Amadeu Vives i Roig

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Amadeu Vives i Roig portrayed by Ramon Casas

Amadeu Vives i Roig (born November 18, 1871 in Collbató , † December 2, 1932 in Madrid ) was a Catalan composer and writer. His keen sense of drama and his strength in poetry made him an important representative of music theater .

life and work

Amadeu Vives was born in November 1871 as the youngest child of a family of bakers with 14 children in Collbató near Montserrat Monastery . He learned Solfeggio from his brother Camille Vives i Roig . In 1881 his family moved to Barcelona. He entered the chapel of Santa Anna in Barcelona , where he studied harmony and composition with Josep Ribera . He also sang in the children's choir of the Gran Teatre del Liceu . He played in Café Colom, where he made the acquaintance of the politicians Francesc Cambó and Pere Coromines and befriended both of them, and in Pelayo , where he met Lluís Millet in 1889 .

He worked as the conductor of the nuns of the Col.legi de Nostra Senyora de Loreto . From 1891 he wrote some choral pieces for the newly founded Orfeó Català . During this time he also worked on an opera, but it never became public. In 1897 the world premiere of the opera Artus based on a text by S. Trullol i Plana in the Teatre Novetats brought him a great success, which prompted him to move to Madrid. This departure caused irritation for the choirmaster of the Orféo Català Lluís Millet, for example. However, Vives never gave up the cultural (and also the physical) connections to Catalonia for his entire life, which is proven by his other compositions for the Orfeó Català. Amadeu Vives' first Madrid work was the three-act Don Lucas del Cigarral from 1899. La balada de la luz (1900, “Ballad of Light”) soon followed . Both pieces were received favorably by the critics. In 1901 the Zarzuela Doloretes ("Small Pains") followed, which brought Vives an extraordinary success. It brought him his breakthrough as a composer in the field of music theater.

In 1904 he published Zarzuela Bohemios, which was already influenced by verism (1920 was rewritten into an opera, "Bohèmiens"), for which he was initially accused of plagiarism by the Madrid critics after the premiere . Giacomo Puccini himself acquitted him of this accusation after studying his score. With the operetta La generala (1912, "Die Generalin"), Vives finally approached the Viennese operetta style. This work was then played simultaneously in three theaters in Barcelona. With Zarzuelas like Juegos malabares (1910, “Magic Games ”), Anita la risueña (1911, “The smiling Anita”), Maruxa (1914; 1915 rewritten into an opera, Maruxa = Maria), El señor Pandolfo (1916, “The Lord Pandolfo ”), Trianerías (1919,“ Dances of Triana ”), Balada de Carnaval (1919,“ Carnival Ballad ”), Doña Francisquita (1923), Talismán (1932,“ Talismann ”) he conquered the Madrid music theater. Vives has worked with librettists such as Federico Romero , Guillermo Fernández Shaw , Enric Morera , Manuel Quislant , José Guervós , Gerónimo Giménez , Vicente Lleó and Miguel Echegaray . Vives Zarzuelas are well-formed stage pieces, in which the melodic lines and harmonization stand out. The easily singable melodies are emotional and lyrical at the same time without ever appearing exaggerated or artificial.

In the field of opera, Euda d'Uriac must be mentioned in response to a text by Àngel Guimerà, which was successfully premiered in Barcelona in 1900. Also of note are Vives Canciones epigramàticas (1915), which are inspired by texts from the 16th and 17th centuries. In addition to his approximately 115 productions for music theater, his choral works must also be mentioned. His choral suite Follies i paisatges (“Texts and Landscapes”) from 1928, which was premiered by Orfeó Català , stands out here. He is also the composer of the vocal work La Balanguera based on a text by the Mallorcan poet Joan Alcover . In addition, Vives has written numerous sardanas such as Matinada santpolenca , Montserratina , Eixelebrada and Goigs i planys .

Vives also left a well-respected literary work with essays, an autobiography, and the theatrical comedy Jo no sabia que el món era així! (“I didn't know the world was like this!”), Which premiered in Barcelona in 1929. Vives has worked on periodicals such as La mañana , El Liberal and La Tribuna . He was a member of the Ateneo de Madrid . He knew and admired Richard Wagner's work . In his own works, an influence of the German composer can be seen in the operas Artus and Euda d'Uriac . In contrast , he showed little interest in Richard Strauss's work .

Vives clearly tended towards verism artistically. He died of myocarditis in Madrid on the day of the premiere of his last composed Zarzuela El talismán , on December 2, 1932 . On December 3, 1932, he was laid out in the Palau de la Música Catalana in Barcelona and then buried in the Cementiri de Montjuïc . In September 2015, his remains were reburied in the cemetery in his home parish of Collbató.

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Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f Amadeu Vives i Roig. In Gran Enciclopèdia Catalana.
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h i Amadeu Vives i Roig. In Gran Enciclopèdia de la Música.
  3. ↑ a b c d section after: Amadeu Vives i Roig. In Gran Enciclopèdia Catalana.
  4. ↑ a b c d e section after: Amadeu Vives i Roig. In Gran Enciclopèdia de la Música.
  5. ↑ Statement of the Catalan language Wikipedia and proven there.
  6. ↑ Les despulles d'Amadeu Vives arribaran dissabte a Collbató. In: Regió7. September 15, 2014, archived from the original on April 17, 2019 ; Retrieved July 17, 2020 (Catalan).
personal data
SURNAME Vives i Roig, Amadeu
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Catalan composer and writer
DATE OF BIRTH November 18, 1871
PLACE OF BIRTH Collbató
DATE OF DEATH December 2, 1932
Place of death Madrid