Iberia [Solo piano]: 12 nouvelles "impressions" en quatre cahiers. (1er Cahier) Évocation, El Puerto, Fête-dieu a Séville ... Prix net: 5 Francs

Paris: Edition Mutuelle [PN 3083], 1906. Folio. Original publisher's yellow wrappers with titling printed in dark red and green, publisher's advertisements to verso of lower wrapper. 1f. (recto printed in light green with illustration to upper inner corner, verso blank), 1f. (blank), 33 pp. With printed dedication to head of title to Madame Ernest Chausson.

Wrappers slightly worn, soiled, and chipped. Edges slightly browned. First Edition.

"From 1905 to 1908 [Albéniz] wrote his masterpiece, Iberia ... wherein he captured and immortalized the sounds and rhythms of his native country ..."

"Through his activities as a conductor, impresario, performer and composer within Spain as well as abroad, Albéniz, one of Spain's foremost musicians, not only contributed to the rebirth of Spanish nationalism but also gained international recognition for Spanish music. Where Pedrell used folk music in his works as a basis for a national style, Albéniz preferred to suggest, rather than quote, rhythms and melodic elements to evoke the Spanish landscape. He achieved popularity at the beginning of his compositional career with salon music. With his dramatic works, his writing gained depth. By the end of his life he was creating dense polyphonic textures that combined underlying diatonic harmonies (freely mixing major and minor tonalities with modal elements), animated by vibrant ostinato rhythms, overlaid with basically simple melodic lines and gestures embroidered with chromatic filigree." Frances Barulich in Grove Music Online.