{"id":44070,"date":"2024-06-19T15:33:03","date_gmt":"2024-06-19T13:33:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/8cfc7f46-5c46-48c1-9fde-d6ead1bdc8d2"},"modified":"2024-06-19T15:36:11","modified_gmt":"2024-06-19T13:36:11","slug":"isaac-albeniz-spanish-nationalism-with-a-french-twist","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/rss_feed\/isaac-albeniz-spanish-nationalism-with-a-french-twist\/","title":{"rendered":"Isaac Alb\u00e9niz: Spanish nationalism with a French twist"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By <\/p>

Published: Wednesday, 19 June 2024 at 13:33 PM<\/p>

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Perhaps the story of Isaac Alb\u00e9niz is not the most colourful, unlikely or fascinating of any composer\u2019s life. But it can\u2019t be far off, especially as accounts of it have often been liberally peppered with self-created disinformation. <\/p>

Composer Paul Dukas<\/a><\/strong> once termed Alb\u00e9niz \u2018a Don Quixote with the manner of Sancho Panza\u2019 and his biographer, Walter Aaron Clark, found discrepancies in information that showed the composer was a deeply unreliable narrator of his own existence. He left, for instance, an account of studying with Franz Liszt<\/a><\/strong> in Budapest that turned out to be pure fantasy. The genuine side of Alb\u00e9niz\u2019s irrepressible spirit, however, lives on in his great-hearted music.<\/p><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-who-was-albeniz\">Who was Alb\u00e9niz?<\/h2><p>Along with his compatriots Enrique <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/enrique-granados\">Granados<\/a><\/strong> and Manuel de Falla, Alb\u00e9niz\u2019s importance is bound up with the musical nationalism of the late-19th and early-20th centuries. His work is inextricably connected to his native Spain, its traditional music and its folklore. In person, though, he was thoroughly cosmopolitan, resident mainly in Paris, but influenced \u2013 indeed facilitated \u2013 by his association with London.<\/p><p>He is best known for his piano works, in particular the vertigo-inducing heights of the cycle <em>Ib\u00e9ria<\/em>, one of the most technically challenging creations in the repertoire. Once, he nearly destroyed its manuscript for fear that it was impossible to play. <\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Alb\u00e9niz: Iberia - Piano (Pub.1906) - Book 1 - 1. Evocaci\u00f3n\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Qzvxff2Umrw?list=PLyrS5_ErY3KSrO3hP38Xi573XjseSDufe\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/><\/div><\/figure><ul><li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/reviews\/instrumental\/albeniz-iberia\">Review: Alb\u00e9niz: <em>Ib\u00e9ria<\/em> (Nelson Goerner)<\/a><\/strong><\/li><\/ul><p>Yet this magnificent work might never have existed were it not for Alb\u00e9niz\u2019s London patron, <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Francis_Money-Coutts,_5th_Baron_Latymer\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Francis Money-Coutts<\/a><\/strong>, Fifth Baron Latymer, who guaranteed him a pension for life in return for setting his libretti to music. So bizarre has the friendship of Spanish musician and English lord seemed to commentators that its crucial role has rarely gained enough credit. Not least, three complete operas resulted which, even if not quite on the Mozart level of perfection, cast important light on Alb\u00e9niz\u2019s creative life.<\/p><ul><li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/works\/six-best-mozart-operas\">Six of the best Mozart operas<\/a><\/strong><\/li><\/ul><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-when-was-albeniz-born\">When was Alb\u00e9niz born?<\/h2><p>Enough myths and mysteries surrounded Alb\u00e9niz even before that. What is certain, however, is that he was born on 29 May 1860 in the small Catalonian town of Camprod\u00f3n, L\u00e9rida, close to the French border. His father, \u00c1ngel, was a customs officer, a sometime would-be local politician and a passionate Freemason. <\/p><p>Isaac was a child prodigy: he made his first concert appearance aged four at Barcelona\u2019s Teatro Romea. When he was seven, his mother took him to play to Antoine Marmontel at the Paris Conservatoire, but the lad was thought too young for the institution\u2026 or so the story went. Another version suggests that Dolores Alb\u00e9niz took two of her daughters to study in Paris, but Isaac and his other sister, Clementina, stayed at home with their father. Clementina\u2019s account says that Isaac could not read music until he was six or seven, but played purely by ear.<\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Isaac Alb\u00e9niz was a gifted pianist from a young age. Pic: Getty Images – Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure><h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-who-did-he-study-with\">Who did he study with?<\/h3><p>Alb\u00e9niz studied in Madrid with Jos\u00e9 Mendiz\u00e1bal and composed his first piece in 1869: a <em>Marcha militar<\/em> for piano. Legend says that he ran away from home, aged 11, on a railway escapade through Spain; but he was probably on a concert tour with his father. Stories about him stowing away on a ship to America also turn out (rather disappointingly) to have little basis: \u00c1ngel was appointed as an inspector-general in Havana, Cuba, in 1875, which is why his son went to the Caribbean and performed there. A couple of months at the Leipzig Conservatory followed the next year. After the money ran out, which it rapidly did, he won a scholarship to study in Brussels.