Felip Pedrell Sabaté (Spanish: Felipe) (19 February 1841 – 19 August 1922) was a Catalan composer, guitarist and musicologist.

Life

Pedrell was born in

Tortosa Tortosa (; ) is the capital of the '' comarca'' of Baix Ebre, in Catalonia, Spain. Tortosa is located at above sea level, by the Ebro river, protected on its northern side by the mountains of the Cardó Massif, of which Buinaca, one of the hig ...

(

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the north ...

), and sang as a boy soprano at

Tortosa Cathedral The Catedral of Saint Mary of Tortosa is a cathedral located in Tortosa, Catalonia, Spain and seat of the Diocese of Tortosa. The present structure is located in the center of the city's old town. Design Its construction began in 1347 on the rem ...

from age 9, where he also received most of his musical education from its chapel master Joan Nin i Serra (1804–1867). On 29 September 1867 he married Carmen Domingo, with whom he had one daughter, also named Carmen. In 1873 he went to

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

where he co-directed a zarzuela troupe and studied the guitar with

José Brocá José Brocá y Codina (in Catalan: Antoni Josep Mateu Brocà i Codina) (21 September 1805 – 3 February 1882) was a Spanish guitarist and composer of the Romantic period. Life and music Brocá was born in Reus, province of Tarragona. Mainly s ...

. As a guitarist, he became deeply influenced by

Francisco Tárrega Francisco de Asís Tárrega Eixea (21 November 185215 December 1909) was a Spanish composer and classical guitarist of the late Romantic period. He is known for such pieces as Capricho Árabe and ''Recuerdos de la Alhambra''. He is often calle ...

and dedicated several of his compositions to him (''Impromptu'', ''Floriada''). By this time he had already written over 100 compositions, most of which salon music for piano, some songs, and works for the stage such as the opera ''L'último Abenzeraggio'' (first version: 1868), which was performed at the Teatro del Liceo in 1874. Between 1876 and 1880, Pedrell lived mainly in Italy and France: in Rome he discovered his musicological interest, and in Paris he worked mainly in composition, writing his song-cycle ''Orientales'' (words by

Victor Hugo Victor-Marie Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romantic writer and politician. During a literary career that spanned more than sixty years, he wrote in a variety of genres and forms. He is considered to be one of the great ...

) and the

symphonic poem A symphonic poem or tone poem is a piece of orchestral music, usually in a single continuous movement, which illustrates or evokes the content of a poem, short story, novel, painting, landscape, or other (non-musical) source. The German term ''T ...

''Excelsior'' (1880). In February 1880, he settled in Barcelona as a music teacher and composer, where he made the acquaintance of

Isaac Albéniz Isaac Manuel Francisco Albéniz y Pascual (; 29 May 1860 – 18 May 1909) was a Spanish virtuoso pianist, composer, and conductor. He is one of the foremost composers of the Post-Romantic era who also had a significant influence on his conte ...

and

Enrique Granados Pantaleón Enrique Joaquín Granados y Campiña (27 July 1867 – 24 March 1916), commonly known as Enric Granados in Catalan or Enrique Granados in Spanish, was a composer of classical music, and concert pianist from Catalonia, Spain. ...

who became his first pupils. Other notable pupils included the composers Rosa García Ascot,

Manuel de Falla Manuel de Falla y Matheu (, 23 November 187614 November 1946) was an Andalusian Spanish composer and pianist. Along with Isaac Albéniz, Francisco Tárrega, and Enrique Granados, he was one of Spain's most important musicians of the first hal ...

, and

Joan Lamote de Grignon Joan Lamote de Grignon i Bocquet (; 7 July 1872 – 11 March 1949) was a Catalan Spanish pianist, composer and orchestra director. Life Joan Lamote de Grignon was born and died in Barcelona, the son of parents of French descent, Lluis Lamote de ...

. After another performance of ''L'último Abenzeraggio'' in 1889, Pedrell seriously considered the founding of an "escuela nacional de música" (national school of music), combining elements of Spanish traditional music with the classical art music of his time. The first result was the opera ''Els Pirineus'' (1891), underlining his concept theoretically with the publication ''Por nuestra música'' (To Our Music; 1891),Bonastre (2005), as above. which made many composers and guitarists of his time aware of Spanish folklore. Influences were visible in

Roberto Gerhard Robert Gerhard i Ottenwaelder (; 25 September 1896 – 5 January 1970) was a Spanish Catalan composer and musical scholar and writer, generally known outside Catalonia as Roberto Gerhard.Malcolm MacDonald. 'Gerhard, Roberto' in ''Grove Music Onl ...

's eight Pedrell-derived folk-tunes (''Cancionero de Pedrell''), and

's "Pedrelliana" – the last of his four ''Homenajes'' ("homages") (1939). Between 1891 and 1904, Pedrell lived in Madrid, where he became a member of the

Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando The Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando (RABASF; ), located on the Calle de Alcalá in the heart of Madrid, currently functions as a museum and gallery. A public law corporation, it is integrated together with other Spanish royal acad ...

in 1895 and had a professorship in musical aesthetics and music history at the Real Conservatorio. In 1894, the first volume of his ''Hispaniae schola musica sacra'' appeared, a series of edited scores of renaissance and baroque church music from Spain. As a musicologist, Pedrell worked particularly in the

early music Early music generally comprises Medieval music (500–1400) and Renaissance music (1400–1600), but can also include Baroque music (1600–1750). Originating in Europe, early music is a broad musical era for the beginning of Western classical m ...

field and edited

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

's ''opera omnia'' and the requiem of

Joan Brudieu Joan Brudieu (; 1520–1591) was a Catalan Spanish composer. Brudieu was born around 1520 in the diocese of Limoges and died in la Seu d'Urgell in 1591, but can generally be considered as Catalan, since the few biographical details found locate hi ...

