Victor Espinós
Person - Espinós, Víctor (1871-1948)

Espinós, Víctor (1871-1948)

Identification

Type:

Person

Preferred form:

Espinós, Víctor (1871-1948)Other forms

Fechas de existencia:

Alcoy (Alicante, España)  1871-04-06 - Madrid (España)  1948-12-21

History:

Spanish musicologist, composer, music critic, lawyer, and writer. He was born on April 6, 1871 in Alcoy (Alicante). At the age of eight, he moved to Madrid. He was admitted into the Conservatory of the capital and combined piano, harmony and composition classes with his university studies. He specialized in music criticism and worked in newspapers such as "ABC"; "El Español"; "La Época"; "El Universo"; and "La Lectura Dominical", where he served as manager. He devoted more than sixty years to this work. He wrote literature in various genres, his first publication was "Las leyes de Cristo son insustituibles" (1890). This was followed by "Esteban" (1906); "Pues... Señor" (1913); and "Alfonso XIII y la guerra, espejo de neutrales" (1918). Under the pseudonym of Perfecto Caballero, he published "Diez años de crítica musical". In 1919 he created the Biblioteca Musical Circulante of Madrid. His goal was to loan instruments and scores to students with limited resources. Manuel de Falla collaborated by giving some musical sheets of his works in 1926. In the field of musicology, his works on Don Quixote are important: "Las realizaciones musicales de El Quijote" (1933), and "El Quijote en la música y la música en El Quijote" (1942); and in literature, "El Quijote. Breviario de amor" (1947).

He was elected academic of the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando; he read his speech "España en la música universal" on April 22, 1940. A year later, he was appointed president of the Symphonic Orchestra of Madrid, holding the position until 1946. He paid tribute to the previous conductor of this orchestra in "El maestro Arbós: al hilo del recuerdo" (1942). He is considered the creator of a musical-scenic genre: the "retablos", which he proposed in three days and a prologue. Well-known authors such as Joaquín Turina, Conrado del Campo or Salvador Bacarisse wrote music for these "retablos", which contributed to their success and popularity. Some of the most famous were "Antaño o un Corpus Viejo en Madrid" (1920); "Decíamos ayer..." (1921); "Morir de amar" (1926); "El retablo de Fray Luis" (1947); and "Ofrenda y Salve" (1948). He was given the insignia of the Orden de Alfonso X el Sabio; and was named Alcoy's adopted son in 1943. He died on December 21, 1948 in Madrid (Spain).

Context:

Su colección de Quijotes musicales, integrada por obras musicales inspiradas en la novela de Cervantes, se conserva en la Biblioteca Musical Víctor Espinós, del Ayuntamiento de Madrid.

Places

Lugar de Nacimiento:

Alcoy (Alicante, España) in 1871-04-06

Lugar de Defunción:

Madrid (España) in 1948-12-21

Subjects

sexo:

Varón

Nacionalidad:

Españoles