What is Isaac Albéniz?
{{unreferenced|date=August 2009}} [[Image:Isaac Albéniz, 1901.jpg|thumb|250px|Isaac Albéniz in 1901]] '''Isaac Albéniz''' (pronounced EE-saac al-BAY-nith) (born Camprodón, [[Catalonia]], [[Spain]], 29 May 1860; died Cambô-les-Bains, Spain, 18 May 1909) was a [[Spain|Spanish]] [[composer]] and [[pianist]]. He wrote a lot of piano music. His best known work is the collection of 12 piano pieces called ''Iberia'' which have lots of exciting Spanish [[rhythm]]s. These pieces are very difficult to play. He also wrote several [[zarzuela]]s (light-hearted Spanish [[opera]]s) and he tried to make the zarzuela more serious, but the public did not want that. He helped to make Spanish music more popular in other countries. ==His Life== Albéniz started to learn the piano when he was three. His elder sister taught him. He was a [[child prodigy]] who first performed at the age of four. When he was seven he passed the entrance examination for piano at the [[Paris Conservatoire]], but he was not given a place because they thought he was too young. A year later his father lost his job, so he took his two children on tour so that they could give concerts and earn some money. In 1869, the family moved to [[Madrid]], but Albéniz had an unsettled childhood. He twice ran away from home, giving concerts in various places and even escaping as a [[stowaway]] to [[South America]] where he visited [[Argentina]], [[Uruguay]], [[Brazil]], [[Cuba]], [[Puerto Rico]] and then the [[USA]]. He returned to Spain in 1873. By the age of fifteen, he had already given concerts all over the world. After a short stay at the [[Leipzig Conservatory]], in 1876 he went to study in [[Brussels]]. In 1880, he went to [[Budapest]] wanting to study with [[Franz Liszt]], but Liszt was not there. In 1874, his sister wanted to become a [[singer]] at the Teatro de la Zarzuela. When she did not get a place there she committed [[suicide]]. Albéniz continued to travel all over the world. In 1883, he met the teacher and composer Felipe Pedrell, who inspired him