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Joaquín Turina
December 9, 1882 - January 14, 1949
born in Seville, Spain, composed during the Modern period
Biography
When he was a small boy, one of Joaquín Turina's favorite toys was a small accordion, and music was always his favorite subject at school. He studied piano and theory in his hometown of Seville and made his debut there as a pianist at age 14. His success led him to Madrid, where he tried to get his opera La sulamita (c. 1900) and his zarzuela Fea y con gracia (1904) performed. The latter was staged to no great success, but Turina showed his music to many prominent musicians and struck up a friendship with Manuel de Falla.

After studying piano at the Madrid Conservatory with José Tragó, Turina went to Paris, where he worked with Vincent d'Indy at the Schola Cantorum from 1905 to 1914. He also took some piano lessons with Moritz Moszkowski. During his years in Paris he was encouraged by the great French composers of that time -- Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel, Paul Dukas, and his teacher d'Indy -- and wrote a few works in the French style of the day. After the premiere of his Piano Quintet, Op. 1 in 1907, Turina went to a café with Isaac Albéniz and de Falla. They convinced Turina to write in a more consciously Spanish style. As Turina put it, "[w]e were three Spaniards gathered together in that corner of Paris and it was our duty to fight bravely for the national music of our country.
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