Josep

Josep Jurch Rivas

Barcelona , 1808
Barcelona , 1891

Composer i Performer

Clarinetist and Composer

He was a tailor's apprentice when at the age of ten, he started to learn flute, clarinet and bassoon from Josep Puig and harmony from Francesc Arbós. At that same age, he started to play in the artillery regiment's band. In the 1820s he befriended musicians from Teatre de la Santa Creu. In the 1830s he performed in orchestres-cobles with Ignasi Ayné and Jaume Planas after becoming again a military musician. During the 1840s, he was teacher and first clarinet of the orchestra of the Liceu, and was director of the so-called "Copla dels gallinaires". Between 1852 and 1856, he was a military major musician in Navarra, before settling again in Barcelona as a clarinetist at the Liceu and as conductor of several civil music bands. In addition, he opened a music store and represented the city in musical conferences. As he recounted in his memoirs, he composed more than 2000 ballables, of which only a hundred have been preserved. His most notable milestone was the premiere of the La Rondeña ballet in the inaugural performance of the Teatre del Liceu in 1848.