Manuel

Manuel Blancafort de Roselló

La Garriga , 12 d'agost de 1897
Barcelona , 8 de gener de 1987

Composer i Performer

Composer

He started his musical education with his father, music amateur and founder of Victoria de la Garriga piano rolls, and later with J. Alsius and Joan Lamote de Grignon. In the 1910 and 1920s he transcribed piano rolls for his family business. This background and his friendship with Frederic Mompou directed him towards composition. His first output in the 1920s were mainly songs, small choral pieces and piano pieces such as El parc d'atraccions, premiered by Ricard Viñes in Paris (1924). In the same period, he composed fashionable dances and jazz pieces with Mompou for Hobby piano rolls. From 1930 onwards, he devoted himself to large-scale compositions for chamber, orchestral and choral ensembles. He took part in the Festival SIMC (Barcelona, 1936), where some of his work was premiered. He has been considered one of the most relevant Catalan composers of his century for the singularity of his compositions, which were influenced by the French school and later by classical expressivity. He received many prices and awards.