Oscar Esplá

Oscar Esplá (1886–1976), born in Alicante, in south eastern Spain, studied composition with Saint-Saëns in Paris (1912–13), and in 1932 became professor at the Madrid Conservatoire. After voluntary exile in Belgium after the Spanish Civil War, he returned home in 1960 to teach at the Oscar Esplá Conservatory, Alicante.

His compositions include operas and ballets, choral works, and a wide variety of instrumental pieces. Esplá’s Levantine Impressions are elegant miniatures, short and intense, presenting, in the manner of folk-songs, catchy melodies characterized by strong rhythmic patterns.