José de la Cruz Mena (3 May 1874 – 22 September 1907) was a Nicaraguan composer. When he was twenty-one years old he contracted leprosy, but continued to compose until his death twelve years later. Mena is considered to have been one of the most prominent Nicaraguan composers of his time and one of the most important composers from that country.
Mena was born inLeón, Nicaragua,[1] on 3 May 1874,[2] to a family which included a number of musicians. He attended theEscuela Nacional de Música inManagua as a child, and played trumpet in bands in the city,[1][2] composing several famous waltzes. He fell ill withleprosy when he was twenty-one years old, but was not sent to the nation'sleper colony after writing three items of music that he dedicated toJosé Santos Zelaya, thePresident of Nicaragua. He was completely blind after five years, by 1896, and rarely appeared in public due to his disease. Regardless, his entry inThe New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians described Mena as "the pre-eminent Nicaraguan composer of his time". He died twelve years after contracting leprosy, near the Chiquito River in León, on 22 September 1907.[1][2]
He is sometimes known as "the divine leper" and a theatre in León is named in his memory.[1] Much of the music Mena composed was religious in nature,[3] and while he composed numerous works, much of it is lost.[2] In 2008 Mena was described inCulture and Customs of Nicaragua as one of the "four most important academic composers in the history of music in Nicaragua", in addition toAlejandro Vega Matus,Carlos Alberto Ramirez, andLuis Abraham Delgadillo.[1] He has been cited as one of the most important composers in the country of his era, along with Matus.[4]