which he and his wife sailed, the Sussex, was torpedoed on 24 March

1916 in mid-channel between England and the continent by a German

submarine. Granados was picked up by a lifeboat, but saw his wife still

struggling in the sea. He dove into the waters to save her, and both

drowned.

Part II of Goyescas contains two pieces that are not performed as often

as those of Part /. In El amor y la muerte (Love and Death), the death

themes are more emotionally elaborate than the melodies of love.

Granados marked the former “very expressive, as though happy in

having pain.” The Epflogo is not connected to the piano suite, Goyescas,

but is the first number in Granados’ opera bearing the same title. It is

stylistically pure Goyesque, containing all the bravura bom of that

period. El pelele (Straw Man) is also not from the piano suite, but was

published later as a separate Goyesca. The music is derived from the

opening scene of the same opera, in which a group of men and women

are tossing a straw dummy about in a blanket, and its song is among the

finest melodies to emerge from Granados’ last years.

The selections from Goyescas are performed with revisions by Alicia 

de Larrocha.

Notes on Soler © 1994 Columbia Artists Management, Inc.

Notes on Albeniz © 2000 Columbia Artists Management, Inc.

Notes on Montsalvatge by Elizabeth E. Torres

© 2002 Columbia Artists Management Inc.

Notes on Granados by Ileen Zovluck 

© 2001 Columbia Artists Management, Inc.

Used by permission 

Adapted and edited by Elmer Booze

For the convenience of concert goers,

the Garden Cafe remains open until 6:30 p.m.

The use ofcameras or recording equipment during

the performance is not allowed. Please be sure that cell

phones, pagers, and other electronic devices are turned off.

mn

The Sixtieth Season of

THE WILLIAM NELSON CROMWELL and

F. LAMMOT BELIN CONCERTS

National Gallery of Art

■toll.........

2415th Concert

ALICIA DE LARROCHA, pianist

Presented in honor of the exhibition Goya: Images of Women

Sunday Evening, 24 March 2002

Seven O'clock

West Building, West Garden Court

Admission free
PROGRAM

Antonio Soler

(1729-1783)

Isaac Albeniz

(1860-1909)

Xavier Montsalvatge 

(b. 1912)

Montsalvatge

Enrique Granados

(1867-1916)

Sonata No. 87 in G Minor 

Sonata No. 84 in D Major

Selections from Iberia

(1906-1909)

Book I: Evocacion

Book II: El Albaicin

Impromptu en el Generalife 

from Quatre dialegs amb el piano

(1930, rev. 1996)

Sonatina para Yvette

(1962)

Vivo e spiritoso

Moderato molto

Allegretto

INTERMISSION

Goyescas-Los majos enamorados

Part 11(1911)

El amor y la muerte (Ballad)

Epilogo: La serenata del espectro

Granados El pelele: Escena goyesca

A native of Barcelona, Alicia de Larrocha made her first public

appearance there in 1929, at the age of six. She was a student of Frank

Marshall, the head of the Marshall Academy, founded in her native city

by Enrique Granados. Today Alicia de Larrocha serves as the third

president of the academy. She first toured outside Spain in 1947 and

made her British debut in 1953, followed by her American debut in 1955

with the Los Angeles Philharmonic under Alfred Wallenstein. Although

she subsequently received the Paderewski Prize in London and

international honors for her early recordings, she established her 

reputation as one of the world’s great artists when she returned to the

United States for a second debut in 1965. During the 1995-1996 season,

she celebrated the thirtieth anniversary of her debut with the New York

Philharmonic.

Music critics have been unanimous in their praise of Alicia de

Larrocha’s unique artistry: “She can do no wrong.... She is a marvel.

Her playing has perfect finish” (The New York Times). “This was a

program that depended on evocation and color.... Her personality is still

captivating and her art is as rich and imaginative as ever.... There are

undoubtedly secrets that explain how de Larrocha achieves such

miracles, but they are hers and hers alone” (The Baltimore Sun). “You

seldom encounter really great musicians whose performances give you

fresh impressions each time you hear him or her. From my own

experience, Alicia de Larrocha is one of these very special pianists”

(Mainichi Shimbun, Tokyo).

The comprehensive music magazine Musical America honored Alicia

de Larrocha at the fiftieth anniversary of her debut by naming her

musician of the year in 1979. In 1982 the city of Barcelona awarded her

the Medallo d'oro for artistic merit, and the Spanish National Assembly

awarded her its gold medal al merito en las bellas artes, which was

bestowed on her by King Juan Carlos at a formal reception in Madrid.

