JOAQUIN RODRIGO VIDRE (1901-1999) Marquis of Jardines De

JOAQUIN RODRIGO VIDRE (1901‐1999) an honourable mention from the jury and was Marquis of Jardines de Aranjuez premiered with great success in Valencia and Paris in LIFE AND WORKS 1927 and 1929 respectively. By the latter date Joaquín was studying with his French master Paul Dukas in the LIFE École Normale de Musique in Paris. Rodrigo had decided Joaquín Rodrigo was born in Sagunto, in the province of to move to France in 1927, since the French capital had Valencia on the Mediterranean coast of Spain, on St been from the beginning of the century an important Cecilia's Day, 22 November 1901. The year 2001 thus cultural centre for Spanish writers, painters and marked the centenary of the composer's birth. He was musicians. It was to be expected, therefore, that the the youngest of ten children born to Vicente Rodrigo young Joaquín Rodrigo would want to follow in the Peirats, a landowner from Almenara (Castellón). His footsteps of Albéniz, Falla and Turina. mother, Vicente Rodrigo's second wife, was Juana Vidre Ribelles. In 1905 an epidemic of diphtheria occurred in The youthful works of Joaquín Rodrigo are characterized Sagunto, as a result of which many children died and by a delicate lyrical style, orchestral colours which are at Joaquín became virtually blind. The composer would say times quite daring, and a harmonic vocabulary later, without bitterness, that this personal tragedy reminiscent of Ravel and Granados, among others. These probably led him towards a career in music. characteristics, and others, would be confirmed and developed through the years of study with Paul Dukas. The Rodrigo family moved to Valencia when Joaquín was On his arrival in Paris, Rodrigo and Rafael Ibáñez, his four years old, where he entered a college for blind friend and secretary, took lodgings in the house of the children to begin his education. He quickly showed Valencian painter, Francisco Povo, who introduced them particular interest in literature and music. In Valencia the to numerous artists, musicians and editors. In the class Rodrigo family often went to the Apollo Theatre, and of Paul Dukas, where Joaquín Rodrigo studied for five young Joaquín was particularly attracted by the music years, there were also the Mexican composer, Manuel which accompanied the performances. He began to Ponce, and the Basque conductor, Jesús Arámbarri, who receive instruction in music from teachers at the would later become a great interpreter of the works of Valencia Conservatoire, although he did not formally Rodrigo. Paul Dukas described Joaquín Rodrigo as enrol there. His teacher of harmony and composition perhaps the most gifted of all the Spanish composers he was Francisco Antich, and the musicians Enrique Gomá had seen arrive in Paris. An event of great significance in and Eduardo López Chávarri, whose classes he attended, Rodrigo's life occurred at that time, a meeting with also exercised an important influence on his musical Manuel de Falla, which was the start of a lasting education. As far as the literary culture was concerned, friendship between the two. Falla, who was to be which Rodrigo prided himself in all his life, this was due admitted as a member of the French Légion d'Honneur, in great part to the work of Rafael Ibáñez, who was insisted that in the concert which was to follow the employed by the family to look after Joaquín, but who ceremony not only his own music but also the music of was also his companion, secretary and copyist in young Spanish colleagues such as Hálffter, Rodrigo and subsequent years. "Rafael lent me the eyes I did not Turina should be heard. Rodrigo was always grateful to have", the composer used to say about the friend who Falla for that opportunity to perform his own music read him the masterpieces of Spanish literature, before a distinguished and discerning audience. together with works of philosophy, essays and monographs on the most varied subjects. On a personal level it was also during these years that the most important event of all occurred for Joaquín At the beginning of the 1920s Joaquín Rodrigo was Rodrigo, his meeting with the Turkish pianist Victoria already an excellent pianist and composition student Kamhi, whom he married in 1933. Victoria Kamhi was familiar with the most important contemporary trends in one of the most important influences in Joaquín the arts. His first compositions were written in small Rodrigo's career. An excellent pianist, she decided to musical forms, although his first large orchestral work give up her professional career when she married, in dates from1924. His opus 1, Two Sketches for violin and order to dedicate herself exclusively to her husband. Her piano ('La enamorada junto al surtidor' and 'Pequeña ability to speak several European languages together