Ricardo Viñes
Encyclopedia
Ricardo Viñes was a Spanish pianist. He first publicly performed many important works by Maurice Ravel
, Claude Debussy
, Erik Satie
, Manuel de Falla
, Déodat de Séverac
and Isaac Albéniz
. He was also the piano teacher of composer Francis Poulenc
and pianist Léo-Pol Morin
.
He was born in Lleida
, Catalonia
. He studied piano at the Paris Conservatoire under Charles-Wilfrid de Bériot
, and composition and harmony with Benjamin Godard
and Albert Lavignac
. He was influential with Ravel supplying him many readings and was a member of the group known as Les Apaches
.
Viñes premiered works including Ravel's Menuet antique
(1898), Jeux d'eau (1902), Pavane pour une infante défunte
(1902), Miroirs
(1906), and Gaspard de la nuit
(1909). Menuet antique and the second movement of Miroirs, "Oiseaux tristes" (Sad birds), were dedicated to Viñes. Ravel felt it was fun to dedicate such an unpianistic work to a pianist. Viñes was effeminate, and both he and Ravel were eternal bachelors. These facts have led many to suspect that there was more to their friendship, although Viñes's ten-year diary of their times together makes no confirmation of this.
Viñes became known for presenting new music, especially of French and Spanish origin, although he had debuted Russian works as well. As a composer, the best known of his works are the Two Hommages, for Séverac and Satie. He also published writing about Spanish music in Spanish and French publications. Viñes died in Barcelona in 1943.
In his honor, an International piano competition "Ricard Viñes"
is held each year in his birthtown Lleida. The city council also named one of the city's most popular squares after him, the "Plaça Ricard Vinyes". The main room of the Llotja de Lleida theater-convenction center (opened in 2010) is also named after him.
Maurice Ravel
Joseph-Maurice Ravel was a French composer known especially for his melodies, orchestral and instrumental textures and effects...
, Claude Debussy
Claude Debussy
Claude-Achille Debussy was a French composer. Along with Maurice Ravel, he was one of the most prominent figures working within the field of impressionist music, though he himself intensely disliked the term when applied to his compositions...
, Erik Satie
Erik Satie
Éric Alfred Leslie Satie was a French composer and pianist. Satie was a colourful figure in the early 20th century Parisian avant-garde...
, Manuel de Falla
Manuel de Falla
Manuel de Falla y Matheu was a Spanish Andalusian composer of classical music. With Isaac Albéniz, Enrique Granados and Joaquín Turina he is one of Spain's most important musicians of the first half of the 20th century....
, Déodat de Séverac
Déodat de Séverac
Déodat de Séverac was a French composer.-Biography:...
and Isaac Albéniz
Isaac Albéniz
Isaac Manuel Francisco Albéniz y Pascual was a Spanish Catalan pianist and composer best known for his piano works based on folk music idioms .-Life:Born in Camprodon, province of Girona, to Ángel Albéniz and his wife Dolors Pascual, Albéniz...
. He was also the piano teacher of composer Francis Poulenc
Francis Poulenc
Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc was a French composer and a member of the French group Les six. He composed solo piano music, chamber music, oratorio, choral music, opera, ballet music, and orchestral music...
and pianist Léo-Pol Morin
Léo-Pol Morin
Léo-Pol Morin was a Canadian pianist, music critic, composer, and music educator. He composed under the name James Callihou, with his most well known works being Suite canadienne and Three Eskimos for piano. He also composed works based on Canadian and Inuit folklore/folk music and harmonized a...
.
He was born in Lleida
Lleida
Lleida is a city in the west of Catalonia, Spain. It is the capital city of the province of Lleida, as well as the largest city in the province and it had 137,387 inhabitants , including the contiguous municipalities of Raimat and Sucs. The metro area has about 250,000 inhabitants...
, Catalonia
Catalonia
Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...
. He studied piano at the Paris Conservatoire under Charles-Wilfrid de Bériot
Charles-Wilfrid de Bériot
Charles-Wilfrid de Bériot was a French pianist, teacher and composer.He was born in Paris in 1833, the son of the violinist Charles Auguste de Bériot and his then common-law wife, the famed soprano Maria Malibran Charles-Wilfrid de Bériot (12 February 183322 October 1914) was a French pianist,...
