Isaac Manuel Francisco Albeniz was a Spanish virtuoso pianist, composer, and conductor.
Background
A child prodigy, Albeniz Albeniz made his first concert appearance in Barcelona at the age of four and at seven was refused admittance to the Paris Conservatory because of his youth. His first composition was a marche militaire, and at ten he was performing solo recitals throughout Spain.
Education
At age seven, after apparently taking lessons from Antoine François Marmontel, he passed the entrance examination for piano at the Conservatoire de Paris, but he was refused admission because he was believed to be too young.
Career
Albeniz's international concert career included a recital in April 1889 which inaugurated the Salle Erard in Paris. He spent three years in London (1890-1893), where he presented his operetta, The Magic Opal (1893). In 1893 he returned to Paris and remained there to the end of his life, except for occasional visits to Spain. He taught at the Schola Cantorum (1897-1898) and was known as a disciple of César Franck, Vincent d'Indy, Gabriel Fauré, and Claude Debussy.
His work, strongly influenced by folk music, foreshadows the modern Spanish composition of Enrique Granados, Manuel de Falla, and JoaquínJoaquin Rodrigo.