The Spanish composer Joaquin Rodrigo, blind from the age of three, has enriched Spanish music in particular through his concertos for guitar, compositions for which he is best known abroad. Rodrigo studied for a time in Paris, where he spent the turbulent years of the Spanish civil war, his subsequent career largely centred on Madrid.
Orchestral Music
The best known work of Rodrigo is the Concierto de Aranjuez, for guitar and orchestra, written in 1939, closely followed in popularity by his Fantasia para un gentilhombre. Other guitar concertos include a Concierto madrigal for two guitars and a Concierto andaluz for four guitars. He has written concertos for other solo instruments, including the violin, the cello and the piano and a Concierto serenata for solo harp and orchestra, all in a style that has remained consistent throughout his career, both here and in his stage and vocal compositions.
