PARES | Spanish Archives

Identification

Type:

Person

Preferred form:

Turina, Joaquín (1882-1949)Other forms

Fechas de existencia:

Sevilla (España) 1882-09-12 - Madrid (España) 1949-01-14

History:

Spanish composer, conductor, music critic, and musicologist.

He was born on December 9, 1882, in Seville (Spain). He was the son of Joaquín Turina Areal, a painter, and Concepción Pérez Vargas. He was married to Obdulia Garzón, with whom he had five children: José Luis, Joaquín, Concha, María, and Obdulia Turina Garzón.

Considered a child prodigy, he began his musical training at the Colegio del Santo Ángel. He continued his studies at the Colegio de San Ramón, where he received piano lessons from Enrique Rodríguez. Since 1894, he was a student of Evaristo García Torres, choirmaster of the cathedral of Seville, in harmony and counterpoint. He debuted as a pianist on March 14, 1897, at the Sala Piazza in Seville, the same year he composed Coplas al Señor de la Pasió n (1901). At the age of fifteen, he wrote the opera La Sulamita.

In October 1902, he moved to Madrid on the recommendation of his teacher García Torres, where he came into contact with figures such as Conrado del Campo, José Villegas, Fernando Fe, Manuel Manrique de Lara, and Manuel de Falla, with whom he formed a close friendship and exchanged correspondence between 1905 and 1932. He debuted on March 14, 1903, at the Ateneo madrileño, with his own works, now lost, and from composers like Scarlatti, Beethoven, Schumann, and Wagner. He expanded his piano technique with José Tragó and composed works like the one-act farces La copla (1904) and Fea y con gracia (1905), the latter with lyrics by the Álvarez Quintero brothers.

When his parents died, he moved to Paris in 1905, where he received piano and composition lessons from Moritz Moszkowski, thanks to Joaquín Nin. He debuted at the Salle Aeolian in Paris on April 29, 1907, where he met Isaac Albéniz and premiered Poema de las estacione s, and a few days later, Quinteto en Sol meno r (1907), which he considered the first work of his catalog. Vicent D'Indy signed his study certificate from the Scola Cantorum on March 4, 1913, the same year he premiered La procesión del Rocío (1912) at the Teatro Real in Madrid, conducted by Enrique Fernández Arbós with the Orquesta Sinfónica de Madrid.

He moved to Madrid in 1914 and premiered, together with María Lejárraga and Gregorio Martínez Sierra, the lyrical comedy Margot (1914). A year later, a concert was held at the Ateneo de Madrid, where Turina performed alongside Falla, presenting their works to the Madrid audience. He conducted the premieres of his works Navidad (1916) and La adúltera penitente (1917), and the pantomime by Falla El corregidor y la molinera (1916-1917). That year, the pianist Ricardo Viñes premiered the first series of Mujeres españolas in Madrid.

He was hired by Sergei Diaghilev in 1918 as conductor for the Ballets Russes tour of Spain. During this time, he was also a concertmaster at the Teatro Real. In 1926, he won the Premio Nacional de Música for Trío nº 1, and premiered La oración del torero for chamber orchestra and Canto a Sevilla for soprano and orchestra. He taught at the Conservatorio de Madrid from 1931, where he held a proffesorship in composition. His career as a music critic began in 1926, writing for magazines and newspapers such as El Debate, Ya, and Dígame.

In 1939, he became a member of the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando.

In addition to the works already mentioned, other notable pieces include Danzas fantásticas (1919) and Sinfonía sevillana (1920) for orchestra; Sanlúcar de Barrameda (1922) for piano; the opera Jardín de Oriente (1922-1923); and Desde mi terraza. Estampas para piano (1947). Among his writings, he wrote "Autocríticas musicales" in Bética (1913), Enciclopedia abreviada de la música (1917), "Manuel de Falla" in The Chesterian (1920), and Tratado de Composición musical (1942-1948), which he was unable to complete. He passed away on January 14, 1949, in Madrid (Spain).

Context:

El archivo Joaquin Turina se conserva en la Fundación Juan March de Madrid y se compone de 3 fondos: archivo musical, archivo personal y archivo fotográfico. El archivo musical consta de partituras autógrafas, no autógrafas e impresas, textos manuscritos (comentarios, conferencias, prólogos, escritos personales, catálogos), textos manuscritos de otros autores, programas de mano, álbumes de recortes de prensa escritos por Turina o sobre él, y correspondencia de Joaquín Turina. Por su parte, el archivo personal se compone de sus diarios personales, currículo y correspondencia familiar (postales en su mayoría). Finalmente, el archivo fotográfico consta de cerca de seis mil fotografías familiares, sueltas y tarjetas postales. Además, se custodia su biblioteca personal.