Enrique Granados (1867-1916)

Piano Music Volume 4

Enrique Granados was born 27th July 1867 in Lérida, near Barcelona. Son of an army captain, he began piano study in 1879 and the following year he continued with Joan Baptista Pujol (1835-1898) at the Academia Pujol. Three years later he performed Schumann's Sonata, Op. 22, in an academy-sponsored competition, for which one of the jury members was the noted composer Felipe Pedrell (1841-1922). The sixteen-year-old Granados won the competition and obviously impressed Pedrell, who began giving Granados classes in harmony and composition in 1884.

In 1887 Granados went to Paris, where he studied with Charles de Bériot (1833-1914). He was highly influenced by Bériot's insistence on tone-production and pedal technique. In addition, Bériot emphasized improvisation in his teaching, reinforcing Granados' natural ability in the skill. After returning to Barcelona in 1889, he published his Dan