Nationality: Catalan

Born in Lérida [Lleida], July 27, 1867
Died at sea, English Channel, March 24, 1916

• Granados was a Catalan composer and pianist who spent most of his life in Barcelona.
• Though he wrote more than 140 pieces, he achieved little fame outside Barcelona, and few of his works were published during his lifetime.
• As a concert pianist, Granados was famed for his improvisations, so much so that what he actually played at a recital frequently differed greatly from the printed score.
• Fun Fact: Granados visited the United States for the 1916 American premiere of Goyescas at the Met.
  • During this visit Granados caused a stir by claiming that his listeners were ignorant of real Spanish music. Critics were offended and later took revenge by saying Granados’s opera was inferior to Carmen.²
• Not-Fun Fact: Granados was invited to visit President Wilson when he was in the US in 1916. The visit caused him to miss his boat home. He booked a different sailing and ended up being torpedoed by a German submarine³ in the English Channel. The boat survived but many passengers were tossed into the ocean.
  • Granados was rescued by a life raft, but when he saw his wife struggling in the water, he jumped back in to save her. Neither of them survived.

Biography

Born in Barcelona, March 4, 1872
Died in Barcelona, c.1912

• Malats was a concert pianist and teacher who studied in Paris, toured Europe and the Americas, but was based for most of his career in his hometown of Barcelona.
• Malats was friends with Granados and Albéniz and appeared with each in two-piano duo concerts. Malats helped inspire Albéniz’s Iberia, and Malats played the Spanish premieres of all four parts of Iberia as they appeared.⁴