<\/p><p>During the 1880s and \u201990s, Alb\u00e9niz composed a string of solo piano works that resemble Spanish travelogues, In works such as <em>Suite espa\u00f1ola<\/em>, <em>Recuerdos de viaje<\/em>, and <em>Cantos de Espa\u00f1a<\/em>, he employed the edgy rhythms and characteristic melodic twists of Spanish traditional music to evoke atmospheres, landscapes and cityscapes, especially those of Andalucia. <\/p><ul><li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/works\/easy-piano-songs\">Easiest piano works: best tunes for beginners to learn<\/a><\/strong><\/li><\/ul><p>Ironically, however, Spanish politics disenchanted him so much that he preferred to live elsewhere. From abroad, he preserved in his music a personal, idealised version of his homeland \u2013 rather like <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/frederic-chopin\">Chopin<\/a><\/strong> with Poland, or Liszt with Hungary.<\/p><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-was-albeniz-married\">Was Alb\u00e9niz married?<\/h2><p>In 1883 Alb\u00e9niz married his piano student Rosina Jordana. They went on to have five children, one of whom, Alfonso, would become the first footballer to play for both FC Barcelona and Real Madrid.<\/p><ul><li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/six-best-football-mad-musicians\">Six of the best: football-mad musicians<\/a><\/strong><\/li><\/ul><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-where-did-albeniz-live\">Where did Alb\u00e9niz live?<\/h2><p>He moved to London in 1890; he had made his name there through a concert tour the previous year, during which he signed a contract with Henry Lowenfeld (an impresario of sorts), placing his work as composer and pianist under Lowenfeld\u2019s control. This enabled the Alb\u00e9niz family to take up residence in \u2018una casa magnif\u00edca\u2019 in the Brompton area. During these years he reached the peak of his powers as a pianist.<\/p><p>He also tried writing English operetta in <em>The Magic Opal<\/em>, of which George Bernard Shaw commented: \u2018His music is pretty, shapely, unstinted, lively, goodnatured, and far too romantic and refined for the stuff which Mr Arthur Law [the librettist] has given him to set.\u2019 Though well received, the stage production foundered on financial problems, which a cut-down version, <em>The Magic Ring<\/em>, did not solve. After three years the Lowenfeld contract was revised, a third person entering the agreement: Money-Coutts.<\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1128\" height=\"1048\" src=\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2024\/06\/Screenshot-2024-06-19-at-14.27.23.png\" alt=\"Francis Money-Coutts 5th Baron Latymer, friend and collaborator of composer Isaac Alb\u00e9niz\" class=\"wp-image-206623\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Francis Money-Coutts played a significant role in Alb\u00e9niz’s life and career. Pic: Getty Images – Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure><p>In 1894, without losing his patron\u2019s support, Alb\u00e9niz relocated: first briefly to Barcelona, then to Paris, as his wife, Rosina, preferred that city. This move transformed the nature of his music. He became close friends with the French composers Gabriel <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/gabriel-faure\">Faur\u00e9<\/a><\/strong> and Ernest <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/chausson-ernest\">Chausson<\/a><\/strong>, and was substantially influenced by <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/claude-debussy\">Debussy<\/a><\/strong>. <\/p><ul><li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/best-french-composers-ever\">25 greatest French composers of all time<\/a><\/strong><\/li><li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/works\/debussy-for-beginners-the-best-works-by-debussy-to-introduce-to-classical-music-newcomers\">Debussy for beginners: the best recordings for newcomers<\/a><\/strong><\/li><\/ul><h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-links-with-french-impressionism\">Links with French Impressionism<\/h3><p>He took some lessons, too, with d\u2019Indy and Dukas, the latter notably spicing up his orchestration. The impact of French <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/art\/Impressionism-music\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Impressionism<\/a><\/strong> substantially extended his technical and imaginative range, feeding into <em>Ib\u00e9ria\u2019<\/em>s 12 pieces and helping to make that cycle into what Olivier <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/olivier-messiaen\">Messiaen<\/a><\/strong> once called \u2018the masterpiece of Spanish music’.