RIP Luis de Pablo

 

The Basque composer Luis de Pablo, one of the main exponents of the Generation of ’51 (New Music), died October 10, 2021 in Madrid at the age of 91. Born in Bilbao on January 28, 1930, he started in music when he was just eight years old in Fuenterrabía (Guipúzcoa). His training, essentially self-taught, was completed in Madrid, and guided by Maurice Ohana, Max Deutsch and others. He graduated in Law, also in Madrid, in 1952. His first compositions, influenced by Falla, Debussy, Bartók and Mompou, date from the 50s, and the subsequent study of the compositional technique of Olivier Messiaen, as well as the meditation of ‘Doctor Faust’, by Thomas Mann, transferred him to his first avant-garde works, such as’ Gargoyles’ (1953), ‘ Eucharistic Choir ‘(1954),’ Symphonies’ (1954-66), ‘Inventions’ (1955),’ Concerto for harpsichord ‘(1956) or’ Sonata for piano ‘(1958), among others. He was the author of the music for some 26 films including one Euro-western, 1973’s “Yankee Dudler”.