Alicia de Larrocha

Alicia was a famous piano player from Spain.

She started learning music when she was three.

She was very small. Her hands were small too. But she could still play big songs.

Alicia played music all over the world. She even went on tours to Africa. People loved her music very much.

She won many big prizes for her skill. She also wrote her own music.

She played the piano for seventy-six years. It was a very long and happy career.

Alicia de Larrocha was a famous piano player from Spain.

She was born in Barcelona. Music was in her family. Both of her parents were pianists.

Alicia started piano lessons when she was only three. She gave her first public show at age five. By age eleven, she played with an orchestra. She was a very small woman. She had small hands, too. Even so, she could play very difficult music. She had a long fifth finger. This helped her play big songs.

She loved the music of her home, Spain. She made many recordings of Spanish songs. She helped more people learn about composers like Isaac Albéniz. Alicia traveled the world to play. She went on four big tours to Southern Africa. People there loved her music very much.

She won four Grammy Awards for her skill. She also won the UNESCO Prize. Alicia wrote her own music starting at age seven. She played the piano for seventy-six years. A crater on the planet Mercury is named for her.

Alicia de Larrocha was a legendary Spanish pianist and composer.

Many people called her the greatest Spanish pianist in history. She was known for her incredible skill on the piano. Her music brought great joy to people all over the world. She helped make the music of Spanish composers very popular. People loved her because she played with such deep feeling. She was truly one of the most outstanding pianists of the 20th century.

Playing the piano requires great strength and very precise movement. Alicia had small hands and was less than five feet tall. This might seem like a hard job for a pianist. However, she had a long fifth finger on her hand. She also had a wide stretch between her thumb and index finger. These features helped her play very big and difficult songs. She could play music that required wide spans across the keyboard. Even as a child, her feet could not reach the pedals.

Music was a part of Alicia's life from the very start. She was born in Barcelona, Spain, in May of 1923. Both of her parents were pianists, and her niece was also a pianist. She began her piano studies with Frank Marshall at age three. Alicia gave her first public performance when she was only five. At age six, she performed at the World's Fair in Seville. By the age of eleven, she made her debut with an orchestra. She even began writing her own music when she was seven.

Alicia traveled to many different places to share her music. In 1954, she toured North America with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. She also went on four very popular tours to Southern Africa. Her performances in Spain were so good they often sold out. She won four Grammy Awards for her wonderful recordings. In 1995, she became the first Spanish artist to win the UNESCO Prize. She also received the Prince of Asturias Award for the Arts in 1994.

Her life's work connects many different styles of music together. She loved the music of her home country, Spain. She recorded works by composers like Isaac Albéniz and Enrique Granados. She felt Granados captured an elegant and poetic style. She thought Manuel de Falla captured the spirit of Gypsy music. Later in her career, she played more music by Mozart and Beethoven. Alicia retired from performing in 2003 after a 76-year career. Today, her name lives on even on the planet Mercury. A crater there is named in her honor.

Alicia de Larrocha was a legendary Spanish pianist and composer. She is considered one of the greatest piano legends of the 20th century. Many major publications praised her immense talent. Reuters called her the greatest Spanish pianist in history. Time magazine described her as one of the world's most outstanding pianists. She was a master of the piano who brought great popularity to Spanish compositions.

Playing the piano at a professional level requires immense technical skill. De Larrocha faced unique physical challenges due to her small stature. She was less than five feet tall. She also had small hands that could span an interval of barely a tenth on the keyboard. Despite this, she tackled massive concertos by composers like Beethoven and Rachmaninoff. She possessed a long fifth finger and a wide stretch between her thumb and index finger. These specific traits helped her manage the wide spans required by complex music. Even at age nine, she recorded Chopin while her feet could not yet reach the pedals.

Music was deeply embedded in her family history from her birth in Barcelona, Spain. Both of her parents were pianists. She also had a niece who was a pianist. De Larrocha began her formal studies at age three with Frank Marshall. She eventually served as the Director of the Marshall Academy. Her early career progressed with incredible speed. She gave her first public performance at age five in Barcelona. She performed her first concert at age six in Seville. By age eleven, she made her orchestral debut.

De Larrocha's career was marked by successful international tours and recordings. In 1943, her performances in Spain were already selling out. She began touring internationally in 1947. In 1954, she toured North America with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Her 1966 tour of Southern Africa was so popular that she completed three more tours there. She also performed for the Peabody Mason Concert series in Boston in 1969. Her recordings were released by many major labels, including Hispavox, CBS/Columbia/Epic, BMG/RCA, and London/Decca.

As a performer, she had specific views on the Spanish composers she championed. She believed Enrique Granados was a great composer with an aristocratic and poetic style. She felt Granados was the only one who captured a true Romantic flavor. She noted that Manuel de Falla captured the spirit of Gypsy music. Regarding Isaac Albéniz, she felt his style was more international and Impressionistic. These different styles represented different musical worlds to her. She used her skill to help listeners understand these distinct nuances.

Her professional achievements earned her numerous prestigious honors. She won four Grammy Awards out of fourteen total nominations. Her first Grammy arrived in 1975, and her last came in 1992 at age nearly seventy. In 1994, she received the Prince of Asturias Award for the Arts. She became the first Spanish artist to win the UNESCO Prize in 1995. She also received honorary degrees from several universities, including Carnegie Mellon and Middlebury College. Her legacy is so significant that a crater on the planet Mercury bears her name.

De Larrocha also engaged in the art of composition. She started writing music at age seven. She continued to compose on and off until her 30th year. She had a particularly prolific period during her late teens. Although she never performed her original works in public, she left them to her family. They have made her compositions available after her death. This allows her creative voice to be heard in a new way.

Her long career spanned 76 years of musical service. She retired from public performance in October 2003 at the age of 80. De Larrocha passed away on September 25, 2009, in Barcelona. She was 86 years old. Her health had been declining since she broke her hip five years earlier. She left behind a massive discography and a profound impact on classical music. Her life connects the traditions of Spanish music to the global stage.