Berlin 23-04-2010
Antonio Soler www.foto-face.com
Antonio Francisco Javier José Soler Ramos, usually known as Padre Antonio Soler, (3 December 1729 (baptized) – 20 December 1783) was a Spanish composer whose works span the late Baroque and early Classical music eras. He is best known for his keyboard sonatas, an important contribution to the harpsichord, fortepiano and organ repertoire.
Soler was born in Olot in the Catalan province of Girona. In 1736, when he was six, he entered the Escolania of the great Monastery of Montserrat where he studied with the resident maestro Benito Esteve and organist Benito Valls. In 1744 he was appointed organist at the Cathedral of La Seu d’Urgell and appointed as a subdeacon at the same time. Later in life, he held posts as chapel master in Lleida and El Escorial.
Soler took Holy Orders at the age of 23 and his routine with the Hieronymite order near El Escorial, Madrid was a simple one for the next 31 years. His 20 hour days were filled with prayer, contemplation and farming – a simple and unadorned life. Yet, in these austere surroundings, Soler managed to produce more than 500 musical works. Amongst these were around 150 keyboard sonatas, many believed to have been written as sheet music for his pupil, the Infante Don Gabriel, a son of King Carlos III. Other pieces include Christmas villancicos[1] and Latin church music including masses. No portraits of Soler are known to exist.
Padre Soler’s most celebrated works are his keyboard sonatas, which are comparable to those composed by Domenico Scarlatti (with whom he may have studied). However, Soler’s works are more varied in form than those of Scarlatti, with some pieces in three or four movements; Scarlatti’s pieces are in one or two movements. Fortunately, Soler’s sonatas were catalogued in the early twentieth century by Fr. Samuel Rubio and so all have ‘R’ numbers assigned.
Soler also composed concertos, quintets for organ and strings, motets,[2] masses and pieces for solo organ. He also wrote a treatise, Llave de la modulación (“The Key to Modulation”, 1762).
Soler’s “Six Concertos for Two Organs” are still very much in the repertoire and have been often recorded. A fandango once attributed to Soler, and probably more often performed than any other work of his, is now thought by some to be of doubtful authorship.
[Biography based on information from WIKIPEDIA]
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As a continuation of our’ OTA-Berlin Constituency Blog Mini-Composer-Biography Series’ we present the tenth of the Spanish Composers for the new OTA-Berlin serviced apartments building opening in beginning of May 2010 at Metzer Strasse 8 in Berlin Mitte
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