, and composition and harmony with Benjamin Godard
Benjamin Godard
Benjamin Louis Paul Godard was a French violinist and Romantic composer.-Biography:Born in Paris, Godard was a student of Henri Vieuxtemps. He entered the Conservatoire de Paris in 1863 where he studied under Vieuxtemps and Napoléon Henri Reber and accompanied Vieuxtemps twice to Germany...
and Albert Lavignac
Albert Lavignac
Albert Lavignac was a French music scholar, known for his essays on theory, and a minor composer.-Biography:Lavignac was borin in Paris and studied with Antoine François Marmontel, François Benoist and Ambroise Thomas at the Conservatoire de Paris, where later he taught harmony...
. He was influential with Ravel supplying him many readings and was a member of the group known as Les Apaches
Les Apaches
Les Apaches or was a group of French musicians, writers and artists which formed around 1900. Members of the group included:* Edouard Benedictus, painter and composer* M.D...
.
Viñes premiered works including Ravel's Menuet antique
Menuet antique
Menuet antique is a piece for solo piano composed by Maurice Ravel. The original piano version was written in 1895 and orchestrated by the composer in 1929...
(1898), Jeux d'eau (1902), Pavane pour une infante défunte
Pavane pour une infante défunte
Pavane pour une infante défunte is a well-known piece written for solo piano by the French composer Maurice Ravel in 1899 when he was studying composition at the Conservatoire de Paris under Gabriel Fauré. Ravel also published an orchestrated version of the Pavane in 1910...
(1902), Miroirs
Miroirs
Miroirs, or "Reflections" is a suite for solo piano written by French impressionist composer Maurice Ravel between 1904 and 1905. First performed by Ricardo Viñes in 1906, Miroirs contains five movements, each dedicated to a fellow member of the French impressionist group, Les...
(1906), and Gaspard de la nuit
Gaspard de la nuit
Gaspard de la nuit: Trois poèmes pour piano d'après Aloysius Bertrand is a piece for solo piano by Maurice Ravel, written in 1908. It has three movements, each based on a poem by Aloysius Bertrand...
(1909). Menuet antique and the second movement of Miroirs, "Oiseaux tristes" (Sad birds), were dedicated to Viñes. Ravel felt it was fun to dedicate such an unpianistic work to a pianist. Viñes was effeminate, and both he and Ravel were eternal bachelors. These facts have led many to suspect that there was more to their friendship, although Viñes's ten-year diary of their times together makes no confirmation of this.
Viñes became known for presenting new music, especially of French and Spanish origin, although he had debuted Russian works as well. As a composer, the best known of his works are the Two Hommages, for Séverac and Satie. He also published writing about Spanish music in Spanish and French publications. Viñes died in Barcelona in 1943.
In his honor, an International piano competition "Ricard Viñes"
International piano competition "Ricard Viñes"
The International Piano Competition "Ricard Viñes" takes part each year in Auditorium Enric Granados in Lleida .-Prize winners :- External links :*...
is held each year in his birthtown Lleida. The city council also named one of the city's most popular squares after him, the "Plaça Ricard Vinyes". The main room of the Llotja de Lleida theater-convenction center (opened in 2010) is also named after him.
Discography of Viñes
Viñes reportedly had an intense dislike for the recording process, but nonetheless left 25 recordings dating from the 1930s. All of the recordings listed below were released by Marston Records in 2007 as "Ricardo Viñes: The Complete Recordings". Other releases are listed below the individual compositions.- Isaac AlbénizIsaac AlbénizIsaac Manuel Francisco Albéniz y Pascual was a Spanish Catalan pianist and composer best known for his piano works based on folk music idioms .-Life:Born in Camprodon, province of Girona, to Ángel Albéniz and his wife Dolors Pascual, Albéniz...
- Granada (Serenata), Op.47 No.1 (rec. 1930)
- Torre bermeja, Op.92 No.12 (rec. 1930)
- Opal (Pearl), "Ricardo Viñes and Francis Planté", 1994
- Orientale, Op.232 No.2 (rec. 1930)
- Opal (Pearl), "Ricardo Viñes and Francis Planté", 1994
- Seguidillas, Op.232 No.5 (rec. 1930)
- Opal (Pearl), "Ricardo Viñes and Francis Planté", 1994
- Serenata española, Op.181 (rec. 22 July 1936)
- Opal (Pearl), "Ricardo Viñes and Francis Planté", 1994
- Tango in A minor, Op.164 No.2 (rec. 22 July 1936)
- Opal (Pearl), "Ricardo Viñes and Francis Planté", 1994
- Pedro Humberto AllendePedro Humberto AllendePedro Humberto Allende Sarón , was one of the most important Chilean composers of the twentieth century. He obtained the prestigious Premio Nacional de Arte in 1945.- Biography :...
