Granados (y Campiña), Enrique

Granados (y Campiña), Enrique, distinguished Spanish composer, pianist, and teacher, father of Eduardo Granados (y Campiña); b. Lérida, July 27, 1867; d. in the aftermath of the torpedoing of the S.S. Sussex by a German submarine in the English Channel, March 24, 1916. He went to Barcelona and studied piano with Francisco Jurnet at the Escolania de la Marce and privately with Joan Baptista Pujol, and from 1883 took private composition lessons with Pedrell. In 1887 he went to Paris to pursue his training in piano with Charles de Bériot. In 1889 he returned to Barcelona, and in 1890 made his recital debut there. He continued to make successful appearances as a pianist in subsequent years while pursuing his interest in composing. On Nov. 12, 1898, he scored a notable success as a composer with the premiere of his zarzuela Maria del Carmen in Madrid. In 1900 he organized the Sociedad de Conciertos Clasicos in Barcelona, and from 1901 taught there at his own Academia Granados. He secured his reputation as a composer with his imaginative and effective piano suite Goyescas (1911). He subsequently utilized music from the suite and from some of his vocal tonadillas to produce the opera Goyescas, which received its premiere at the Metropolitan Opera in N.Y. on Jan. 28, 1916, with the composer in attendance. It was on his voyage home that Granados perished. Although he was picked up by a lifeboat after the attack on the S.S. Sussex, he dove into the sea to save his drowning wife and both were lost. Granados7 output reflected the influence of the Spanish and Romantic traditions, and the Castilian tonadilla. His finest scores are notable for their distinctive use of melody, rhythm, harmony, and color.

Works

DRAMATIC Maria del Carmen, zarzuela (Madrid, Nov. 12, 1898); Blancaflor (Barcelona, Jan. 30, 1899); Petrarca, lyric drama (n.d.); Picarol, lyric drama (Barcelona, Feb. 23, 1901); Follet, lyric drama (Barcelona, April 4, 1903); Gaziel, lyric drama (Barcelona, Oct. 27, 1906); Liliana, lyric drama (Barcelona, July 9, 1911); La cieguecita de Belen or El portalico de Belen (1914); Goyescas, opera (1915; N.Y, Jan. 28, 1916); also Miel de la Alcarria, incidental music (n.d.) and Ovillejos o La gallina ciega, Sainte lirico (n.d.; unfinished). ORCH.: Marcha de los venddos (Barcelona, Oct. 31, 1899); Suite on Gallician Themes (Barcelona, Oct. 31, 1899); Dante, or La Divina Commedia for Mezzo-soprano and Orch. (private perf., Barcelona, June 1908; rev. version, Barcelona, May 25, 1915); Navidad (1914; Madrid, May 31, 1916); undated scores: Boires baixes: Suite drabe u oriental; Torrijos. CHAMBER: Trio for Violin, Cello, and Piano (1894; Madrid, Feb. 15, 1895); Piano Quintet (Madrid, Feb. 15, 1895); Violin Sonata (c. 1910); Serenade for 2 Violins and Piano (Paris, April 4, 1914); Madrigal for Cello and Piano (Barcelona, May 2, 1915); undated scores: Romanza for Violin and Piano; Cello Sonata; 3 Preludes for Violin and Piano.Piano : Danzas espanolas (1892-1900); Goyescas, 2 books (Book 1, Barcelona, March 11, 1911); numerous solo pieces. VOCAL: Cant de les estrelles for Chorus, Piano, and Organ (1910; Barcelona, March 11, 1911); Elisenda for Voice, Piano, Harp, String Quintet, Flute, Oboe, and Clarinet (1910; Barcelona, July 7, 1912); L’Herba de amor for Chorus and Organ (1914); songs.

Bibliography

G. Boladeres Ibern, E. G.: Recuerdos de su vid y estudio critico de su obra por su antiguo discipulo (Barcelona, 1921); H. Collet, Albeniz et G. (Paris, 1925; 2nd ed., 1948); J. Subira, E. G.: Su produccion musical, su madrilenismo, su personalidad artistica (Madrid, 1926); A. Fernandez-Cid, G. (Madrid, 1956); P. Vila San-Juan, Papeles intimos de E. G. (Barcelona, 1966); J. Riera, E.G.: Estudio (Lerida, 1967); A. Tarazona, E. G.: El ultimo romdntico (Madrid, 1975); A. Carreras i Granados, G. (Barcelona, 1988); M. Larrad, The Goyescas of G. (thesis, Univ. of Liverpool, 1988); C. Hess, E. G.: A Bio-Bibliography (N.Y, 1991); M. Larrad, The Catalan Theater Works of E. G. (diss., Univ. of Liverpool, 1991).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire