Antoni

Antoni Massana Bertran
Barcelona , 2 February 1890
Raïmat , 9 September 1966
Composer and Performer

Biography

Organist and composer

He studied solfège with Mas Serracant, piano with Granados and Marshall, harmony with Pedrell, composition with Taltabull and counterpoint with Morera. He graduated at the Pontificio Istituto di Musica Sacra in Rome, where he studied with Casimiri and Dagnino. He later studied in Munich with Max Reger and at Solesmes Abbey. In addition to music, he also studied theology: he was ordained a priest (1922) and entered the Society of Jesus. Since then and until 1936 he was Kappelmeister, organist and teacher in Barcelona and obtained the Patxot Prize for the oratorio Montserrat (1933). During the Civil War he moved to Rome and returned to Barcelona. Between 1949 and 1963 he visited South America. In 1953 he won the National Music Prize for Canigó. He is considered a neo-Romantic composer that avoided contemporary trends and was influenced by R. Wagner, R. Strauss and C. Debussy. He composed religious music, songs and operas, such as Canigó (1934, with text by Josep Carner) premiered at Liceu in 1953.



Works
Documentation Centres