Esplà (y Triay), Oscar
Esplà (y Triay), Oscar
Esplà (y Triay), Oscar, Spanish music educator and composer; b. Alicante, Aug. 5, 1886; d. Madrid, Jan. 6, 1976. He began his musical studies in Alicante, and then pursued training in engineering and philosophy at the Univ. of Barcelona (1903–11); subsequently he studied with Reger in Meiningen and Munich (1912) and Saint-Saëns in Paris (1913). In 1930 he became a prof, at the Madrid Cons., serving as its director (1936–39); was also president of the Junta Nacional de Música y Teatros Liricos (1931–34). He became director of the Laboratoire Musical Scientifique in Brussels in 1946; returning to Spain, he became director of his own cons, in Alicante (1958). He publ. El arte y la musicalidad (Alicante, 1912), Fundamento estëtico de las actividades del espiritu (Munich, 1915), and Función musical y música contemporànea (Madrid, 1955). A. Iglesias ed. Escritos de Oscar Espla (3 vols., 1977–86). His compositions show the influence of Spanish folk music; he utilized his own Levantine scale in his works.
Works
DRAMATIC Opera :La bella durmiente (Vienna, 1909); La balteira (N.Y., 1935); Plumes au vent (1941); El pirata cautivo (Madrid, 1974); Calixto y Melibea (1974–76). S c e n i c C a n t a t a : Nochebuena del diablo for Soprano, Chorus, and Orch. (1923). B a l l e t : Cidopes de Ifach (1920?); El contrabandista (Paris, 1928); Fiesta (1931; unfinished). ORCH.: El sueño de Eros, symphonic poem (1904); Suite levantina (1911; rev. as Poema de minos, 1914); Don Quijote velando las armas, symphonic episode (1924); Schubertiana (1928); El dmbito de la danza (1929–34); 2 suites folkloricas for Chamber Orch. (1932, 1934); Concierto de cdmara (1937); Sonata del sur for Piano and Orch. (1943–45); Sinfonia aitana (Madrid, Oct. 31, 1964); Sinfonia de retaguardia (1969–76). CHAMBER : Violin Sonata (1915); Piano Trio (1917); 2 string quartets (1920, 1943); Sonata concertante (1939); Lirica española for Piano and Instruments (1952–54); organ music. VOCAL: Choral pieces; cantatas.
Bibliography
E. Garcia Alcàzar, O. E.y.T.:(Alicante, 5–8-1886-Madrid, 6–1-1976):Estudio monogràfico documental (Alicante, 1993).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire