PEDRO ALBÉNIZ: DRAWING HIS LIFE


Pedro Pérez de Albéniz or Pedro Albéniz as he was commonly known, was a Spanish pianist, composer, and pedagogue who lived between 1795 and 1855.


[Illustration 1. His portrait (maybe half real half draw or everything real, as you wish) + his name in capital letters (fill it in color or not).


Although he grew up in San Sebastián and he felt the Basque Country be his home, he was born in Logroño on April 14th, 1795.


[Illustration 2. Map of Spain, just the contour. 1º Drawing the outline of Basque country and pointing at San Sebastian. 2º Cross out that region. 3º Drawing the outline of La Rioja and pointing at Logroño. 3º Underline Logroño].


He was the son of Clara Basanta and Mateo Pérez de Albéniz, who was also commonly known as Mateo Albéniz. It is precisely under the guidance of his father, distinguished chapelmaster and organist at Santa María´s Church in San Sebastian, that Pedro took his first musical steps.


[Illustration 3. Mother, Father and son. Then maybe a kid sitting in front of a church organ with his father next to him. (Maybe this is too intense and it should be more simple).


*AFTER MENTIONING MATEO PÉREZ DE ALBÉNIZ, IT STARTS TO SOUND THE TRACK 1.


At the age of 10, he was appointed as organist at St. Vincent´s parish by the city council and, three years later, he obtained the second place on the application for the organist at the Basilica of Santiago de Bilbao, among a considerable number of musical personalities who applied. Mr. Aguirre, who was appointed for the position, became a young Pedro´s teacher.


[Illustration 4. Something that shows his musical precocity].


After studying with Mr. Aguirre in San Sebastián, he traveled to Paris, one of the dominant artistic centers in 19th century Europe. There he studied with Friedrich Kalkbrenner and Henri Herz, who will be, together with Giacomo Rossini, the most influential figures of his musical career.


[Illustration 5. Maps of Spain and France. The travel can be shown with arrows. Once he is in France, it would be important to show the three influences with their dates of birth and death. Herz and Kalkbrenner are pianistic influences, so closer, and Rossini slightly more separated].


Pedro went back to Paris to continue his artistic development but the advanced age and illness of his parents forced him to return to San Sebastian.

During 1828 he was appointed as Artistic Director of the events held for the King´s reception on his return from Catalonia. From this celebration, we know his first fortepiano work: the Contradanzas bailadas para SSMM.


[Illustration 6. A Crown or the King and the Queen waving at the crowd. Typical instruments for a military band-drum, cymbals, brass, choir. Score? Recording of the piece too?]


*WHILE FINISHING THE PARAGRAPH, THE CONTRADANZAS BAILADAS START TO SOUND. TRACK 2.


At the beginning of 1830, he traveled to Madrid, where he played four recitals with the distinguished violinist Pedro Escudero in the Santa Catalina hall. These were such a success with critics and audience, that the Royal family invited them to perform a concert in the Royal Palace in Aranjuez (Madrid).


[Illustration 7. Map showing a trip from San Sebastián to Madrid. Drawing of Pedro Escudero just a guy with a violin- and Pedro Albéniz – a guy with a piano. Later a crown on the top of a Palace together with the word Aranjuez. Applauses and Money].


This event was a turning point in his career. As a result of this concert series, Escudero and Albeniz became the first chairs of Violin and Piano classes at the Conservatory of Music and Declamation "María Cristina" in Madrid.


[Illustration 8. Opening date of the Conservatory. The school´s name and maybe a draft of the front part of the building. The appointed date of Albéniz as the first piano teacher: July 17th, 1830].


On May 18th, 1840 his method for piano was adopted as the textbook of the piano class at the Conservatory; the work was elaborated after researching the publications of the most remarkable pianists and pedagogues of the time: Clementi, Cramer, Czerny, Herz, Hummel, Kalkbrenner, Fétis or Moscheles. It remained as the school´s piano method for decades, serving to educate several of the most important pianists of the Court. These included names such as Eduardo Compta, Manuel de Mendizábal, Juan María Guelbenzu or Pedro Tintorer, who developed remarkable careers in Madrid and Barcelona. It also received the highest praise from some of the most distinguished artists of the time like Thalberg or Miró.


[Illustration 9. A draw of his method with the title and his name. From the method can come out names in Capital letters (HERZ, KALKBRENNER, FÉTIS) and small (Clementi, Cramer, Czerny, Hummel or Moscheles). Maybe a queue of people to show how many students were educated with it].


His relationship with the Royal family became closer and stronger with the time. On October 27th, 1834 he got appointed as the first organist of the Royal Chapel and, on April 5th, 1841, he was named piano teacher of Queen Isabel II (Elisabeth II) and her sister the Infanta María Luisa Fernanda, to whom he would dedicate many of his works. 


 

[Illustration 10. A crown surrounded by 1834 and 1841. Right under 1834, a church organ and right under the other a man teaching piano to two little girls, one of them wears a crown].


 

*AFTER THE END OF THE PARAGRAPH, TRACK 3.


 

Within Pedro Albéniz´s artistic life, the amplitude and variety of his piano works are remarkable. He cultivates genres from the Waltz or the Nocturne to the variations and fantasies for two and four hands, passing through more minor genres in his catalog as the Rondo or many dances both Spanish and foreign. From all his works, probably the variations and fantasies written for two hands are the most elaborated ones: Variations on a theme of Riego, Variations on motifs from the Opera Norma, Fantasy on an ancient Basque theme, Fantasy on motifs from I Puritani by Bellini or the fantasy called “Lucia di Lammermoor”, based on the Opera by Donizetti.


 

[Illustration 11. An old guy with a lot of scores between his hands. All of them fall down and the titles of these pieces come out.].


 

However, the importance of Pedro Albéniz within the Madridian 19th century musical world is not so much because of his music. The most outstanding side of his artistic life was pedagogy: he is considered to be the founder of the modern piano school in Spain, the teacher and main influence of a considerable number of pianists who followed and from whom a direct line can be drawn to the national Spanish piano school, represented by Isaac Albéniz, Enrique Granados and Manuel de Falla.


 

[Illustration 12. Something that symbolizes the teacher. Some kind of travel through time with all the names of his students coming out and arriving directly to these three].