Isaac Manuel Francisco Albéniz (1860–1909) was a Catalan pianist and compos… Read Full Bio ↴Isaac Manuel Francisco Albéniz (1860–1909) was a Catalan pianist and composer best known for his piano works based on Spanish folk music.
Born in Camprodon, Girona, Catalonia, on 29th May 1860, Albéniz was a child prodigy who first performed at the age of four. At the age of seven he passed the entrance examination for piano at the Paris Conservatoire, but he was refused admission because he took out a ball from his pocket and broke a glass window while playing with it. By fifteen, he had already given concerts worldwide. After a short stay at the Leipzig Conservatory, in 1876 he went to study in Brussels. In 1880, he went to Budapest to study with Franz Liszt, only to find out that Liszt was in Weimar, Germany.
In 1883 he met the teacher and composer Felipe Pedrell, who inspired him to write Spanish music such as the Suite Española, op. 47. The fifth movement of that suite, called Asturias (Leyenda) is probably most famous these days in the classical guitar world, even though it was originally composed for piano and only later transcribed to guitar by Francisco Tárrega. Many of his other compositions were also later transcribed to guitar - Albéniz himself preferred Tárrega's guitar transcriptions to his original piano works.
During the 1890s Albéniz lived in London and Paris and wrote mainly theatrical works. In 1900 he started to suffer from kidney disease and returned to writing piano music. Between 1905 and 1909 he composed his most famous work, Iberia (1908), a suite of twelve piano "impressions".
His orchestral works include Spanish Rhapsody (1887) and Catalonia (1899).
Albéniz died on 18th May 1909 at the age of forty-eight in Cambo-les-Bains, and is buried in the Cementiri del Sudoest, Barcelona.
Born in Camprodon, Girona, Catalonia, on 29th May 1860, Albéniz was a child prodigy who first performed at the age of four. At the age of seven he passed the entrance examination for piano at the Paris Conservatoire, but he was refused admission because he took out a ball from his pocket and broke a glass window while playing with it. By fifteen, he had already given concerts worldwide. After a short stay at the Leipzig Conservatory, in 1876 he went to study in Brussels. In 1880, he went to Budapest to study with Franz Liszt, only to find out that Liszt was in Weimar, Germany.
In 1883 he met the teacher and composer Felipe Pedrell, who inspired him to write Spanish music such as the Suite Española, op. 47. The fifth movement of that suite, called Asturias (Leyenda) is probably most famous these days in the classical guitar world, even though it was originally composed for piano and only later transcribed to guitar by Francisco Tárrega. Many of his other compositions were also later transcribed to guitar - Albéniz himself preferred Tárrega's guitar transcriptions to his original piano works.
During the 1890s Albéniz lived in London and Paris and wrote mainly theatrical works. In 1900 he started to suffer from kidney disease and returned to writing piano music. Between 1905 and 1909 he composed his most famous work, Iberia (1908), a suite of twelve piano "impressions".
His orchestral works include Spanish Rhapsody (1887) and Catalonia (1899).
Albéniz died on 18th May 1909 at the age of forty-eight in Cambo-les-Bains, and is buried in the Cementiri del Sudoest, Barcelona.
More Genres
No Artists Found
More Artists
Load All
No Albums Found
More Albums
Load All
No Tracks Found
Genre not found
Artist not found
Album not found
Search results not found
Song not found
Córdoba form "Cantos de España" op. 232
Isaac Albéniz Lyrics
No lyrics text found for this track.
The lyrics are frequently found in the comments by searching or by filtering for lyric videos
The lyrics are frequently found in the comments by searching or by filtering for lyric videos
Tony Montana80
Chants d'Espagne (Cantos de Espania) Op. 232 (Paris, 1891-94)
This marvelous collection of five evocative Andalucian pieces, written between 1891 and 1894, prefaces the remarkable works of Albéniz's final years. The collection originally comprised only three items, Prélude, Orientale, and Sous le Palmier, and was first published in that form in Barcelona by Juan Bta. Pujol & Co. in 1892. This was followed in 1897 by an edition published by Union Musical Espanola in Madrid which added two further movements, Cordoba and Seguidillas. Seven years later, in 1911, the Prélude and Seguidillas were incorporated into the first Suite Espanola, where their titles were changed in order to accommodate those originally advertised in 1886, Asturias (subtitled leyenda) and Castilla (subtitled seguidillas) respectively.
4. Cordoba
Regarded as one of the masterworks of this period, Cordoba is a remarkable reflection of the cultural and spiritual diversity of the history of the city after which it is named. The low opening fifths seem at once to capture the vastness of the great pillared cathedral at Cordoba, while forming the basis for the ensuing choral which evokes the religious diversity—Muslim Jewish, and Christian—of which the city has at various times been a center and which, architecturally, are juxtaposed there; in the words of Andre Gauthier, “Spirituality and pagan pleasure oppose each other until they reach the conclusion of the work.” Albéniz added the following annotation to the manuscript of piece:
In the silence of the night,
interrupted by the whispering
aromatic breeze of jasmines,
the Guzlas* accompany the Serenatas
and their fervent melodies,
which diffuse in the air notes as sweet as the
sound of the palms swaying in the
sky above.
* (Guzlas = ancient Arabic instruments)
Larry30102
Perhaps the best classical guitar duet album of all time!
Tony Montana80
Right