The year 1989 marked the diamond jubilee of her performing career.

Among the many awards that followed was the Premio Fundacion

Guerrero de la Musica Espanola. Alicia de Larrocha appears at the

Gallery by arrangement with Columbia Artists Management, Inc., and

Herbert H. Breslin, both ofNew York City.
Composer, organist, and theoretician Antonio Soler spent the greater part 

of his life in the service of the Church of Spain. He entered the

monastery school of Montserrat (near Barcelona) at the age of six and

studied organ and harmony. Around 1750 he was appointed maestro de

capilla at Lerida (the birthplace, in 1860 and 1867, respectively, of Isaac

Albeniz and Enrique Granados). Having taken holy orders at the

Monastery of the Escorial in 1752, he became its maestro de capilla in

1757, a position he held until his death. Through his activity at the

Escorial, he often came in contact with the musical establishment of the

Spanish royal family and was able to study with its musicians, notably

the famous harpsichordist and composer, Domenico Scarlatti (1685-

1757).

A prolific composer of masses, psalm-settings, music for the Divine

Office, sonatas, and concertos, Soler was also involved in a celebrated 

theoretical dispute centering around his Llave de la modulation (Key to

Modulation) of 1762, in which he demonstrated how to move quickly

from any major or minor key to another. Conservative music theorists

condemned his modem techniques, but ultimately his ideas were

accepted. He also served as a music instructor to a prince of the royal

family, wrote a book on the conversion of Castilian currency to that of

Catalan, and was an authority on the construction of pipe organs.

Soler wrote 120 keyboard sonatas, many showing Scarlatti’s influence.

Both men’s styles include a virtuoso technique, the use of syncopation

and ostinato, and the presence of Iberian dance rhythms. Generally the

sonatas adhere to a one-movement bipartite form, though Soler later

wrote sonatas of three and four movements. His sonatas also tend to a

more moderate tempo than those of the older master, and he preferred to

build his phrases out ofrepeated one- or two-bar motifs.

Bom at Camprodon in the province of Lerida in 1860, Isaac Albeniz 

gave his piano recital debut at the age of four at the Teatro Romea in

Barcelona. The audience was shocked at the young boy’s prodigious 

talents, and some even accused the theater management of trickery.

Albeniz’ mother took him to Paris at the age of seven, hoping to enroll

him at the Paris Conservatory, but he was too young to be admitted to

the prestigious institution. When the family moved to Madrid, Albeniz 

enrolled in the local conservatory. Although he enjoyed his studies,

Albeniz’ spirit of adventure led him to run away from home at the age of

twelve. He found his way to the port city of Cadiz, where he stowed

away on a ship bound for South America. He visited Argentina,

Uruguay, Brazil, Cuba, Puerto Rico, New York, and San Francisco

before returning to Spain at age thirteen. He then began a more formal

course of schooling that included studies in Leipzig with Carl Reinecke

(1824-1910) and at the Conservatory of Music in Brussels. This period

in Albeniz’ life culminated in his association with Franz Liszt.

Albeniz became a key figure in the Spanish nationalist musical revival

of the early twentieth century. His music synthesizes Spanish dance

rhythms and folk elements with colorful virtuoso techniques,

incorporating classical forms into a profoundly Spanish musical style.

Later in his life, Albeniz made an illuminating remark about his work: "I

think that people are right to love this music; it contains more light,

warmth, and the taste of olives."

Although he wrote orchestral works and three operas, the bulk of

Albeniz’ music was written for the piano. His masterwork, Iberia,

composed during his final years, is regarded as the pinnacle of Spanish

piano music and was a great source of inspiration to his contemporaries 

and future composers. Few tonal portraits of any nation penetrate so

deeply into its heart or reproduce so accurately the pulse and heartbeat of

the people as Iberia. It is rich in imagery, varied in background, deft in

the projection of atmosphere, and sensitive in the evocation of sounds

and smells. It is therefore Spain truly set to music.

Originally written in four books for piano, Iberia includes twelve

pieces and is among the most demanding works in the piano repertoire.