<\/p><p>But how does an impossibly talented Spanish pianist land up setting Arthurian opera libretti by an English aristocratic poet? Was it simply for the money? For years the relationship of Alb\u00e9niz and Money-Coutts was portrayed as a kind of Faustian pact. This was not just unfair, but inaccurate. <\/p><p>Money-Coutts\u2019s patronage enabled Alb\u00e9niz to support his family while also writing the music he longed to write; it also made possible his move to Paris. He would otherwise have been obliged to devote more time to performing and teaching to earn a crust, and his compositions would have been the casualty. Besides, Money-Coutts was anything but a Mephistopheles. He certainly had inherited wealth, but he was also deeply cultured: a lawyer, a prolific author, the editor of numerous poetry books, and as a poet more than just a Great British Amateur.<\/p><p>There was still more to it, however. According to their descendants \u2013 respectively Crispin Money-Coutts, Ninth Baron Latymer, and Alfonso Alzamora \u2013 their families have long suspected that composer and librettist were possibly lovers and that their work together sprang from a deep personal attachment. That impression is borne out by some very touching poems that Money-Coutts wrote in memory of Alb\u00e9niz after his death.<\/p><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-what-operas-did-albeniz-write\">What operas did Alb\u00e9niz write?<\/h2><p>Their joint operas, which began with <em>Henry Clifford<\/em>, have largely languished in obscurity. Set during the Wars of the Roses,<em> Henry Clifford<\/em> was premiered in 1895 in Barcelona but, while generally well received, suffered from indifferent performers, a too-brief run late in the opera season and a general prejudice that a pianist could not be capable of writing a strong opera. It vanished for over a century, until reconstructed and recorded in 2002.<\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Isaac Albeniz, Henry Clifford (excerpts)\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/do8KmnKqqCU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/><\/div><\/figure><p>More recognition has attended <em>Pepita Jim\u00e9nez<\/em> \u2013 perhaps because it most readily meets widespread preconceptions about Alb\u00e9niz\u2019s Spanish style. Based on a novel by Juan Valera, it tells of a wealthy young widow and her love for a man who intends to become a monk. It had a difficult genesis: after the 1896 premiere Alb\u00e9niz revised it substantially, and the third version in 1905 proved the most successful. Other composers tinkered with it after his death, and not to its advantage; one of them changed the ending, making this tuneful, good-natured piece into a tragedy.<\/p><h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-the-influence-of-wagner\">The influence of Wagner<\/h3><p>Money-Coutts\u2019s dream, however, was to create a trilogy based on Arthurian legend: <em>Merlin<\/em>, <em>Lancelot<\/em> and <em>Guinevere<\/em>. <em>Merlin<\/em> alone was completed before Alb\u00e9niz died (he did not live long enough even to begin on <em>Guinevere<\/em>); and the only part he ever heard performed was the prelude, a shadowy soundscape steeped in the music of <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/richard-wagner\">Wagner<\/a><\/strong>, especially <em><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/works\/guide-wagners-parsifal\">Parsifal<\/a><\/strong><\/em> \u2013 which might not otherwise be credited as a major Alb\u00e9niz influence, but is frankly unmistakable.<\/p><p>The opera shows a side of its composer of which we would otherwise know too little. It was not staged with orchestra until 1950, and a modern revival in 2003 was seemingly a one-off, but it has been recorded by an all-star cast including Carlos Alvarez and <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/artists\/placido-domingo\">Pl\u00e1cido Domingo<\/a><\/strong>. Alb\u00e9niz also wrote some piano music based on poems by Money-Coutts: he intended to produce a suite entitled <em>The Alhambra<\/em>, of which the soulful piece \u2018La vega\u2019 is a survivor.<\/p><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-what-is-albeniz-s-most-famous-work\">What is Alb\u00e9niz’s most famous work?<\/h2><p>But it is in his masterpiece <em>Ib\u00e9ria<\/em>, composed between 1905 and \u201908, that the various elements of Spanish character, pianistic virtuosity and the impact of Impressionism arrive in ideal balance. Here Alb\u00e9niz, as he wrote (reliably, for once), had taken \u2018<em>espa\u00f1olismo<\/em> [Spanish nationalism] and technical difficulty to the ultimate extreme\u2019. The 12 pieces \u2013 four books of three each \u2013 do not have to be played together or in order, so perhaps it is no wonder if pianists home in on the Flamenco-laden numbers such as \u2018Triana\u2019 and \u2018El Albaic\u00edn\u2019. Yet it is in the darker, gentler, almost visionary pieces, including \u2018Evocaci\u00f3n\u2019 and \u2018Almer\u00eda\u2019, that perhaps Alb\u00e9niz is revealing his inner self: his rooted anguish, his deep, warm tenderness and his generous soul.<\/p><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-when-did-albeniz-die\">When did Alb\u00e9niz die?<\/h2><p>The composer died in 1909, at the age of just 48, in Cambo-les-Bains, France. He had been suffering from Bright\u2019s Disease, an intensely painful kidney inflammation. His death left the musical world mourning a bright-burning, inimitable star.<\/p><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-and-where-is-he-buried\">And where is he buried?