Enrique Granados: Works

Enrique Granados (1867 - 1916) was a Spanish pianist and composer of classical music. His music, composed in Spanish style, includes piano pieces, chamber music (a piano quintet, a piano trio, and music for violin and piano), songs, and an orchestral tone-poem based on Dante's Divine Comedy. Many of his piano compositions have been transcribed for classical guitar. Granados was an important influence on Manuel de Falla and Pablo Casals.

Granados' 12 danzas españolas (1890), Opus 5, is a set of twelve piano pieces intended to depict Spanish life. The work has been rearranged and transcribed for other instruments by various composers. Number 5 is called "Andaluza", which is the name of a region in southern Spain.

Granados' 8 valses poéticos (Poetic Waltzes) is a set of eight piano pieces composed around 1895 and first published around 1900. These pieces are often performed on guitar. The second piece is called Tempo de Vals noble (Noble Time of the Waltz).

Granados' Escenas Poeticas (Poetic Scenes) is a set of seven piano pieces in two books composed in 1912. The third, and last, piece of Book I is called Danza de la rosa (Dance of the rose).

Granados' The Maiden and the Nightingale (la Maja y el Ruiseñor) is the 4th piece in his piano suite Goyescas (Opus 11), a set of six pieces for piano-solo composed between 1909 and 1911. The Maiden and the Nightingale is the best known piece from the suite. It resembles a nocturne, but is filled with intricate figuration, inner voices and, near the end, glittering bird-like trills and quicksilver arpeggios. Mexican songwriter Consuelo Velázquez based her 1940 song Bésame Mucho on this melody. Goyescas is often considered Granados's best work, and was inspired by the paintings of Francisco Goya. In 1915 Granados wrote a one-act opera, also called Goyecas, using melodies from the piano suite.

Tutorials

12 danzas españolas (1890) for piano

• No. 2 Spanish Dance  "Oriental"

• No. 5 Spanish Dance

Goyescas

• No. 4   Quejas, ó la maja y el ruiseño  (The Maiden and the Nightingale)  Part 1  Part 2

8 Valses Poéticos

•  No.2

• No. 6

Escenas Poeticas

Book 1  No. 3  Danza de la Rosa   Sheetmusic