Name may also refer to Amancio Alcorta

Amancio Alcorta

Amancio Alcorta was an Argentine legal theorist, conservative politician and diplomat.-Life and times:Amancio Alcorta was born in Buenos Aires, in 1842, and enrolled at the University of Buenos Aires, where he received a juris doctor, in 1867...

 (1842–1902), a noted Argentine lawyer and former Foreign Relations Minister.

Amancio Jacinto Alcorta (August 16, 1805 – May 3, 1862) was an Argentine composer, policy maker and politician.

Musician and representative

Amancio Jacinto Alcorta was born in Santiago del Estero

Santiago del Estero

Santiago del Estero is the capital of Santiago del Estero Province in northern Argentina. It has a population of 244,733 inhabitants, making it the twelfth largest city in the country, with a surface area of 2,116 km². It lies on the Dulce River and on National Route 9, at a distance of...

, Argentina

Argentina

Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

, in 1805. His father, a prosperous merchant from Vizcaya

Biscay

Biscay is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the Basque Country, heir of the ancient Lord of Biscay. Its capital city is Bilbao...

, Spain, was the colonial city's Postmaster, at the time. He was sent in 1817 to a school operated by the Franciscan Order and, in 1820, to the College of Montserrat

Virgin of Montserrat

The Virgin of Montserrat is a statue of the Virgin Mary and infant Christ venerated at the Santa Maria de Montserrat monastery in the Montserrat mountain in Catalonia....

, where he was taught music by flutist

Flute

The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...

 José María Cambeses. He began composing in 1822 and in 1825, attended a local performance of Gioachino Rossini's The Barber of Seville

The Barber of Seville

The Barber of Seville, or The Futile Precaution is an opera buffa in two acts by Gioachino Rossini with a libretto by Cesare Sterbini. The libretto was based on Pierre Beaumarchais's comedy Le Barbier de Séville , which was originally an opéra comique, or a mixture of spoken play with music...

(its first in Argentina).

Alcorta enrolled at the University of Córdoba

National University of Córdoba

The National University of Córdoba, , is the oldest university in Argentina, and one of the oldest in the Americas. It is located in Córdoba, the capital of Córdoba Province. Since the early 20th century it has been the second largest university in the country in terms of the number of students,...

, then the most important in the newly independent Argentina. Before graduating, he was elected in 1826 to the Argentine Congress for his native Santiago del Estero Province

Santiago del Estero Province

Santiago del Estero is a province of Argentina, located in the north of the country. Neighbouring provinces are from the north clockwise Salta, Chaco, Santa Fe, Córdoba, Catamarca and Tucumán.-History:...

, a post he resigned from for not being of sufficient age to hold the office. Following the advent of the Argentine Confederation

Argentine Confederation

The Argentine Confederation is one of the official names of Argentina, according to the Argentine Constitution, Article 35...

, Santiago del Estero Governor Antonio Deheza appointed him in 1830 as his province's Minister, a diplomatic post with the difficult task of representing each province's respective interests vis-à-vis the Confederation's paramount figure, Buenos Aires Province

Buenos Aires Province

The Province of Buenos Aires is the largest and most populous province of Argentina. It takes the name from the city of Buenos Aires, which used to be the provincial capital until it was federalized in 1880...

 Governor Juan Manuel de Rosas

Juan Manuel de Rosas

Juan Manuel de Rosas , was an argentine militar and politician, who was elected governor of the province of Buenos Aires in 1829 to 1835, and then of the Argentine Confederation from 1835 until 1852...

. He was offered the post of Minister of Salta Province

Salta Province

Salta is a province of Argentina, located in the northwest of the country. Neighboring provinces are from the east clockwise Formosa, Chaco, Santiago del Estero, Tucumán and Catamarca. It also surrounds Jujuy...

 by Governor José Güemes, in 1831, though Güemes' overthrow a few months later cut the experience short. He then married Coleta Palacio, with whom he had nine children.

Alcorta devoted the ensuing years to music composition. A prolific composer, he created numerous waltz

Waltz

The waltz is a ballroom and folk dance in time, performed primarily in closed position.- History :There are several references to a sliding or gliding dance,- a waltz, from the 16th century including the representations of the printer H.S. Beheim...

es, minuet

Minuet

A minuet, also spelled menuet, is a social dance of French origin for two people, usually in 3/4 time. The word was adapted from Italian minuetto and French menuet, and may have been from French menu meaning slender, small, referring to the very small steps, or from the early 17th-century popular...

s, nocturne

Nocturne

A nocturne is usually a musical composition that is inspired by, or evocative of, the night...

s and contra dance

Contra dance

Contra dance refers to several partnered folk dance styles in which couples dance in two facing lines...

s, as well as numerous pieces of chamber music

Chamber music

Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...

 for piano and flute. Among his numerous works of sacred music, he published The Agony, a canto

Canto

The canto is a principal form of division in a long poem, especially the epic. The word comes from Italian, meaning "song" or singing. Famous examples of epic poetry which employ the canto division are Lord Byron's Don Juan, Valmiki's Ramayana , Dante's The Divine Comedy , and Ezra Pound's The...

 for tenor

Tenor

The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...

, baritone

Baritone

Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...

 and organ

Organ (music)

The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...

, for Good Friday

Good Friday

Good Friday , is a religious holiday observed primarily by Christians commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and his death at Calvary. The holiday is observed during Holy Week as part of the Paschal Triduum on the Friday preceding Easter Sunday, and may coincide with the Jewish observance of...

 observations in 1843; the majority of his compositions from this period were lost, however.

