Granados, Enrique

Granados, Enrique (ānrē`kā gränä`thōs), 1867–1916, Spanish composer and pianist, b. Havana; studied at Barcelona with Felipe Pedrell. His most significant works are those for the piano in which he created the peculiarly Spanish manner later used by de Falla. Goyescas (1911), a set of piano pieces that later formed the basis for an opera of the same name, is his outstanding work. He appeared as a pianist in Paris and Spain, and Casals and Saint-Saëns were among artists who performed with him and admired his style.

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Granados (y Campiña), Enrique

(born July 27, 1867, Lérida, Spain—died March 24, 1916, at sea) Spanish composer. He studied composition with Felipe Pedrell and concertized as a pianist. From 1901 he taught at the Academia Granados, the music school he founded in Barcelona. He wrote four zarzuelas, including María del Carmen (1898), and two “poemas” (also stage works), as well as songs and chamber works. His fame rests on the piano suite Goyescas (1911). His opera of the same name was performed successfully at New York's Metropolitan Opera in 1916. Returning to Spain from this performance, Granados was drowned when his ship was torpedoed by a German submarine.

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Granados, Enrique 

(full name, E. Granados y Campiña). Born July 27, 1867, at Lérida, Catalonia; died Mar. 24, 1916, in the English Channel. Spanish composer, pianist, and pedagogue.

Granados studied in Barcelona under F. Jurnet and J. Pujol (piano) and F. Pedrell (composition). He mastered music in Paris under C. de Bėriot (piano) and J. Massenet (composition). He gave frequent concerts upon his return to Spain. He was well-known as an interpreter of E. Grieg and F. Chopin (he wrote a new instrumentation of Chopin’s second concerto). He performed with I. Albéniz, E. Ysaÿe, C. Saint-Saëns, and J. Thibaud. He founded the short-lived Sociedad de Conciertos Clásicos in Barcelona in 1900. He founded the Academy Granados in 1901 and directed it until 1916. He made his debut as a composer with the piano cycle Spanish Dances (4 volumes, 1892–1900). His piano pieces based on national Spanish subjects and melodies include Goyescas, two cycles inspired by the works of F. Goya. He later wrote an opera of the same name, first performed in 1916 in New York.

Granados is one of the representatives of the Spanish musical renaissance, a trend that was related to folk music and the development of national traditions. His works include six operas, symphonic poems, suites, piano trios, choruses, and songs; he combines professional mastery with broad use of musical folklore. But elements of artificiality are inherent in much of his work. Granados drowned in a shipwreck in the English Channel.

REFERENCE

Fernández-Cid, A. Granados. [Madrid, 1956.]