Spanish composer, historian, educator, and music critic. He was born on January 12 of 1898 in Madrid (Spain). Son of the painter and professor Rafael Forns Romans and brother of the painter Rafael Forns Quadras.

He studied music theory, piano and harmony at the Music Conservatory of Madrid. Student of Francisco Fuster, Pedro Fontanilla, and Emilio Serrano, although he considered himself a pupil of Conrado del Campo. In 1919 he won the first prize of Harmony in the Conservatory, and won the chair of Aesthetics and History of Music in 1921. He obtained a doctorate in Law from the Central University of Madrid. He published "Historia de la música" (1925) and "Estética aplicada a la música" (1925). The latter was declared "a work of merit, by royal order of August 9 of 1929, following a report from the Academy of San Fernando and the Council of Public Instruction". He worked in the "Heraldo de Madrid" as music critic between 1916 and 1931; he also in worked in "La Vanguardia" and other national and foreign newspapers. He worked as head of the cinematography section of the General Society of Authors and Publishers (SGAE). He was also a member of the Society of Dramatic Authors and the Society of Cinematographic Authors. He was appointed perpetual delegate of Spain in the Permanent Council for the International Cooperation of Composers, and participated in the Consejo Permanente para la Cooperación Internacional de Compositores. On April 24 of 1935, as a delegate of the Consejo Permanente, he proposed including Manuel de Falla's work "El sombrero de tres picos" (1917-1919) in the Hamburg program, due to the celebration of the International Music Festivals; the German Organizing Commission accepted the petition on May 24 of 1935.

He was admitted into the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando, where he read his speech on April 9 of 1945, titled "El derecho de los artistas". He published other musical writings such as "Una entidad artística que no debe desaparecer: la que fue banda de alabarderos" (1931), "El porvenir de la música española" (1931) or "La cinematografía en España. Al lado de un arte nacional, un sistema sonoro propio" (1941).

Among his musical works for the stage, he composed zarzuelas, operettas, skits and magazines such as "El toque de oración" (1917), "El amor de Friné" (1922), "La Reina Patosa" (1922), "El ingenio de papa" (1923), "El Tenorio de Romea" (1926), "Nely" (1927), "La flor del pazo" (1928), "Flores de lujo" (1931), "Tres gallinas para un gallo" (1934), which was a great success, in collaboration with Francisco Alonso and with lyrics by Antonio Paso; "Ahora verás" (1936) and "Mujeres a la medida" (1940). He also wrote for films such as "Diez días millonaria", "El rayo", "El niño de las monjas", "Flora y Mariana", "Madre Alegría", "Un caballero famoso", or "Isabel de Solís". Other titles for different genres are "Noche verbenera" (1923), "Las bataclanas" (1932), or "Las peripatéticas" (1932). He died on September 6 of 1952 in Geneva (Switzerland).