From Spain, composer Joaquín Rodrigo

At the age of 3, he lost his sight almost completely during a diphtheria outbreak. This event led him to a career in music. At 8, he began his first musical studies, in piano and violin, and from age 16, harmony and composition with teachers from the Conservatoire in Valencia: Francisco Antich, Enrique Gomá and Eduardo López Chavarri.

Rodrigo wrote all his works in Braille and then would dictate them to a copyist. His first compositions date to 1923: Suite for Piano, Dos esbozos (Two Sketches) for violin and piano, and Siciliana for cello. In 1924, his first work for orchestra, Juglares, had its premiere in Valencia and Madrid, and he obtained a diploma in a national competition for Cinco piezas infantiles, which was later premiered in Paris by the Straram Orchestra. 

In 1927, following the example of fellow composers Albéniz, Falla, Granados and Turina, Rodrigo enrolled at Paris’ École Normale de Musique, where he studied for five years with Paul Dukas. Rodrigo wrote his Sonada de adiós for piano in memory of Dukas in 1935. He soon became known as a pianist and composer, and became friendly with Honegger, Milhaud, Ravel and many other leading composers of the time, among them Manuel de Falla, whose advice and support would be crucial to his career. 


The year 1940 brought the world premiere, in Barcelona, of what would become his best-known work, Concierto de Aranjuez for guitar and orchestra, regarded as the definitive example of his musical personality. (The Chicago Symphony Orchestra, under Riccardo Muti, music director emeritus for life, will perform Concierto de Aranjuez with Pablo Sáinz-Villegas as soloist in concerts Nov. 6-8.)

“The music of Joaquín Rodrigo is a homage to the rich and varied cultures of Spain,” biographer Raymond Calcraft, who also edited the composer’s works, has written. "No other Spanish composer has drawn on so many different aspects of his country’s spirit as sources of inspiration, from the history of Roman Spain to the work of contemporary poets. His music is refined, luminous, fundamentally optimistic, with a particular predominance of melody, and with original harmonies.

“His first works reveal the influence of composers of his time such as Ravel and Stravinsky, but the personal voice is quickly heard which would go on to create a notable chapter in the cultural history of Spain in the 20th century, where the originality of Rodrigo’s musical inspiration goes hand in hand with a devotion to the fundamental values of his tradition.”