Sebastián de Iradier

Sebastián de Iradier, also written Yradier, was a Spanish composer born in Lanciego, Álava, in January 1809 and who died in Vitoria in December 1865. Today his reputation rests chiefly on his Spanish-style songs, which enjoyed wide circulation in Europe and America, and on the echo they had in opera.

He began as an organist: in 1825 he took up the post at the church of San Miguel Arcángel in Vitoria, and two years later he won the position at San Juan Bautista in Salvatierra by competitive examination. In July 1833 he requested a leave of three or four months and, it seems, never returned to that post. In 1839 he joined the Madrid Conservatory as a professor of solfège, a position he held until 1851. In 1855 he gave singing lessons in Paris to the Empress Eugénie.

His songs, many based on the rhythm of the Cuban habanera, were performed by celebrated singers such as Viardot and Patti. La paloma, published in Madrid in 1859, remains perhaps the most popular Spanish song of all time. Bizet took his song El arreglito for the opera Carmen, believing it to be of folk origin; on discovering his mistake, he added a note to the score acknowledging the true source. The song had probably appeared earlier in a French translation within Fleurs d'Espagne (Paris, 1864).