 by Fernando Villalpando, a native of Zacatecas, Mexico. It is part of only a handful of band arrangements that have survived from the library of Club Filarmonico.
recorded 4/30/2011 at First Presbyterian Church, Mesa AZ, by Jack Miller Productions, Jack Miller and Alexis Santos, engineers. Bruce Legge/solo cornet, Sarah Johnsonbaugh/Eb cornet, Ben Goren/flugel horn, Jeanette Tippets and David Geffen/Eb altos, Larry Versteeg/valve trombone, Don Larry/euphonium, Paul Green/tuba, Kevin Kilzer, percussion, Ellen McGown/flute. Arranged for Territorial Brass by Larry Versteeg.