Pablo de Sarasate

Lore & Background

After seeing his father struggle with a passage, he picked up the violin and played it perfectly. He began studying with his father at age five and gave his first public concert at age eight in La Coruña. A wealthy patron funded his studies in Madrid, where he gained the favor of Queen Isabella II. At age twelve, his parents sent him to study under Jean-Delphin Alard at the Paris Conservatoire. En route, his mother died of a heart attack at the Spanish-French border, and Sarasate was found to be suffering from cholera. The Spanish Consul in Bayonne nursed him back to health and financed his trip to Paris. At seventeen, he won the Premier Prix, the Conservatoire's highest honor. Sarasate made his Paris debut as a concert violinist in 1860 and played in London the following year. He toured extensively in Europe, North America, and South America. His artistic pre-eminence was due to the purity of his tone and his impressive facility of execution. In his early career, he performed mainly opera fantasies, including his own Carmen Fantasy. His Spanish-flavored compositions influenced contemporaries such as Édouard Lalo, Georges Bizet, and Camille Saint-Saëns, who dedicated works to him. He returned to Pamplona each year for the San Fermín festival. The Pablo Sarasate International Violin Competition is held in Pamplona.

Reader's Guide

Pablo de Sarasate was a central figure in the Romantic violin tradition, renowned both as a performer and as a composer of idiomatic violin music. His compositions, such as Zigeunerweisen and the Carmen Fantasy, are showpieces that demonstrate his exemplary technique and remain widely performed. His influence extended to other composers: Édouard Lalo's Symphonie espagnole, Camille Saint-Saëns' Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso, and Max Bruch's Scottish Fantasy were all dedicated to him. Sarasate's legacy is preserved through the Pablo Sarasate International Violin Competition in Pamplona and the continued use of his Stradivarius violins. The playwright George Bernard Shaw praised him for leaving 'criticism gasping miles behind him,' underscoring his impact on audiences and critics alike. Sarasate's Spanish Dances and other works helped popularize Spanish musical idioms in the broader European classical repertoire.

Did You Know?

• His mother died of a heart attack at the Spanish-French border while accompanying him to Paris, and Sarasate himself was suffering from cholera at the time.
• George Bernard Shaw said of Sarasate that he 'left criticism gasping miles behind him.'