Born May 29, 1860 in Camprodon, Spain, Isaac Albeniz made his debut at the age of four in Barcelona with an astonishing piano performance that had the audience suspecting fraud. A composer at the age of seven, he was refused admittance to the Paris Conservatorie because of his age so he began his formal musical training at the Madrid Conservatory.

Running away from home at the age of thirteen he made his way to Costa Ria, South America, the United States, and then to England. This adventure was supported by his performances. Going to Germany in 1874 he was admitted to the Leipzig Conservatory as a pupil of Jadassohn and Reinecke. Returning to Spain he obtained a grant from Count Morphy, a high dignitary under King Alfonso XII, which enabled him to continue his studies at the Brussels Conservatoire where he studied composition with Gevaert and piano with Brassin. An ambition to study under Liszt was realized in 1878 when he went to Budapest to study under the master whose influence was to be clearly evident in Albeniz's later works.

He taught for a while in Barcelona and in 1889 he gave concerts of his compositions in Paris and England which provided him with funds to undertake more studies in Paris under Dukas and d'Indy. He wrote the comic opera "The Magic Opal," which was produced in 1893 and "Enrico Clifford" and "Pepita Jimenez" which were performed in Barcelona in 1894 and 1895.

As one of the leaders in the renaissance of Spanish music at the turn of the century he was regarded as the founder of the Spanish "national school". Always fascinated with the music of Andalucia, Albeniz composed numerous small but beautifully performed portraits of his native Spain. These brightly colored piano pictures of his native land are sufficient reason for him to be called "the Liszt of Spanish music."

Although he wrote no music specifically for the guitar, so much of his composition for the piano was so strongly influenced by the sound of the guitar that transcriptions of his music for that instrument are particularly successful. He has often said that some of the guitar transcriptions by Francisco Tarrega pleased him more than the original piano counterparts.