Federico Mompou
Federico Mompou (April 16, 1893–June 30, 1987) was a Catalan composer. He is best known for his solo piano music and his songs.
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2 Style 3 References and further reading 4 External link |
Mompou was born in Barcelona, and studied piano there at the Conservatorio del Liceo before going to Paris to study with Ferdinand Motte-Lacroix in 1911. Being rather shy personally, he abandoned a solo career and chose to pursue composition instead. In 1914 he returned to Barcelona, fleeing the war. He returned to Paris in 1921, and remained there until 1941 when he once again departed for his native Catalonia, fleeing the German occupation of Paris. In Barcelona he became a member of the Royal Academy of San Jorge, but otherwise lived quietly there until his death at the age of 94.
Mompou is best known as a miniaturist, writing short, relatively improvisatory music often described as "delicate" or "intimate." His principal influences were French impressionism and Erik Satie, resulting in a style in which musical development is minimized, and expression is concentrated into very small forms. He was fond of ostinato figures, bell imitations and a kind of incantory, meditative sound which Lionel Salter described as "the voice of silence ... of St. John of the Cross." (1)
Life
Style
References and further reading
External link