- This work comes from Albéniz’s 12 piezas características, Op.92, which was published in 1888. The opus is a set of character pieces for piano.1
- Each piece in the set bears a unique dedication. “Torre bermeja,” the twelfth piece in the set, is dedicated “a mi querida amiga Señorita Isabel de Lisboa” (To my dear friend Miss Isabel de Lisboa).2
- Albéniz’s score labels this piece as a “serenata”, and though written for the piano, the style imitates that of a guitar, with pizzicato arpeggiated passages. Both the title and the texture suggest an outdoor guitar serenade.3
- Thought there is more than one tower in Spain called the Torre bermeja (Vermillion Tower), it is likely that the piece references the Vermillion Towers at the Alhambra.45
- Albéniz performed the premiere of this piece on April 25, 1889 in Paris at the Salle Erard. Debussy, Fauré, Ravel, and Dukas were all present for this performance, which an all-Albéniz concert accompanied by the Colonne Orchestra.6
Sources
- Frances Barulich, “Albéniz, Isaac,” Grove Music Online, accessed May 4, 2022, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000000421.
- Isaac Albéniz, 12 piezas características, Op.92: Torre bermeja (Madrid: Casa Dotésio, 1912), 1.
- Ibid.
- Patricia Felipe Marcos, liner notes to Albeniz: Piano Music Vol. 7, Hernan Milla, Naxos 8.573160, CD, 2015.
- Walter Aaron Clarke, Isaac Albéniz: Portrait of a Romantic (New York: Oxford University Press, 2002), 75.
- Ibid.
Cut IDs
49923