Joaquín Turina Pérez (9 December 1882 – 14 January 1949) was a composer from Spain who created classical music.
Biography
Turina was born in Seville. He studied in Seville and also in Madrid. He lived in Paris from 1905 to 1914. During this time, he took composition lessons from Vincent d'Indy at the Schola Cantorum de Paris and studied the piano with Moritz Moszkowski. Like his countryman and friend, Manuel de Falla, Turina learned about the impressionist composers Maurice Ravel and Claude Debussy while in Paris. The music of these composers had a big effect on Turina's own compositions.
On December 10, 1908, Turina married Obdulia Garzón. Together, they had five children. Obdulia was the dedicatee of the Danzas fantásticas, a piece Turina completed in 1919.
Along with Falla, Turina returned to Madrid in 1914. He worked as a composer, teacher, and critic. On March 28, 1916, Turina joined the Madrid Symphony Orchestra at the Hotel Ritz in Madrid to perform the premiere of Falla's revised orchestral version of El amor brujo. In early 1929, Turina visited Havana, Cuba. There, he gave seven lectures at the Hispanic-Cuban Institute of Culture.
In 1931, Turina became a professor of composition at the Madrid Royal Conservatory. His notable students included Vicente Asencio and Celedonio Romero. Turina died in Madrid in 1949.
Works
His works include the operas Margot (1914) and Jardín de Oriente (1923), the Danzas fantásticas (1919, versions for piano and orchestra), La oración del torero (originally written for a lute quartet, then a string quartet, and later a string orchestra), chamber music, piano compositions, guitar pieces, and songs. Much of his music reflects the influence of traditional Andalusian music. He also composed a short one-movement Rapsodia sinfónica (1931) for piano and orchestra. His music often expresses feelings of joy or excitement. His guitar works include Fandanguillo and Hommage à Tárrega, which were created for Andrés Segovia. José Cubiles was the dedicatee and/or first performer of many of his piano works.
During the 1920s and 1930s, he often visited Barcelona and Catalonia, where he met with Catalan artists, critics, and intellectuals, such as Manuel Clausells, Joan Lamote de Grignon, Eugenio d'Ors, Oleguer Junyent, Frank Marshall, Rafael Moragas, Jaime Pahissa, and Santiago Rusiñol. He also worked with musical organizations, including the Associació Música da Camera, the Barcelona Municipal Band, and the Pau Casals Orchestra. Because of these connections, he composed Evocaciones, a set of three piano pieces that honor Catalonia and include a sardana. On October 23, 1928, he performed the transcription for cello and piano, «Jueves Santo a medianoche» (from the Seville suite), with Pablo Casals at the Palau de la Música Catalana.