Sarasate - Jota Navarra

Manuel Quiroga Losada, violinist, composer, painter, was born on April 15, 1892, on Calle del Comercio nº 15, today named Calle Manuel Quiroga, in the Galician city of Pontevedra. He started his violin studies at the age of six with the local amateur violinist Juan Sayago, but soon after changed to a more qualified teacher, Benito Medal. In 1900, Quiroga gave his first public concert. At age twelve, in June 1904, Quiroga received a grant from the Diputación Provincial de Pontevedra to study at the Royal Conservatory in Madrid with the leading Spanish violinist of the time, José del Hierro, an exponent of the Franco-Belgian school. At the Paris conservatoire he studied under Edouard Nadaud for two consecutive years, and also received lessons from Jacques Thibaud in 1911 and he won the first prize of the Paris conservatoire performing in front of a jury composed of such notables as Gabriel Fauré, Jacques Thibaud, Fritz Kreisler, Jules Boucherit, Lucien Capet, and Martin Marsick. Quiroga was the first Spaniard to win the prize since Sarasate. Quiroga married Marthe Lehman, who would remain his piano accompanist throughout most of his career. Quiroga made four trips to America during the war years, achieving great popularity. He was billed as "The new wizard of the violin" and appeared on the vaudeville circuit. Quiroga traveled from New York to San Francisco and in Canada (Toronto and Montreal). In 1917, Quiroga refused the offer of a new American tour. He was afraid of the dangers of the trip since his friend Granados had recently perished when his ship was struck by a torpedo. He went back to Paris and continued his career in Europe. With the growth of his fame Manuel Quiroga found himself the dedicatee of many works by colleagues and friends. In 1920 Edouard Nadaud dedicated to him the fifth if his Six Etudes de Concert. Marcel Samuel Rousseau wrote for him Les Promis. In 1922 he also premiered the Sonata for Violin and Piano by Paul Paray with the composer as pianist. One of the few pieces dedicated to him that Quiroga never performed in public was Ysaÿe's Sixth Sonata for Unaccompanied Violin. The next fifteen years (1924-1938) were the peak of his career. From this period comes one of his best paintings, the 1930 oil self-portrait. During the winter months of 1924 Quiroga visited North America, giving several concerts in Carnegie Hall, and in 1925 appeared as soloist with the London Symphony under Sir Thomas Beecham. At the same time original works by Quiroga were being published by Editions Maillochon (Paris): "Habanera" and "Scherzo-Jota Nº 1" in 1924, "1ª Guajira," "2ª Guajira," "Playera y Zapateado," "Terra à nosa," "Emigrantes Celtas," and "Alborada" in 1925, and the Primer Concierto en el Estilo Antiguo in 1926. In June 1925 Manuel Quiroga was admitted into the Societé des Auteurs, Compositeurs et editeurs de Musique de Paris. Quiroga returned to the US early in 1928 and made his first electric recordings for Victor in Camden, New Jersey: four of his original compositions and arrangements with his wife at the piano, on two ten-inch discs. Soon after, Quiroga's last recordings were also made, this time for Pathé in Paris. Pieces by Sarasate, Falla, Albéniz, and Kreisler were included in this his third sequence of recordings. In 1937, at 45, Quiroga's career as a violinist prematurely ended. On June 8th 1937 a vehicle knocked him down in Time Square and left him handicapped for a time. Quiroga apparently recovered, but a short time after started to lose the feeling and movement in his left hand. Unable to play the violin, Quiroga found refuge in painting and composing. He died in his birthplace on April 19, 1961.

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