Roberto Gerhard

Catalan composer Roberto Gerhard (1896-1970) was the first Spanish composer to use twelve-tone techniques. Although his parents objected to his going into music, Gerhard studied with Enrique Granados, Felipe Pedrell, and later, with Arnold Schoenberg in Berlin. Gerhard returned to Barcelona in 1929, but fled to England in 1938 in order to escape the Falangists. Obtaining a teaching position at Cambridge, Gerhard's music was not heard again until 1955, when his Symphony No. 1 was heard in Baden-Baden. He was made an OBE in 1967, and in addition to his serious concert work wrote many lighter things for film and television productions.