Vicenç Bou i Geli

Vicenç Bou i Geli (19 January 1885 – 6 January 1962) was a Catalan Spanish composer. He was most well known for his compositions of the traditional sardanes, which he wrote with great fluency and little sophistication, but with a gift for charming and ingenious melody.

Biography

Vicenç Bou was born in Torroella de Montgrí. His father was Genis Bou Carreras and his mother Rita Geli Fontanet. He had his first music lessons from his father who was a fiscorn player of the town cobla band La Lira, one of the oldest in Catalonia. Later he learnt his principal instrument, the flabiol, with Pere Rigau. However he first joined the La Lira band at the age of 15, as a trombonist.

He learnt violin with Josep Reixac and composition with Josep Maria Soler and Josep Pi, completing his formal musical education in 1906.

In 1906 he married Teresa Robau, with whom he had five sons.

Sardanas

In 1909 he composed the first of his more than 175 sardanes, which are the works he is most well known for. Among his most popular are

Esperança
Cants de maig
L'anell de prometatge
Voliaines
Angelina
Continuïtat
Girona aimada
Festamajonera
Mimosa
Mar de xaloc
Revetlla
Esclats de joventut
Tossa
Flor de mar
L'espigolera
De Sant Feliu a S'Agaró
Els meus de Barcelona
La somrienta
Montserrat
Regalims del cor
Èxtasi
Mariagna
Sospirs d'amor
Otília
Flor de llevant
La mare cantora
Mirambell
Tonades de pastor
El saltiró de la cardina
Llevantina
La cardina encara salta
Pescadors bons catalans
Torroella vila vella
Record de Calella

Musical legacy

In 1984 the family of the composer donated his personal archive to the Arxiu Historic de Torroella de Montgri. This consisted of 250 works in manuscript, 150 books and 200 written works. His sardana El saltiró de la cardina with words by Josep Maria Francès (composed 1912) is played in the 1957 film Spanish Affair.

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References

^ Extracted and translated from the Wikipedia page in Catalan

External links

[1] Extracted and translated from the Wikipedia page in Catalan

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