Joan
La Bisbal d'Empordà , 1900
Composer and Teacher
He studied in the music chapel of Girona's Cathedral with Antoni Vidal and Josep Barba. In 1850 he founded a musical school in Girona. Between 1851 and 1860 he was Kapellmeister of Girona's Cathedra before he moved to Barcelona in 1860. There, he was appointed director of the Escola de Cecs and was a member of the Gran Teatre del Liceu Orchestra. Although he moved to France in 1876 he returned to Catalonia in 1880 and was appointed Kapellmeister and organist of the basilica of La Bisbal d'Empordà. In La Bisbal, he not only founded a school where relevant figures of the sardana world would study, but he also contributed to the foundation of La Principal de la Bisbal cobla. He was a bibliophile and among his collections of historical books and musical instruments, he held an anonymous manuscript with the five shortest sardanes ever known. He composed over two thousand works including religious music, sardanes, choir music, zarzuela and opera.