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Isaac Manuel Francisco Albéniz y Pascual (; 29 May 1860 – 18 May 1909) was a Spanish virtuoso composer, conductor, and pianist. He is one of the foremost composers of the post-romantic era who also exerted a significant influence on his contemporaries and younger composers. He is best known for his piano works that incorporate Spanish folk music idioms and elements. His compositions, particularly his suite Iberia (1905–1908), are considered masterpieces and have influenced both European classical music and Spanish nationalism. Isaac Albéniz was close to the Generation of '98.

Transcriptions of many of his pieces, such as Asturias (Leyenda), Granada, Sevilla, Cadiz, Córdoba, Cataluña, Mallorca, and Tango in D, are important pieces for classical guitar, though he never composed for the guitar.

Some of Albéniz's personal papers are held in the Library of Catalonia.

Biography

thumb|Albéniz (age 45) with his daughter, Laura (age 15)

In 1860, Albéniz was born in Camprodon, province of Girona, to Ángel Albéniz (a customs official) and his wife, Maria de los Dolores Pascual. He was a child prodigy, first performing at the age of 4.

His sister claimed that by the age of three Albéniz knew "his scales and arpeggios, and would play full of expression". The sister and brother duo appeared together on stage at the in Barcelona when Isaac was just four years old. A "small mountain of pillows was placed on the piano bench so that he could reach the keyboard",

By age 15, in 1875, Albéniz had already given concerts worldwide. This story is not entirely false, Albéniz did travel the world as a performer; however, he was accompanied by his father, who as a customs agent was required to travel frequently. This can be attested by comparing Isaac's concert dates with his father's travel itinerary. They had two children who lived into adulthood: Alfonso (1885–1941), who played for FC Barcelona in the early 1900s before embarking on a career as a diplomat, and Laura (1890–1944), who went on to become a renowned illustrator in the arts of drawing and painting. Albéniz never completed Lancelot (only the first act is finished, as a vocal and piano score), and he never began Guinevere, the final part.

In 1900, Albéniz started to suffer from Bright's disease and returned to writing piano music.</blockquote>

Middle period

thumb|upright|Albéniz, a drawing by [[Ramon Casas (MNAC)]]

During the late 1880s, the strong influence of Spanish style is evident in Albéniz's music. In 1883 Albéniz met the teacher and composer Felipe Pedrell. Pedrell was a leading figure in the development of nationalist Spanish music. In his book The Music of Spain, Gilbert Chase describes Pedrell's influence on Albéniz: "What Albéniz derived from Pedrell was above all a spiritual orientation, the realization of the wonderful values inherent in Spanish music." Felipe Pedrell inspired Albéniz to write Spanish music such as the Suite española, Op. 47, noted for its delicate, intricate melody and abrupt dynamic changes.

In addition to the Spanish spirit infused in Albéniz's music, he incorporated other qualities as well. In her biography of Albéniz, Pola Baytelman discerns four characteristics of the music from the middle period as follows:

<blockquote>1. The dance rhythms of Spain, of which there are a wide variety. 2. The use of cante jondo, which means deep or profound singing. It is the most serious and moving variety of flamenco or Spanish gypsy song, often dealing with themes of death, anguish, or religion. 3. The use of exotic scales also associated with flamenco music. The Phrygian mode is the most prominent in Albéniz's music, although he also used the Aeolian and Mixolydian modes as well as the whole-tone scale. 4. The transfer of guitar idioms into piano writing.</blockquote>

Following his marriage, Albéniz settled in Madrid, Spain, and produced a substantial quantity of music in a relatively short period. By 1886 he had written over 50 piano pieces. Albéniz biographer Walter A. Clark says that pieces from this period received enthusiastic reception in the composer's many concerts. Chase describes music from this period,

