How Did Enriques Granados Impact The Musical World

Rebecca Nickles

Piano Literature II

Dr. Kodanashvili

5/2/18

Enrique Granados A composer that was just gaining momentum with his compositions before his untimely death, Enrique Granados left a small but notable impact on the musical world. Although the majority of his compositions do not exhibit a great deal of originality, sometimes composers’ charm come sometimes nearer to our heart than that of greater geniuses”. Enrique Granados was born on July 27th, 1876 in Catalonia. He was raised primarily in Barcelona, Spain. For unknown reasons, Granados actually believed himself to be born in 1868 rather than 1867, even stating so on his life-insurance policy. Yet we know he was born in 1867 due to his baptism records. The name Granados means

He also had passed his twentieth birthday while recovering, shattering his hopes of being accepted into the Conservatory, who maintained a strict age limit policy. Fortunately, Granados’ journey to Paris was not in vein, as he was still able to take private lessons with Charles de Beriot, who was one of the leading pedagogues at the time. He was also fortunate enough to study with Felipe Pedrell, who taught him of Spanish popular music, but sufficient time was not spent on developing Granados’ technical knowledge of the subject.Despite these lessons, many feel that Granados returned home without ‘sufficient equipment and style’ to help guide his compositions, as is evident in his earlier works. Again, because of these setbacks, Granados is hindered in his musical development as a

Author Jean-Aubry believes that “it is certain that had Granados received a more methodical teaching, he would have achieved a steadier way of expressing himself and greater variety of style”. One of Granados’ most notable ‘defect’ as a composer is his often overuse of a theme. Yet, despite all of this, Granados’ compositions still possess a certain level of charm and familiarity that make them appealing to listeners. Jean-Aubry goes on to state that:

Perhaps he would have lost some of his characteristic qualities - that unique spontaneousness, that musical instinct which gave him, in spite of his refinement, some likeness to those troubadours of yore, inventors of themes who never troubled themselves about purity of style, haunted as they were by the desire for communicating their feelings in the most direct way.

Because of his lack of training, defining Granados as a composer is a difficult task. Douglas Riva, who recorded all of Granados’ works for Naxos, offers his thoughts on labeling Granados:

There’s his voice, his sensibility, but they’re not all of a sort. It’s hard to pin him down, and maybe that’s why he’s considered a Spanish nationalist because people don’t know what else to