Isaac Albéniz

Isaac Manuel Francisco Albéniz y Pascual was a Spanish pianist, conductor, and composer, regarded as a leading figure of the post-romantic period. His most famous works are piano pieces that blend classical forms with Spanish folk music. The suite *Iberia*, written between 1905 and 1908, is considered his masterpiece and influenced both European classical music and Spanish nationalism. Albéniz was closely associated with the Generation of '98. Although he never wrote for the guitar, many of his piano pieces—such as *Asturias (Leyenda)*, *Granada*, *Sevilla*, *Cadiz*, *Córdoba*, *Cataluña*, *Mallorca*, and *Tango in D*—were later transcribed for classical guitar and became important works in that repertoire. Some of his personal papers are held in the Library of Catalonia.

Albéniz was born in 1860 in Camprodon, in the province of Girona. His father, Ángel Albéniz, worked as a customs official, and his mother was Maria de los Dolores Pascual. A child prodigy, he first performed in public at age four. His sister recalled that by age three he knew his scales and arpeggios and played with expression. The siblings performed together in Barcelona when Isaac was four; a pile of pillows was placed on the piano bench so he could reach the keyboard. After their four-hand piece, the audience threw toys, mostly colored balls, onto the stage, and the young pianist immediately began playing with them.

At age seven, after lessons with Antoine François Marmontel, Albéniz passed the entrance exam for the Conservatoire de Paris but was refused admission because he was considered too young. His concert career began at nine, when his father toured him and his sister Clementina through northern Spain. A popular story claims that at twelve he stowed away on a ship to Buenos Aires, then traveled to Cuba, the United States (giving concerts in New York and San Francisco), Liverpool, London, and Leipzig. By fifteen he had performed worldwide. This tale is not entirely false—Albéniz did travel extensively as a performer—but he was accompanied by his father, whose customs work required frequent travel, as shown by matching concert dates with his father’s itinerary.

In 1876, after a short stay at the Leipzig Conservatory, Albéniz studied at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels, funded by a royal grant obtained by King Alfonso’s personal secretary, Guillermo Morphy. Morphy thought highly of Albéniz, who later dedicated *Sevilla* to Morphy’s wife at its Paris premiere in January 1886. In 1880, Albéniz went to Budapest to study with Franz Liszt, but Liszt was in Weimar.

In 1883, Albéniz met the teacher and composer Felip Pedrell, who inspired him to write Spanish music such as the *Chants d’Espagne*. The first movement of that suite, originally titled Prelude and later renamed *Asturias (Leyenda)* after the composer’s death, is now a staple of classical guitar repertoire, though written for piano. Many of Albéniz’s other works were transcribed for guitar by Francisco Tárrega. At the 1888 Barcelona Universal Exposition, the piano maker Érard sponsored a series of twenty concerts featuring Albéniz’s music.

Also in 1883, Albéniz married Rosina Jordana Lagarriga, daughter of the former mayor of the Gràcia district and a former student of his. They had three children: Alfonso (1885–1941), who played for FC Barcelona in the early 1900s before becoming a diplomat; Laura (1890–1944), who became a noted illustrator; and Enriqueta, who died in infancy in 1886. Albéniz’s great-granddaughter is Cécilia Attias, former wife of Nicolas Sarkozy.

The peak of his concert career was from 1889 to 1892, with tours across Europe. In the 1890s, he lived in London and Paris. In London, he wrote musical comedies that caught the attention of the wealthy Francis Money-Coutts, 5th Baron Latymer. Money-Coutts commissioned and provided librettos for the opera *Henry Clifford* and a projected trilogy of Arthurian operas. The first, *Merlin* (1898–1902), was thought lost but has since been reconstructed and performed. Albéniz never completed *Lancelot* (only the first act exists as a vocal and piano score) and never began *Guinevere*.

In 1900, Albéniz began suffering from Bright’s disease and returned to writing piano music. Between 1905 and 1908, he composed *Iberia*, a suite of twelve piano “impressions.” He died from his kidney disease on 18 May 1909 in Cambo-les-Bains, France, at age 48. Only weeks before his death, the French government awarded him the Legion of Honour. He is buried at Montjuïc Cemetery in Barcelona.

Albéniz’s early works were mostly salon-style music. His first published composition, *Marcha Militar*, appeared in 1868; earlier works are lost. Until the mid-1880s, he composed in traditional styles ranging from Rameau, Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, and Liszt. He also wrote at least five zarzuelas, of which all but two are lost.