Today is the birthday of
Enrique Granados, a Spanish
Catalan composer and pianist. Along with
Isaac Albéniz, Joaquin Malats and other pianists, he was part of the modern Catalan school of piano, initiated by Pere Tintorer. He was was born in
Lleida, Spain.
He was able to take private lessons with a conservatoire professor,
Charles-Wilfrid de Bériot, whose mother, the soprano
Maria Malibran,
was of Spanish ancestry. Bériot insisted on extreme refinement in tone
production, which strongly influenced Granados' teaching of pedal
technique. He also fostered Granados' abilities in improvisation. Just as important were his studies with
Felip Pedrell. He returned to Barcelona in 1889. His first successes were at the end of the 1890s, with the opera
María del Carmen, which attracted the attention of King
Alfonso XIII.
Granados is known for his piano works, such as the Goyescas suite, on which he also based the opera of the same name. He created a piano school in Barcelona, the Acadèmia Granados, which has produced a long list of talented pianists, with such notable figures as Frank Marshall and Alicia de Larrocha.
He died in the attack on the SS Sussex, in the English Channel, when it was torpedoed by the German navy during the course of World War I. He had received the Order of Charles III and the French Legion of Honour.[3]
Granados' personal collection is preserved in the Library of Catalonia and the Museu de la Música de Barcelona, and includes his epistolary collection with letters from Pablo Casals, Enrique Fernández Arbós, Jules Massenet, and others.[4]
Joaquin Malats
Felip Pedrell
Net links:
YouTube links:
Enrique Granados -
Intermezzo
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