Fernando Remacha
Encyclopedia
Fernado Remacha Villar was a composer
, part of the Group of Eight
which formed a sub-set of the Generation of '27
.
on 15 December 1898. At the age of nine he began to study the violin
with the choirmaster of Tudela Cathedral, Joaquin Castellano. In 1911, Remacha travelled to Madrid
for the purpose of studying to become a chartered accountant
, but at the same time he continued his music studies. He took courses at the Madrid Conservatory
where he passed at one time the first three courses of solfeggio, and had private violin classes with Jose del Hierro. Remacha lived in the home of his aunt, Isabel Soriano, who encouraged him to study harmony
once he had completed the violin courses. That was how he began his instruction under Conrado del Campo
, in whose classes he met Salvador Bacarisse
and Julian Bautista
, the people who formed the initial core of the Grupo de Madrid together with Remacha.
During his period as a student in Madrid, Remacha also played in the Orquesta de Revista y Zarzuela, which performed at the Teatro Apolo and provided him with a wage of twelve pesetas a day.
His first works, some of which already revealed a great talent, date from those times: the ballet "La Maja Vestida" ("The Clothed Maja") (1919), the symphonic poem "Alba" ("Dawn") (1922) and "Tres Piezas para Piano" ("Three Pieces for Piano") (1923). 1923 was also the year in which Remacha finished his composition studies under Conrado del Campo, and entered and won the Premio de Roma (Rome Prize) with a cantata
and a motet
for choir and orchestra, and an instrumental fugue. The grant obtained in the prize contest allowed him to travel to Rome
, where he studied under Malipiero, deepening his knowledge of Monteverdi
and Vivaldi
. In this way he gained a thorough acquaintance with the resources of the old masters, resources which he later put to use in his works through a modern idiom.
The Premio de Roma awarded to Remacha by the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando meant four years of studies with lodging at the Accademia di San Pietro in Montorio, at that time under the direction of the painter Eduardo Chicharro. The financial situation of the Accademia at the time of Remacha's arrival in September 1923 was precarious, but the grant was maintained. At the Accademia di Roma, Remacha lived with other grant winners who were among the artistic and intellectual promises of the Spain of those years. These people included Fernando Garcia Mercadal, an architect who, years later, was to construct the present-day building of the Pablo Sarasate Conservatory of Pamplona
, the painter Pablo Pascual, and the draughtsman Emilio Moya.
From the musical standpoint, the grant required that the winners prepare a set of annual works that were evaluated by a jury in Madrid. From this period date such pieces as the motet for choir and orchestra "Quam Pulchri Sunt" (1925), the "Sinfonia a tres Tiempos" ("Symphony in Three Tempos") (1925) or the "Homenaje a Gongora" ("Homage to Gongora") (1927), the latter a work in which Remacha showed his identification with the ideas of the Generation of '27.
Remacha completed his Roman period in 1927. In 1928 he took part in the competition for a position as violist in the Symphonic Orchestra of Arbos, winning first place. He supplemented his work as a musician in the small orchestra of Union Radio, in which he played the viola
together with his former teacher and friend Conrado del Campo.
Bacarisse placed him in contact with Ricardo Urgoiti, who in 1929 had founded the firm Filmofono, a cinema production company that achieved enormous success with films of a commercial bent. Remacha's work at Filmofono evolved from the mere synchronisation of records (in the silent-film period) to tasks as the genuine manager and technical expert in musical affairs. He also composed incidental music for four Spanish films produced by Filmofono in the talking-film period: Don Quintin el amargao (Mr Quentin the Sourpuss) (1935). La hija de Juan Simon (Juan Simon's Daughter) (1935), ¿Quien me quiere a mi? (Who Loves Me?) (1936) and Centinela alerta (Sentinel Alert) (1936). This was precisely the work that brought him into contact with Luis Buñuel
, who acted as producer and in some cases, as in Centinela alerta, as director. Remacha's cinema activity was also linked to the firm Cinematiraje Riera, engaged in copying films, which called on Remacha's services and knowledge in 1932.
In a record shop of Urgoiti's company in Avenida Pi y Margall of Madrid Remacha met Rafaela Gonzalez, whom he married on 7 October 1932.
