Joaquim Serra

Joaquim Serra

Biography

Joaquim Serra i Corominas (4 March 1907, Peralada, Spain – 17 November 1957, Barcelona, Spain) was a Spanish composer.

Son of composer and musician Josep Serra i Bonal, Joaquim received his first musical lessons from his father. When Joaquim was ten years old, his family moved to Barcelona so he could get a solid musical training, which he received from the teachers Millet, Carles Pellicer and Morera. He soon became a composer, with several Concepció Rabell and Sant Jordi prizes in the 1920s.

In 1934 he was appointed artistic director of Ràdio Associació de Barcelona . He directed Cobla Barcelona and brought it to a very high quality. He collaborated with the composers Verdaguer and Sarrià, for whom he adapted several Catalan ballets. He published the Cobla Instrumentation Treatise (1957), one of the fundamental works in the subject, from the lessons he had taught in the instrumentation course that in 1948 had organized the work of this popular dance .

He has been defined as the composer of "difficult simplicity", "with the right notes and not one more."

As a tribute since his death in 1957, the Barcelona Cultural Folk Group has annually awarded the Joaquim Serra Memorial Music Prize, and composer Rafael Ferrer dedicated the composition Adéu Quim! In Memoriam (1957).

Works for Winds

• Estampes Simfòniques (arr. McLain) (2012)
• Puigsoliu (tr. Alfonso) (1957)

Resources

• Joaquim Serra i Corominas, Viquipèdia (in Catalán) Accessed 21 July 2017