María Emma de las Mercedes Adam de Aróstegui (b. 24 Sept 1873, d. 20 October 1957) was a Cuban pianist and composer who lived and worked in Spain. She was born in Camagüey

Camagüey

Camagüey is a city and municipality in central Cuba and is the nation's third largest city. It is the capital of the Camagüey Province.After almost continuous attacks from pirates the original city was moved inland in 1528.The new city was built with a confusing lay-out of winding alleys that made...

, Cuba

Cuba

The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...

, and moved to Spain with her family when she was nine years old. She studied with Joaquin Zuazagoitia in Santiago de Compostela

Santiago de Compostela

Santiago de Compostela is the capital of the autonomous community of Galicia, Spain.The city's Cathedral is the destination today, as it has been throughout history, of the important 9th century medieval pilgrimage route, the Way of St. James...

 and continued her studies in the Conservatorio Real in Madrid

Madrid

Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...

. She studied with Louis Diemer

Louis Diémer

Louis-Joseph Diémer was a French pianist and composer.- Life :Diémer studied at the Paris Conservatoire, winning premiers prix in piano, harmony and accompaniment, counterpoint and fugue, and solfège, and a second prix in organ...

 and Jules Massenet

Jules Massenet

Jules Émile Frédéric Massenet was a French composer best known for his operas. His compositions were very popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and he ranks as one of the greatest melodists of his era. Soon after his death, Massenet's style went out of fashion, and many of his operas...

 in Paris and with Vincent d'Indy

Vincent d'Indy

Vincent d'Indy was a French composer and teacher.-Life:Paul Marie Théodore Vincent d'Indy was born in Paris into an aristocratic family of royalist and Catholic persuasion. He had piano lessons from an early age from his paternal grandmother, who passed him on to Antoine François Marmontel and...

.

After completing her education, she worked as a composer and pianist, giving concerts with Pablo Casals. Her music was performed in Paris and in Cuba. She died in Madrid.

Works

Selected works include:

• Serenata Espanola
• La Peregrinacion de Childe Harold
• Poemo sinfonico
• En el Campo de Waterloo
• La vida de sueno, opera
• La infancia
• Danzas Cubanas
• Seranata andaluza
• Ballade guerriere ecossaise (text: Sir Walter Scott)
• A une femme for voice and cello

She also published an essay La etica y la estitica en la obra musical.