Isaac Albeniz

Classical Music / Composer's Datebook: May 29

 

Brief biography of 19^th century Spanish composer and pianist Isaac Albéniz, best known for Iberia, a suite of twelve piano pieces.      

 

Isaac Albéniz helped create a national idiom for Spain and an indigenous school of piano music. He is primarily associated with works for the piano, and best-known for Iberia, a suite of twelve piano pieces.   

 

Early Life

Isaac Manuel Francisco Albéniz was born in May 29, 1860, in Catalonia, a son of a tax inspector but a musical family. He first appeared in public when he gave his piano recital at the age of four at Barcelona's Teatro Romea, followed by a performance in Paris Conservatoire when he was seven years old. He was praised by no other than Professor Marmontel, the teacher of both Debussy and Bizet, but he was too young to be a student.     When he was ten years old, he ran away earning a living as traveling pianist before returning back home after two years. He ran away again, this time to South America, and later, to the US.

At 13, he studied at the Brussels Conservatory with Franz Liszt, Paul Dukas and Vincent d'Indy. Other important influences of Albeniz were Felipe Pefrell who inspired him to turn to Spanish folk music, 19th-century salon piano music, and impressionist harmony.

 

The Young Adult

From 1880 he toured widely, playing many of his own piano works using Spanish rhythmic and melodic idioms. Three years later, he married Rosina Jordana. They had a son and two daughters. He settled in Paris in 1893, much influenced by Gabriel Fauré and Dukas. 

Above video: Albéniz - Tango No 2 in D major, Op 165 - Yuri Temirkanov, conductor. St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra. YouTube, uploaded by Cantus 5. Accessed May 29, 2015.

Composer with French Influence but Distinctly Spanish Idiom

Albéniz was not merely a follower of the French school. His works also included numerous zarzuelas like Spanish musical theatre form combining song, dance and speech. This is being accounted to his most significant influence, the musicologist and folk-song collector Felipe Pedrell. Most of his numerous works are for piano solo, notably, suite Espanola (1886) and suite Espana, including ‘Tango’ (1890). 

 

Major Works by Albéniz 

His major achievement is the 12-movement piano suite Iberia (1906-1908), named after the Iberian peninsula, Spain and Portugal, and most especially inspired by the romantic region of Andalusia. Albéniz wrote an opera, Pepita Jimenez (1896) and orchestral pieces. 

Albéniz died of kidney failure in France on May 18, 1909, eleven days short of his birthday. He is significant not only in the history of Spanish music but also in his country's history of musical nationalism.

 

Video Credit:

Isaac Albeniz.  nndb / Public Domain. 

 

Resources:

Classical Music The Rough Guide, 2^nd Edition (Expanded and completely Revised), edited by J. Staines and J. Buckley, The Rough Guide, 1998

The Grove Concise Dictionary of Music, edited by Stanley Sadie, Macmillan Press, 1994

The Oxford Dictionary of Music, edited by Michael Kennedy, Oxford University Press, 1994

 

 

(c) May 2008. Updated May 29, 2015. Tel. Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved.