Juan María Guelbenzu Fernández was a Spanish pianist and composer.

Biography

He was born in

Pamplona Pamplona (; eu, Iruña or ), historically also known as Pampeluna in English, is the capital city of the Chartered Community of Navarre, in Spain. It is also the third-largest city in the greater Basque cultural region. Lying at near above ...

Navarra Navarre (; es, Navarra ; eu, Nafarroa ), officially the Chartered Community of Navarre ( es, Comunidad Foral de Navarra, links=no ; eu, Nafarroako Foru Komunitatea, links=no ), is a foral autonomous community and province in northern Spain, ...

27 December 1819. Juan had been close with composers Chopin,

Thalberg Thalberg or Talberg is a surname of German origin, which means "valley hill". It may refer to: *Irving Thalberg (1899–1936), American film producer * Irving Thalberg Jr. (1930–1988), American philosopher * Norma Thalberg (1902–1983), Canadian ...

and Liszt. He started to study piano at

and then at the Madrid Conservatory, where he won the piano prize. After that, he moved on a scholarship to

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. S ...

. In 1841 he replaced

Pedro Albéniz Pedro Albéniz y Basanta (14 April 179512 April 1855) was a Spanish pianist and composer. He was unrelated to Isaac Albéniz. Life Albéniz was born Logroño, La Rioja. He began his studies with his father Mateo Albéniz, a notable church mus ...

as organist at the Royal Palace of Madrid. He was the piano teacher for the

Infanta Isabel, Countess of Girgenti Infanta Isabel of Spain ( es, María Isabel Francisca de Asís Cristina Francisca de Paula Dominga; 20 December 1851 – 22 April 1931), was the eldest daughter of Queen Isabella II and her husband Francisco de Asís, Duke of Cádiz. She was rec ...

and her sisters. Fernández had been Involved in the development of Spanish symphony and in the promotion of German music. On November 13, 1844, he played

piano four hands Piano four hands (french: À quatre mains, german: Zu vier Händen, Vierhändig, it, a quattro mani) is a type of piano duet involving two players playing the same piano simultaneously. A duet with the players playing separate instruments is ...

with

Franz Liszt Franz Liszt, in modern usage ''Liszt Ferenc'' . Liszt's Hungarian passport spelled his given name as "Ferencz". An orthographic reform of the Hungarian language in 1922 (which was 36 years after Liszt's death) changed the letter "cz" to simpl ...

at the

Teatro del Príncipe Teatro may refer to: * Theatre * Teatro (band) Teatro, Italian for "theatre", is a vocal group signed to the Sony BMG music label. The members of Teatro are Jeremiah James, Andrew Alexander, Simon Bailey and Stephen Rahman-Hughes. Band members ...

(now the

Teatro Español (Madrid) Teatro Español ("Español or Spanish Theatre" – former Teatro del Príncipe and Corral del Príncipe) is a public theatre administered by the Government of Madrid, Spain. The original location was an open-air theatre in medieval times, wh ...

), in Madrid. During this time, he also came in contact with the composer

Mikhail Glinka Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka ( rus, link=no, Михаил Иванович Глинка, Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka., mʲɪxɐˈil ɪˈvanəvʲɪdʑ ˈɡlʲinkə, Ru-Mikhail-Ivanovich-Glinka.ogg; ) was the first Russian composer to gain wide recogni ...

while his visit to Barcelona. He co-founded the

Sociedad de Cuartetos The Sociedad de Cuartetos de Madrid (Madrid Quartet Society), 1863–1894, was an organization that provided concert series with an educational approach. They attempted to save chamber music from fading into oblivion since Italian opera and ...

in 1863 with

Jesús de Monasterio Jesús de Monasterio y Agüeros (21 March 1836 – 28 September 1903) was a Spanish violinist, composer, conductor and teacher. He was one of the main promoters of instrumental music in Madrid during the nineteenth century. Education De Monaster ...

, of which he was a regular pianist. Fernández also developed a remarkable career as a composer, working from

Romanticism Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate ...

and to Spanish musical nationalism. He assiduously used the Zortziko and the

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 the ...

as cultured musical forms, highlighting among his works intimate pieces for piano, such as En la cuna (Canto para mi hijo) or Romanza sin Palabras. He was the member of the Music section of the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando. King Alfonso XII awarded him the great cross of the

Order of Isabella the Catholic The Order of Isabella the Catholic ( es, Orden de Isabel la Católica) is a Spanish civil order and honor granted to persons and institutions in recognition of extraordinary services to the homeland or the promotion of international relations a ...

, and the King of Portugal made him a Knight of the

Order of the Immaculate Conception of Vila Viçosa The Order of the Immaculate Conception of Vila Viçosa (also known as The Order of Our Lady of Conception of Vila Vicosa; pt, Ordem de Nossa Senhora da Conceição de Vila Viçosa) is a dynastic order of knighthood of the House of Braganza, the f ...

. His entire musical works are kept in the

Biblioteca Nacional de España The Biblioteca Nacional de España (''National Library of Spain'') is a major public library, the largest in Spain, and one of the largest in the world. It is located in Madrid, on the Paseo de Recoletos. History The library was founded by ...

. He died on January 8, 1886, in Madrid. The name of a street in his hometown

, was dedicated to him in his memory.

Notes

* Ugalde, Martín de. Historia de Euskadi. Spain, Cupsa, 1981. * Folkart, Jessica A.. Angles on Otherness in Post-Franco Spain: The Fiction of Cristina Fernández Cubas. United Kingdom, Bucknell University Press, 2002. * Sherzer, William M.. The Spanish Literary Generation of 1968: José María Guelbenzu, Lourdes Ortiz, and Ana María Moix. United States, University Press of America, 2012. * Bouju, Emmanuel. Réinventer la littérature: démocratisation et modèles romanesques dans l'Espagne post-franquiste. France, Presses universitaires du Mirail, 2002. * Royer, Lydie. José Maria Guelbenzu: Un rénovateur de l'écriture du roman espagnol contemporain : du roman expérimentaliste, el mercurio, 1968, au roman d'intrigue, no acosen al asesino, 2001. France, Publibook, 2007. * Santa Cecilia, Carlos G.. La recepción de James Joyce en la prensa española: 1921–1976. Spain, Universidad de Sevilla, Secretariado de Publicaciones, 1997.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fernandez, Juan Maria Guelbenzu Spanish musicians 1819 births 1886 deaths