Vicente Martín y Soler (1754 - 1806)

A contemporary of Mozart, Vicente Martín y Soler (1754-1806) was a Spanish composer who also had in common with the great Austrian composer Italian librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte. In fact, Da Ponte credited the launching of his career as a librettist to his first collaboration with Martín y Soler. Born in Valencia, Martín y Soler lived and worked in Madrid, Naples, Venice, Vienna, London, and St. Petersberg, where Catherine the Great seems to have created a position specifically for the Spanish composer. Today's program features an arrangement for wind octet of a popular opera composed by Martín y Soler while in Vienna, a "drama giocoso" in two acts entitled "Una cosa rara, o sia Bellezza ed onestà" (A Rare Thing, or Beauty and Honesty) which had its premiere in the Austrian capital in 1786. The arrangement, by Johann Went and Peter Schreiber, is performed by clarinettist Joan Enric Lluna and his group Moonwinds. For more information on Joan Enric Lluna, who is one of Spain's most international performers of today, visit his website at: www.joanenriclluna.com/joan-enric-lluna/?lang=en .