Joaquin Rodrigo

​Joaquín Rodrigo Vidre, 1st Marquess of the Gardens of Aranjuez, was a Spanish composer and a virtuoso pianist. He is best known for composing the Concerto de Aranjuez , a cornerstone of the classical guitar repertoire .

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Rodrigo was born in Sagunto , Province of Valencia . At the age of three, he lost his sight completely after contracting diphtheria. At the age of eight he began to study solitude , piano, and violin and from the age of 16 he studied harmony and composition. He wrote his compositions in Braille and they were transcribed for publication. Although distinguished for having raised the Spanish guitar to dignity as a universal concert instrument and being best known for his guitar music, he never mastered playing the instrument.

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Rodrigo studied music under Francisco Antich in Valencia and under Paul Dukas at the École Normale de Musique in Paris. After briefly returning to Spain, he returned to Paris to study musicology , first under Maurice Emmanuel , and then under André Pirro . His first published compositions date from 1923. From 1947, Rodrigo was a professor of music history , holding the Manuel de Falla Chair of Music in the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters, at Complutense University of Madrid . Notable students include Yüksel Koptagel , Turkish composer and pianist.

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His most famous work, the Aranjuez Concerto , was composed in 1939 in Paris for the guitarist Regino Sainz de la Maza . In later life, he and his wife, Victoria , declared that the work was written as a response to the miscarriage of their first child. The composition is a concerto for guitar and orchestra. The central adagio movement is one of the most recognizable in twentieth-century classical music, featuring the interplay of guitar with cor anglais. This movement was later adapted by the jazz arranger Gil Evans for the 1960 album Sketches of Spain by Miles Davis . At the request of Nicanor Zabaleta , Rodrigo adapted the concerto for the 1974 Harp and Orchestra Concerto and he dedicated the adaptation to Zabaleta.

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The success of this concerto led to commissions from a number of prominent soloists, including Zabaleta, for whom Rodrigo dedicated his Serenade Concerto for Harp and Orchestra. For Julian Lloyd Webber , Rodrigo composed his Concerto as a divertimento for cello and orchestra. For flutist James Galway , Rodrigo composed his Pastoral Concerto for flute and orchestra.

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In 1954, Rodrigo composed Fantasy for a Gentleman at the request of Andrés Segovia . His Concierto Andaluz, for four guitars and orchestra, was commissioned by Celedonio Romero for him and his three sons.

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Of Rodrigo's works, those that have achieved the greatest popular and critical success are his Concerto de Aranjuez and Fantasia para un Gentilmann . These two works are very often paired in recordings.

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Source : Wikipedia

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