1930 was an important year in Remacha's career as a composer since it marked the presentation of the Grupo de Madrid, formed with Salvador Bacarisse, Julian Bautista, Gustavo Pittaluga, Juan José Mantecón
, Rosa García Ascot
, and the brothers Rodolfo
and Ernesto Halffter
. The works of these composers began to be appreciated in the period marked by the advent of the Spanish Republic
. Remacha received his first Premio Nacional de Música
(National Music Prize) in 1933 for his "Quartet for Violin, Viola, Cello and Piano". In 1938, in the midst of the Spanish Civil War
, he received his second Premio Nacional de Música for the "String Quartet", composed in 1924 as a required piece under his Italian grant. The end of the Civil War found Remacha and his wife in Barcelona
, and from there they took refuge across the French border. Separated from his family, Remacha did not feel up to remaining in the refugee camps that had been hastily set up by the French government, and in the security of his not having held a political office and not having been in the army, he decided to depart for Tudela.
. All theses people concur in that Fernando Remacha was a very modest, unassuming person. In Tudela Remacha took charge of the family hardware shop. From a strictly intellectual standpoint the course of Remacha's life was one of the bitterest of those of all the musicians of the Grupo de Madrid. Accordingly it may be said that his was one of the most arduous exiles following the War. Condemned to a brutal cultural silence, Remacha had to begin again from zero, that is, he had to start all over again, assimilating his circumstances as best he could.
With "Cartel de Fiestas" ("Festival Poster") (1947), a work that won a contest for topical and regionalist themes, he introduced himself in Pamplona, capital of Navarre. In 1951 the Pamplona City Council commissioned him to compose "Visperas de San Fermin" ("On the Eve of San Fermin") and, with the opening performance of this work in Madrid in 1952, Remacha succeeded in being noticed again by the Spanish music critics. From that moment on his production was musically variable, with the composition of such dissimilar works as "Concerto for Guitar and Orchestra" (1956) or "Rapsodia de Estella" ("Rhapsody of Estella") (1958).
In 1957 Remacha moved to Pamplona
to start up the Pablo Sarasate Conservatory. In 1963 the present-day building of that institution was erected and, under Remacha's direction, it became a point of reference in the Spanish music world. Also in 1963 he composed the cantata "Jesucristo en la Cruz" ("Christ on the Cross"), which earned him the Tormo de Oro Prize of the Cuenca Religious Week, pleasantly surprising the music critics with the concept of this work. Remacha had been suffering from a devastating illness, Parkinson's disease
, since the sixties. When he retired in 1975 he was already quick sick. In 1980 he received the Premio Nacional de Música for the third time, and in 1981 the Pablo Iglesias Prize. For its part, the Institucion Principe de Viana organised the Remacha Memorial, holding three concerts to promote acquaintance with some of the composer's works. Indeed, in the last years of Remacha's life it appeared that the musical circles wished to compensate him for the silence in which he had been enveloped in the post-war period.
In the last period of his life he was always open to the musical avant-garde
, even though he did not generally share its criteria. This attitude aroused the admiration and respect of the most representative Spanish avant-garde composers of the times, a position that Remacha did not find comfortable because of his characteristic modesty and scant selfesteem.
Fernando Remacha died on 21 February 1984. The 21st and 22 February were declared official days of mourning in Tudela, where a solemn funeral was held for the composer prior to his burial there.
Within this context, Remacha's return to music took place through teaching and the composition of music
for piano and for the Navarrese choirs with which he came into contact. In this way musical genres that Remacha had hardly dealt with prior to the war came to acquire considerable importance, since these were the works that could have the most immediate impact. Some of his piano works were based on a Bachian conception of music. This was the case with the "Prelude and Fugue in D minor" (1945), dedicated to Ricardo Urgoiti. Certain anecdotal circumstances explain the idiom used in some of Remacha's works. For example the "Piano Sonatina" (1945) is a more peaceful work because it was intended to be performed by Urgoiti's daughter. At the same time, as a result of the contests in which Remacha took part and the commissions that were made to him, a regionalist component arose in his work which added nothing new to his compositions. Despite this, it should be noted that in all his compositions Remacha tried to assimilate this regionalism with his own traits. This may be observed in such works as "Cartel de Fiestas" ("Festival Poster") (1946) or "Rapsodia de Estella" ("Rhapsody of Estella") (1958), which are by no means among the best pieces composed by Remacha. Aside from this Remacha composed a large quantity of choral music which may be divided between original compositions and harmonisations or adaptations.
