INTRODUCTION

Abstract

 I have always felt curious about the time periods between composers such as  Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757) or Antonio Soler (1729-1783), belonging to the first half of the 18^th century, and others like Isaac Albeniz (1860-1906), Enrique Granados (1867-1916) or Manuel de Falla (1876-1946), who were active between the end of the 19^th-century and the first half of the 20^th-century.

 During the last decades, research has been done about some of the most important composers of this period. Among all of them, Pedro Pérez de Albéniz (1795-1855) stands out. His importance as a composer and, above all, as a teacher was fundamental in creating a solid and successful piano school in Spain. His pianism was inspired, in order of increasing importance, by Spanish folklore, Italian opera and the pianistic writing and resources used in 19^th-century Paris, and was influenced by two capital figures: Friedrich Kalkbrenner (1785-1849) and Henri Herz (1803-1888).

 Finally, his fantasies are the most ambitious works of his catalog and best exhibit the characteristics of his pianistic language. They are essential to understanding where Pedro Albéniz can be placed within the Spanish piano literature and illustrate how deep Romanticism had come at this time in the context of the Spanish piano.

Research question

What was the role of Pedro Pérez de Albéniz in the 19^th-century Spanish musical landscape?

What kind of pieces are Albéniz´s fortepiano fantasies and how do they fit in the 19^th-century Spanish fortepiano literature?

What was the influence of the music made in Paris during the first half of the19^th-century and what was the influence of the Spanish folklore in his piano works?

Research goal

The main goal of this study is investigating the role of Pedro Pérez de Albéniz and specifically, his fantasies, in the context of the Spanish piano during the first half of the 19th century. This involved studying his life and transcendence as an artistic figure through the different sides of his professional life (performer, teacher, and composer); the genres cultivated and the language present in his piano literature and finally the characteristics and particularities of the fantasies, his most cultivated genre.

The beginning of my fortepiano studies made me wonder what kind of pianos were played in Spain, which repertoire was published, and what was the context of a professional pianist between 1775 and 1850. Within this context, Pedro Albéniz is a particularly interesting figure because he brings together two aspects I feel very connected to: firstly, pedagogy, since reading and analyzing his method is a very useful historical source for my future as a teacher; and secondly,  the context of the instrument during the second half of the 18^th century and the first half of the 19^th century in Madrid, which attracts me as an opportunity to learn more about the musical environment of my hometown at that time.

Research has been done about his figure and transcendence as a pedagogue, but there is no study about his piano works. This is precisely the main objective of the research: to analyze and synthesize the characteristics of his style and the particularities of his work within the Spanish piano context from the first half of the 19^th century and, in particular, the nature and importance of his fortepiano fantasies.

Methodology

The principal source used in this research has been the score, primarily first editions published in Madrid by Carrafa and Lodre between 1825 and 1845. Due to the lack of existing research on his music, the score has been the document that offered us the most information about the language, the genres and the performance practices of the time.  

The Biblioteca Nacional [National Library] has been the most helpful institution to locate, date, and identify the scores. The Biblioteca Digital Hispánica [Spanish Digital Library], the online section of this institution, has a huge database at the service of all researchers that includes not only printed music but also a lot of audiovisual material related with Spanish culture. Other institutions that have been consulted in the search for his music are: Biblioteca Musical del Ayuntamiento de Madrid [Musical Library of Madrid´s City Hall], Biblioteca del Real Conservatorio de Música de Madrid [Library of the Royal Conservatoire in Madrid], Real Biblioteca and Archivo del Palacio Real [Royal Library and Archive of the Royal Palace].

The identification process has not been easy because of the dating of the works. It was a normal practice to publish the works without a publication year because the musical market tended to consume the newest.^[1] Thereby, the process carried out to date the works has been, in the first place, to consult the indicative date that the BNE^[2] specified and, later, to analyze the information collected in the cover.

The investigation on the pianos found in Madrid during the first half of the 19^th century was also a necessary part of the process. Among the bibliography consulted for this topic can be found the Ph.D. thesis by Laura Cuervo,^[3] compendiums of musical instruments by Luisa Morales^[4] and Cristina Bordas,^[5] and the catalogs of instrument collections like Hazen^[6] in Madrid and the Museo de la Música^[7] [Music museum] in Barcelona.

Finally, the articles and monographs on his life and his teaching activity, collected in the research of Gemma Salas,^[8] Sonia Albéniz, and  Gonzalo de Porras, ^[9] were, together with the reading of his method, essential to shed light on the idiosyncrasies of his piano school.

Structure               

The research is structured in three chapters that delve into the topic from the most general to the most specific. The first one is meant to be a synthesis of his artistic legacy, where the objective is getting to know two different sides of his professional life: performance and teaching. The second one is precisely focused on his figure as a composer. It is presented in a handbook of the influences and characteristics that one can find in his pianos works. After a necessary contextualization of the fortepiano in the Madridlian musical landscape during the first half of the 19^th century, these pages show an illustrated overview through the genres he cultivated and the features and influences that his piano language presents.

The last chapter shows what his fortepiano fantasies are like. Presented again from the big to the small picture, it describes what the fantasy genre means within Romanticism, what kind of fantasies can be found in his piano work, and what characteristics and sources of inspiration they have.