Nothing Special   »   [go: up one dir, main page]

Oscar Esplá's Spanish Sonata

Download as pptx, pdf, or txt
Download as pptx, pdf, or txt
You are on page 1of 12

Oscar Esplá’s Spanish Sonata

Op.53 “Homage to Chopin”



Composed - 1949
Published - 1952

Oscar Esplá’s Contribution and Historical
Context

 Oscar Esplá y Triay (August 5th, 1886 – January 6th,
1976)
 Born and raised in Alicante, Valencia.
 Oscar Esplá is, along with Manuel de Falla, the most
important Spanish composer of the 20th century.
Ironically enough he is also one of the most forgotten
musical geniuses of the country.
Oscar Esplá’s Contribution and Historical
Context

 He was a man of diverse interests and immense
intellectual capacity – he had an extensive formation in
engineering and philosophy – and his musical trajectory
begun in Spain and proceeded later in Europe.
 He studied with Max Reger in Germany and with Camille
Saint-Saëns later on in France.
 Esplá’s contributions to Spanish music are of colossal
magnitude. He reconceived Spain’s folklorism by
incorporating folkloric elements from Castile and Levante
at a time when Andalusian regionalism dominated the
national musical scene.
Spanish Sonata Op.53, “Homage to
Chopin”

 His Spanish Sonata Op.53 was a commission by UNESCO to
commemorate the 100th anniversary of Chopin’s death. Alicia
de Larrocha recorded this Sonata in 1956. Two years later, in
1958, she writes a letter to her beloved teacher Frank Marshall
narrating the overwhelming impression that her performance
had on the composer, who “cried of happiness” to put in her
own words.
 Other commissioned composers: Jacques Ibert, Villa-Lobos,
Martinu, and Carlos Chávez.
 The work was premiered by Arnaldo Estrella, who had been a
student of Emile Descombes, an important pupil of Chopin,
who also taught Ravel, Erik Satie among others.

Formal Structure

 Three movements:
 I. Andante romantico
 II. Mazurka sopra un tema popolare
 III. Allegro brioso
Formal Structure

 I. Andante Romantico: Sonata form
 A section 1 theme in its entirety
 B section 1 theme with reference to A theme
 Development
 Recapitulation
Formal Structure

 II. Mazurka: Ternary form A B A (small b coda)
 Takes its theme from the medieval latin folkloric tune
“La Viudita del Conde Laurel”. (Schubert Impromptu
Op. 142, No.2)
 A sections are in ternary form themselves and present
2 different themes.
 B section is in Binary form and also presents 2
different themes.
Formal Structure

 III. Allegro brioso: Chopinesque Scherzo. Ternary
form:
 A section presents two themes and develops them
 B section presents two themes
 A section is then repeated, or recapitulated, with a
CODA that develops the main theme
Harmonic Language

1. Modal Mixture and Modal Chromaticism
2. Bitonality
3. Regular tonal chromaticism
Sources

 Almendros, Josep Luís (2011). Oscar Esplá y la Sonata Española. Diario Información:
Alicante. (Visited April 16th, 2020) https://
www.diarioinformacion.com/opinion/2011/06/22/oscar-espla-sonata-espanola/1
141030.html
 Iglesias, Antonio (1962). Óscar Esplá (su obra para piano). Madrid: Dirección general
de relaciones culturales.
 Iglesias, Antonio (2008). Monografías: Óscar Esplá. Madrid: Orquesta y Coro de la
Comunidad de Madrid. (Viited April 17th, 2020) https://
www.fundacionorcam.org/media/docs/9_oscar_espla.pdf
 Esplá Oscar, and Antonio Iglesias. Escritos De Oscar Esplá. Alpuerto, 1986.
 González, Paloma Otaola. “OSCAR ESPLÁ Y EL NACIONALISMO MUSICAL.”
Revista De Musicología, vol. 31, no. 2, 2008, pp. 453–497. JSTOR,
www.jstor.org/stable/20797932. Accessed 21 Apr. 2020.
 Arráez, Lourdes González. “LA CREACIÓN MUSICAL DE ÓSCAR ESPLÁ.”
Revista De Musicología, vol. 28, no. 2, 2005, pp. 1623–1631. JSTOR,
www.jstor.org/stable/20798149. Accessed 21 Apr. 2020.

You might also like