Chabrier, España
The music of French composer Emmanuel Chabrier (1841-1894) was a strong influence on composers Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel, and Francis Poulenc, and is considered by some to be a major factor in the early modern music. Gustav Mahler referred to España, today’s performance pick, as “the beginnings of modern music.”
España, composed in 1883, is a popular showpiece and the work that Chabrier is best known for, along with his Joyeuse march. España was immediately highly popular throughout most of Europe—except in Spain.
Chabrier was not academically trained in composition. Instead, he studied law and worked for many years as a civil servant. But he studied piano seriously as was known as an exceptional pianist. Aline Charigot, the wife of painter Renoir, recounted:
One day Chabrier came; and he played his España for me. It sounded as if a hurricane had been let loose. He pounded and pounded the keyboard. [The street] was full of people, and they were listening, fascinated. When Chabrier reached the last crashing chords, I swore to myself I would never touch the piano again […] Besides, Chabrier had broken several strings and put the piano out of action.”
We have noted in the past how French composers were drawn to the sounds of Spanish music—Bizet, Ravel, and in a more recent post Lalo. Like those other composers, Chabrier blends French Romanticism with the exoticism of Spanish forms.
Perhaps the defining feature of España is its emphasis on the 2 against 3 rhythm. The work is written almost entirely in 3/8 meter, except for a brief transition around the 3:27 mark. Looking at rhythm alone, you find a prevalent syncopation along the lines of this illustration where the top staff has a regular pattern of 2 beats contrasting with the triple meter of the lower staff:
You may recognize some of the famous melodic lines as well.