. This and other of his writings fostered a keen interest in the early music of Spain. He returned to Barcelona in 1904, when his opera ''Els Pirineus'' was eventually performed. When his daughter died in 1912, Pedrell fully withdrew from public life. His last pupils, the musicologist Higinio Anglès and the composer Roberto Gerhard, assisted Pedrell in his last publications and compositions. He died in

and was buried in the

Sant Gervasi Cemetery Sant Gervasi Cemetery founded in 1853, is located in the district of Sarrià-Sant Gervasi in Barcelona, Spain. With an extension of 12,229 m², the area divided into two parts by a staircase leading to the cemetery chapel. It includes 4773 plots. N ...

. The composer

Carlos Pedrell Carlos Pedrell (16 October 1878 – 9 March 1941) was a Uruguayan composer, guitarist and educator.Based on entries in David Mason Greene: ''Biographical Dictionary of Composers'' (Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Co., 1985) and Józef Powroznia ...

(1878–1941) is his nephew. The personal papers of Felip Pedrell are preserved in the

Biblioteca de Catalunya The Library of Catalonia ( ca, Biblioteca de Catalunya, ) is the Catalan national library, located in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. The primary mission of the Library of Catalonia is to collect, preserve, and spread Catalan bibliographic producti ...

. Among his main direct disciples are

Cristòfor Taltabull Cristòfor Taltabull (28 July 1888 - 1 May 1964) was a Spanish composer and pedagogue who was instrumental in the reconstruction of musical life in Catalonia after the Spanish Civil War. Biography Taltabull was born in Barcelona. He came from an e ...

, Pedro Blanco,

Joaquín Turina Joaquín Turina Pérez (9 December 188214 January 1949) was a Spanish composer of classical music.''Encyclopædia Britannica'' online (2014)"Joaquín Turina"/ref> Biography Turina was born in Seville. He studied in Seville as well as in Mad ...

and

Works

Operas *''L'último Abenzeraggio'' (in Italian; Spanish title: ''El último abencerraje'') (libretto: J. B. Altés), opera in 4 acts (1868, revised 1874 and 1889) *''Quasimodo'' (libretto: J. Barrer, after

), opera in 4 acts (1875) *''Els Pirineus'' (libretto:

Victor Balaguer The name Victor or Viktor may refer to: * Victor (name), including a list of people with the given name, mononym, or surname Arts and entertainment Film * ''Victor'' (1951 film), a French drama film * ''Victor'' (1993 film), a French shor ...

), opera in a prologise and 3 acts (1891) *''La Celestina'' (libretto: Pedrell, after

Fernando de Rojas Fernando de Rojas (c. 1465/73, in La Puebla de Montalbán, Toledo, Spain – April 1541, in Talavera de la Reina, Toledo, Spain) was a Spanish author and dramatist, known for his only surviving work, '' La Celestina'' (originally titled ''Trag ...

), opera in 4 acts (1902) *''El comte Arnau'' (libretto:

Joan Maragall Joan Maragall i Gorina (; 10 October 1860 in Barcelona – 20 December 1911) was a Spanish poet, journalist and translator, the foremost member of the ''modernisme'' movement in literature. His manuscripts are preserved in the Joan Maragall ...

), "festival lirich popular" (1904) *five other operas and eight zarzuelas Instrumental works *''Nocturnos-trío'' (1873) *''La veu de les muntanyes'' (1877), symphonic poem *''Excelsior'' (1880), symphonic poem *many works for piano and guitar Songs for voice and piano *''Noches de España'' (1871) *''Orientales'' (

) (1876) *''Consolations'' (

Théophile Gautier Pierre Jules Théophile Gautier ( , ; 30 August 1811 – 23 October 1872) was a French poet, dramatist, novelist, journalist, and art and literary critic. While an ardent defender of Romanticism, Gautier's work is difficult to classify and rem ...

) (1876) *''La primavera'' (F. Matheu) (1880) *''Canciones arabescas'' (1906) Choral music *56 sacred songs in Latin *27 works in colloquial Spanish or Catalan *18 works for chorus and orchestra

References

*
More information with scores and music

External links

*
Personal papers of Felip Pedrell in the Biblioteca de Catalunya
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pedrell, Felipe 1841 births 1922 deaths 19th-century classical composers 19th-century Spanish composers 19th-century Spanish male musicians 20th-century classical composers 20th-century Spanish composers 20th-century Spanish male musicians Classical composers from Catalonia Composers for the classical guitar Male opera composers Opera composers from Catalonia People from Tortosa Spanish classical composers Spanish male classical composers Spanish opera composers Spanish Romantic composers