''Iberia'' is a

suite Suite may refer to: Arts and entertainment *Suite (music), a set of musical pieces considered as one composition ** Suite (Bach), a list of suites composed by J. S. Bach ** Suite (Cassadó), a mid-1920s composition by Gaspar Cassadó ** ''Suite ...

for

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 ...

composed between 1905 and 1909 by the

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

composer

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 ...

. It is composed of four books of three pieces each; a complete performance lasts about 90 minutes. It is Albéniz's best-known work and considered his masterpiece. It was highly praised by

Claude Debussy (Achille) Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionism in music, Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most infl ...

and

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

, who said: "''Iberia'' is the wonder for the piano; it is perhaps on the highest place among the more brilliant pieces for the king of instruments". Stylistically, this suite falls squarely in the school of

Impressionism Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passa ...

, especially in its musical evocations of Spain. Iberia

It is considered one of the most challenging works for the piano: "There is really nothing in Isaac Albeniz's ''Iberia'' that a good three-handed pianist could not master, given unlimited years of practice and permission to play at half tempo. But there are few pianists thus endowed."

Composition

Book 1

Dedicated to Ernest Chausson's wife. * ''Evocación'' ("Evocation", A minor and A major), an impressionist reminiscence of Albéniz's native country, combining elements of the southern Spanish

fandango Fandango is a lively partner dance originating from Portugal and Spain, usually in triple meter, traditionally accompanied by guitars, castanets, or hand-clapping. Fandango can both be sung and danced. Sung fandango is usually bipartite: it has ...

and the northern Spanish

jota Jota may refer to: __NOTOC__ * Iota (Ι, ι), the name of the 9th letter in the Greek alphabet; * (figuratively) ''Something very small'', based on the fact that the letter Iota (lat. i) is the smallest character in the alphabet; * The name of t ...

song forms. It includes the rarely seen

key signature In Western musical notation, a key signature is a set of sharp (), flat (), or rarely, natural () symbols placed on the staff at the beginning of a section of music. The initial key signature in a piece is placed immediately after the clef a ...

of seven flats. * ''El Puerto'' (D major), a zapateado inspired by

El Puerto de Santa María EL, El or el may refer to: Religion * El (deity), a Semitic word for "God" People * EL (rapper) (born 1983), stage name of Elorm Adablah, a Ghanaian rapper and sound engineer * El DeBarge, music artist * El Franco Lee (1949–2016), American ...

, in

Cádiz Cádiz (, , ) is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the Province of Cádiz, one of eight that make up the autonomous community of Andalusia. Cádiz, one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Western Europe, ...

. * ''Fête-dieu à Séville'' (F minor and F major) (alternative titles sometimes found: ''Corpus Christi''; ''El Corpus en Sevilla''), describing the Corpus Christi Day procession in

Seville Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Penins ...

, during which the Corpus Christi is carried through the streets accompanied by

marching band A marching band is a group of instrumental musicians who perform while marching, often for entertainment or competition. Instrumentation typically includes brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. Most marching bands wear a uniform, o ...

s. Musically, this piece consists of a processional

march March is the third month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. It is the second of seven months to have a length of 31 days. In the Northern Hemisphere, the meteorological beginning of spring occurs on the first day of March ...

that eventually becomes overwhelmed by a mournful

saeta SAETA Air Ecuador (legally ''Sociedad Anónima Ecuatoriana de Transportes Aéreos S.A.'') was a privately held airline of Ecuador, which was founded in 1966. During its heyday in the 1990s, it flew to numerous destinations in North and South Am ...

, the melody evoking

Andalusia Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a "historical nationality". The ...

cante jondo ''Cante jondo'' (Andalusian ) is a vocal style in flamenco, an unspoiled form of Andalusian folk music. The name means "deep song" in Spanish, with ''hondo'' ("deep") spelled with J () as a form of eye dialect, because traditional Andalusian pr ...

and the accompaniment evoking

flamenco Flamenco (), in its strictest sense, is an art form based on the various folkloric music traditions of southern Spain, developed within the gitano subculture of the region of Andalusia, and also having historical presence in Extremadura a ...

guitars. The march and saeta alternate ever more loudly until the main march theme is restated as a lively

tarantella () is a group of various southern Italian folk dances originating in the regions of Calabria, Campania and Puglia. It is characterized by a fast upbeat tempo, usually in time (sometimes or ), accompanied by tambourines. It is among the mo ...

that ends abruptly with a flamboyant ''fffff'' climactic chord; the piece concludes with a gentle coda again evoking flamenco guitars along with distant church bells.

