Narcisa Freixas

Narcisa Freixas (13 December 1859 – 20 December 1926) was a Catalan sculptor, painter and composer. She was born in Sabadell, Barcelona, the daughter of Pere Freixas Sabater, and first studied painting and sculpture with Modest Urgell i de Torcuato Tasso. However, she developed an interest in music and began the study of piano with Juan Bautista Pujol. She married Miquel Petit, a doctor who died soon afterward, and also lost her daughter at a young age.^[1]

After 1900 Freixas published collections of Catalan songs and nursery rhymes, and helped foster musical education for school children in Barcelona. She died in Barcelona in 1926.^[2]

Works

Freixas composed for voice and instruments and was known for children's songs. Selected compositions include:

• La font del romaní for voice & piano
• L'ametller ('A mig aire de la serra veig un ametller florit'), for voice & piano
• La barca ('La doncella baixa al riu al trenc de l'alba'), for voice & piano
• La son soneta, for voice & piano
• Primaveral ('On va el Sol de març revestit de festa?'), for voice & piano
• L'ombra de Natzaret ('Sentadeta va filant la Natsarena Maria'), for voice & piano
• Dolorosa ('Rient les penes fugen de quí les té'), for voice & piano '
• Lo filador d'or ('N'hi ha un argenter a l'Argenteria'), for voice & piano
• Ai, l'esperança ('Era una tarda serena'), for voice & piano

A collection of her children's songs in Spanish was published in 1927 titled Cancons D'Infants. Her music has been recorded and issued on CD, including: Compositores Catalanes (2009)

References

1. ^ "Les cançons de Narcisa Freixas". http://www.rostoll.cat/obaga/faristol/Freixas/Freixas.htm. Retrieved 10 December 2010. 
2. ^ Sadie, Julie Anne; Samuel, Rhian (1994) (Digitized online by GoogleBooks). The Norton/Grove dictionary of women composers. http://books.google.com/books?id=IvoQQU1QL_QC&pg=PA177&dq=Narcisa+Freixas+(1859%E2%80%931926)&hl=en&ei=jfICTeKNK8O88gbu8fTsAg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCYQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Narcisa%20Freixas%20(1859%E2%80%931926)&f=false. Retrieved 4 October 2010. 

Persondata
Name	Freixas, Narcisa
Alternative names
Short description	Composer
Date of birth	13 December 1859
Place of birth	Sabadell, Barcelona, Spain
Date of death	20 December 1926
Place of death	Barcelona, Spain