Sebastián Ramón de Albero y Añaños

Sebastián Ramón de Albero y Añaños was born in Roncal, Navarre, on 10 June 1722, and died in Madrid on 30 March 1756. He was a composer and organist in eighteenth-century Spain, and his importance lies in his contribution to the keyboard repertoire of the Iberian Peninsula at mid-century.

Between 1734 and 1739 he was a member of the choir of Pamplona Cathedral. In 1748 he was appointed first organist of the Spanish Royal Chapel, a post that brought him into the circle of Domenico Scarlatti for at least eight years. It is not known for certain whether he was already in Madrid before that date, although it is possible. His teacher was apparently José Elías, principal organist at the convent of the Descalzas Reales, whose contrapuntal influence can be detected in the music of the younger man.

Two undated manuscripts of his work survive. The first, containing sonatas for clavichord, was probably taken to Italy by the castrato Farinelli when he left Spain in 1759. It contains thirty sonatas, mostly in the galant style. The second, dedicated to King Ferdinand VI and copied between 1746 and 1756, brings together eighteen pieces arranged in six groups, each made up of a recercata, a fugue and a sonata. The recercatas, free and improvisatory in character and without bar lines, recall the préludes non mésurés of seventeenth-century French harpsichordists. The fugues are appealing, although they fall into the Spanish trait of excessive sequences.

The Madrid manuscript is possibly the oldest Spanish source to name the pianoforte in its title, a detail of interest for the history of the instrument. His sonatas show the imprint of Scarlatti, together with popular influences, hand crossings and acciaccaturas. His legacy is known today above all through the modern editions of his keyboard works, published in Madrid in the late 1970s.