ESCOBAR, Maria Luisa

  María Luisa Escobar, also known as Maritza Graxirena was a Venezuelan musicologist, pianist, composer. In addition to her work as a composer of numerous boleros and songs, she also worked in defense author's rights and was also the founder of the Caracas Athenaeum in 1931. A cultural institution centred on the arts, the Caracas Athenaeum has always been led by women.

At the age of five, María entered the Colegio de Lourdes where she began to study piano. A year later, she composed her first piece titled "Blanca, la niña Angélica" (Blanca, the girl Angélica). At the age of eight, she traveled with her parents to Curaçao, Netherlands Antilles, and entered the Welgelegen Habaai School where she studied French and English in addition to piano, violin, and musical composition, concluding with a Baccalaureate in 1917. Then, she moved to Paris to continue her studies of piano and composition in addition to singing under the tutelage of Jean Roger-Ducasse, Arthur Honegger and Charles Koechlin.

On July 11, 1928 she recorded for Victor Talking Machine Company in a studio in Caracas her compositions "Alondras", "Mar adentro", "Tu maldad", and "Ángel de mis sueños". In these recordings, her name is credited as "Maritza Graxirena" in deference to her Catalan maternal surname.

In 1941 her first lyrical play, “Orquídeas Azules”, with music by María Luisa Escobar and lyrics by the Venezuelan writer Lucila Palacios, premiered at the Municipal Theater of Caracas. It was a huge box office success and garnered rave reviews. Years later, María Luisa Escobar premiered “La Princesa Girasol” on the same stage. María Luisa dedicated a lot of time to the investigation of indigenous legends, and from that passion arose several of her musical works, including her well-known musical choreo-drama "Guaicaipuro", a symphonic work, starring the brave and heroic Cacique . This work was presented on the occasion of the Bolivarian Olympic Games and received praise from national and foreign critics.

In honor of her career as a researcher, musician, singer, and composer, as well as her fight in favor of authors and composers, María Luisa Escobar obtained the National Prize of Music in the year 1984, few months before her death in 1985.