Enric Granados i Campiña, born Pantaleón Enrique Joaquín Granados Campiña (27 July 1867 – 24 March 1916), was a Spanish and Catalan composer and pianist. He was part of a group of pianists in Catalonia, including Isaac Albéniz and Joaquin Malats, who were influenced by Pere Tintorer, a key figure in the development of piano music in the region.

Granados is best known for his piano compositions, such as the Goyescas suite, which he later used as the basis for an opera with the same name. He founded a piano school in Barcelona called the Acadèmia Granados, which trained many skilled pianists, including Frank Marshall and Alicia de Larrocha.

He died in an attack on the SS Sussex in the English Channel when the ship was struck by a torpedo from the German navy during World War I. He was honored with the Order of Charles III and the French Legion of Honour.

His personal belongings, including letters exchanged with Pablo Casals, Enrique Fernández Arbós, Jules Massenet, and others, are preserved in the Library of Catalonia and the Museu de la Música de Barcelona.

Life

Pantaleón Enrique Joaquín Granados Campiña was born in Lleida, Spain. His father, Calixto José de la Trinidad Granados y Armenteros, was a Spanish army captain born in Havana, Cuba. His mother, Enriqueta Elvira Campiña de Herrera, was from Santander, Spain. As a young man, Granados studied piano in Barcelona. His teachers there included Francisco Jurnet and Joan Baptista Pujol. In 1887, he traveled to Paris to study music. He could not enroll at the Paris Conservatoire, but he took private lessons with Charles-Wilfrid de Bériot, a professor from the conservatoire. Bériot’s mother, Maria Malibran, was a famous soprano with Spanish heritage. Bériot taught Granados to produce very refined musical tones, which influenced Granados’ teaching methods. He also helped Granados improve his ability to improvise. Granados also studied with Felip Pedrell. He returned to Barcelona in 1889. His first major successes came in the late 1890s with his opera María del Carmen, which caught the attention of King Alfonso XIII.

In 1903, Granados entered a competition organized by Tomás Bretón of the Madrid Royal Conservatory. The competition offered 500 pesetas for the best "concert allegro" for solo piano. Granados submitted his Allegro de concierto, Op. 46. The jury voted almost unanimously to name him the winner. This victory brought Granados widespread recognition across Spain.

In 1911, Granados premiered his piano suite Goyescas, which became his most famous work. The suite includes six pieces inspired by paintings by Francisco Goya. The success of Goyescas encouraged Granados to expand it into an opera. He completed the opera in 1914, but World War I prevented its European premiere. The opera was first performed in New York City on January 28, 1916, and was well received. Soon after, Granados was invited to perform a piano recital for President Woodrow Wilson. Before leaving New York, he recorded piano rolls for the Aeolian Company’s "Duo-Art" system. These recordings, made on player piano rolls, still exist today and are available to listen to. They were his final recordings.

Death

A delay in New York, caused by accepting a request to perform, made him miss his ship back to Spain. Instead, he traveled by boat to England, where he boarded the passenger ferry SS Sussex to sail to Dieppe, France. During the journey across the English Channel, the Sussex was attacked by a German submarine, part of Germany’s strategy during World War I to attack ships without warning. According to witness Daniel Sargent, Granados’ wife, Amparo, was too large to fit into a lifeboat. Granados refused to leave her and placed her on a small raft. She knelt on the raft, and he held on. Both died near other passengers who watched. Another survivor reported that Granados was seen in a lifeboat, while his wife was in the water. Granados jumped into the water to save her and died. A later account said Granados sank to the ocean floor while trying to save his wife because a belt around his waist, filled with gold from his performances in America, made him too heavy to float. At the time, due to the economic problems caused by World War I, Granados required payment in gold.

The personal papers of Enrique Granados are kept in several places, including the National Library of Catalonia.

Music and influence

Granados composed music for the piano, chamber music (such as a piano quintet, a piano trio, and music for violin and piano), songs, zarzuelas, and an orchestral tone poem inspired by Dante's Divine Comedy. Many of his piano pieces have been adapted for the classical guitar; examples include Dedicatoria, Danza No. 5, and Goyescas.

His music can be grouped into three periods:

• A romantic style featuring works like Escenas Románticas and Escenas Poéticas.
• A style focused on Spanish culture, including pieces such as Danzas Españolas (Spanish Dances) and 6 Piezas sobre cantos populares españoles (Six Pieces based on popular Spanish songs).
• The Goya (Goyesca) period, which includes the piano suite Goyescas, the opera Goyescas, various Tonadillas for voice and piano, and other compositions.

