The musicologist Pablo Hernández Balaguer pioneered the studies of the Cuban musical heritage in the colonial period. Little or nothing is known about the activity of a man who came to be considered as the most careful scholar of Cuban music of the 18th and 19th centuries. In 1956, when he was only 28 years old, he started and developed a research model that included actions like locating, classifying, transcribing and diffusion of the most important and ancient heritage of music preserved in the Island. Balaguer achieved to disseminate internationally his publications and the musical work of Esteban Salas, that was first performed in a historical version by one of the pioneer ensembles in the early music movement in Latin America. However he did not have time to finish his work. He died before reaching his 38th birthday. Thereafter a long interruption came about in the research pertaining the Cuban catholic religious musical heritage. His work has been a great assistance to many scholars. This paper is a tribute to his determination to live conscientiously as if he had known that he did not have enough time to generously transmit his knowledge to the younger generations. Its is also a tribute to the valuable effort of the Revista Musical Chilena to communicate the results of the research carried out by Latin American scholars.El musicólogo Pablo Hernández Balaguer fue el pionero de los estudios acerca del patrimonio musical cubano del período colonial. Poco o nada se conoce del desempeño de quien llegó a ser considerado el investigador más acucioso de la música cubana de los siglos XVIII y XIX. En 1956 con apenas 28 años inició y desarrolló un modelo de investigación que comprendía la localización, catalogación, transcripción y difusión del más importante y antiguo acervo de música conservado en la isla. Logró divulgar internacionalmente sus publicaciones y que la obra de Esteban Salas fuese interpretada en versión histórica, a cargo de uno de los conjuntos pioneros en la música antigua de Latinoamérica. No tuvo tiempo de terminar su obra. Antes de cumplir los 38 años le sorprendió la muerte y con ello se hizo un largo silencio en las investigaciones relativas al patrimonio musical religioso-católico cubano. Mucho ha servido su obra a los investigadores. Sea este texto un tributo a su empeño por vivir responsablemente, como si supiera que el tiempo no sería suficiente para legarnos generosamente todos sus conocimientos, y a la valiosa labor de la Revista Musical Chilena que siempre ha difundido los resultados de nosotros los latinoamericanos.