In the works that were composed without conditioning of any type, Remacha maintained links with the pre-war period, developing at the same time a very particular expressionistic vision. Among the imbalances and ellipses that exist in his work, we find a common denominator that is none other than musical expressiveness. In short, his music presents an evident emotional charge, but always with a personal style that arises from the composer's deep reflection and not from emotional spontaneity. His music does not reflect the personality of a highly imaginative composer but, paradoxically enough, it does show an original personal style in the way of dealing with the elements or the lines inspired by other composer. The circumstances and the haste that marked his composition is reflected in his short catalogue of pieces, to which Remacha himself referred on receiving his Third National Music Prize in 1980: "For reasons beyond my control, I am a musician without music. For years I could hardly compose anything at all and later, on devoting myself to the Conservatory, I found myself in the same situation". The carelessness and abandon he showed for his scores and the scant importance he attributed to them was also reflected in disillusionment that Remacha felt for composition in the last years of his life.
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
, part of the Group of Eight
Group of Eight (music)
The Group of Eight was a group of Spanish composers and musicologists, including Jesús Bal y Gay, Ernesto Halffter and his brother Rodolfo, Juan José Mantecón, Julián Bautista, Fernando Remacha, Rosa García Ascot, Salvador Bacarisse and Gustavo Pittaluga. The group was founded in the spirit of Les...
which formed a sub-set of the Generation of '27
Generation of '27
The Generation of '27 was an influential group of poets that arose in Spanish literary circles between 1923 and 1927, essentially out of a shared desire to experience and work with avant-garde forms of art and poetry. Their first formal meeting took place in Seville in 1927 to mark the 300th...
.
Early years
Remacha was born in Tudela, NavarreTudela, Navarre
Tudela is a municipality in Spain, the second city of the autonomous community of Navarre. Its population is around 35,000. Tudela is sited in the Ebro valley. Fast trains running on two-track electrified railways serve the city and two freeways join close to it...
on 15 December 1898. At the age of nine he began to study the violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
with the choirmaster of Tudela Cathedral, Joaquin Castellano. In 1911, Remacha travelled to Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
for the purpose of studying to become a chartered accountant
Chartered Accountant
Chartered Accountants were the first accountants to form a professional body, initially established in Britain in 1854. The Edinburgh Society of Accountants , the Glasgow Institute of Accountants and Actuaries and the Aberdeen Society of Accountants were each granted a royal charter almost from...
, but at the same time he continued his music studies. He took courses at the Madrid Conservatory
Madrid Conservatory
-History:The Royal Conservatory of Music was founded on July 15, 1830, by royal decree, and was originally located in Mostenses Square, Madrid. In 1852 it was moved to the Royal Opera, where it remained until the building was condemned by royal order and classes ordered to halt in 1925. For the...
where he passed at one time the first three courses of solfeggio, and had private violin classes with Jose del Hierro. Remacha lived in the home of his aunt, Isabel Soriano, who encouraged him to study harmony
Harmony
In music, harmony is the use of simultaneous pitches , or chords. The study of harmony involves chords and their construction and chord progressions and the principles of connection that govern them. Harmony is often said to refer to the "vertical" aspect of music, as distinguished from melodic...
once he had completed the violin courses. That was how he began his instruction under Conrado del Campo
Conrado del Campo
Conrado del Campo was a composer, violinist and professor at the Real Conservatorio de Música in Madrid, who was the principal conductor of the Madrid Symphony Orchestra.His was works played in the Theathre Real of Madrid for José María Alvira. His opera Lola la Piconera made its debut at the Gran...
, in whose classes he met Salvador Bacarisse
Salvador Bacarisse
Salvador Bacarisse Chinoria was a Spanish composer.Bacarisse was born in Madrid and studied music at the Real Conservatorio de Música there, as a student of Manuel Fernández Alberdi and Conrado del Campo...
and Julian Bautista
Julián Bautista
Julián Bautista was a Spanish composer and conductor. He was a member of Generation of '27 and the Group of Eight, the latter of which also included composers Jesús Bal y Gay, Ernesto Halffter and his brother Rodolfo, Juan José Mantecón, Fernando Remacha, Rosa García Ascot, Salvador Bacarisse and...
, the people who formed the initial core of the Grupo de Madrid together with Remacha.