- Dos Tonadas Chilenas (rec. 22 July 1936)
- Opal (Pearl), "Ricardo Viñes and Francis Planté", 1994
- Dos Tonadas Chilenas (rec. 22 July 1936)
- Manuel Blancafort
- L'Orgue du Carroussel (from Le Parc d'Attractions) (rec. 1930)
- Opal (Pearl), "Ricardo Viñes and Francis Planté", 1994
- Polka de l'Equilibriste (from Le Parc d'Attractions) (rec. 1930)
- Opal (Pearl), "Ricardo Viñes and Francis Planté", 1994
- L'Orgue du Carroussel (from Le Parc d'Attractions) (rec. 1930)
- Alexander BorodinAlexander BorodinAlexander Porfiryevich Borodin was a Russian Romantic composer and chemist of Georgian–Russian parentage. He was a member of the group of composers called The Five , who were dedicated to producing a specifically Russian kind of art music...
- Scherzo in Ab (rec. 1930)
- Opal (Pearl), "Ricardo Viñes and Francis Planté", 1994
- Scherzo in Ab (rec. 1930)
- Claude DebussyClaude DebussyClaude-Achille Debussy was a French composer. Along with Maurice Ravel, he was one of the most prominent figures working within the field of impressionist music, though he himself intensely disliked the term when applied to his compositions...
- Soirée dans Grenade (Estampes No.2) (rec. 1930)
- Opal (Pearl), "Ricardo Viñes and Francis Planté", 1994
- Poissons d'or (Images, Set 2 No.3) (rec. 1930)
- Opal (Pearl), "Ricardo Viñes and Francis Planté", 1994
- Naxos, "A-Z of Pianists - by Jonathan Summers", 4CD set, 2007
- Ysaÿe Records, "Claude Debussy - Images Pour Piano", 2008
- Hommage à Rameau (Images, Set 1 No.2) (incomplete; rec. 1938)
- Arbiter Records, "Masters of the French piano tradition", 2007
- Etude No.10, "Pour les sonorités opposées" (incomplete; rec. 1938)
- Arbiter Records, "Masters of the French piano tradition", 2007
- Viñes speaks on Debussy (radio address in French commemorating the 20th anniversary of Debussy's death, 1938)
- Soirée dans Grenade (Estampes No.2) (rec. 1930)
- Manuel de FallaManuel de FallaManuel de Falla y Matheu was a Spanish Andalusian composer of classical music. With Isaac Albéniz, Enrique Granados and Joaquín Turina he is one of Spain's most important musicians of the first half of the 20th century....
- Dance of Terror (rec. 1930)
- Récit du Pêcheur (rec. 1930)
- Introduction and Ritual Fire Dance (rec. 1930)
- Gluck-Brahms
- Gavotte in A (rec. 1930)
- Opal (Pearl), "Ricardo Viñes and Francis Planté", 1994
- Gavotte in A (rec. 1930)
- Carlos López-Buchardo
- Bailecito (rec. 22 July 1936)
- Opal (Pearl), "Ricardo Viñes and Francis Planté", 1994
- Bailecito (rec. 22 July 1936)
- Domenico ScarlattiDomenico ScarlattiGiuseppe Domenico Scarlatti was an Italian composer who spent much of his life in the service of the Portuguese and Spanish royal families. He is classified as a Baroque composer chronologically, although his music was influential in the development of the Classical style...
- Sonata in D, K.29 (L.461) (rec. 1930)
- Opal (Pearl), "Ricardo Viñes and Francis Planté", 1994
- Sonata in D, K.29 (L.461) (rec. 1930)
- Cayetano Troiani
- Milonga (rec. 22 July 1936)
- Opal (Pearl), "Ricardo Viñes and Francis Planté", 1994
- Milonga (rec. 22 July 1936)
- Joaquín TurinaJoaquín TurinaJoaquín Turina was a Spanish composer of classical music.-Biography:Turina was born in Seville but his origins were in northern Italy . He studied in Seville as well as in Madrid...
- Miramar (from Chants d'Espagne) (rec. 1930)
- Opal (Pearl), "Ricardo Viñes and Francis Planté", 1994
- Dans les Jardins de Murcia (rec. 1930)
- Opal (Pearl), "Ricardo Viñes and Francis Planté", 1994
- Miramar (from Chants d'Espagne) (rec. 1930)