Book 2

* ''Rondeña'' (D major), after the Andalusian town of

Ronda Ronda () is a town in the Spanish province of Málaga. It is located about west of the city of Málaga, within the autonomous community of Andalusia. Its population is about 35,000. Ronda is known for its cliff-side location and a deep chasm ...

. A variant of the

, it is characterized by the alternation of measures of and . * ''Almería'' (G major), relating to the Andalusian seaport of

Almería Almería (, , ) is a city and municipality of Spain, located in Andalusia. It is the capital of the province of the same name. It lies on southeastern Iberia on the Mediterranean Sea. Caliph Abd al-Rahman III founded the city in 955. The city g ...

, is loosely based on tarantas, a flamenco form characteristic of the region of

. * ''Triana'' (F minor), after the Gypsy quarter of Seville.

Book 3

* ''El Albaicín'' (B minor and B major) after the Albaicín, district of

Granada Granada (,, DIN: ; grc, Ἐλιβύργη, Elibýrgē; la, Illiberis or . ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains, at the c ...

. * ''El Polo'' (F minor) after the

Polo (flamenco palo) ''Polo'' () is the name of a flamenco Palo (flamenco), palo or musical form. There is only one known song in this ''palo'', which is extremely similar to another palo called caña (flamenco), caña, and its Flamenco guitar, guitar accompaniment, lik ...

. * ''Lavapiés'' (D major), after the district of Madrid.

Book 4

* ''Málaga'' (B minor and B major) * ''Jerez'' (A minor – arguably E Phrygian – and E major) * ''Eritaña'' (E major)

Premiere performance

The twelve pieces were first performed by the French pianist Blanche Selva, but each book was premiered in a different place and on a different date. Three of the performances were in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

, the other being in a small town in the south of France. * Book I: May 9, 1906,

Salle Pleyel The Salle Pleyel (, meaning "Pleyel Hall") is a concert hall in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, France, designed by acoustician Gustave Lyon together with architect Jacques Marcel Auburtin, who died in 1926, and the work was completed in 1927 by ...

, Paris * Book II: September 11, 1907,

Saint-Jean-de-Luz Saint-Jean-de-Luz (; eu, Donibane Lohitzune,Donibane Lohitzune
Princess de Polignac, Paris * Book IV: February 9, 1909,

Société Nationale de Musique Lactalis is a French multinational dairy products corporation, owned by the Besnier family and based in Laval, Mayenne, France. The company's former name was Besnier SA. Lactalis is the largest dairy products group in the world, and is the sec ...

, Paris.

Recordings

Among notable early recordings, pieces from ''Iberia'' were recorded by

Arthur Rubinstein Arthur Rubinstein ( pl, Artur Rubinstein; 28 January 188720 December 1982) was a Polish-American pianist.

. ''Iberia'' was first recorded in its entirety by

Alicia de Larrocha Alicia de Larrocha y de la Calle (23 May 192325 September 2009) was a Spanish pianist and composer. She was considered one of the great piano legends of the 20th century. Reuters called her "the greatest Spanish pianist in history", ''Time'' "o ...

in 1958-9 (Hispavox / Erato DUE 20236/37, MI 64504?. She recorded it twice more, in 1972 (London 448191 and 433926), and 1989 (London 417887). The suite was also recorded by Luis Fernando Pérez, which has been highly acclaimed and earned him the Albéniz Medal. It has also been recorded by

Claudio Arrau Claudio Arrau León (; February 6, 1903June 9, 1991) was a Chilean pianist known for his interpretations of a vast repertoire spanning the baroque to 20th-century composers, especially Bach, Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin, Schumann, Liszt and B ...