During his period as a student in Madrid, Remacha also played in the Orquesta de Revista y Zarzuela, which performed at the Teatro Apolo and provided him with a wage of twelve pesetas a day.
His first works, some of which already revealed a great talent, date from those times: the ballet "La Maja Vestida" ("The Clothed Maja") (1919), the symphonic poem "Alba" ("Dawn") (1922) and "Tres Piezas para Piano" ("Three Pieces for Piano") (1923). 1923 was also the year in which Remacha finished his composition studies under Conrado del Campo, and entered and won the Premio de Roma (Rome Prize) with a cantata
Cantata
A cantata is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir....
and a motet
Motet
In classical music, motet is a word that is applied to a number of highly varied choral musical compositions.-Etymology:The name comes either from the Latin movere, or a Latinized version of Old French mot, "word" or "verbal utterance." The Medieval Latin for "motet" is motectum, and the Italian...
for choir and orchestra, and an instrumental fugue. The grant obtained in the prize contest allowed him to travel to Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, where he studied under Malipiero, deepening his knowledge of Monteverdi
Claudio Monteverdi
Claudio Giovanni Antonio Monteverdi – 29 November 1643) was an Italian composer, gambist, and singer.Monteverdi's work, often regarded as revolutionary, marked the transition from the Renaissance style of music to that of the Baroque period. He developed two individual styles of composition – the...
and Vivaldi
Antonio Vivaldi
Antonio Lucio Vivaldi , nicknamed because of his red hair, was an Italian Baroque composer, priest, and virtuoso violinist, born in Venice. Vivaldi is recognized as one of the greatest Baroque composers, and his influence during his lifetime was widespread over Europe...
. In this way he gained a thorough acquaintance with the resources of the old masters, resources which he later put to use in his works through a modern idiom.
The Premio de Roma awarded to Remacha by the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando meant four years of studies with lodging at the Accademia di San Pietro in Montorio, at that time under the direction of the painter Eduardo Chicharro. The financial situation of the Accademia at the time of Remacha's arrival in September 1923 was precarious, but the grant was maintained. At the Accademia di Roma, Remacha lived with other grant winners who were among the artistic and intellectual promises of the Spain of those years. These people included Fernando Garcia Mercadal, an architect who, years later, was to construct the present-day building of the Pablo Sarasate Conservatory of Pamplona
Pamplona
Pamplona is the historial capital city of Navarre, in Spain, and of the former kingdom of Navarre.The city is famous worldwide for the San Fermín festival, from July 6 to 14, in which the running of the bulls is one of the main attractions...
, the painter Pablo Pascual, and the draughtsman Emilio Moya.
From the musical standpoint, the grant required that the winners prepare a set of annual works that were evaluated by a jury in Madrid. From this period date such pieces as the motet for choir and orchestra "Quam Pulchri Sunt" (1925), the "Sinfonia a tres Tiempos" ("Symphony in Three Tempos") (1925) or the "Homenaje a Gongora" ("Homage to Gongora") (1927), the latter a work in which Remacha showed his identification with the ideas of the Generation of '27.
Remacha completed his Roman period in 1927. In 1928 he took part in the competition for a position as violist in the Symphonic Orchestra of Arbos, winning first place. He supplemented his work as a musician in the small orchestra of Union Radio, in which he played the viola
Viola
The viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.- Form :The viola is similar in material and construction to the violin. A full-size viola's body is between and longer than the body of a full-size violin , with an average...
together with his former teacher and friend Conrado del Campo.
Bacarisse placed him in contact with Ricardo Urgoiti, who in 1929 had founded the firm Filmofono, a cinema production company that achieved enormous success with films of a commercial bent. Remacha's work at Filmofono evolved from the mere synchronisation of records (in the silent-film period) to tasks as the genuine manager and technical expert in musical affairs. He also composed incidental music for four Spanish films produced by Filmofono in the talking-film period: Don Quintin el amargao (Mr Quentin the Sourpuss) (1935). La hija de Juan Simon (Juan Simon's Daughter) (1935), ¿Quien me quiere a mi? (Who Loves Me?) (1936) and Centinela alerta (Sentinel Alert) (1936). This was precisely the work that brought him into contact with Luis Buñuel
Luis Buñuel
Luis Buñuel Portolés was a Spanish-born filmmaker — later a naturalized citizen of Mexico — who worked in Spain, Mexico, France and the US..-Early years:...
