Enrique Morera

Who was Enrique Morera?

Enric Morera i Viura, was a Spanish musician and composer from Catalonia .

Morera was born in Barcelona but moved with his father, a musician, to Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1867, studying organ, trumpet, and violin there. He returned in 1883 to Barcelona, studying with Isaac Albéniz and Felip Pedrell. Later he lived for two years in Brussels before returning to Argentina. He finally returned to Barcelona in 1890 where he was prominent in the movement Catalan Musical Modernism, with for example the opera La Fada in 1897. He founded the choir "Catalunya Nova". He wrote books on musical theory such as a "Practical Treatise on Harmony".

Among his students were Vicente Asencio, Manuel Infante, Xavier Montsalvatge and Carlos Surinach.

His music is generally strongly nationalist in character, and much forms part of the repertory of Catalan national compositions. He wrote more than 800 compositions. Included are songs, a Requiem Mass, lyric works, symphonic works, operas, symphonic poems, and sardanas for cobla.

Although he spent some time in Argentina and Belgium, Morera spent most of his life in Barcelona, and died there in 1942.

The personal papers of Enric Morera are preserved in the Biblioteca de Catalunya.