Evocacion has been described by Gilbert Chase as a “little fandango with

an intensely lyrical copla that appears in the upper register marked ‘very

soft and distant.’” El Albaicin, the first piece of Book III, takes its name

from the gypsy quarter in the very Moorish city of Granada. This is a

contemplative piece, reminiscent of the strumming of guitars. In one

copla, the performer is instructed to use the soft pedal and “imitate the

sonority of reed instruments.” El Albaicin was a favorite of Debussy,

who declared that few compositions could compare.
In the context of twentieth-century Spanish music, Xavier Montsalvatge 

is difficult to pigeonhole. Some refer to his compositional style as

eclectic, others as Antillean, but there is no doubt that, whatever the title

or description, his work is firmly rooted in his Spanish heritage. The

influences of Cuban music can also be clearly heard as well as that of

Stravinsky and the composers of Les Six. Montsalvatge has also had a

career as a music critic, beginning in 1939 with articles for the magazine 

Destino and concluding in 1962 with La Vanguardia.

Montsalvatge’s long association and lasting friendship with Alicia de

Larrocha has resulted in a number of his most cherished works. The

Impromptu en el Generalife, the first ofthe Quatre dialegs amb el piano,

was written for her as an homage to the Spanish pianist Ricardo Vines

(1875-1943, also a native of Lerida). Vines was a direct contemporary of

Manuel de Falla and a leading proponent ofthe avant-garde music ofthe

day. He premiered many works by Albeniz, Debussy, Falla, Satie,

Turina, Les Six, Mompou, and Rodrigo, among others.

Montsalvatge has written mostly for the orchestra: symphonic music,

operas, and ballets. Among his chamber music works are the Cinco

canciones negras, which have become world-famous, and the Sonatina

para Yvette, first performed in 1962 by Gonzalo Soriano. The title

indicates the desire ofthe composer to write a joyous and juvenile work,

thinking of his daughter, Yvette. The final movement includes a popular 

children’s theme, but in style it does not approach what would generally 

be considered children’s music. The interpretation is not simple, and the

work uses the harmonic and rhythmical means that are generally 

regarded a product of the aesthetic postimpressionist movement. Alicia 

de Larrocha plays works by Montsalvatge in this recital in honor of the

composer’s ninetieth birthday on 11 March 2002.

Enrique Granados is revered today as the founder of the modem 

Spanish school of composition. As with Chopin, Liszt, Grieg, and

Dvorak, he turned to the folk music of his native land as a source of

inspiration for his works. Granados undertook his early musical studies

at the Barcelona Conservatory of Music. In 1884 he enrolled at the

Madrid Conservatory. There he came under the tutelage of Felipe Pedrill,

who inspired Granados to create music in an authentic Spanish style

rooted in the folk music of his native people. Granados traveled to Paris

in 1887 and studied privately with Charles de Beriot. He returned to

Barcelona two years later and presented his first public recital.

It was in Paris that Granados first became interested in painting. Upon

his return to Spain, he discovered works by Goya in the Prado and took

up drawing and painting as a serious hobby. His notes for Goyescas

include sketches on the subjects of the pieces, and he painted a selfportrait in imitation of Goya’s style. In Granados’ own words, “I fell in

love with the mind of Goya, with his palette, with his models, his battles,

loves, and conquests, with pink and white cheeks against lace and black

velvet. Those small waists and pearly hands dazzled me.”

Goyescas (Pieces after Goya) is a set of six piano pieces, contained in

two books. They are based on pictures and tapestries of Goya, each

representing a scene from eighteenth-century Madrid that particularly

caught the composer’s imagination. Granados imbues these pieces with a

technique and breadth of style reminiscent of Liszt, combined with the

rhythmic and melodic elements of Spanish folk music. These six largescale, loosely constructed pieces require a formidable command of piano

technique. The set as a whole features wild and insistent melodies, as

well as highly individual rhythms, harmonies, and colorings.

Granados first presented the suite in Barcelona on 9 March 1911. He

also performed it in Paris on 4 April 1914, at the Salle Pleyel, at which

time the work was received with enormous enthusiasm. Granados made

such an impression with the work that he was elected to the Legion

d’honneur and was asked to fashion an opera from it for the Paris Opera.

A belated acceptance of the work by that institution, coupled with the

declaration of the First World War, resulted in Goyescas, the opera,

being premiered in the United States. Granados came to New York on 26

January 1916 in order to attend the premiere at the Metropolitan Opera,

which was a tremendous success. Soon thereafter, the composer wrote to

a friend, “I have a whole world of ideas. ... I am only now starting my

work.”

Tragically, his life ended a mere two months after he wrote the letter.

Asked to perform a recital at the White House for President Woodrow

Wilson, Granados delayed his return to Europe by a week. The ship on