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Forgotten Masterpiece Friday: Miguel Marqués, Symphony No. 4
It's Forgotten Masterpiece Friday!
Prior to the 20th century, Spain was seen as a country on the periphery of European music. While many composers from other countries wrote pieces inspired by Spain, and several Italian expatriates in Spain won great fame, Spanish composers were largely ignored despite several being quite accomplished. Miguel Marqués (1843-1918) was one of these. He was one of Berlioz's favorite students, and was a highly prolific composer with more than thirty stage works and five symphonies to his name, yet for his entire career made a living as a violinist and pedagogue rather than as a composer.
Despite not being born into a musical family, Marqués showed unusual talent early in his life and quickly exhausted the musical opportunities in his hometown of Palma de Mallorca. After becoming one of the best violinists in the city by his early teens, he went to Paris at sixteen, and was admitted to the Conservatoire two years later, initially for violin performance but later changing his focus to composition. During his student years, he supported himself by playing violin in opera orchestras. After returning to Spain and completing his compulsory military service, he remained in Madrid, continuing to make his living as an opera violinist until he retired in 1894, returned to Mallorca, and spent much of the rest of his life writing on philosophy. During his time in Madrid, he became a respected violin teacher, published a leading Spanish-language violin method. He had some popularity as a musical theater composer for a time, but his music for the concert hall was largely ignored even at the height of his career. Of his five symphonies, only his first and third were performed in his lifetime. Only his third symphony was published in his lifetime; the other four had their first publications between 1993 and 2002.
Marqués's Fourth Symphony is probably his most frequently performed piece today. It was composed in 1878, as he was beginning to transition from composing mainly for the concert hall to composing almost entirely for the theater. He was well-established as a pedagogue in Madrid at the time; he was appointed Inspector of the National Music Schools the same year. Perhaps not surprisingly given his career in the orchestra pit, this symphony has a certain operatic character, with both grand theatrical gestures and aria-like melodies.
Movements:
I. Allegro con moto
II. Andante (10:29)
III. Allegretto scherzando (21:09)
IV. Allegro moderato (26:55)
Prior to the 20th century, Spain was seen as a country on the periphery of European music. While many composers from other countries wrote pieces inspired by Spain, and several Italian expatriates in Spain won great fame, Spanish composers were largely ignored despite several being quite accomplished. Miguel Marqués (1843-1918) was one of these. He was one of Berlioz's favorite students, and was a highly prolific composer with more than thirty stage works and five symphonies to his name, yet for his entire career made a living as a violinist and pedagogue rather than as a composer.
Despite not being born into a musical family, Marqués showed unusual talent early in his life and quickly exhausted the musical opportunities in his hometown of Palma de Mallorca. After becoming one of the best violinists in the city by his early teens, he went to Paris at sixteen, and was admitted to the Conservatoire two years later, initially for violin performance but later changing his focus to composition. During his student years, he supported himself by playing violin in opera orchestras. After returning to Spain and completing his compulsory military service, he remained in Madrid, continuing to make his living as an opera violinist until he retired in 1894, returned to Mallorca, and spent much of the rest of his life writing on philosophy. During his time in Madrid, he became a respected violin teacher, published a leading Spanish-language violin method. He had some popularity as a musical theater composer for a time, but his music for the concert hall was largely ignored even at the height of his career. Of his five symphonies, only his first and third were performed in his lifetime. Only his third symphony was published in his lifetime; the other four had their first publications between 1993 and 2002.
Marqués's Fourth Symphony is probably his most frequently performed piece today. It was composed in 1878, as he was beginning to transition from composing mainly for the concert hall to composing almost entirely for the theater. He was well-established as a pedagogue in Madrid at the time; he was appointed Inspector of the National Music Schools the same year. Perhaps not surprisingly given his career in the orchestra pit, this symphony has a certain operatic character, with both grand theatrical gestures and aria-like melodies.
Movements:
I. Allegro con moto
II. Andante (10:29)
III. Allegretto scherzando (21:09)
IV. Allegro moderato (26:55)