La Paloma
Sebastián Yradier
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Browse piano sheets by Sebastián Yradier on Zen Virtual Piano. Sebastián Yradier, also written Iradier, studied piano and organ in Vitoria, and at nine joined the choir of the old collegiate church of Santa María. In 1829 he married Brígida de Iturburu in Salvatierra, and they had a son, Pablo. In 1833 he was granted a four-month leave to improve his composition studies in Madrid, which became years, during which he missed his duties as organist, covered by his friend and pupil Antonio Ruiz de Landazábal. He appears to have studied composition with Baltasar Saldoni, and between 1835 and 1840 he gained great prestige and popularity in the capital. A choir place at nine and organist duties that a friend covered during his Madrid leave may point to a musician whose early life was tied to church music. He also taught singing privately and sent pupils without means to study at the conservatory. In Paris, after 1851, he became singing master to the Empress Eugénie, and for some time he also lived in Cuba. His publisher in Paris urged him to make his name more universal, from Iradier to Yradier; his only daughter was Matilde. A publisher's urging to change his name, and a post as singing master in Paris, may suggest an artist adjusting to a new market, while sending pupils without means to the conservatory may point to teaching that reached beyond his own private lessons. He is known mainly for his habaneras, above all La Paloma, written around 1860 after a visit to Cuba. Bizet took one of his songs, El arreglito, subtitled Chanson havanaise, for the celebrated Habanera in Carmen, keeping its key and accompaniment pattern and only adjusting the melody slightly for French words. Ay Chiquita! also became famous, and in Paris he published two collections, Echo d'Espagne with eight songs and Fleurs d'Espagne, which gathered his 25 most popular songs, appeared in 1864 and had a great impact in French musical circles. El arreglito's place in a celebrated opera, and the great impact of Fleurs d'Espagne in French musical circles, may suggest that his songs reached a French audience by more than one route. He had a reputation as liberal and a vividor, adventurous and dandified, nicknamed the Basque dandy, with great skill at public relations used to stay close to powerful figures in art, culture and high society, and as opportunistic with a good commercial instinct. When he fell ill with an eye ailment, he left Paris and went back to Vitoria. From there he sometimes visited Salvatierra, where he was well remembered and entertained by his former pupil and successor as organist, Antonio Ruiz de Landazábal. Teaching an empress in Paris and being entertained by a former pupil in Salvatierra may suggest that teaching tied him to people in very different places.
Browse piano sheets by Sebastián Yradier on Zen Virtual Piano.
Sebastián Yradier, also written Iradier, studied piano and organ in Vitoria, and at nine joined the choir of the old collegiate church of Santa María. In 1829 he married Brígida de Iturburu in Salvatierra, and they had a son, Pablo. In 1833 he was granted a four-month leave to improve his composition studies in Madrid, which became years, during which he missed his duties as organist, covered by his friend and pupil Antonio Ruiz de Landazábal. He appears to have studied composition with Baltasar Saldoni, and between 1835 and 1840 he gained great prestige and popularity in the capital. A choir place at nine and organist duties that a friend covered during his Madrid leave may point to a musician whose early life was tied to church music.
He also taught singing privately and sent pupils without means to study at the conservatory. In Paris, after 1851, he became singing master to the Empress Eugénie, and for some time he also lived in Cuba. His publisher in Paris urged him to make his name more universal, from Iradier to Yradier; his only daughter was Matilde. A publisher's urging to change his name, and a post as singing master in Paris, may suggest an artist adjusting to a new market, while sending pupils without means to the conservatory may point to teaching that reached beyond his own private lessons.
He is known mainly for his habaneras, above all La Paloma, written around 1860 after a visit to Cuba. Bizet took one of his songs, El arreglito, subtitled Chanson havanaise, for the celebrated Habanera in Carmen, keeping its key and accompaniment pattern and only adjusting the melody slightly for French words. Ay Chiquita! also became famous, and in Paris he published two collections, Echo d'Espagne with eight songs and Fleurs d'Espagne, which gathered his 25 most popular songs, appeared in 1864 and had a great impact in French musical circles. El arreglito's place in a celebrated opera, and the great impact of Fleurs d'Espagne in French musical circles, may suggest that his songs reached a French audience by more than one route.
He had a reputation as liberal and a vividor, adventurous and dandified, nicknamed the Basque dandy, with great skill at public relations used to stay close to powerful figures in art, culture and high society, and as opportunistic with a good commercial instinct. When he fell ill with an eye ailment, he left Paris and went back to Vitoria. From there he sometimes visited Salvatierra, where he was well remembered and entertained by his former pupil and successor as organist, Antonio Ruiz de Landazábal. Teaching an empress in Paris and being entertained by a former pupil in Salvatierra may suggest that teaching tied him to people in very different places.
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Sebastián Yradier
Common questions
Sebastián Yradier, also written Iradier, was a composer and singing teacher best known for his habaneras.
La Paloma is his best-known habanera, written around 1860 after a visit to Cuba.
Bizet used Yradier's song El arreglito for the Habanera in Carmen, keeping the key and the accompaniment pattern.
In Paris he published two collections, Echo d'Espagne with eight songs and Fleurs d'Espagne with twenty-five.