Granados played a major role in influencing at least two famous Spanish composers and musicians, Manuel de Falla and Pablo Casals. He also taught the composer Rosa García Ascot.

Some important works

• 12 danzas españolas (1890) for piano; Op. 37, H. 142, DLR 1:2. The four volumes include: Vol. 1: Galante (or Minueto), Oriental, Fandango (or Zarabanda); Vol. 2: Villanesca, Andaluza (or Playera), Rondalla aragonesa (or Jota); Vol. 3: Valenciana, Sardana (or Asturiana), Romántica (or Mazurca); Vol. 4: Melancólica (or Danza Triste), Zambra, Arabesca.
• María del Carmen (1898), opera
• Allegro de concierto (1904)
• Escenas románticas (1903) for piano. The individual "scenes" are: Mazurca, Berceuse, Allegretto, Mazurka, Allegro appassionato, Epílogo
• Dante (1908), symphonic poem
• Tonadillas al estilo antiguo, H136 (1910) for voice and piano, settings of poems by Fernando Periquet. Titles include: "Amor y odio"; "Callejeo"; "El majo discreto"; "El majo olvidado"; "El majo tímido"; "El mirar de la maja"; "El tra-la-la y el punteado"; "La maja de Goya"; "La maja dolorosa I (Oh muerte cruel!), II (Ay majo de mi vida!), and III (De aquel majo amante)"; "La currutacas modestas" (duet).
• Canciones españolas for voice and piano. Titles include: "Yo no tengo quien me llore"; "Cantar I"; "Por una mirada, un mundo"; "Si al retiro me llevas…"; "Canción"; "Serenata"; "Canto gitano".
• Cançons catalanes for voice and piano. Titles include: "L'ocell profeta"; "Elegia eterna"; "Cançó de gener"; "Cançó d'amor"; "Cançoneta"; "La boira".
• Goyescas (1911), suite for piano, subtitled "Los majos enamorados". It includes six pieces in two books. Movements are: Book 1: "Los requiebros"; "Coloquio en la reja"; "El fandango de candil"; "Quejas o La maja y el ruiseñor"; Book 2: "El amor y la muerte"; "Epílogo (Serenata del espectro)". "El pelele," though not published as part of Goyescas, is usually added and played as the seventh piece. It is based on music from the opening scene of Granados's opera Goyescas, where a "pelele" is tossed in the air by "majas."
• Bocetos (1912) which includes: "Despertar del cazador"; "El hada y el niño"; "Vals muy lento"; "La campana de la tarde".
• Colección de canciones amatorias (1915) for voice and piano. Titles include: "Descúbrase el pensamiento de mi secreto cuidado"; "Mañanica era"; "Llorad, corazón, que tenéis razón 'Lloraba la niña'"; "Mira que soy niña"; "No lloréis, ojuelos"; "Iban al pinar 'Serranas de Cuenca'"; "Gracia mía".
• Goyescas, opera, 1916
• 6 Estudios expresivos
• 6 Piezas sobre cantos populares españoles, which include: "Añoranza"; "Ecos de la parranda"; "Vascongada"; "Marcha oriental"; "Zambra"; "Zapateado"
• Madrigal, for cello and piano
• 8 Valses Poéticos, for piano, including No 6 "Vals Poético"
• Trío, for piano, violin, and cello
• "Military March," for piano, Op.38

Recordings

• Goyescas, Part 1, Los Requiebros as recorded by Granados on piano roll, around 1913, Paris ( Info )
• L'escola pianística catalana (Enregistraments històrics) ( la mà de guido, LMG3060 )
• Enrique Granados today playing his 1913 interpretations ( The Welte Mignon Mystery Vol. I) Saved online by the Wayback Machine on 16 March 2011
• Enrique Granados: Composer as Pianist ( Pierian Recording Society , PIR0002) ASIN B000051ZMS
• Masters of the Piano Roll: Granados Plays Granados ( Dal Segno Records, DSPRCD008 )
• The Catalan Piano Tradition ( VAI Audio, 1001 ) ASIN B000003LIC
• Rollos de Pianola (Obras de Albéniz, Granados, Turina, Ocón, Chapí, Alonso y Otros) ( Almaviva, DS – 0141 ) ASIN B000GI34D6
• Piano Rolls ( The Reproducing Piano Roll Foundation )