I'm Naomi Lewin. Welcome to Classics for Kids. One of the Earliest Known Composers in Spain Was 13Th Century King Alfonso X
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C.F.K. Spain #1 – Classical Music in Spain Hello – I'm Naomi Lewin. Welcome to Classics for Kids. One of the earliest known composers in Spain was 13th century king Alfonso X. He was so interested in learning, that he was called “Alfonso El Sabio” – Alfonso the Wise. Alfonso was a poet, and he also wrote melodies for some of his work. MUSIC: ALFONSO X: Sancta María strela do dia (Cantigas de Santa María) Alia Vox/ /La Capella Reial de Catalunya/Hespèrion XX/Jordi Savall, conductor Back then, Spain was made up of several different kingdoms. Even earlier – in the 8th century – a lot of the country was taken over by Muslims from Northern Africa. They were known as Moors in English ... “moros” in Spanish. The Moors ruled parts of Spain until 1492, when Spain officially became a Catholic country. But the music the Moors brought with them became part of Spanish music. MUSIC: ANONYMOUS: Danza morisca Alia Vox/Hespèrion XXI/Jordi Savall, conductor The other people who were forced out of Spain in 1492 were the Jews, who had their own music. MUSIC: ANONYMOUS, arr. MANUEL VALLS: Yo m’enamori d’un aire RCA/Victoria de los Angeles, soprano/ Jean-Claude Gérard, flute/Oscar Ghiglia, guitar The most famous 16th century Spanish composer was Tomás Luis de Victoria. Victoria spent some time in Rome, where he worked as an organist, singer, teacher, and conductor – and also became a priest. MUSIC: VICTORIA: O magum mysterium 2L (Lindberg Lyd)/Grex Vocalis/Carl Høgset, conductor One of the instruments the Moors brought to Spain was the oud, which is a close relative of the lute. The oud and the lute evolved into the vihuela, and by the 17th century, the vihuela had evolved into the Baroque guitar. MUSIC: SANZ: Canarios Delphian/Gordon Ferries, baroque guitar Gaspar Sanz wrote three books on how to play the guitar, including lots of music. Centuries later, other composers used Sanz's music in their work. Joaquín Rodrigo put it into his Fantasía para un gentilhombre – Fantasy for a Gentleman. MUSIC: JOAQUÍN RODRIGO: Fantasia para un gentilhombre: Mvt. 4, "Canario" Deutsche Grammphon/Andres Segovia, guitar/Symphony of the Air/Enrique Jorda, conductor After 18th century composer Fernando Sor's father introduced him to opera and the guitar, he fell in love with both of them. Sor combined his two musical loves in the piece he based on a theme from Mozart's opera The Magic Flute. MUSIC: SOR: Introduction and Variations on a Theme by Mozart Alto/John Williams, guitar Not all Spanish composers were guitar players. Antonio Soler played the organ, and other keyboard instruments. He's also known as Padre, or Father Soler, because he was a priest, who spent over 30 years living and working in the monastery El Escorial. MUSIC: SOLER: Sonata in D Transart Live/Marcela Roggeri, piano There's a Spanish composer who was born 50 years to the day after Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Just like the Austrian Mozart, Juan de Arriaga was a musically talented kid, so he became known as the "Spanish Mozart." MUSIC: ARRIAGA: Overture in D Chandos/BBC Philharmonic/Juanjo Mena, conductor One of the greatest violinists of all time was Pablo de Sarasate, whose composition Aires gitanos – Gypsy Airs – shows another big influence on Spanish music: the Roma, or Romani people, who settled all over Europe. MUSIC: SARASATE: Zigeunerweisen (Gypsy Airs) Deutsche Grammophon/Anne-Sophie Mutter, violin/Vienna Philharmonic/James Levine, conductor The Romani probably came from India, but Europeans thought they were from Egypt, which is where the word gypsies – in Spanish, gitanos – comes from. By the 19th century, the Baroque guitar had become the modern guitar, which is larger, louder, and tuned differently. Francisco Tárrega was born in 1852 – just about when the modern guitar came into its own. Tárrega became such a good player that he's known as the "father of classical guitar." MUSIC: TÁRREGA: Recuerdos de la Alhambra Tonar/Manuel Barrueco, guitar Tárrega wrote Recuerdos de la Alhambra – Memories of the Alhambra – about the historic palace that the Moors built in the city of Granada. Spanish composers began describing places — and using songs and dances from around their country — to create a distinctly Spanish classical music sound. More about that next week. I'm Naomi Lewin – I write Classics for Kids, and produce it for WGUC, Cincinnati. Please join me again for more Classics for Kids. C.F.K. Spain #2 – Composers Who Created a "Spanish Sound" Welcome to Classics for Kids – I'm Naomi Lewin. When composers use their country's folk songs, dances, and rhythms to paint musical pictures of local places and legends, it's called musical nationalism. Isaac Albeniz, who was born in 1860, was one of the first Spanish composers do that. MUSIC: ALBENIZ: