Albéniz, Isaac

(1860-1909)

One of the leading 19th century Spanish composers, who is most noted for his piano works, which are imbued with the spirit of Spanish folk music.

Born in Camprodón, he was a child prodigy on the piano. At the age of 13 he ran away from home, working as an itinerant pianist in Latin America. He later studied at the Brussels Conservatory (1875-1878), with the Hungarian pianist-composer Franz Liszt (1878), and in 1883 with the Spanish nationalist composer Felipe Pedrell.

He settled in Paris in 1892, becoming associated with the French composer Vincent d'Indy. His masterpiece is the evocative piano suite Iberia (1906-1909), virtuosic and musically complex. His most important nonpiano work is perhaps the opera Pepita Jiménez (1896).