Carmelo Alonso Bernaola (16 July 1929 5 June 2002) was a Spanish composer and clarinetist from

Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

Country. A member of the Generation of '51, he was one of the most influential composers in the Spanish musical scene of the second half of the 20th century.

Early years

Bernaola was born in

Otxandio Otxandio (in Basque and officially, in Spanish ''Ochandiano'') is a town and municipality located in the province of Biscay, in the Basque autonomous community, Spain. Otxandio is part of the ''comarca'' of Durangaldea and has a population of 1,26 ...

Biscay Biscay (; eu, Bizkaia ; es, Vizcaya ) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the Basque Country, heir of the ancient Lordship of Biscay, lying on the south shore of the eponymous bay. The capital and largest city is Bilbao. B ...

, Spain. His father was Amado Alonso and his mother was Rufina Bernaola. He later chose to use his mother's surname, rather than his father's.Christiane Heine, "Alonso Bernaola, Carmelo", ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', second edition, edited by

Stanley Sadie Stanley John Sadie (; 30 October 1930 – 21 March 2005) was an influential and prolific British musicologist, music critic, and editor. He was editor of the sixth edition of the '' Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' (1980), which was publ ...

and John Tyrrell (London: Macmillan Publishers, 2001). When he was 7 years old, he and his family moved to

Medina de Pomar Medina de Pomar is a municipality and town located in the province of Burgos, Castile and León, Spain. It is situated 77 km from Bilbao, and 88 km from Burgos, the capital of the province, 8 kilometres from Villarcayo and about 20 ...

(

Burgos Burgos () is a city in Spain located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the province of Burgos. Burgos is situated in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, on the confluence of t ...

), where he received his first musical education. In 1943 he moved to the city of

, where he studied with professor Blanco and he also played the clarinet with the local Engineers Academy Band. In 1951 he obtained a job as clarinetist with the Army Ministry Band and he moved to

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

. In

Madrid Conservatory The Madrid Royal Conservatory ( es, Real Conservatorio Superior de Música de Madrid) is a music college in Madrid, Spain. History The Royal Conservatory of Music was founded on July 15, 1830, by royal decree, and was originally located in Mosten ...

he studied counterpoint, fugue and composition with Massó, Calés Pina and Julio Gómez. In 1953 he got a new job as clarinetist with the Madrid City Band, but in 1959 he obtained the

Prix de Rome The Prix de Rome () or Grand Prix de Rome was a French scholarship for arts students, initially for painters and sculptors, that was established in 1663 during the reign of Louis XIV of France. Winners were awarded a bursary that allowed them t ...

and moved to

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. In Italy he studied composition with

Goffredo Petrassi Goffredo Petrassi (16 July 1904 – 3 March 2003) was an Italian composer of modern classical music, conductor, and teacher. He is considered one of the most influential Italian composers of the twentieth century.Petrassi, Goffredo. (2008). ...

in the

Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia The Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia ( en, National Academy of St Cecilia) is one of the oldest musical institutions in the world, founded by the papal bull ''Ratione congruit'', issued by Sixtus V in 1585, which invoked two saints prom ...

and conducting with

Sergiu Celibidache Sergiu Celibidache (; 14 August 1996) was a Romanian conductor, composer, musical theorist, and teacher. Educated in his native Romania, and later in Paris and Berlin, Celibidache's career in music spanned over five decades, including tenures as ...

in the Accademia Chigiana di Siena. In addition, during this period he participated in the Darmstadt International Summer Courses under the direction of

Bruno Maderna Bruno Maderna (21 April 1920 – 13 November 1973) was an Italian conductor and composer. Life Maderna was born Bruno Grossato in Venice but later decided to take the name of his mother, Caterina Carolina Maderna.Interview with Maderna‘s thr ...

and

Olivier Messiaen Olivier Eugène Prosper Charles Messiaen (, ; ; 10 December 1908 – 27 April 1992) was a French composer, organist, and ornithologist who was one of the major composers of the 20th century. His music is rhythmically complex; harmonically ...

and there he met

Pierre Boulez Pierre Louis Joseph Boulez (; 26 March 1925 – 5 January 2016) was a French composer, conductor and writer, and the founder of several musical institutions. He was one of the dominant figures of post-war Western classical music. Born in Mont ...

Karlheinz Stockhausen Karlheinz Stockhausen (; 22 August 1928 – 5 December 2007) was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. He is known for his groun ...

Luigi Nono Luigi Nono (; 29 January 1924 – 8 May 1990) was an Italian avant-garde composer of classical music. Biography Early years Nono, born in Venice, was a member of a wealthy artistic family; his grandfather was a notable painter. Nono beg ...

and

Ramón Barce Ramón or Ramon may refer to: People Given name * Ramon (footballer, born 1998), Brazilian footballer * Ramón (footballer, born 1990), Brazilian footballer *Ramón (singer), Spanish singer who represented Spain in the 2004 Eurovision Song Contest ...

. In Spain, he completed his studies with

André Jolivet André Jolivet (; 8 August 1905 – 20 December 1974) was a French composer. Known for his devotion to French culture and musical thought, Jolivet drew on his interest in acoustics and atonality, as well as both ancient and modern musical influe ...

and

Alexander Tansman Alexander Tansman ( pl, Aleksander Tansman, link=no, French: Alexandre Tansman; 12 June 1897 – 15 November 1986) was a Polish composer, pianist and conductor who became a naturalized French citizen in 1938. One of the earliest representatives of ...

