Joaquim Turina ‘La oracion del torero’ (The bullfighters’ Prayer)

Have you discovered already for yourself Joaquim Turina?

Spain’s nationalist musical renaissance was over by the end of the first half of the 20th Century.

Joaquim Turina was one of the foremost composers of renaissance. Apparently, Turina’s music has enjoyed a revival very recently and became most played and recorded in professional music studios.

Some facts over Turina:

J.Turina was born in Seville (1882-1949) and studied there and in Madrid. From 1905 till 1914 he lived in Paris and studied composition with Cesar Franck’s disciple, Vincent D’Indy at the Schola Cantorum, where he learned the mysteries of the “Cyclical Form” (meaning, what you hear at the beginning, you will hear again at the end). He studied the piano under Moritz Moszkowski. In composing works he was encouraged by Maurice Ravel and Claude Debussy, whose influences can be heard in Torina’s music, and, in turn, both Frenchmen wrote pieces influenced by Spanish music.

Have you listened to Turina ‘La oracion del torero’ (The Bullfighter’s Prayer)(1925)?

To listen to go to Youtube page

This composition is his most popular work and most often performed.

It is exquisite music of remarkable beauty and splandour. It is 8 minutes of a toreador battle at the bull’s arena. This is 8 minutes of the tense breathing, self-control, an eruption of temperament and finally a relief! This work represents the brightest influence of Debussy, the music language of gracefulness and tenderness.

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