Composed c.1893-4; 11 minutes

Valses poéticos, a suite of seven waltzes, with an introduction and extended coda, was probably made ready for publication in the early 1890s. They appeared in the influential music journal Ilustración musical hispano-americana in 1894 and were reprinted by a Valencia music publisher shortly afterwards. As a virtuoso pianist with an international reputation, Granados kept the work in his concert repertoire throughout his career. Granados was among the earliest pianist-composers to make audio recordings. These were on a series of piano roll recordings, including two complete recordings of the Valses poéticos, for both the Hupfeld and Welte-Mignon companies. (The fascinating 1913 Welte-Mignon recording that Granados made in Paris is vividly reproduced on a Pierian Recording Society CD, which can be conveniently heard on YouTube). Granados gave the première of the Valses poéticos in the Salón Romero in Madrid, February 15, 1895.

As a composer, Granados was largely self-taught, though he did have some training from the Spanish musicologist Felipe Pedrell and spent two years (1887-9) sitting in on classes (as an ‘auditeur’) at the Paris Conservatoire. As a result, although his Catalan and Hispanic roots ran deep, his approach to the rising nationalism in Spanish music could be somewhat detached. When the Catalan composer was accused of writing Andalusian Dances, he wrote: “I consider myself as much a Catalan as anyone, but in my music I want to express what I feel . . . be it Andalusian or Chinese.” Spanish and, to a lesser extent, Catalan elements are present in his music. In many of his character pieces for piano, the influence of Schumann or Chopin is more noticeable. The Valses poeticos can be viewed as a tribute to not only the 19th century waltz as an art form, but also specifically to Schubert and his collections of waltzes for both domestic and concert use. Throughout the cycle, we can hear echoes of Schubert’s 34 Valses sentimentales, Op. 50 (D. 779) and the 12 Valses nobles, Op. 77 (D. 969) rather than the then-prevailing Viennese waltzes of Johann Strauss and company. Indeed, Granados specifically titles the delicately drawn Waltz No. 2 ‘Noble’ and the quietly wistful No. 6 ‘Sentimental.’ Curiously, the bright, optimistic Introducción and the glittering Coda are both written in duple time, rather than the prevailing triple of the waltzes. Granados gave his final performance of the Valses poeticos immediately before his tragic death at sea in one of his recitals in New York in January 1916.