Juan Crisostomo De Arriaga page with free midi's to download

JUAN CRISOSTOMO DE ARRIAGA

27thJanuary 1806 --- 17thJanuary 1826

Juan Crisostomo Arriaga was born in Bilbao on 27 January 1806 - 50 years to
the  day after  Mozart. His  father, Juan Simon, was  a wealthy  merchant and
trained musician  who encouraged  his son's exceptional  musical and artistic
talents.  At  11 he  started composing major  chamber,  orchestral  and choral
works,  the  most  remarkable  of   which  was  a two-act  opera 'Los Esclavos
Felices',   written  at  the  age  of  13  and  successfully  performed  in  Bilbao.
When Arriaga was 16 he was sent  to study at  the Paris Conservatoire where
the  Principal,  Cherubini,  judged  Arriaga's  choral   work  'Et  Vitam  Venturi'
(now lost)  to be a  masterpiece.   He  absorbed all  the  principles of harmony
and  counterpoint  in  only three  months  and  two  years  later, aged  18,  he
became the youngest professor ever appointed at the Conservatoire.

Arriaga's   feverish  creativity   appears  to  have   undermined  his  health  and
towards  the  end  of  1825  he  began  to   suffer  from an  unspecified  illness,
probably  tuberculosis.    He  died  in  Paris  on  17th  January  1826,  ten  days
before  his  20th  birthday, and was  buried the same day in a communal grave
in the  Montmartre cemetery. His works, which  remained largely unknown for
the next hundred years, are now being published and some, notably the three
fine  string  quartets  and   the  powerful   Symphony  in  D  major,  have  been
recorded several times. Other works include the cantatas 'Agar', 'Erminia' and
'Edipo'  and  'All'Aurora',   three caprices for  piano, two  sets of variations and
several shorter orchestral pieces.

Arriaga's music is notable for its exceptional fluency, power and technique.
The  overture  to 'Los Esclavos Felices', written  before his training in Paris,
demonstrates  his  outstanding  creativity.    Sadly,  the rest  of  this  opera,
Arriaga's  largest  work,   appears  not to  have  survived apart  from a  few
fragments.

His  opera  Los Esclavos  felices  ( The  Happy  Slaves )  has   recently  been
republished  and his  three Quartets are still  played  today. A Symphony, a
Cantata and various religious works complete the oeuvre of a very talented
composer  with undeniable gifts of freshness and grace, who was known in
his  time  as  the  Spanish  Mozart. Although a  contemporary to Beethoven
and  Schubert  his style is  more akin to  earlier classical  period composers.

My sincere thanks go to Herbie for sending me the above bio information
on Arriaga.

Last Updated on 2016
By Steven Ritchie

And now for the Music

Thanks to Ramon Pajares Box for the music below.

"Symphony in D (1826). Adagio, Allegro vivace". Sequenced by Ramon Pajares Box

"Symphony in D (1826). Adagio. Allegro vivace". Sequenced by Ramon Pajares Box

"Symphony in D (1826). Adagio. Allegro vivace," Sequenced by Ramon Pajares Box

WSymphony in D (1826). 4. Allegro con moto". Sequenced by Ramon Pajares Box

(557)"The Overture of the opera, Los Esclavos Felices,(The Happy Slaves)". Sequenced by Ramon Pajares Box

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