Manuel María Ponce Cuéllar (born December 8, 1882 in Fresnillo, Zacatecas; died April 24, 1948 in Mexico City) was an important Mexican composer.
Manuel M. Ponce grew up in Aguascalientes, a city in central Mexico. Today, his childhood home is the Centro de Estudios Musicales Manuel M. Ponce. He was a musical prodigy and composed a piece entitled La Marcha del Sarampión at the age of eight. He began working as an organist in his hometown at an early age. In 1901, he went to the Conservatorio Nacional in Mexico City to continue his education. He was already well known as a pianist and composer at that time.
In 1904, he transferred to the music school in Bologna, Italy. Between 1906 and 1908, he studied at the Stern Conservatory in Berlin. After returning to Mexico, he taught at the Conservatorio Nacional until 1922. In between, he spent an extended period in Havana (1915 to 1917). In 1925, he went to Paris, where he was a student of Paul Dukas until 1933.
Ponce was friends with guitarist Andrés Segovia from 1923 onwards. As a result, Ponce often devoted himself to composing works for the guitar. This led to the creation of the 24 Préludes in all major and minor keys in the late 1920s. He also continued to compose orchestral pieces, chamber music works, and piano music, and is considered one of Mexico’s most important song composers.
A very popular piece is Estrellita, which was written in 1912. In 1925, he created a version for piano and shortly afterwards also for guitar.