JOAQUÍN RODRIGO Writings on Music

Raymond Calcraft, MA 1961, B Phil 1979

Joaquín Rodrigo, Spain’s leading composer of the second half of the twentieth century, was also a writer of considerable distinction. As well as his 170 compositions, which include the world-famous Concierto de Aranjuez for guitar and orchestra, he published articles on music and a large number of critical reviews throughout his life. This volume makes available a generous selection of these writings to English-speaking readers throughout the world. The collection deals with many aspects of the history of music, and discusses the works of a number of major composers, from Bach and Mozart to Verdi and Puccini, as well those of contemporaries.

Containing important articles on the history of music in Spain, the book is also an invaluable guide to an understanding and appreciation of Rodrigo’s own works. The composer’s style of writing is incisive, eloquent, poetic, and at times delightfully humorous. Given the world-wide fame and popularity of his music, the availability in English of a large number of Joaquín Rodrigo’s writings on music will be of great interest to musicians, music critics, and music-lovers alike.

The Authors

Raymond Calcraft, a graduate of the University of St Andrews, is a former head of Spanish at three UK universities. He has lectured at the Sorbonne in Paris, the Real Academia de Bellas Artes in Madrid, and at several universities in both the UK and Spain. As well as conducting in France, Germany, Spain, and throughout the UK, he has written and presented a number of programmes on music for the BBC.

Dr Elizabeth Matthews is a former lecturer in Spanish language, literature, art, and film at the Universities of Warwick and Exeter, and was for three years Director of the latter’s Foreign Language Centre. She is the author of a study of Jorge Guillén, one of Spain’s finest poets and a member of the ‘Generation of 1927’, Joaquín Rodrigo’s contemporaries.

ISBN: Hardback 978-1-032-03003-6 eBook 978-1-032-03004-3