, who acted as producer and in some cases, as in Centinela alerta, as director. Remacha's cinema activity was also linked to the firm Cinematiraje Riera, engaged in copying films, which called on Remacha's services and knowledge in 1932.
In a record shop of Urgoiti's company in Avenida Pi y Margall of Madrid Remacha met Rafaela Gonzalez, whom he married on 7 October 1932.
1930 was an important year in Remacha's career as a composer since it marked the presentation of the Grupo de Madrid, formed with Salvador Bacarisse, Julian Bautista, Gustavo Pittaluga, Juan José Mantecón
Juan José Mantecón
Juan José Mantecón was a Spanish composer. He was a member of Generation of '27 and the Group of Eight, the latter of which also included composers Jesús Bal y Gay, Ernesto Halffter and his brother Rodolfo, Julián Bautista, Fernando Remacha, Rosa García Ascot, Salvador Bacarisse and Gustavo...
, Rosa García Ascot
Rosa García Ascot
Rosa García Ascot was a Spanish composer and pianist. She was the only woman in the famed Group of Eight, whose members also included Julián Bautista, Ernesto Halffter and his brother Rodolfo, Juan José Mantecón, Fernando Remacha, Salvador Bacarisse and Jesús Bal y Gay. She married Bal y Gay in 1933...
, and the brothers Rodolfo
Rodolfo Halffter
Rodolfo Halffter Escriche was a Spanish composer.-Life:Born in Madrid, Spain into a family of musicians, he was the brother of Ernesto Halffter and uncle of Cristóbal Halffter, also composers. His father Ernesto Halffter Hein came from Königsberg, Germany...
and Ernesto Halffter
Ernesto Halffter
Ernesto Halffter Escriche was a Spanish composer and conductor. He was the brother of Rodolfo Halffter....
. The works of these composers began to be appreciated in the period marked by the advent of the Spanish Republic
Spanish Republic
There have been two Spanish Republics:* First Spanish Republic * Second Spanish Republic Spain is not currently a republic, but a constitutional monarchy...
. Remacha received his first Premio Nacional de Música
Premio Nacional de Música
The Premio Nacional de Música forms part of the annual National Awards in Spain....
(National Music Prize) in 1933 for his "Quartet for Violin, Viola, Cello and Piano". In 1938, in the midst of the Spanish Civil War
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
, he received his second Premio Nacional de Música for the "String Quartet", composed in 1924 as a required piece under his Italian grant. The end of the Civil War found Remacha and his wife in Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
, and from there they took refuge across the French border. Separated from his family, Remacha did not feel up to remaining in the refugee camps that had been hastily set up by the French government, and in the security of his not having held a political office and not having been in the army, he decided to depart for Tudela.
Later years
Those years in Tudela marked Remacha's future personality. Little is known of his character before the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War and very few testimonies are available. However, there are the impressions of several people who knew Remacha after the War, either during the years he lived in Tudela or once he had settled in PamplonaPamplona
Pamplona is the historial capital city of Navarre, in Spain, and of the former kingdom of Navarre.The city is famous worldwide for the San Fermín festival, from July 6 to 14, in which the running of the bulls is one of the main attractions...
. All theses people concur in that Fernando Remacha was a very modest, unassuming person. In Tudela Remacha took charge of the family hardware shop. From a strictly intellectual standpoint the course of Remacha's life was one of the bitterest of those of all the musicians of the Grupo de Madrid. Accordingly it may be said that his was one of the most arduous exiles following the War. Condemned to a brutal cultural silence, Remacha had to begin again from zero, that is, he had to start all over again, assimilating his circumstances as best he could.
With "Cartel de Fiestas" ("Festival Poster") (1947), a work that won a contest for topical and regionalist themes, he introduced himself in Pamplona, capital of Navarre. In 1951 the Pamplona City Council commissioned him to compose "Visperas de San Fermin" ("On the Eve of San Fermin") and, with the opening performance of this work in Madrid in 1952, Remacha succeeded in being noticed again by the Spanish music critics. From that moment on his production was musically variable, with the composition of such dissimilar works as "Concerto for Guitar and Orchestra" (1956) or "Rapsodia de Estella" ("Rhapsody of Estella") (1958).
