Cristóbal Halffter

Early years

Halffter was born in Madrid, but in 1936 the family moved to Velbert, Germany, to escape the Spanish Civil War. They returned to Madrid in 1939, and Halftter studied with Conrado del Campo at the Madrid Royal Conservatory, graduating in 1951 (Alonso 2001). He continued his studies outside of his university education with Alexandre Tansman and André Jolivet.

Career

In 1955, Halffter was appointed conductor of the Falla orchestra. He forged a successful career as composer and conductor, writing music which combined a traditional Spanish element with avant-garde techniques. His neoclassical Piano Concerto (1953) won the National Music Prize in 1954 (Alonso 2001). In 1961 he became Professor of Composition at the Royal Conservatory of Madrid, where he became Director in 1964 but remained only until 1966 (Kennedy 2006). Among his notable pupils are Jean-Luc Darbellay (Anon. n.d.(b)), David Philip Hefti (Anon. n.d.(c)), and Javier Jacinto (Jacinto 2008).

During the 1960s and 1970s, Halffter composed a number of works relating to human rights, including the 1968 choral work Yes, speak out, yes (Cummings n.d.). He was awarded Spain's highest award for composition, the Premio Nacional de Música, in 1989 (Alonso 2001). Also he has received the 2009 BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Contemporary Music (Anon. 2009).

Halffter's works include the opera Don Quijote (2000) (Robés, Halffter, Amorós, and Cervantes 2004). His second opera, Lazarus, was premiered in 2008 at the Kiel Opera House to celebrate its centenary (Reininghaus 2008). A third opera, Schachnovelle, with a libretto by Wolfgang Haendeler after the eponymous novel by Stefan Zweig, was scheduled to premiere at the same house in May 2013 (Anon. n.d.).

Cristóbal Halffter is regarded as the most important Spanish composer of the generation of composers designated the Generación del 51 (Alonso 2001; Perez Castillo 2001).

Selected works