Joaquín Rodrigo Vidre (22 November 1901 – 6 July 1999) was a Spanish compos… Read Full Bio ↴Joaquín Rodrigo Vidre (22 November 1901 – 6 July 1999) was a Spanish composer of classical music and a virtuoso pianist. In spite of being blind from an early age, he achieved great success.
He was born in Sagunto, Valencia, and lost his sight almost completely at the age of three after contracting diphtheria. He began to study piano and violin at the age of eight, but despite being best known for his guitar music, never mastered the instrument himself.
Rodrigo studied music under Francisco Antich in Valencia and under Paul Dukas in Paris. After briefly returning to Spain, he went to Paris again to study musicology, first under Maurice Emmanuel and then under André Pirro. In 1925 he received Spain's National Prize for Orchestra for Cinco piezas infantiles [Five Children's Pieces]. From 1947 Rodrigo was a professor of music history, holding the Manuel de Falla Chair of Music in the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters, at Complutense University of Madrid.
His most famous work, Concierto de Aranjuez, was composed in 1939 in Paris. It is a concerto for solo classical guitar and orchestra. The central adagio movement is one of the most recognizable in 20th century classical music, featuring the interplay of guitar with English horn.
The success of this concerto led to commissions from a number of prominent soloists, including the flautist James Galway and the cellist Julian Lloyd Webber. In 1954 Rodrigo composed Fantasía para un gentilhombre at the request of Andrés Segovia. His Concierto Andaluz, for four guitars and orchestra, was commissioned by Celedonio Romero for himself and his three sons.
In 1991, Rodrigo was raised to the nobility by King Juan Carlos, given the title Marqués de los Jardines de Aranjuez [Marquis of the Gardens of Aranjuez]. He received the prestigious Prince of Asturias Award—Spain's highest civilian honor—in 1996. He was named Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters by the French government in 1998.
He married Victoria Kamhi, a Turkish-born pianist, on 19 January 1933, in Valencia. Their daughter, Cecilia, was born 27 January 1941. He died in 1999 in Madrid. Joaquín Rodrigo and his wife Victoria are buried at the cemetery at Aranjuez.
He was born in Sagunto, Valencia, and lost his sight almost completely at the age of three after contracting diphtheria. He began to study piano and violin at the age of eight, but despite being best known for his guitar music, never mastered the instrument himself.
Rodrigo studied music under Francisco Antich in Valencia and under Paul Dukas in Paris. After briefly returning to Spain, he went to Paris again to study musicology, first under Maurice Emmanuel and then under André Pirro. In 1925 he received Spain's National Prize for Orchestra for Cinco piezas infantiles [Five Children's Pieces]. From 1947 Rodrigo was a professor of music history, holding the Manuel de Falla Chair of Music in the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters, at Complutense University of Madrid.
His most famous work, Concierto de Aranjuez, was composed in 1939 in Paris. It is a concerto for solo classical guitar and orchestra. The central adagio movement is one of the most recognizable in 20th century classical music, featuring the interplay of guitar with English horn.
The success of this concerto led to commissions from a number of prominent soloists, including the flautist James Galway and the cellist Julian Lloyd Webber. In 1954 Rodrigo composed Fantasía para un gentilhombre at the request of Andrés Segovia. His Concierto Andaluz, for four guitars and orchestra, was commissioned by Celedonio Romero for himself and his three sons.
In 1991, Rodrigo was raised to the nobility by King Juan Carlos, given the title Marqués de los Jardines de Aranjuez [Marquis of the Gardens of Aranjuez]. He received the prestigious Prince of Asturias Award—Spain's highest civilian honor—in 1996. He was named Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters by the French government in 1998.
He married Victoria Kamhi, a Turkish-born pianist, on 19 January 1933, in Valencia. Their daughter, Cecilia, was born 27 January 1941. He died in 1999 in Madrid. Joaquín Rodrigo and his wife Victoria are buried at the cemetery at Aranjuez.
Concierto De Aranjuez: 2. Adagio
Joaquín Rodrigo Lyrics
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@frededberg6893
That is one of the most insightful, interesting and accurate statements I have ever heard about a piece of music anytime on YT. Thank you. (And, I'd add, he was blind from age 3 as well).
This piece is one of the most brutally difficult and technically demanding in the guitar repertoire. I am glad to see it received with so much interest. One side benefit of this particular piece was to give a lot of respect to the guitar too!
Other musicians had noticed Concierto de Aranjuez too. Miles Davis made an entire album as a tribute or allegory: Sketches of Spain -- there are passages borrowed directly from the Adagio as heard here.
Rodrigo lost his baby -- but later gave the world one of the best, most interesting, most emotional and one of the most beloved pieces of music the world has ever/will ever know.
Thank you Mr. Rodrigo.
Update: Many who like this might also like Fantasia para un Gentilhombre too.
@justmyopinion628
I was listening to this as my wife passed away, it never fails to bring a flood of emotion every time i hear it.
@CathyKitson
It makes me think of my husband, who died last October. I'm completely alone now. I know exactly you feel.
@huaweinova3i197
Sad
@sltomsik
I feel for you.
Rodrigo wrote this Adagio while his wife was in intensive care with a terminal prognosis.
She recovered after a long struggle. But his love and his pain are in the music, and it touches us when we go through such pain and the memory of it.
I was in an ICU 21 days with a terminal prognosis, in 2014. I kept a guitar by my hospital-bed and it really helped.
@khizarshahdinhayaat7606
May Allah rest her peace 🕊️ in heaven ❤ 💖
@vikki9380
My special friend who introduced me to this song passed away today. I can hardly endure the loss
@njay3029
Rodrigo was virtually blind caused by diphtheria as a child. He was one of ten children, he lost a lot of siblings and yet without bitterness he composed perfect pieces. He
wrote all his compositions in Braille, then dictated them, note by note, bar by bar and alteration by alteration to a copyist, and then revised them. His output was so prolific and much of his music symphonically so complex that his achievement can truly be called unparalleled in classical music.
..He suffered deeply and permanently within his own personal experience, had faced exile and poverty, loss and displacement, yet through the creative power of his music could achieve integration, renewal, and inner peace. From 1950 onwards Rodrigo's music and reputation went from strength to strength.
@combianitaennoruega
Than your fie your information. I didn’t know about him, but I have always been in love of his marvelous music ❤
@zazu4772
Unfortunately l learned he was blind when l visited his birth town in Spain and l was asking my friend what inspired him to wrote such a beautiful piece of music in this town as l visited spain a lot that town wasn't that inspirational compare to other beautiful towns of spain he told me he was blind l felt so sad
@passionateplantgirl3129
They don’t compose music like this anymore…so breathtakingly beautiful