In 1957 Remacha moved to Pamplona
Pamplona
Pamplona is the historial capital city of Navarre, in Spain, and of the former kingdom of Navarre.The city is famous worldwide for the San Fermín festival, from July 6 to 14, in which the running of the bulls is one of the main attractions...
to start up the Pablo Sarasate Conservatory. In 1963 the present-day building of that institution was erected and, under Remacha's direction, it became a point of reference in the Spanish music world. Also in 1963 he composed the cantata "Jesucristo en la Cruz" ("Christ on the Cross"), which earned him the Tormo de Oro Prize of the Cuenca Religious Week, pleasantly surprising the music critics with the concept of this work. Remacha had been suffering from a devastating illness, Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease is a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system...
, since the sixties. When he retired in 1975 he was already quick sick. In 1980 he received the Premio Nacional de Música for the third time, and in 1981 the Pablo Iglesias Prize. For its part, the Institucion Principe de Viana organised the Remacha Memorial, holding three concerts to promote acquaintance with some of the composer's works. Indeed, in the last years of Remacha's life it appeared that the musical circles wished to compensate him for the silence in which he had been enveloped in the post-war period.
In the last period of his life he was always open to the musical avant-garde
Avant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
, even though he did not generally share its criteria. This attitude aroused the admiration and respect of the most representative Spanish avant-garde composers of the times, a position that Remacha did not find comfortable because of his characteristic modesty and scant selfesteem.
Fernando Remacha died on 21 February 1984. The 21st and 22 February were declared official days of mourning in Tudela, where a solemn funeral was held for the composer prior to his burial there.
Music
Thus, the life of Fernando Remacha is the story of a composer conditioned by circumstances that limited his musical career. The Spanish Civil War cut off his musical evolution and his presence in the musical life of Spain. Following the war Remacha suffered an "interior exile" which, together with Spain's isolation, produced a step backwards in the aesthetics of some of his works. Remacha's activity from 1957 as the director of the Pablo Sarasate Conservatory halted his work as a composer since he devoted himself almost entirely to teaching. Additionally, the advance of his Parkinson's disease caused him to compose very little music in the seventies.Within this context, Remacha's return to music took place through teaching and the composition of music
Musical composition
Musical composition can refer to an original piece of music, the structure of a musical piece, or the process of creating a new piece of music. People who practice composition are called composers.- Musical compositions :...
for piano and for the Navarrese choirs with which he came into contact. In this way musical genres that Remacha had hardly dealt with prior to the war came to acquire considerable importance, since these were the works that could have the most immediate impact. Some of his piano works were based on a Bachian conception of music. This was the case with the "Prelude and Fugue in D minor" (1945), dedicated to Ricardo Urgoiti. Certain anecdotal circumstances explain the idiom used in some of Remacha's works. For example the "Piano Sonatina" (1945) is a more peaceful work because it was intended to be performed by Urgoiti's daughter. At the same time, as a result of the contests in which Remacha took part and the commissions that were made to him, a regionalist component arose in his work which added nothing new to his compositions. Despite this, it should be noted that in all his compositions Remacha tried to assimilate this regionalism with his own traits. This may be observed in such works as "Cartel de Fiestas" ("Festival Poster") (1946) or "Rapsodia de Estella" ("Rhapsody of Estella") (1958), which are by no means among the best pieces composed by Remacha. Aside from this Remacha composed a large quantity of choral music which may be divided between original compositions and harmonisations or adaptations.
In the works that were composed without conditioning of any type, Remacha maintained links with the pre-war period, developing at the same time a very particular expressionistic vision. Among the imbalances and ellipses that exist in his work, we find a common denominator that is none other than musical expressiveness. In short, his music presents an evident emotional charge, but always with a personal style that arises from the composer's deep reflection and not from emotional spontaneity. His music does not reflect the personality of a highly imaginative composer but, paradoxically enough, it does show an original personal style in the way of dealing with the elements or the lines inspired by other composer. The circumstances and the haste that marked his composition is reflected in his short catalogue of pieces, to which Remacha himself referred on receiving his Third National Music Prize in 1980: "For reasons beyond my control, I am a musician without music. For years I could hardly compose anything at all and later, on devoting myself to the Conservatory, I found myself in the same situation". The carelessness and abandon he showed for his scores and the scant importance he attributed to them was also reflected in disillusionment that Remacha felt for composition in the last years of his life.