(Books 1 and 2 only). Gustavo Díaz-Jerez, whose 2009 CD recording also won him the 2010 Albéniz Medal, is the first pianist to record Iberia in DVD and High Definition Video. Other pianists that have audio recordings of Iberia include Miguel Baselga, Ricardo Requejo,

Michel Block Michel Block (January 12, 1937 – March 4, 2003) was a Belgian-French pianist. Biography Born of French parents in Antwerp, Belgium, he moved with his parents to Mexico as child, where his grandfather had settled in 1870. Block studied piano i ...

, Guillermo González (according to his own critical edition of the score), Marc-André Hamelin,

Yvonne Loriod Yvonne Louise Georgette Loriod-Messiaen (; 20 January 1924 – 17 May 2010) was a French pianist, teacher, and composer, and the second wife of composer Olivier Messiaen. Her sister was the Ondes Martenot player Jeanne Loriod. Biography Loriod ...

, Marek Jablonski,

Artur Pizarro Artur Pizarro (born Lisbon, 1968) is an internationally-acclaimed Portuguese concert pianist.Kennedy, Michael and Joyce Bourne. "Pizarro, Artur" ''The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music''. Oxford University Press: 1996. Designated with the presti ...

Jean-François Heisser Jean-François Heisser (born 7 December 1950) is a French classical pianist. Biography Born in Saint-Étienne, Heisser studied piano first with Paul Simonnar in Saint-Étienne, then at the Conservatoire de Paris with Vlado Perlemuter. His vast ...

Esteban Sánchez Esteban Sánchez Herrero (26 April 1934 – 3 February 1997) was a Spanish pianist. Born in the town of Orellana la Vieja in Badajoz in the province of Extremadura, Sánchez studied with his grandfather, Joaquin Sánchez Ruiz, choirmaster in the c ...

, and Ángel Sanzo, among many others.

Arrangements

Enrique Fernández Arbós and

Carlos Surinach Carlos Lund (or Carles Suriñach)
i Wrokona (; March 6, 1915 – November 12, 1997) was a Spanish-born

each arranged pieces from ''Iberia'' for full orchestra. There is an orchestral arrangement of the ''Fête-dieu à Seville'' by

Leopold Stokowski Leopold Anthony Stokowski (18 April 1882 – 13 September 1977) was a British conductor. One of the leading conductors of the early and mid-20th century, he is best known for his long association with the Philadelphia Orchestra and his appear ...

, from the mid-1920s, which he recorded with the

Philadelphia Orchestra The Philadelphia Orchestra is an American symphony orchestra, based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. One of the " Big Five" American orchestras, the orchestra is based at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, where it performs its subscriptio ...

in 1928. More recently,

Peter Breiner Peter Breiner (born July 3, 1957, in Humenné, in former Czechoslovakia, present day Slovakia) is a Slovak pianist, conductor, and composer. Breiner began to play and study the piano at age four. At age nine, he started to study at the Cons ...

arranged the whole work for full orchestra. The composer

Francisco Guerrero Marín Francisco Guerrero Marín (July 7, 1951 – October 19, 1997) was a Spanish composer. He was born in Linares and died in Madrid. During his lifetime, he completed several compositions, among which there are five major works for orchestra: Antar A ...

, calling ''Iberia'' "the greatest Spanish work in the last hundred years", also made an arrangement of six pieces before his death in 1997. A version for three guitars was made by Christophe Dejour and recorded by Trio Campanella. A two-guitar

overdubbing Overdubbing (also known as layering) is a technique used in audio recording in which audio tracks that have been pre-recorded are then played back and monitored, while simultaneously recording new, doubled, or augmented tracks onto one or more av ...

version has been released by French guitarist Jean-Marc Zvellenreuther. An invitation to

Ravel Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composers rejected the term. In ...

to orchestrate six pieces from ''Iberia'' was the genesis of that composer's ''

Boléro ''Boléro'' is a 1928 work for large orchestra by French composer Maurice Ravel. At least one observer has called it Ravel's most famous composition. It was also one of his last completed works before illness forced him into retirement. Co ...

''.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Iberia (Albeniz) Spanish compositions for solo piano Suites by Isaac Albéniz 1909 compositions Orchestral suites