Rebecca Nickles
Piano Literature II
Dr. Kodanashvili
5/2/18
Enrique Granados
A composer that was just gaining momentum with his compositions before his untimely death, Enrique Granados left a small but notable impact on the musical world. Although the majority of his compositions do not exhibit a great deal of originality, sometimes composers’ charm come sometimes nearer to our heart than that of greater geniuses”. Enrique Granados was born on July 27th, 1876 in Catalonia. He was raised primarily in Barcelona, Spain. For unknown reasons, Granados actually believed himself to be born in 1868 rather than 1867, even stating so on his life-insurance policy. Yet we know he was born in 1867 due to his baptism records. The name Granados means “distinguished” or “select”, and he certainly lived up to his name. Although Granados was seemingly just finding his true voice as a composer before his tragic death at the age of forty-eight, his contributions to the musical world have not been forgotten.
Many things played a roll in Granados’ late development as a musician and composer. At the time of his birth, Catalonia had relatively low musical standards and the average audience was rather easy to please. His first musical instruction came from an elderly Castilian soldier, Jose Junqueda, who played the lute. It is uncertain how credible this instruction was, however, as he was missing quite a few teeth and Granados wrote that they “are very necessary to blow and to play, at least according to those who know about such things”. It was not until he was eleven that he received any true formal musical education from Francisco Xavier Jurnet, who taught at the Escolania de la Merce in Barcelona. In comparison to many other notable composers, beginning formal music lessons at age eleven was quite late, and indeed put Granados behind in his musical development. He studied with Jurnet until he was thirteen, and having realized it was time to move on from his instructor, began studying with Joan Baptista Pujol. Pujol took some convincing, however, to allow young Granados into his studio. Yet a solid performance of Gottschalk’s The Last Hope convinced Pujol that Granados deserved his time and instruction. Granados’ family was not a wealthy one, and with the sudden death of his father in 1882 he began to play at local cafes to help his mother provide for his four siblings. It was during this time that he became acquainted with the wealthy merchant, Eduardo Conde, whose children he gave lessons. Without this relationship, Granados would never have been able to afford his education in Paris.
In 1886, Granados set out to audition at the Paris Conservatory, but unfortunately fell ill and missed the entrance exams. He also had passed his twentieth birthday while recovering, shattering his hopes of being accepted into the Conservatory, who maintained a strict age limit policy. Fortunately, Granados’ journey to Paris was not in vein, as he was still able to take private lessons with Charles de Beriot, who was one of the leading pedagogues at the time. He was also fortunate enough to study with Felipe Pedrell, who taught him of Spanish popular music, but sufficient time was not spent on developing Granados’ technical knowledge of the subject.Despite these lessons, many feel that Granados returned home without ‘sufficient equipment and style’ to help guide his compositions, as is evident in his earlier works. Again, because of these setbacks, Granados is hindered in his musical development as a composer.
Because of these educational deficiencies that the majority of Granados’ works are lacking inspiration and originality. Author Jean-Aubry believes that “it is certain that had Granados received a more methodical teaching, he would have achieved a steadier way of expressing himself and greater variety of style”. One of Granados’ most notable ‘defect’ as a composer is his often overuse of a theme. Yet, despite all of this, Granados’ compositions still possess a certain level of charm and familiarity that make them appealing to listeners. Jean-Aubry goes on to state that:
Perhaps he would have lost some of his characteristic qualities – that unique spontaneousness, that musical instinct which gave him, in spite of his refinement, some likeness to those troubadours of yore, inventors of themes who never troubled themselves about purity of style, haunted as they were by the desire for communicating their feelings in the most direct way.
Because of his lack of training, defining Granados as a composer is a difficult task. Douglas Riva, who recorded all of Granados’ works for Naxos, offers his thoughts on labeling Granados:
There’s his voice, his sensibility, but they’re not all of a sort. It’s hard to pin him down, and maybe that’s why he’s considered a Spanish nationalist because people don’t know what else to say.
Perhaps his best known work and the composition that provides insight into the type of composer Granados was becoming is his Goyescas, Op. 11 seven pieces for the piano composed in 1911. Subtitled Los majos enamorados (The Gallants in Love), these works were inspired by paintings by Francisco Goya. The suite includes Los requiebros (The Compliments), Coloquio enla reja (Conversation at the Window), El fandango de candil (Fandango by Candlelight), Quejas, o La Maja y el ruisenor (Complaint, or the Girl and the Nightingale), El Amor y la muerte (Ballad of Love and Death), Epilogo: Serenata del espectro (Epilogue: Serenade to a Spectre), and El pelele: Escena Goyesca (The Puppet: Goya Scene). Jean-Aubrey explains that “the Goyescas are a drama for two characters, the ‘Majo’ and the ‘Maja’, expressing in turn the wishes, desires, anxieties, expectations, the tremulous and ardent joys of love, with all that the Spanish temper brings in of religious fervour and fervent passion”. Other notable compositions include Twelve Danzas espanolas for piano, an opera Maria del Carmen, and eight Valses poeticos.
It would seem that things were just beginning to take off for Granados and he was beginning to develop his own identity as a composer when misfortune struck. The ship Sussex which he and his wife were aboard was torpedoed by German submarines in 1916 while returning from the New York premiere of the stage adaption of Goyescas. A close friend reminiscing of the last time he spoke to Granados shortly before he left for the United States states that:
Although his head was plentifully sprinkled with grey hairs he was now confidently full of entirely new schemas, and that he was happy, not so much for what he had already done, but because he at last knew that he was capable of doing, and what dreams he was about to realize on his return.
It is unfortunate that the world would never know what new schemas Granados believed he possessed. Granados did, however, leave more than just his compositions for the world to remember him by. Before his death, he founded the Granados Academy, which his former student Frank Marshall took over took over upon his death. The Academy has since produced well known performers such as Alicia de Larrocha and Rosa Sabater. He also wrote several piano methods, most of which focusing on the use of pedal. Although he is often looked upon as a lesser figure in the musical world, his contributions will not be forgotten.
Bibliography
Clark, Walter Aaron. 2006. Enrique Granados : Poet of the Piano. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost), EBSCOhost (accessed April 28, 2018).
Jean-Aubry, G. "Enrique Granados." The Musical Times 57, no. 886 (1916): 535-37. doi:10.2307/908363.
Larrad, Mark. "Granados (y Campiña), Enrique." Grove Music Online. 28 Apr. 2018. http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000011603.
Mason, A. L. "Enrique Granados (1867-1916)." Music & Letters 14, no. 3 (1933): 231-38. http://www.jstor.org/stable/727665.
Quantrill, Peter. "Composing from the heart: the music of Spanish composer Enrique Granados, born 150 years ago, isn't easy to categorise because, as he freely admitted, his main objective was to express his feelings." Gramophone, August 2017. General OneFile (accessed April 28, 2018). http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A501486699/ITOF?u=uni_rodit&sid=ITOF&xid=eb6d5868.