Aguilar, Emanuel Abraham
AGUILAR, EMANUEL ABRAHAM
AGUILAR, EMANUEL ABRAHAM (1824–1904), British pianist and composer. Born in London, he was the brother of the novelist, Grace *Aguilar. Aguilar received his musical education at Frankfurt, and his early compositions were performed there with success. In 1848 he gave a concert with the Gewandhaus Orchestra of Leipzig, and then returned to London, where he devoted himself to teaching. He gave annual piano recitals of classical works, especially those of Beethoven. His own compositions include two operas, three symphonies, three cantatas, chamber and piano music, and a set of preparatory pieces for Bach's "Well Tempered Clavier." Aguilar noted down the melodies of the Amsterdam Sephardi tradition as sung by David Aaron De *Sola, and arranged the harmonizations for De Sola's Ancient Melodies of the Liturgy of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews (London, 1857, 19312).
bibliography:
F.-J. Fétis, Biographie universelle des musiciens, 1 (18732), 37–38; Baker, Biog Dict, s.v.; Riemann-Gurlitt, s.v.
[Bathja Bayer]