![Joaquim Homs](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/Joaquim_Homs.jpg)
Joaquim Homs i Oller (; 21 or 22 August 1906 – 9 September 2003) was a
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, Cana ...
composer.
Homs was born in
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 ...
, and studied cello until 1922. Afterwards, he self-educated himself in composition before studying on-and-off from 1931 to 1938. From 1930 to 1936 he studied composition with
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 ...
. He is regarded by one author as not just a Catalan, but also a Spanish composer , while another source names him only as Catalan .
His early style was characterized by the use of free counterpoint, already moving towards atonality, and beginning in 1954 he began using
twelve-tone technique
The twelve-tone technique—also known as dodecaphony, twelve-tone serialism, and (in British usage) twelve-note composition—is a method of musical composition first devised by Austrian composer Josef Matthias Hauer, who published his "law o ...
. While his style remained loyal to modernism, his later works no longer adhered to strict twelve-note technique .
He died at his home in Barcelona at the age of 97.
The personal papers of Joaquim Homs 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 ...
.
When asked by the British encyclopedia ''The World of Music'' in the mid-1950s what he considered to be his chief works, his answer was:
* Duet for Flute and Clarinet (1936)
* String Quartet No. 1 (1938)
* Violin sonata (1941)
* Sonata for oboe and bass clarinet (1942)
* Variations on a popular Catalonia theme (1943)
* String Quartets No. 2 (1949) and No. 3 (1950)
* Poem by J. Carner for voice and piano (1935)
* Four psalms for baritone and chamber orchestra (1939)
* Ten choral responses (1943)
* Choral Mass (1943)
* Rhymes for voice and piano (1950) (Anon. n.d.)
Sources
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External links
Personal papers of Joaquim Homs in the Biblioteca de Catalunya
1906 births
2003 deaths
20th-century classical composers
Composers from Catalonia
Spanish classical composers
Spanish male classical composers
20th-century Spanish musicians
20th-century Spanish male musicians
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