Arriaga, Juan Crisóstomo

▪ Spanish composer

in full  Juan Crisóstomo Jacobo Antonio Arriaga y Balzola 

born January 27, 1806, near Bilbao, Spain

died January 17, 1826, Paris, France

      Spanish violinist and composer of extraordinary precocity whose potential was cut short by his early death. Stylistically, his music stands between the Classical tradition of Joseph Haydn (Haydn, Joseph) and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus) and the Romanticism of Gioacchino Rossini (Rossini, Gioachino) and Franz Schubert (Schubert, Franz); it shows abundant invention, freshness, and technical resourcefulness.

      After the success of his opera Los ésclavos felices (“The Happy Slaves”; produced 1820, Bilbao), Arriaga enrolled in the Paris Conservatory, where by age 18 he became an assistant professor. His other compositions include three string quartets and a symphony.

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