Ernesto Halffter
Ernesto Halffter Escriche ( born January 16, 1905 in Madrid, † July 5, 1989 ) was a Spanish composer and conductor.
Biography
Halffter came from a Spanish musical family and was the younger brother of Rodolfo Halffter later composers. His father Ernesto Halffter Hein was a jeweler and came from Königsberg, his mother Rosario Escriche Erradón from Catalonia. Also, Ernesto and Rodolfo's nephew Cristóbal is now a well-known composer and conductor.
Initiated by the mother, Ernesto and Rodolfo learned as children making music. Already as a young Ernesto began the composition of piano pieces, including 1920 " Crepúsculos ".
Due to the fact that in 1923 the music critic Adolfo Salazar the composer Manuel de Falla, a copy of Halffter's score of " homages, Petite Suite pour Trio" (1922 ) forwarded it, was a long-standing friendship between De Falla and Halffter. From De Falla, Halffter also received lessons in composition. Like his brother Rodolfo Ernesto was the " Grupo de los Ocho " (Eng.: Group of Eight ) in Madrid, which was part of the Generación del 27. In 1924, he was determined by Manuel de Falla Head of the Orquesta bética de Sevilla.
The breakthrough Ernesto Halffter 1925 with " Sinfonietta ", one of his early works, one of his most famous. For the composition, he was awarded his first time with the Spanish National Music Prize and a scholarship to study in Paris. In Paris took Maurice Ravel strong influence on his compositions. After his return he married in 1928, the Portuguese pianist Alice Cámara Santos. In 1932 he conducted in addition to the composition of " Sonata per pianoforte " several concerts at the Teatro Colón of Buenos Aires, Lima and Havana. In 1934 he became director of the Conservatory of Seville and went in 1936 as a fellow of the Graf von Cartagena Foundation of the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando to Lisbon, where he composed the opera " La muerte de Carmen ". In Lisbon in 1938, his son Manuel was born, which got its name in honor of his friend, De Falla. The 1940 written for piano and orchestra " Rapsodia Portuguesa " was heavily influenced by the influence of French Impressionism and Portuguese folklore. In 1942 he became associate professor at Lisbon's Instituto Español. After De Falla had died in 1946, wrote Ernesto Halffter its unfinished cantata " Atlantida " 1957-1962 to an end. The award for refused Halffter. In 1971 he became a member of the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando. In honor of his friend, Dalí wrote in 1974 his " Homenaje a Salvador Dalí " and 1988 for Federico Mompou, Joaquin Turina and his brother Rodolfo, the " Homenaje a tres Compositores españoles ".
Halffter wrote a number of other important compositions and has won several awards.
Awards
- Honorary director of the Conservatorio Manuel de Falla in Cádiz
- 1925 National Music Prize, Spain
- 1963: Grand Cross of the Order of Alfonso X el Sabio de
- 1983 National Music Prize, Spain