Francisco Javier García Fajer ''El Españoleto'' (

Nalda Nalda is a municipality of the autonomous community of La Rioja (Spain). It is located near the capital, Logroño. Its population in January 2006 was 1,074 inhabitants over a 24.6 square kilometre area. History The town was the scene of the ...

, Logroño 2 December 1730 - Zaragoza 1809) was a Spanish composer of the Italianate

galante Galante is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Galante (pedigree), a family of Jewish scholars which flourished in the Middle Ages ** Abraham ben Mordecai Galante (died 1560), kabalist and author ** Mordecai Galante (died 1781), r ...

school. He studied at the choir school at

Zaragoza Cathedral The Cathedral of the Savior ( es, Catedral del Salvador) or La Seo de Zaragoza is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Zaragoza, in Aragon, Spain. It is part of the World Heritage Site ''Mudéjar Architecture of Aragon''. The cathedral is located ...

. As a young man he moved to Italy, where he was chapelmaster of the see of Terni 1754-56 and gained his Italian epiphet ''Lo Spagnoletto'', which he retained even back in Spain as ''El Españoleto''. The Italian musical environment during the 1750s was characterised by composers on the threshold between galante and early classical such as

Niccolò Jommelli Niccolò Jommelli (; 10 September 1714 – 25 August 1774) was an Italian composer of the Neapolitan School. Along with other composers mainly in the Holy Roman Empire and France, he was responsible for certain operatic reforms including redu ...

and

Giovanni Battista Pergolesi Giovanni Battista Draghi (; 4 January 1710 – 16 or 17 March 1736), often referred to as Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (), was an Italian Baroque composer, violinist, and organist. His best-known works include his Stabat Mater and the opera ''L ...

. García Fajer returned home as ''maestro de capilla'' of la Seo in Zaragoza 1756 till his death during the French siege of Zaragoza in 1809. As part of his Italianate reforms the Spanish villancico was supplanted by the Latin responsory. García Fajer was out of favour for many years in Spain due to his promotion of Italianate musical idiom, however in recent years he has been rehabilitated and taken on his own merits as a galante composer. A conference dedicated to rehabilitation of his reputation and work was held at the University of La Rioja, Spain, in April 2007.

Works

* Operas - Rome 1754, 1756 * ''Pompeo magno in Armenia'' libretto by Anastasio Guidi.Critical edition: Pompeo Magno in Armenia : dramma per musica in tre atti / Francisco Javier García Fajer ; libreto, Anastasio Guidi ; edición crítica, Tomás Garrido. Madrid : Instituto Complutense de Ciencias Musicales, 2007. * Oratorios - Tobias 1752 * Intermezzi - ''La pupilla. La finta schiava.'' * Masses * Psalms

Discography

* ''Oficio de Difuntos'' - Latin psalm settings. La Grande Chapelle. Schola Antiqua dir. Albert Recasens. Lauda. * Latin settings of the Seven words on the cross, ''Pater dimitte illis'' etc. - (modern Catalan title: ''Les set paraules de Crist a la creu'') with motets by

Joan Rossell Joan Rossell (1724–1780) was a Spanish composer, born into a musical family in Barcelona where his grandfather had played in the chapel of the cathedral, his father was a singer, and his brothers played violin the best orchestras of the country. ...

and Melcior Juncà. Young Hee Kim (soprano), Montserrat Pi (contralto), Orquestra de Cambra Catalana dir. Joan Pàmies. La mà de Guido.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Garcia Fajer, Francisco Javier 1730 births 1809 deaths Spanish composers Spanish male composers