Kirjahaku

Enrique Granados (1867-1916) is best known for his music inspired by the art of Francisco Goya, especially the monumental Goyescas suite for solo piano. This biography examines Granados's life and music in the context of Spanish art, literature, and history, leading to a fuller understanding of his enduring significance.

An account of the career of Isaac Albeniz (1860-1909), a concert pianist renowned for creating a national style of Spanish piano music and fostering the growth of the concerto, orchestral music, and opera in Spain. As a touring child prodigy who supposedly stowed away on a steamer to the New World, later studied with Liszt, and eventually got ensnared in a "Faustian pact" with the wealthy English librettist, Frances Burdett Money-Coutts, his career has become the stuff of legend. Based on documentary evidence, this biography aims to debunk the mythology surrounding his career, much of it spun by the composer himself. Clark also reveals a complex individual who captured the mystery of Spain in his music yet felt estranged from his homeland in reality.

Walter Aaron Clark's detailed and accurate account (the first in English) of one of the most intriguing figures of the Romantic period is now available in paperback. Isaac Albéniz (1860-1909), a renowned concert pianist, created a national style of Spanish piano music and also fostered the growth in Spain of the concerto, orchestral music, and opera. His career was to become the stuff of legend: a touring child prodigy who supposedly stowed away on a steamer to the New World, he later studied with Liszt, and eventually became ensnared in a 'Faustian pact' with the wealthy English librettist Frances Burdett Money-Coutts. Based on a wealth of new and previously overlooked documentary evidence, this biography debunks the mythology surrounding Albéniz's career—much of it spun by the composer himself—and reveals a complex individual who was able to capture the mystery of Spain in his music yet who in reality felt estranged from his homeland.

Enrique Granados (1867-1916) is one of the most compelling figures of the late-Romantic period in music. During his return voyage to Spain after the premiere of his opera Goyescas in New York, a German submarine torpedoed the ship on which he and his wife were sailing and they perished in the waters of the English Channel. His death was mourned on both sides of the Atlantic as a stunning loss to the music world, for he had died at the pinnacle of his career and his late works held the promise of greater things to come. While Granados's tragic demise casts a pall over his life story, author Walter Clark reveals an artist of remarkable versatility and individuality and sheds new light on his enduring significance.