Granados: Goyescas (piano suite), Op. 11

Introduction

Goyescas, Op.11, subtitled Los majosenamorados(The Gallants in Love), is a piano suite written in 1911by Spanish composer Enrique Granados. This piano suite is usually considered Granados's crowning creation and was inspired by the paintings of Francisco Goya, although the piano pieces have not been authoritatively associated with any particular paintings. The suite forms part of the standard Romanticpiano repertoire.

Writing of the Goyescas

The piano writing of Goyescasis highly ornamented and extremely difficult to master, requiring both subtle dexterity and great power. Some of them have a strong improvisational feel, the clearest example of this being the fifth piece, called El amor y la muerte(Love and Death). The fourth piece in the series (Quejas, ó la maja y el ruiseñor—The Maiden and the Nightingale) is the best known piece from the suite. It resembles a nocturne, but is filled with intricate figuration, inner voices and, near the end, glittering bird-like trills and quicksilver arpeggios. Mexican songwriter Consuelo Velázquezbased her 1940 song Bésame Muchoon this melody.

This piano suite was written in two books. Work on Goyescasbegan in 1909, and by 31 August 1910, the composer was able to write that he had composed "great flights of imagination and difficulty." Granados himself gave the première of Book I at the Palau de la Música Catalanain Barcelonaon 11 March 1911. He completed Book II in December 1911 and gave its first performance at the Salle Pleyelin Parison 2 April 1914.

El pelele(The Straw Man), subtitled Escena goyesca, is usually programmed as part of the Goyescassuite; Granados gave the première in TerrassaTeatre Principal, on 29 March 1914.

In 1915Granados wrote a one-act opera, also called Goyescas, to a Spanish libretto by Fernando Periquet y Zuaznaba, using melodies from the piano suite. This was first performed in 1916.

The suite

• Los requiebros (The Compliments)
• Coloquio en la reja (Conversation at the Window)
• El fandango de candil (Fandango by Candlelight)
• Quejas, o La Maja y el ruiseñor (Complaint, or the Girl and the Nightingale)
• El Amor y la muerte (Balada) (Ballad of Love and Death)
• Epilogo: Serenata del espectro (Epilogue: Serenade to a Spectre)
• El pelele: Escena Goyesca (The Puppet: Goya Scene)