Extract from Adagio, Concierto de Aranjuez (278 Kb zipped .wav file)
For more information, check out the links at the bottom of the page.
Joaquin Rodrigo
Joaquin Rodrigo was born in a small Spanish town near Valencia, in 1901. He became blind at the age of three due to an epidemic of diptheria, an event he later said probably influenced him to turn to music. Enrolled into a school for the blind, he took an interest in the arts, especially music. By the time he was in his twenties, he was already an accomplished musician and had written his first compositions.
In 1927 he moved to Paris to study there under Paul Dukas. Here he also met and fell in love with Victoria Kamhi, a Turkish pianist teaching in Paris. They were married in 1933, and soon returned to Valencia. But after receiving a scholarship, the couple went back to France, where Rodrigo attended more music classes. The outbreak of the Spanish Civil War (see also Franco) meant a cessation of funding though, and Rodrigo was taken in as a refugee in an institute for the blind in Germany. Here he and his wife gave music lessons to earn a living. Finally, in 1938, he was invited to the University of Santander to teach a course. En route, in Paris, he met a guitarist, Regino Sainz de la Maza, who persuaded Rodrigo to write a concerto for the guitar.
There are rumours that this concerto was composed during Victoria's pregnancy. During this time, after Rodrigo completed the first movement, Victoria suddenly fell ill and was admitted to hospital. It looked as though Victoria and the baby would both die. It was apparently against this the backdrop of this news, that Rodrigo composed the profound second movement. In the event, Victoria survived, but their baby was lost. On September 1st 1939, two days before the outbreak of war, they both returned to Madrid, carrying the manuscript for the concerto in their suitcase.
In 1940, the Concierto de Aranjuez was premiered in Barcelona to huge popular acclaim. Since then, Rodrigo has been showered with prizes for his works, but none was to surpass the Concierto de Aranjuez in popularity. In 1991, King Juan Carlos I made him 'Marqués de los jardines de Aranjuez'. Eight years later, on 6th July 1999, Rodrigo died and was buried at the cemetery in Aranjuez.
Note: The photos are reproduced here thanks to the kindness of the Victoria and Joaquín Rodrigo Foundation.
Aranjuez
Aranjuez was originally a Roman settlement named Ara Jovis in Spain. In the 17th century, it became the royal summer residence, as it was situated just 30 miles south of Madrid on the south bank of the Tagus. Ferdinand VI built a palace and a hunting lodge there in 1750. In the words of Rodrigo, the concerto is meant to evoke of atmosphere of Aranjuez during 'the end of the eighteenth and beginning of the nineteenth centuries, the courts of Charles IV and Ferdinand VII, a subtly stylised atmosphere of majas, bullfighters, and Spanish sounds returned from America...'
Links
The Official Joaquin Rodrigo Website