Santiago de Compostela Santiago de Compostela is the capital of the autonomous community of Galicia, in northwestern Spain. The city has its origin in the shrine of Saint James the Great, now the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, as the destination of the Way of St ...

Maturity

In 1962 he returned to Madrid, where he is harmony teacher in

and clarinet player with the City Band. He was also a scholar at

Valladolid University The University of Valladolid is a public university located in the city of Valladolid, Valladolid province, autonomous region of Castile and Leon, Spain. Established in the 13th century, it is one of the oldest universities in the world. The un ...

. From 1981 until his retirement he was the director of the Conservatory of

Vitoria-Gasteiz es, vitoriano, vitoriana, , population_density_km2 = auto , blank_name_sec1 = Official language(s) , blank_info_sec1 = Spanish, Basque , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. He died in Madrid at the age of 72.

Works

In addition to the works indicated in this list, he composed the music for several plays, films and TV shows, though regarded these "functional" compositions as distinct from his "real" catalogue of vocal and instrumental works. He is also the author or arranger of several popular songs (like the anthem of

Athletic Bilbao Athletic Club ( eu, Bilboko Athletic Kluba; es, Athletic Club de Bilbao), commonly known as Athletic Bilbao or just Athletic, is a professional Association football, football club based in the city of Bilbao in the Basque Country (autonomous com ...

). *1955: Trío-Sonatina (for

oboe The oboe ( ) is a type of double reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites. The most common oboe plays in the treble or soprano range. A ...

clarinet The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The instrument has a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and uses a single reed to produce sound. Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches ...

and

bassoon The bassoon is a woodwind instrument in the double reed family, which plays in the tenor and bass ranges. It is composed of six pieces, and is usually made of wood. It is known for its distinctive tone color, wide range, versatility, and virtuo ...

); Capricho (for clarinet and

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

); Music for

wind quintet A wind quintet, also known as a woodwind quintet, is a group of five wind players (most commonly flute, oboe, clarinet, French horn and bassoon). Unlike the string quartet (of 4 string instruments) with its homogeneous blend of sound color, the in ...

. *1956: Three piano pieces. *1957: Suite-divertimento (piano and

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...

); Homenaje a Scarlatti (piano and orchestra);

String Quartet The term string quartet can refer to either a type of musical composition or a group of four people who play them. Many composers from the mid-18th century onwards wrote string quartets. The associated musical ensemble consists of two violinists ...

No.1. *1958: Canción y danza (piano). *1959: Cuatro piezas infantiles (piano). *1960: Píccolo Concerto (

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

and string ensemble); Constantes (voice, 3 clarinets and

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

). *1961: Superficie número 1 (chamber ensemble); Sinfonetta Progresiva (string ensemble). *1962: Espacios variados; Superficie número 2 (

violoncello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C2, G2, D ...

). *1963: Permutado (violin and

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

); Superficie número 4; Morfología sonora (piano). *1964: Mixturas. *1965: Heterofonías. *1966: Episodio (

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

); Traza. *1967: Músicas de cámara. *1968: Continuo (piano). *1969: Polifonías. *1970: Oda für Marisa. *1971: Relatividades. *1972: Impulsos; Argia ezta ikusten. *1974: Sinfonía en do; Negaciones de San Pedro (bass and choir); Presencia (string quartet and piano); Per due. *1976: Superposiciones variables.; Así; Tiempos (violoncello and piano); Pieza I. *1977: Achode (clarinet quintet). *1978: Villanesca; Entrada; Juegos. *1979: A mi aire; Qué familia; Superficie número 5 (

double bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or #Terminology, by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched Bow (music), bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox addit ...

). *1980: Variantes combinadas (chamber ensemble); Symphony No.2.; Galatea, Rocinante y Preciosa; Koankinteto; Variantes combinadas. *1981: Béla Bartók I; Tres piezas. *1984: Las siete palabras de Cristo en la Cruz. *1985: Variaciones concertantes (Espacios variados número 2). *1986: Nostálgico (piano and orchestra). *1987: Perpétuo, cántico, final (piano). *1988: El retablillo de Don Cristóbal; Per a Fréderic (trio). *1989: La Celestina. *1990: Symphony Nº 3. *1992: Scherzo. *2001: Fantasías.

Selected filmography

* ''

The Wild Ones of San Gil Bridge ''The Wild Ones of San Gil Bridge'' (Spanish:''Las salvajes en Puente San Gil'') is a 1966 Spanish comedy film directed by Antoni Ribas and starring Adolfo Marsillach, Elena María Tejeiro and María Silva.Cowie & Elley p.496 Cast * Adolfo Ma ...

'' (1966) * ''

Love and Other Solitudes ''Love and Other Solitudes'' (Spanish: ''Del amor y otras soledades'') is a 1969 Spanish drama film directed by Basilio Martín Patino and starring Lucia Bosé, Carlos Estrada and María Massip.Bentley p.413 Cast * Lucia Bosé as María * Carlo ...

'' (1969) * '' A House Without Boundaries'' (1972) * '' Gone to the Mountain'' (1974) * '' Count Dracula's Great Love'' (1974) * ''

Sex o no sex ''Sex o no sex'' is a 1974 Spanish comedy film directed and written by Julio Diamante. It is composed by Carmelo A. Bernaola and it is starred by Don Jaime de Mora y Aragón, Antonio Ferrandis and José Sacristán. It was the penultimate film di ...

'' (1974) * '' Pim, pam, pum... ¡fuego!'' (1975)

Early years

Maturity

Works

Selected filmography

References

Further reading