Spanish composer, music critic and teacher.

Born on 11 March 1912 in Girona (Spain). Grandson of the banker Francesc Montsalvatge i Fossas. He married Elena Pérez de Olaguer, and had two children, Xavier and Yvette.

He received his first violin lessons in his hometown. After his father's death, he enrolled at the Escola Municipal de Música de Barcelona. In addition to counterpoint, harmony and fugue, he studied violin with Francisco Costa, solfège with Lluís Millet, and composition with Enric Morera and Jaume Pahissa. His piano piece "Tres impromptus" (1933) won a prize in the 12th Concepció Rabell y Cibill Composition Contest in 1933, and his "Pequeña suite burlesca" won the Felipe Pedrell Award in 1936. He began his career as a music critic that year with "La Mañana", and went on to write for other dailies and magazines, including "La Vanguardia", "El Matí" (1934-1936) and "Destino" (1939-1975).

In the 1940s, Montsalvatge became acquainted and collaborated with other Catalan composers like Manuel Blancafort and Federico Mompou, and composed works such as "Ritmos" (1942) and "Tres divertimentos (sobre temas de autores olvidados)" (1941). He sent the latter score to Manuel de Falla from Barcelona on 11 October 1945; in his letter, he described the music scene in Barcelona, asked about Falla's "Atlántida", and mentioned that he had also written several pieces for the ballet. Some of these are "Studio" (1943), "Camarera 1860" (1943), "Leyenda" (1944), "Romance de los celos" (1944), "Pastoral" (1944), "Capricho" (1944), "Manfred" (1945) and "La venus de Elna" (1946), the majority choreographed by Yvonne Alexander and Paul Goubé. He also promised to send Falla his "Cinco canciones negras" (1945) for soprano and piano. Around this time, he began to teach at the Academia Marshall in Barcelona. He joined the International Society for Contemporary Music (ISCM) in 1955, and was named secretary of the S'Agaró International Music Festivals. On 8 May 1956 he premiered the ballet "Perlimplinada", based on a play by Federico García Lorca, in collaboration with Mompou at the Gran Teatre del Liceu.

Montsalvatge received the Oscar Esplá Prize for his work "Partita" (1957), and the Lluís Millet Prize for his composition "Canto espiritual" (1958). In 1970 he was hired to teach composition at the Conservatori Municipal de Barcelona, and he was named department chair in 1978. In the 1970s he wrote "Laberinto" (1970); Concerto-Capriccio (1975); and "Concierto del Albaycín" (1977), among other works. He was distinguished with the Cross of Saint George by the Catalan government in 1983, and in 1985 he received the National Music Prize and an honorary doctorate from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. He was also a full member of the Reial Acadèmia Catalana de Belles Arts de Sant Jordi and an honorary member of the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando (Madrid) and the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de Santa Isabel de Hungría (Seville). His catalogue also includes "Barcelona Blues" (1956), "Sortilegis" (1992), "Alhelí" (1998), "Plegària a Santiago" (1999) and "Tres reflexos sobre una pastoral d'hivern" (2002). He passed away on 7 May 2002 in Barcelona.

El Ayuntamiento de Girona creó el Premio Internacional de Piano Xavier Montsalvatge en 1989.