Lino Gallardo
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| Lino Gallardo | |
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| Born | 1773 Ocumare del Tuy, Miranda state, Venezuela |
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| Died | December 22, 1837 Caracas, Venezuela |
Lino Gallardo (1773-1837) was a Venezuelan composer, conductor, and string player, and was among the musicians who participated in and contributed to the Wars of Independence. Gallardo was born in Ocumare del Tuy (Miranda state) in 1773. Rudesindo Gallardo and Bárbara Timotea Aguado were his parents, both pardos; they died while he was still young, and he was adopted by Juan Manuel Olivares, who lodged him until 1792. It is here that he received his first musical lessons. On December 26, 1794, married Maria del Carmen Araujo. After she died, he married María Catalina Pereira on April 30, 1799. With her, he had three daughters: María Josefa Leona, Eladia de la Merced and Francisca de Paula. One of them, Maria Josefa, became a piano teacher. Lino Gallardo also stood as a composer of patriotic songs, as a conductor, and as a violininist, cellist, and player of the double bass. Being a disciple of Juan Manuel Olivares, he belonged to the group known as the School of Chacao. He composed the music for Canción Americana, which reached enormous popularity at the time. Lino Gallardo was part of the conspiracies of 1808 and 1810 (participating in the events of April 19, 1810), and was member of the Patriotic Society.
For composing and singing patriotic songs in the street, Lino Gallardo was jailed after the fall of the First Republic (in July of 1812) in the vaults of La Guaira, where he remained until the triumphant entrance of Simón Bolívar to Caracas. In 1818, under the royalist regime, he founded the Philharmonic Society of Caracas, which functioned as a school of music and concert society. Gallardo led the orchestra as well as being the principal of the school. Some attribute the music of the Venezuelan national anthem (Gloria al Bravo Pueblo) to him, or at least acknowledge participation its composition.
In August 9, 1824, he was named head professor of music of Caracas. In 1827, when Simón Bolivar entered Caracas, Gallardo composed a patriotic song in his honor; this allowed him the honor of being included among the patriots, being dubbed fiel peso in the Customs Office of La Guaira. In 1827, he established his residence in La Guaira, where he lived until his death, working from 1829 onward in the port city's aforementioned Customs Office. Among the few extant compositions, we have: Bolívar, la fama elevó, which appeared in 1883 in Ramón de la Plaza´s book,' Evidence of the Arts in Venezuela. Lino Gallardo died in Caracas, December 22, 1837.
