Enrique Granados was a Spanish composer and virtuoso pianist. Granados is celebrated for capturing the soul of Spanish romanticism, making it his signature style when French and German influences were widely imitated. His music pulsed with national color and poetic melancholy, establishing him as one of Spain’s most expressive musical voices. Born in Lleida to a military family, he showed early talent and moved to Barcelona, studying piano and composition before refining his artistry in Paris under the guidance of Bériot. It was here that he shaped the emotional depth and intricate lyricism that would define his sound.

Granados gained fame with his piano suite Goyescas, inspired by the paintings of Francisco Goya—an homage that would later become an opera premiered at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. During this time, he earned admiration not only in Spain but across Europe and the Americas, praised for his brilliance at the keyboard and his gift for painting Spanish life in music. His influence reached composers like Albéniz and Falla, with whom he shared the mission of shaping a national style.

In 1916, while returning from the U.S., Granados tragically perished when a German U-boat torpedoed the Sussex in the English Channel. His legacy, however, continues to sing in the haunting elegance of his melodies and the passionate rhythms of his homeland. His obituary might well have read: "Granados was the soul of Spanish music—possessing a painter’s brush, a poet’s heart, and a pianist’s hands."