National policy maker

Following the Battle of Caseros

Battle of Caseros

The Battle of Caseros was fought near the town of Caseros, more precisely between the present-day train stations of Caseros and Palomar in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina, on 3 February 1852, between the Army of Buenos Aires commanded by Juan Manuel de Rosas...

, Governor Rosas fled the country and, with the enactment of the Constitution of Argentina

Constitution of Argentina

The constitution of Argentina is one of the primary sources of existing law in Argentina. Its first version was written in 1853 by a Constitutional Assembly gathered in Santa Fe, and the doctrinal basis was taken in part from the United States Constitution...

 in May 1853, Alcorta was elected to the Argentine Senate

Argentine Senate

The Argentine Senate is the upper house of the Argentine National Congress. It has 72 senators: three for each province and three for the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires...

. He formed part of the modern Senate's first Committee on Customs Regulation; as such, wrote the nation's first Law of Expropriation

Nationalization

Nationalisation, also spelled nationalization, is the process of taking an industry or assets into government ownership by a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to private assets, but may also mean assets owned by lower levels of government, such as municipalities, being...

 and influenced policy over one of the nation's most divisive institutions: customs

Customs

Customs is an authority or agency in a country responsible for collecting and safeguarding customs duties and for controlling the flow of goods including animals, transports, personal effects and hazardous items in and out of a country...

. The regulation of the Ports of Buenos Aires and those along the Paraná River

Paraná River

The Paraná River is a river in south Central South America, running through Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina for some . It is second in length only to the Amazon River among South American rivers. The name Paraná is an abbreviation of the phrase "para rehe onáva", which comes from the Tupi language...

, as well as the distribution of customs revenue, remained one of the greatest threats to national unity as late as 1880, and Alcorta supported the procurement of foreign credit to maintain the Paraná

Paraná, Entre Ríos

Paraná is the capital city of the Argentine province of Entre Ríos, located on the eastern shore of the Paraná River, opposite the city of Santa Fe, capital of the neighbouring Santa Fe Province...

 customs as a means to lessen Argentina's dependence on revenue from secessionist Buenos Aires. A respected arbiter of the many conflicts surrounding customs collection, he was named to the powerful Commerce Tribunal and Government Advisory Council. He was also a noted supporter of the expansion of domestic credit, which he hoped could avoid excess reliance on the often usurious

Usury

Usury Originally, when the charging of interest was still banned by Christian churches, usury simply meant the charging of interest at any rate . In countries where the charging of interest became acceptable, the term came to be used for interest above the rate allowed by law...

 loans obtained in Paris. His treatise, Banks and Their Usefulness in Argentina, helped lead to his appointment to the Public Credit Administration, and he served as President of the Buenos Aires Stock Exchange

Buenos Aires Stock Exchange

The Buenos Aires Stock Exchange is the organization responsible for the operation of Argentina's primary stock exchange located at Buenos Aires CBD. Founded in 1854, is the successor of the Banco Mercantil, created in 1822 by Bernardino Rivadavia.Citing BCBA's self definition: "It is a...

 from 1855 to 1857.

Alcorta had purchased land 35 km (22 mi) west of Buenos Aires upon his election to the Senate. He christened the property Estancia Paso del Rey ("King's Ford Ranch") and, in 1860, established the municipality of Moreno

Moreno, Buenos Aires

Moreno is a city in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. It is the head town of Moreno Partido. It forms part of the Greater Buenos Aires urban conurbation and is located around to the west of the autonomous city of Buenos Aires....

 (today a thriving suburb of Buenos Aires). Alcorta lived in the placid estancia throughout his career in Government, and continued to compose music (writing a Gradual

Gradual

The Gradual is a chant or hymn in the liturgical celebration of the Eucharist for many Christian denominations. In the Tridentine Mass it was and is sung after the reading or chanting of the Epistle and before the Alleluia, or, during penitential seasons, before the Tract. In the Mass of Paul VI...

 for the feast of Saint Martin of Tours in 1854, for example). A supporter of the newly-arrived railways

Rail transport in Argentina

The Argentine railway network comprised of track at the end of the Second World War and was, in its time, one of the most extensive and prosperous in South America. However, with the increase in highway construction, there followed a sharp decline in railway profitability, leading to the break-up...

 into Argentina, he donated a portion of his estancia to what later became the Sarmiento Railway Line

Ferrocarril Domingo Faustino Sarmiento

The Ferrocarril Domingo Faustino Sarmiento , named after the former Argentine president, statesman, educator, and author Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, was one of the six state-owned Argentine railway companies formed after President Juan Perón's nationalisation of the Argentine railway network in 1948...

.

Senator Alcorta collaborated with Dalmacio Vélez Sarsfield

Dalmacio Vélez Sársfield

Dalmacio Vélez Sársfield was an Argentine lawyer and politician who wrote the Argentine Civil Code of 1869, the vast majority of which remains in use to this day.-Life and times:...

 in the drafting of Argentina's first Commercial Code. Relaxing at his estancia while studying Vélez Sasfield's bill, he died suddenly in 1862; he was 56. Much like his close friend, Juan Bautista Alberdi

Juan Bautista Alberdi

Juan Bautista Alberdi was an Argentine political theorist and diplomat. Although he lived most of his life in exile in Montevideo and Chile, he was one of the most influential Argentine liberals of his age.-Biography:...

, Amancio Alcorta was both a valuable contributor to the survival of the constitutional republic

Constitutional republic

A constitutional republic is a state in which the head of state and other officials are representatives of the people and must govern according to existing constitutional law that limits the government's power over all of its citizens...

 in the perilous years after 1853, and, an important precursor to the development of music in Argentina. Though many of his works were lost, 54 compositions were ultimately located and published in Argentina and in Paris, between 1869 and 1883.