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Joaquin Rodrigo
Name...Joaquin Rodrigo
Date of birth...November 22nd, 1901
One of the most important Spanish composers of all time.
Born on the feast day of St Cecilia,the patron saint of music, this is a composer that seems to have done the impossible. He was incredibly gifted but blind, he lost his sight at the age of three, it is said that when one loses the ability to see, a keen development of the remaining senses takes place.
His works were great, among them is his masterpiece, the Concerto de aranjuez, its second movement, Andante, has not only been used in many documentary films on Spain but also in a good many films.
When Rodrigo was eight years old he began to learn violin and piano, at the age of seventeen, he attended the Valencia conservatory and wrote his first works. In 1927, following the example of many Spanish composers of the time, he moved to Paris to study under Dukas for five years at the Ecole Normale de Musique.
He and his works were well known at this time and so he was encouraged by other composers such as Ravel, Falla and Stravinsky to continue making such great progress.
It was during this time period when he made the acquaintance of the turkish pianist Victoria Kamhi, a significant woman in his life for she became his wife in 1933. He returned home to Spain for a short time only to find out that he was to be offered a grant to study musicology at the Paris conservatoire and at the Sorbonne.
Unfortunately, due to the civil war which broke out in 1936, his grant was cut off, leaving him in grave financial difficulties. Luckily he was able to survive this, he moved back to Spain at the end of the war and brought his gift of music along with him, namely the Concerto de Aranjuez for guitar and orchestra, immediately making him Spain's leading composer. |
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