Gonzalo Roig is born in Havana.
Throughout his life he contributed considerably to the development of Cuban music as an orchestra conductor and composer. From the stage of his youth he began in the Cuban musical activity. At the age of 17 he was part of a trio as a pianist and later joined the Martí Theater Orchestra as a violinist. He was double bass player in the main orchestras of his time and choir master at the now defunct Albizu Theater, and later took up the baton to conduct works of difficult scores in the Spanish zarzuela genre. Roig created some 300 works for the theater. His extensive catalog covers different genres of Cuban music. One of the most transcendental moments of his life occurred when in 1922, together with other relevant musicians, he founded the Havana Symphony Orchestra. Another great moment in the life of maestro Gonzalo Roig was when he premiered his zarzuela Cecilia Valdés, which served for his definitive consecration as a musician, theatrical performer and orchestra conductor. From his inspiration we owe titles that enjoyed and still enjoy great popularity, such as Yo te amé, Cuando nacieron en mi pecho amores, Ojos Brujos, Dolor de Amor, No me preguntes por qué estoy triste and Love me very much.
Its first presentation took place at the Martí Theater in Havana on March 26, 1932, starring Mexican Elisa Altamirano. The zarzuela is based on the novel of the same name by Cirilo Villaverde, written in the 19th century. Maestro Gonzalo Roig, who confessed that he wrote the work in a few weeks, captured in the zarzuela all the costumbrista spirit of an era that Villaverde wanted to immortalize for its deep-rooted contrasts between the splendor of a Creole bourgeoisie, opulent and indifferent, and an already mature popular framework in which rested all the antecedents of Cuban popular culture. The zarzuela, "Cecilia Valdés", became the paradigm of the Cuban zarzuela and the "salida de Cecilia Valdés" became the most sung piece of the Cuban lyric.
In 1915, the Cuban lyricist and playwright Agustín Rodríguez asked Gonzalo Roig to compose the music for a sainete called Compulsory Military Service, in the context of the World War. He then created a love duet, whose music later became the bolero "Quiéreme mucho.
As a sainete duet, this bolero was premiered in 1915, in the voices of Blanca Becerra and Rafael Llorens. In 1917 he composed the first section to the one he had written two years before, incorporating Roger de Lauria's lyrics to the one already written by Agustín Rodríguez. Thus, Quiéreme mucho was born as an independent piece that soon bore fruit in the taste of the Cuban public and in other countries of the world. As an independent work, it was heard for the first time in 1917, performed live by Cuban tenor Mariano Menéndez. Its first recording was made by the Italian tenor Tito Schipa, for the RCA Victor records, which spread it around the world.