Española, Op. 41
(The Spanish Rhapsody)

Wilhelm Grosz’s Española, The Spanish Rhapsody, is listed as Op. 41 and therefore, appears to be the penultimate work of the composer. Little is known regarding the provenance of the work, the reason for its composition, or even in which year it was composed, as the handwritten date could be interpreted as either 1937 or 1939, the latter being the year of the composer’s death. In any case, it’s a colorful, opulent work for piano and orchestra lasting approximately nine minutes, comparing with works such as Albéniz’s Rapsodia Española or Joaquín Turina’s Rapsodia Sínfonica. The surviving manuscript reveals a number of editorial infelicities that would have been addressed had Grosz begun the work of writing individual orchestral parts. The original appears to be an uncorrected version with a number of open points regarding dynamic, accidentals, and tempo. Fortunately, Grosz wrote two versions, with one a preliminary sketch for piano solo and one for piano and orchestra, which allowed many of these editorial issues to be addressed. Grosz’s sudden and unexpected death shortly after his arrival in America explains the editorial lapses, while not detracting from the work’s innate effectiveness as a brilliant showpiece for both piano and orchestra.

About the Exilarte Edition
G. Schirmer/Wise Music’s Exilarte Edition exclusively publishes works by composers who were persecuted, forced into exile, or murdered by the Nazi regime. All original manuscripts of these works are archived in the Exilarte Center at the mdw – University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna in Austria.