by Margareta Harvey-Samuel
Enrique Granados (1867-1916), one of the most gifted of Spanish composers, was also a conductor and a brilliant virtuoso pianist. For a time he played in a piano quartet with Thibaud, Manen, and Casals. He composed only a few major works, but numerous short piano pieces of a distinctive grace, charm, and national colour. In January, 1916, Granados's opera Goyescas, which is based on his own series of piano pieces of the same title, which are musical illustrations of scenes from the paintings and tapestries of Goya, was produced at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York. On his return to Spain in March he lost his life on the ill-fated Sussex which was torpedoed by a German submarine.