Joaquín Rodrigo

Joaquín Rodrigo, the leading post–Civil War Spanish composer and one of the 20th century's most popular melodists, gave us the most performed guitar concerto of all time. Though he wasn’t a guitarist, his neoclassical Concierto de Aranjuez, for guitar and orchestra, remains the undisputed benchmark for all guitar concertos. Born in 1901 in Sagunto and blind from age three, Rodrigo began studying in Valencia and showed an early interest in literature and music, becoming a proficient pianist. In the late 1920s, he moved to Paris and studied with Paul Dukas at the École Normale de Musique. Years later, a conversation with guitarist Regino Sainz de la Maza would spark the Aranjuez, which premiered in 1940 in Barcelona. Rodrigo’s second guitar concerto, Fantasía para un gentilhombre (1954), was dedicated to virtuoso Andrés Segovia and harks back to Baroque music, while the Concierto madrigal (1966), for two guitars and orchestra, is based on a Renaissance theme. Rodrigo spent the rest of the century reaping accolades until his death in Madrid in 1999. His spirit lives on in his music for guitar, which has secured a firm place in the repertoire.