Asturias (Leyenda) Decca/Alicia de Larrocha, piano The name Albeniz is spelled with a “z” at the end. In Latin America, that “z” is pronounced “ss,” but in Spain, they say it with a “th” sound. The same goes for the letter “c” when it’s follwed by an “e” or an “i.” <music> Albeniz called that composition "Asturias," which is a region in northern Spain. Usually, you hear Asturias played on the guitar, which is about the most Spanish instrument there is. But Albéniz was a pianist, so he wrote it for his instrument. He wasn't the only pianist/composer who imitated the guitar. So did Enrique Granados. MUSIC: GRANADOS: 12 Spanish Dances: X: Danza Triste, Melancolica Torill Music/Enrique Granados, piano (Aeolian Duo-Art player piano roll) That's Granados himself performing one of his Spanish Dances. When Granados visited the United States in 1916, he made a piano roll – one of the earliest ways to record sound – on a reproducing, or player piano. The most famous Spanish composer to put his country and its music into his work was Manuel de Falla. MUSIC: FALLA: Three-Cornered Hat: Dance of the Miller’s Wife Warner/Philharmonia Orchestra/Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, conductor Falla was born in Cádiz, a city in the southern Spanish region of Andalucía. That's the home of flamenco – a Spanish folk style that combines a lot of the country's musical history: Christian, Arabic, Jewish, and Roma, or gypsy. Here's some pure flamenco: MUSIC: TRADITIONAL: Romera Magnesound/Rafael Romero, Perico el del Lunar, guitar And here's music by another composer from Andalucía: Joaquín Turina. He was from Seville – “Sevilla” – so he grew up hearing flamenco, too. MUSIC: TURINA: Piano Quartet, Op. 67, mvt. 2 (Vivo) Claves/Menuhin Festival Piano Quartet The best known classical guitarist of the 20th century – Andrés Segovia – was also born in Andalucía. Segovia got people interested in classical guitar again, so a lot of composers wrote for him – including Federico Moreno Torroba. MUSIC: TORROBA: Suite Castellana #1: Fandanguillo Classical Pages/Andrés Segovia, guitar In addition to being a composer, Torroba was a conductor. He liked to stage zarzuelas, which are Spanish operettas. In opera, characters sing all the time, but in operetta and zarzuela, they speak between singing. Pablo Luna was a zarzuela composer whose work definitely sounds like Spain. MUSIC: LUNA: El Niño Judío: "De España vengo" EMI/Victoria de los Angeles, soprano/Sinfonia of London/Rafael Frühbeck De Burgos, conductor Another composer who used the folk music he grew up with in his work was Jesús Guridi. He was from Basque country, in northern Spain, just over the Pyrenees Mountains from France. Basque people have their own langague – Euskara – and their own melodies. MUSIC: GURIDI: 10 Basque Melodies: Festiva Digital World Music/Spanish National Orchestra/Ataúlfo Argenta, conductor There were three Spanish composers – all related – named Halffter: cousins Ernesto, Rodolfo, and their nephew Cristóbal. Ernesto Halffter put the "Dance of the Shepherdess" into his ballet Sonatina. MUSIC: ERNESTO HALFFTER: Sonatina (ballet): Dance of the Shepherdess Deutsche Grammphon/Nicanor Zabaleta, harp That's Nicanor Zabaleta, one of the greatest harpists of the 20th century. He was also from Basque Country. One of the greatest guitar concertos of the 20th – or ANY – century was by Spanish composer Joaquín Rodrigo. Rodrigo went blind when he was three years old, so he wrote all his music in Braille, using a system of raised dots. MUSIC: RODRIGO: Concierto de Aranjuez: mvt. 1 Decca/Pepe Romero, guitar/Academy of St. Martin in the Fields/Neville Marriner, conductor Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez – Aranjuez Concerto – is named for the royal palace with beautiful gardens where Spanish kings went get away from the capital city of Madrid. When Rodrigo was in his 80s, the King of Spain made him a nobleman, with the title “Marqués de los Jardines de Aranjuez” – Marquis of the Gardens of Aranjuez. And when Rodrigo died, at age 97, he was buried in the Aranjuez Cemetery. Next week on Classics for Kids – music from a country across the Atlantic from Spain: Mexico! I'm Naomi Lewin – I write Classics for Kids, and produce it for WGUC, Cincinnati. Please join me again for more Classics for Kids. C.F.K. Spain #3 – Mexican Composers Welcome to Classics for Kids – I'm Naomi Lewin. In the 16th century, “conquistadores” – soldiers from Spain – sailed to Mexico, and took over the country from the native, or indigenous people who lived there. The Spanish brought their language, their religion, and their music to the place they called “Nueva España” – New Spain. MUSIC: LÓPEZ CAPILLAS: Aufer a nobis iniquitates Lindoro/Capella Prolationum/Ensemble La Danseye 17th century composer Francisco López Capillas was a singer, organist, bassoonist – and priest. He directed music at the Cathedral in Mexico City – the country's capital.