Joaquim Homs

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Joaquim Homs

Joaquim Homs (born August 21, 1906 in Barcelona ; † September 9, 2003 there ) was a Catalan composer .

life and work

Joaquim Homs began studying the cello at the age of eight, encouraged by his father. He completed this in 1922 at the same time as his Abitur. Conversations with the violinist and musicologist Enric Roig encouraged the 20-year-old to get in touch with cultural workers in Barcelona. He regularly attended artistic meetings with the architect Ramon Sastre , in which poets and musicians took part. During this time he self-taught in piano and composition, while he was still studying industrial engineering. From 1931 to 1936 Homs studied composition with Robert Gerhard . He probably got to know Arnold Schönberg from Robert Gerhard .

In 1937, during the civil war , he married the painter Pietat Fornesa. A few days later his first work, the duo for flute and clarinet , was premiered on the XV. Festival of the International Society for New Music held in Paris. Towards the end of the civil war, Homs came under repression for not joining the Frankists . He had to move to Valencia.

The anti-cultural climate in Frankist Spain immediately after the civil war led Homs to devote all of his time to composing music after his return to Barcelona in 1942. He created over 200 works. During this time he worked with the underground club Cobalto 49 , which intensively sought to spread the new music of the 20th century. From around 1960 this club was able to organize live public concerts with contemporary music. Joaquim Homs was dedicated to such concerts, together with the composer Josep Maria Mestres i Quadreny until around 1970. Through these performances, his compositional work gradually became known.

In 1974 he co-founded the Associació Catalana de Compositors (Catalan Composers' Association). In the same year he was able to give a monographic concert at the International Music Festival of Barcelona .

As a compositional technique , Homs successively used the atonal technique , the twelve-tone technique and serialism . His compositional style is characterized by the pursuit of structural clarity, which tries to achieve maximum expressive intensity with small and small elements. He interpreted the twelve-tone technique as a personal guide in order to produce musical forms of high sensitivity based on feelings. Especially in his chamber music works, he realized this approach with great purity.

Homs wrote the biography Robert Gerhard i la seva obra (1991, Robert Gerhard and his work) and the Antología de la música contemporánea (1900-1959) (anthology of contemporary music (1900-1959))

To a certain extent, Homs was a link between the Generació de 27 and the contemporary avant-garde in Catalonia. Five monographic CDs with works by Joaquim Homs were recorded. In 1989 he was accepted into the Reial Acadèmia Catalana de Belles Arts de Sant Jordi . In 1981 he received the gold medal of the city of Barcelona for outstanding artistic achievements. In 1992 and 1999 he received the Premi Nacional de Música de la Generalitat de Catalunya (National Music Prize of the Catalan Government), and in 1993 a gold medal for outstanding artistic achievements from the Catalan Ministry of Culture.

Works (selection)

  • piano
    • Nine sketches (1925)
    • Carousel Waltz (1934)
    • Variations on a Popular Catalan Theme (1943)
    • Sonata 1 (1945)
    • Sonata 2 (1956)
    • Three Impromtu (1956)
    • Three Inventions on a Chord (1958)
    • Between two lines (1958)
    • Presencies (1967)
    • Three evocations (1982–1987)
    • Remembrances (1984-1995)

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Joaquim Homs i Oller. In: Gran Enciclopèdia Catalana.
  2. ↑ a b Joaquim Homs i Oller. In: Gran Enciclopèdia de la Música.
  3. ↑ a b section after: Joaquim Homs i Oller. In: Gran Enciclopèdia Catalana.
  4. ↑ a b c d e f section after: Joaquim Homs i Oller. In: Gran Enciclopèdia de la Música.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Homs, Joaquim
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Homs i Oller, Joaquim (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Spanish composer
DATE OF BIRTH August 21, 1906
PLACE OF BIRTH Barcelona
DATE OF DEATH September 9, 2003
Place of death Barcelona