<blockquote>Taking the guitar as his instrumental model, and drawing his inspiration largely from the peculiar traits of Andalusian folk music—but without using actual folk themes—Albéniz achieves a stylization of Spanish traditional idioms that while thoroughly artistic, gives a captivating impression of spontaneous improvisation... Córdoba is the piece that best represents the style of Albéniz in this period, with its hauntingly beautiful melody, set against the acrid dissonances of the plucked accompaniment imitating the notes of the Moorish guzlas. Here is the heady scent of jasmines amid the swaying palm trees, the dream fantasy of an Andalusian "Arabian Nights" in which Albéniz loved to let his imagination dwell.</blockquote>

Later period

While Albéniz's crowning achievement, Iberia, was written in the last years of his life in France, many of its preceding works are well-known and of great interest. The five pieces in Chants d'Espagne (Songs of Spain, published in 1892) are a solid example of the compositional ideas he was exploring in the "middle period" of his life. The suite shows what Albéniz biographer Walter Aaron Clark describes as the "first flowering of his unique creative genius", and the beginnings of compositional exploration that became the hallmark of his later works. This period also includes his operatic works—Merlin, Henry Clifford, and Pepita Jiménez. His orchestral works of this period include Spanish Rhapsody (1887) and Catalonia (1899), dedicated to Ramon Casas, who had painted his full-length portrait in 1894.

Operas

  • The Magic Opal (1892–1893)
  • Pepita Jiménez (January 1895)
  • Henry Clifford (May 1895)
  • Merlin (1897–1902)
  • Lancelot (1902–1903, incomplete)
  • Guinevere (unrealized)

Impact and legacy

As one of the leading composers of his era, Albéniz's influences on both contemporary composers and on the future of Spanish music are profound. His death was a great loss for Spanish music. As a result of his extended stay in France and the friendship he formed with numerous composers there, his composition technique and harmonic language influenced aspiring younger composers such as Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel. Debussy had stated that in the twelve Piano pieces of Iberia, it was the best he had to offer. His activities as conductor, performer and composer significantly raised the profile of Spanish music abroad and encouraged Spanish music and musicians in his own country.

Albéniz's works have become an important part of the repertoire of the classical guitar, many of which have been transcribed by Francisco Tárrega, Miguel Llobet and others. Asturias (Leyenda) in particular is heard most often on the guitar, as are Granada, Sevilla, Cadiz, Cataluña, Córdoba, Mallorca, and Tango in D. Gordon Crosskey and Cuban-born guitarist Manuel Barrueco have both made solo guitar arrangements of all the eight movements in Suite española. Selections from Iberia have rarely been attempted on solo guitar but have been very effectively performed by guitar ensembles, such as the performance by John Williams and Julian Bream of Iberia's opening "Evocation". The Doors incorporated "Asturias" into their song "Spanish Caravan"; also, Iron Maiden's "To Tame a Land" uses the introduction of the piece for the song bridge. More recently, a guitar version of Granada functions as something of a love theme in Woody Allen's 2008 film Vicky Cristina Barcelona.

A film about his life, Albéniz, was made in 1947. It was produced in Argentina.

The theme from Asturias was incorporated or adapted in several soundtracks including the 2008 horror film Mirrors, composed by Javier Navarrete, and the Netflix TV show Godless, composed by Carlos Rafael Rivera.

In 1997 the Fundación Isaac Albéniz was founded to promote Spanish music and musicians and to act as a research centre for Albéniz and Spanish music in general.

References and sources

References

Sources

Further reading

  • with abstracts in English and Spanish
  • Albéniz Foundation
  • Personal papers of Isaac Albéniz in the Biblioteca de Catalunya
  • En torno a Isaac Albéniz y su "Iberia" by Antonio Iglesias, Antonio Fernández-Cid (ref)
  • Facsimiles (La Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes)
  • Improvisación nº 1, Improvisación nº 2, Improvisación nº 3 (ref – La Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes)
  • Photos (Gallica)
  • L'escola pianística catalana (Enregistraments històrics) (la mà de guido, LMG3060)
  • The Catalan Piano Tradition (VAI Audio, 1001)
  • Rollos de Pianola (Obras de Albéniz, Granados, Turina, Ocón, Chapí, Alonso y Otros) (Almaviva, DS – 0141)
  • Tango, arranged by Mischa Elman for violin and piano (from the Sibley Music Library Digital Scores Collection)