ronda'), was written in 1923. The same year also saw the with an extensive knowledge of different European composition of the Suite para piano, the Cançoneta for cultures made Victoria the ideal companion for Joaquín. violin and string orchestra, and an austere Ave Maria for Many years later Victoria published an extensive voice and organ which he arranged years later for autobiography recounting her childhood, her marriage unaccompanied choir. The Berceuse de otoño, also from to Joaquín, and the story of their lives. Its title was De la 1923, was composed originally for piano, but Rodrigo mano de Joaquín Rodrigo: Historia de nuestra vida. orchestrated it in the 1930s and also incorporated it later into the beautiful Música para un jardín of 1957. The following year, 1934, after settling in Valencia with His first work for large orchestra, Juglares, was his wife, Joaquín Rodrigo composed various songs, successfully premiered by the Valencia Symphony among them the famous Cántico de la esposa, to words Orchestra conducted by Enrique Izquierdo in 1924. by St John of the Cross, and his largest work so far, the Encouraged by this triumph, Joaquín entered a national symphonic poem, Per la flor del lliri blau. With this work competition the following year with a much more he obtained the Círculo de Bellas Artes Prize in Valencia. ambitious work, Cinco piezas infantiles, which received In Madrid, and again thanks to the support of Manuel de Rodrigo Edition 1 Falla, Rodrigo was awarded the Conde de Cartagena The decade of the 1940s was especially important to Scholarship, which allowed him to return to Paris with Joaquín Rodrigo on both professional and personal Victoria. Joaquín began to compose assiduously, and levels. From 1939 he held the post of Head of the Artistic works from this period include some of his most Section of ONCE, the Spanish national organization for important songs and piano pieces. At the same time the the blind. He was also from 1940 music assessor for composer was attending the classes given by Maurice‐ Radio Nacional. Cecilia, his only child, was born in 1941, Emmanuel at the Sorbonne, and also those of André and the following year the composer received the Pirro. He also attended the last classes of his teacher, National Music Prize for his Concierto Heroico for piano Paul Dukas. These courses, which covered music from and orchestra. In 1942 he began work as music critic for Lassus to the history of opera, were an important source the newspapers Pueblo, Marca and Madrid. In 1944 and of inspiration for Rodrigo, who was now beginning to 45 he was the Director of Music for Radio Nacional, and have a very solid musical education. In the summer of from 1947 onwards, for the next thirty years, he this same year, the Rodrigos went to Austria to cover the occupied the position of Manuel de Falla Professor of Salzburg Festival as official reviewers for Le monde Music at the Complutense University of Madrid. In 1945 musical in Paris, and the Valencian paper, Las provincias. he was awarded the Encomienda de Alfonso X el Sabio. It was in Salzburg that Rodrigo composed his moving The national celebrations of the four‐hundredth tribute to the memory of Dukas, the Sonada de adiós, at anniversary of the birth of Cervantes in 1948 inspired the instigation of the Revue musicale. one of his most important works, Ausencias de Dulcinea, which was awarded the Cervantes Prize in April of that After obtaining the renewal of the Conde de Cartagena year. Scholarship, Joaquín Rodrigo and his wife decided at the beginning of June 1936 to spend some time in Germany, On the 18 November 1951 Rodrigo was admitted to a at Baden‐Baden. But on the 18th July news came that place as a permanent member of the Real Academia de the Spanish Civil War had broken out. The three years Bellas Artes de San Fernando. After his formal address, which followed were perhaps the most difficult in the which took as its subject 'Taught technique and lives of Joaquín and Victoria, since the Scholarship was unlearned inspiration', he performed the Cinco Sonatas not renewed again. They decided to give Spanish and de Castilla con Toccata a modo de Pregón, which had music lessons in their room at the institute for the blind been specially written for the occasion. In 1953 the in Freiburg, in the Black Forest, where they were composer was awarded the Gran Cruz de Alfonso X el received as 'Spanish refugees'. The composer made a Sabio and was elected Vice‐President of the Spanish study of bird‐song there, as well as composing a number Section of the International Society for Contemporary of songs, among them the Canción del cuclillo to a text Music. In 1954, at the request of the guitarist Andrés by Victoria, inspired by the beauty of their surroundings.

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