In 1912 he composed his most famous work "Estrellita" (little star), which is not a normal love song, as is usually thought, but "Nostalgia Viva" (live nostalgia). He spent the intervening years of 1915 to 1917 in Havana, Cuba. This sculpture is behind the Exedra, the Plaza de la Patria de Aguascalientes, and is similar to the sculpture of the grave of the composer in the Rotunda of Illustrious Men.Īfter his years abroad, Ponce returned to Mexico to teach piano and music history at the National Conservatory of Music from 1909 to 1915 and from 1917 to 1922. He studied in Germany as a pupil of Martin Krause at the Stern conservatory in Berlin between 19. In 1904 he traveled to Italy for advanced musical studies at the Conservatorio Giovanni Battista Martini in Bologna. This was only the beginning of his travels. There he remained until 1903, the year in which he returned to the city of Aguascalientes. In 1901 Ponce entered the National Conservatory of Music, already with a certain prestige as a pianist and composer. Immediately, his parents had him receive classes in piano and musical notation. He was famous for being a musical prodigy according to his biographers, he was barely four years of age when, after having listened to the piano classes received by his sister, Josefina, he sat in front of the instrument and interpreted one of the pieces that he had heard. Born in Fresnillo, Zacatecas, Manuel Maria Ponce moved with his family to the city of Aguascalientes only a few weeks after his birth and lived there until he was 15 years old.