A collection of piano miniatures by Enrique Granados, a representative composer of the Spanish National School.

This work is often referred to as “6 piezas sobre cantos populares espanolas (Six Pieces on Spanish Folk Songs),” but it actually consists of seven pieces, including the “Prelude”: “Añoranza” (Longing), “Ecos de la parranda” (Echoes of the Revelry), “Canto vasco” (Basque Song), “Marcha oriental” (Oriental March), “Zambra,” and “Zapateado.”

 The exact composition date is uncertain, but it is believed that Granados began composing around 1883, when he started studying composition under Felipe Pedrell, known as the “father of the Spanish National School.” During the same period, his Danzas españolas (Spanish Dances), which includes pieces like “Oriental” and “Andaluza” that brought him instant fame, was also composed. This work can thus be considered a product of a period when Granados was successively writing his representative works, drawing inspiration from Spanish folk music.

 This collection is dedicated to Cecilia Gómez de Conde, the stepdaughter of businessman Eduardo Conde. Conde was a patron who had supported Granados since his student days at the prestigious Academia Pujol in Barcelona, led by Juan Bautista Pujol, where he studied piano alongside Isaac Albéniz and Joaquín Malats. For Granados, who lost his father midway through his musical aspirations and faced financial hardship, Conde’s financial assistance was truly invaluable. It is likely that Granados would not have been able to continue his musical studies and pursue two years of study in Paris from 1887 without Conde’s support.

 During his study abroad in Paris, made possible by Conde’s assistance, Granados studied with Charles-Wilfrid de Bériot, a professor at the Paris Conservatoire whose students included Maurice Ravel and Ricardo Viñes. While further refining his piano expressiveness, he also actively engaged with composers from the Schola Cantorum (a music school founded by Vincent d’Indy in opposition to the educational philosophy of the Paris Conservatoire), including his compatriot Isaac Albéniz, and was able to continuously absorb the most cutting-edge music of the era.

 Furthermore, Granados’s social circle formed during his Paris studies was not limited to musicians; he also developed deep relationships with young artists living in the Montmartre district. In particular, he deepened his friendship with Francesc Miralles, a fellow Catalan, by serving as a model for his paintings. These interactions with artists in Paris later led to the creation of Goyescas, Granados’s masterpiece, and the song cycle Tonadillas.

From these perspectives, it can be said that the significant presence of his patron, Eduardo Conde, who spared no financial assistance for Granados, was a major factor behind Granados’s success in becoming a leading Spanish composer.

Preludio (Prelude)

Andante, 3/4 time. The opening of the “Prelude,” which adorns the beginning of the collection of miniatures, features a series of arpeggiated chords reminiscent of a flamenco guitar. This arpeggio likely imitates the “rasgueado” technique of strumming guitar strings. Flamenco-like harmonic progression motifs are improvisationally varied, changing rhythms one after another.

 After a 15-measure improvisational cadenza, from measure 16, an octave melody resembling a flamenco cante (song) and guitar interjections are alternately repeated.

The form, where the cante part sings powerfully and freely ad lib., followed by the guitar returning to in tempo at a soft pianissimo, is a common characteristic found in the music of Andalusia, the birthplace of flamenco.

After the cante and guitar alternately play music as if enjoying a conversation over multiple layers, from measure 35, the opening guitar motif is strummed again, bridging to the first piece, “Añoranza.”

No. 1 Añoranza (Longing)

Con moto, 3/4 time, D minor. The original title, “Añoranza,” means “nostalgia” or “longing.” As the name suggests, Granados’s “distant longing” for his homeland, Spain, is imbued in the piece.

 After a four-measure introduction at the beginning, chords with acciaccatura ornamentation begin to briskly mark the 3/4 rhythm. This part, similar to the preceding “Prelude,” evokes a flamenco guitar.

 From the anacrusis of measure 12, which becomes Poco Allegretto, a melancholic cante (song) part is added. Coupled with the left-hand accompaniment marking a triplet rhythm, it further highlights the Spanish musical character.

 After a poco rall. over two measures from measure 26, the introductory part reappears from measure 28. From measure 39, the cante (song) theme is played in octaves, but with different harmonies than those at the beginning, further evoking the listener’s nostalgia. Granados’s compositional skill shines through.

 Interspersed with guitar-like arpeggio passages, the music transitions again from the cante (song) part to the introductory motif, concluding with the guitar marking the rhythm.

No. 2 Ecos de la parranda (Echoes of the Revelry)

Allegro, 3/4 time. The original title, “Ecos de la parranda,” literally means “echoes of the parranda.” A “parranda” refers to a musical group that performs at village festivals and similar events.

Both the first and second pieces are in 3/4 time, but while the first piece had flamenco elements, the second piece takes its theme from the music of a “parranda” band performing at a Spanish festival.

 The opening features a lively trumpet fanfare, along with the sound of the band approaching from a distance. Here, it should be played softly on the piano, as if the parranda band is coming from far away.

