The music life of Jose Rizal was personal and part of daily life.
Born in 1861 in Calamba, Laguna, Rizal grew up in a cultured home. He learned piano and singing early, as was common among educated families of his time. He played the piano and the violin in domestic settings, where music functioned as balance rather than performance.
When he left the Philippines in 1882 to study in Europe, his exposure expanded. Between 1882 and 1887, while living in Madrid, Paris, and Germany, he encountered classical music, opera, and salon culture. He understood music as a discipline shaped by structure, timing, and harmony, similar to language and science.
Rizal’s contribution to music came through words. He wrote poems meant to be sung, acting as a lyricist rather than a composer. The lyrics of Alin Mang Lahi and La Despedida de Maria Clara are his.
No complete original musical scores in his handwriting remain. The melodies later attached to his poems were written by other musicians as musical settings of his texts.
From 1892 to 1896, during exile in Dapitan and until his execution, music remained part of his daily routine. He taught students and encouraged the arts alongside academic learning, until his final year in 1896.
In Noli Me Tangere, Rizal placed a personal lyric text in the voice of Maria Clara. The poem appears as a personal farewell, shaped as a quiet goodbye, with its deeper meaning carried by the circumstances around it.
Below is an English translation based on the poem as it appears in Noli Me Tangere.
Maria Clara’s Farewell
Farewell, my beloved land,
the place where my heart was born.
To you I leave my memories,
my love, and all my tears.
Farewell, my beloved mother,
whose arms once gave me rest.
If my tears have done you wrong,
forgive me. They were tears of love.
Farewell, my beloved father,
thank you for your care and hope.
In every step I take away,
your lessons will go with me.
Farewell to all I have loved,
to the friends who stood beside me.
If I am gone from your presence,
let my memory remain with you.
⌨ ᴛʸᵖⁱⁿᵍ ᴏᵘᵗ ᵒᶠ ᵗʰᵉ ʙˡᵘᵉ ᵈᵃʳᵉᵐ ᵐᵘˢⁱᶜ ᵇˡᵒᵍ
