PARES | Spanish Archives

Identification

Type:

Person

Preferred form:

Viñes, Ricardo (1875-1943)Alternative forms (other languages) Other forms

Fechas de existencia:

Lleida (España) 1875-02-05 - Barcelona (España) 1943-04-29

History:

Spanish pianist, composer and teacher.

Born on 5 February 1875 in Lérida, he was son of the lawyer Javier Viñes Solano and Dolores Roda Vives, amateur pianist. He had two brothers, José, engineer, and Eugenio, trader.

Self-taught in subjects like mathematics, astrology, Arabian or Hebrew, he received his first music lessons from Joaquín Terraza, organist of Lérida's cathedral. Juan Bautista Pujol was his particular teacher between 1885 and 1887, year where he entered the Escuela Municipal de Música of Barcelona. There, he won a first prize in the piano speciality, and little later, he moved to France. He was accepted by Charles-Wilfrid of Béroit for being among his students in the Parisian Conservatory, where he won a first prize of piano in 1894. In the French capital, he became friends with Spanish and French figures like the painters Odilon Redon, Isidro Nonell and Pablo Picasso, and the composers Maurice Ravel, Isaac Albéniz, Enrique Granados, Erik Satie or Manuel de Falla, whom he met on 29 September 1907, and who introduced him in the artistic group Les Apaches. Finished his studies, he offered his first piano recital in the Salle Pleyel of Paris on 21 February 1895, start of a career as a concert artist that took him to the North of Africa, Latin America and Europe. His recognised prestige as an interpreter, encouraged great authors of the moment to trust him the premiere of ther works, like for example: "Pour le piano" (1902), "Estampes" (1904), "Masques" (1905) or "Images" (1905-1908) by Claude Debussy; "Jeux d'eau" (1902), "Pavane pour une infante défunte" (1902), "Miroirs" (1906) and "Gaspard de la nuit" (1909) by Ravel; or the "Pièces espagnoles. Cuatro piezas españolas" (1906-1909) by Falla, work dedicated to Isaac Albéniz, which premiered in the Salle Érard de París, on 27 March 1909, in a concert that the Société Nationale de Musique organised. As a token of the affection of his musician friends, they dedicated him pieces like "Poissons d'or" of the series "Images" by Debussy; "Oiseaux tristes" by "Miroirs" by Ravel; "Fandango de candil" of "Goyescas" by Granados; "Trois pièces" by Poulenc; or "Noches en los jardines de España" (1909-1916) by Falla.

Parallel to his role as an interpreter, he wrote poems and musical articles in the press, like "Granados íntimo o recuerdos de su estancia en París", in the "Revista Musical Hispano-Americana" (1916), and taught to privileged disciples like Leopoldo Querol, María Canals, Marcelle Meyer, Joaquín Rodrigo or Francis Poulenc. He offered his last concert in the Palau de Música of Barcelona on 19 March 1943, some weeks before his death.

In his career, he left numerous recordings of composers like Scarlatti, Turina, Gluck, Debussy, Borodin or Falla. Of the latter, he recorded in 1930 with the discography Columbia, the "Romance del pescador" and the "Danza del fuego" of "El amor brujo" (1915). As an author, he composed "Quatre Hommages pour le piano", work composed by the pieces "En Verlainemineur" (1938-1939), dedicated to Gabriel Fauré; "Menuet spectral" (1937-1938), dedicated to Ravel; "Thrénodie" or "Funérailles antiques" (1927), dedicated to Satie; and "Crinoline" or "La Valse au temps de la Montijo" (1927), dedicated to Léon-Paul Fargue. He passed away on 29 April 1943 in Barcelona.

Occupations

Subjects

sexo:

Varón

Nacionalidad:

Españoles

Sources

Library of Congress National Authority File

Archivo Manuel de Falla. 8/43. Ricardo Viñes. Madrid, 17 de mayo de 1919. Dedicatoria: "A mi querido Manuel de Falla con mi más ferviente admiración y afectuosa simpatía. Ricardo Viñes. Madrid, 17-Mayo-1919".