<\/h2><p>Isaac Alb\u00e9niz is buried in Montju\u00efc Cemetery, Barcelona.<\/p><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-what-is-albeniz-s-music-like\">What is Alb\u00e9niz’s music like?<\/h2><p>Here are some elements you will hear in the music of this great Spanish composer.<\/p><h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-spanish-dances\">Spanish dances<\/h3><p>Alb\u00e9niz\u2019s music often pulsates with the infectious rhythms of the <em><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Jota_(music)\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">jota<\/a><\/strong><\/em> or the <em><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Contradanza\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">habanera<\/a><\/strong><\/em>; but he does not often appropriate folk music intact, instead adopting its characteristic elements to inform original work. The <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/musical-terms\/what-is-harmony-in-music\">harmonies<\/a><\/strong> are full of deliciously harsh clashes, the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/musical-terms\/what-is-a-melody\">melodies<\/a><\/strong> twinkle with decorative twists and the textures are busy with street life, guitar strumming and the stamp of dancing feet.<\/p><h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-virtuosity\">Virtuosity<\/h3><p>Alb\u00e9niz\u2019s astonishing pianistic abilities enabled him to realise his richest and most atmospheric ideas on the instrument. His piano music, <em>Ib\u00e9ria<\/em> in particular, is extremely challenging to perform, written with many-layered voicing full of inner busyness and garlanded with scintillating effects.<\/p><h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-sweet-tooth-a-la-francaise\">Sweet tooth \u00e0 la fran\u00e7aise<\/h3><p>Even if opera was not Alb\u00e9niz\u2019s natural habitat, his embrace of French <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/best-romantic-composers\">Romantic<\/a><\/strong> sentiment derived from <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/jules-massenet\">Massenet<\/a><\/strong> and <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/composers\/charles-gounod\">Gounod<\/a><\/strong>, his unfailing lyricism and his refulgent orchestration give his opera <em>Pepita Jim\u00e9nez<\/em> considerable appeal.<\/p><p\/><h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-impressionism-and-introspection\">Impressionism and introspection<\/h3><p>In Paris Alb\u00e9niz soaked up the language of Debussy, Faur\u00e9, Chausson, Dukas and their colleagues: his late works \u2013 his \u2018second manner\u2019 \u2013 were pervaded by the Symbolist introspection so audible in <em>Merlin<\/em>. A supposedly depressive tendency is sometimes attributed to his years of suffering from nephritis and its psychological effect on this liveliest of men.<\/p><p><em>Jessica Duchen would like to thank Crispin Money-Coutts, Ninth Baron Latymer, and Alfonso Alzamora for their help with research for this article.<\/em><\/p><p><em>Top pic: Matt Herring<\/em><\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n<hr class=\"no-tts wp-block-separator\"\/>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Published: Wednesday, 19 June 2024 at 13:33 PM Perhaps the story of Isaac Alb\u00e9niz is not the most colourful, unlikely or fascinating of any composer\u2019s life. But it can\u2019t be far off, especially as accounts of it have often been liberally peppered with self-created disinformation. Composer Paul Dukas once termed Alb\u00e9niz \u2018a Don Quixote […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":44071,"template":"","categories":[1,17],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"9"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/06\/isaac-albeniz-spanish-nationalism-with-a-french-twist.png",1192,794,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/06\/isaac-albeniz-spanish-nationalism-with-a-french-twist-150x150.png",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/06\/isaac-albeniz-spanish-nationalism-with-a-french-twist-300x200.png",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/06\/isaac-albeniz-spanish-nationalism-with-a-french-twist-768x512.png",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/06\/isaac-albeniz-spanish-nationalism-with-a-french-twist-1024x682.png",800,533,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/06\/isaac-albeniz-spanish-nationalism-with-a-french-twist.png",1192,794,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/06\/isaac-albeniz-spanish-nationalism-with-a-french-twist.png",1192,794,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Published: Wednesday, 19 June 2024 at 13:33 PM Perhaps the story of Isaac Alb\u00e9niz is not the most colourful, unlikely or fascinating of any composer\u2019s life. But it can\u2019t be far off, especially as accounts of it have often been liberally peppered with self-created disinformation. Composer Paul Dukas once termed Alb\u00e9niz \u2018a Don Quixote…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/44070"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44071"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44070"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44070"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}