The Discreet Charm of Federico Mompou

Federico Mompou, 1893-1987, was a classical Spanish composer who concentrated primarily on the keyboard, producing a series of miniatures over a half-century's span, from the beginning of the Modernist Period right up through the post-Modernist period and beyond. From the first, his stylistic tendency was towards abbreviation, simplicity, and nativist Catalan thematic material presented with great flair and delicacy.

 

Because his works were almost always simple in design and execution, they've been keyboard favorites for decades, notably for talented amateurs. But their accessibility was never about accommodation. Rather, they capture the distilled essence of feeling, in shorthand: There is never any ostentation for its own sake, but a paring away of all extraneous decoration and elaboration. Perhaps it's not at all surprising, then, that he composed very little for multiple instruments, preferring to concentrate instead on perfecting his own generic gift. 

Those who know the work of Satie and Debussy will doubtless see influences in Mompou's work. On the one hand, though, Satie was often a trickster and clown, whereas Mompou is almost always seriously joyful, or gravely forlorn. On the other hand, Debussy's shimmering, layered, impressionistic effects are utilized, in Mompou, not to create an exotic, vague wash of sensation, but to score specific imitations of repeated figures, such as bells tolling. These tendencies, however, are expressed directly.  

After spending two decades in Paris entre les deux guerres, Mompou returned to his native Barcelona, preferring to live there, away from the limelight, to concentrate on his regional inspiration, where he lived to a great age. Despite the often cheerful and inebriated quality of many of his most popular pieces, there is throughout his oeuvre a somber, pious mood darkened by a mournful longing, the "deep song" of Andalusian lyricism. An air of resignation overcomes an effusive, light-spirited wit.

The simplest way to describe music is simply to listen to it. For those online, samples of his keyboard recordings are just a few short clicks away. Amazon.com sellers all furnish excerpted samples via iTunes or similar software. There's hardly an opus in his list that I don't find wonderful, but the Musica Callada ("Silent Music") is noticeably different from most of the rest of his pieces, being a foray, somewhat uncharacteristically, into polytonality--even atonality--  nevertheless, they are commonly regarded as the most important music of his later career.

Anyone wishing to find anger, or revolutionary declamation, need not apply to this music for that. Its predominant modes are joy, nostalgia, meditative irony, and mourning--you may find all these within the space of a work lasting no more than 3-6 minutes. That range within concision is probably what makes his work most Modernistic, though its deeper qualities are really timeless, going back to Medieval peasant song, church chant, etc.