Pepito Arriola

José " Pepito " Rodríguez Arriola (* December 1895, † October 24, 1954 ) was a Spanish pianist, who as a child had great success.

Origin

Pepito is from a liberal family of Ferrol. His mother was Josefa Rodríguez carballeira. When they went to Madrid, his aunt Aurora care of him and taught him to play the piano.

Child prodigy

Ariolas fascinating talent was discovered when the boy was two and a half years old. As of himself he learned a composition of his mother of a friend. Without formal education, he played pieces by ear and developed his own compositions. When the mother discovered the talent, they took with Pepito to Madrid, where his career began.

Appearances

On December 4, 1899 at the age of not even 3 years Pepito occurred for the first time. Shortly after his third birthday, on 26 December of the same year, he gave his second concert, this time in the Royal Palace of Madrid before the king and queen. He presented six original compositions.

Compositions

With 3 years Arriola could neither read nor writing notes and therefore developed his own methods of composition. Sometimes he used paper with a symbol for the character of the piece and some magical lines with note signs. In his performances, he should use these notes, but have yet to improvise more freely.

Works

• Aurora, habanera 1898
• Impresiones nocturnas, 1916

After his death, some pieces were found that he had written in 1946 in Barcelona after his return to Spain, including:

• Impresiones Argentinas
• Hommage à Manuel de Falla
• Pequena serenata para violonchelo e piano