The parade of the parranda band, which gradually approaches while continuously presenting improvisational and joyful melodies characteristic of festival music, finally reaches the foreground at measure 74, where the festive music unfolds grandly in fortississimo. It truly embodies the “echoes of the revelry.”

 At Tempo I, the tempo gradually slows, and the festival band’s parade departs. The lively scene of a Spanish village festival day is splendidly expressed by Granados on a single piano.

No. 3 Canto vasco (Basque Song)

Allegro moderato, 2/4 time, G major. The Basque Country is a region spanning Spain and France, separated by the Pyrenees Mountains. From the Spanish perspective, it is located in the northeast. It possesses its own unique language and a variety of distinct cultures, ranging from artistic fields like music and art to food and sports.

 Among these, the tradition of improvising poetry and singing, known as “bertsolaritza,” is unique to the Basque Country. Poetry is sung not only in competitions but also when friends share drinks, indicating how deeply music is rooted in the lives of the Basque people.

Traditional Basque musical instruments include:

• Percussion instruments such as the txalaparta and tambor.
• The trikitixa, a button accordion.
• Unique folk instruments like the txistu, a rare vertical flute with only three holes that can be played with one hand.
• The alboka, a horn made from a cow’s horn.

The main section of this piece is a very fast-tempo polka, traditional to the Basque region. The intricate 32nd-note passages that rush through are very interesting and create a fresh sound unlike the previous pieces.

 Entering the middle section, the tempo becomes poco meno, and a unison vocal melody appears improvisationally. This well represents the song form of “bertsolaritza.”

No. 4 Marcha oriental (Oriental March)

Allegro moderato, 2/4 time, C minor. After a two-measure brave fanfare introduction, the march begins from measure 3. As the title “Oriental” suggests, a march rhythm is etched in an oriental atmosphere reminiscent of Turkey.

After the theme is repeated twice, a new section begins at measure 23. Here, the powerful beats of percussion instruments like cymbals and drums alternate with a somewhat humorous and exotic melody of a reed pipe, delighting the listener. When the main march theme is repeated again, it becomes poco meno, modulates from C minor to C major, and a new motif appears. The 13-measure C major motif eventually modulates back to C minor and is played.

 From measure 89, the opening section is recapitulated, and entering the coda, an oriental-flavored phrase appears, concluding with the march rhythm in a finale.

No. 5 Zambra

Loco, 3/4 time. The title “Zambra” refers to one of the flamenco dance forms that developed in Granada. While it originally denotes rhythms primarily in duple meter, this piece is written in triple meter.

Flamenco was originally the music of the Gypsies (Roma) living in Andalusia, particularly Granada. However, the name “Zambra” is also said to derive from the Arabic word “zamra,” meaning “flute,” suggesting that flamenco developed not only from Gypsy (Roma) music but also under the influence of Islamic states that ruled Andalusia from the 8th to the 15th centuries.

 An exotic, Islamic scent permeates various parts of the piece, such as the 16th-note chromatic phrase in the two-measure introduction, the perfect fifth bass (drone) in the left hand on the first and third beats of the theme starting Andante in measure 3, and the modal phrase with melismatic ornamentation played in the vivo section from measure 19, where the meter changes to 2/4.

 The term “Loco” written at the beginning of the score is not the Italian musical term “at the original pitch” (often used to cancel octaves), but rather the Spanish word meaning “madly, passionately.” It should be played with fervor, as if the Gypsies (Roma) are dancing flamenco with single-minded devotion.

No. 6 Zapateado

Allegro, 6/8 time, D major. The title “Zapateado” refers to one of the flamenco dance forms, primarily developed in Andalusia, characterized by its 6/8 meter. It is distinguished by the rhythmic tapping of shoe heels and toes during footwork, from which the act of tapping heels and toes to create rhythm came to be called “zapateado.”

 Joaquín Turina, a Spanish composer contemporary with Granados, also wrote a piece with the same title, “Zapateado,” as the third movement of his Tres danzas andaluzas (Three Andalusian Dances), Op. 8.

 This piece is written in a three-part A-B-A’ form, consisting of “Zapateado” and “Scherzo” sections.

 The “Zapateado” section begins with a light and danceable 6/8 rhythm introduction. As it gradually crescendos from pianissimo to fortissimo over 20 measures, a cheerful Andalusian melody emerges from measure 21. Interestingly, this melody is played by the left hand, while the right hand marks the zapateado rhythm in octaves.

 From measure 105, the “Scherzo” section begins. Here, the tempo becomes poco meno, and the key modulates from D major to D minor. The music incorporates various expressions, including dotted rhythms and modal, exotic 16th-note melodies with accidentals.

 From measure 183, the “Zapateado” section returns, and entering the coda, it becomes cresc. molto e accel., concluding with the modal 16th-note phrase of the “Scherzo” section being repeated.