Emili Vendrell

Biography

Emili Vendrell i Ibars was a Catalan tenor. He was born in Barcelona, in the Raval quarter, in 1893. His father was a builder so he apprenticed with him and became a stonemason (brickbuilder), yet he always liked music. At seven he entered the Santa Maria del Mar church boys choir (Escolania). When in 1905, aged 12, he met Lluís Millet, director of the main Catalan choir, the Orfeó Català, Emili decided he wanted to join that institution. He succeeded at 18, and during his training there he became soloist tenor. Millet guided him through popular and prayer songs, singing Haydn's Seasons in 1918 and the Evangelist part in Bach's St. Matthew's Passion at the Palau de la Música in 1921, receiving high praise for that work including that of the organ player, Albert Schweitzer. He alternated symphonic works, lieder (often in Catalan) and oratories. This was the Modernisme period (Catalan Art Nouveau equivalent), during which arts and crafts were revalorised and authocthonous traditions retrieved. Emili Vendrell naturally adhered to this trend with song recitals and specially singing Catalan folk tunes, winning popular acclaim and love, since he was a plain man coming from plain people and singing for the people. He even sang "Lohengrin" in Catalan, but he didn't derive into operatic world. His stage debut took place in Ceret in 1922 playing a brief role under the direction of Enric Morera in an outdoors performance. In 1922 he premiered the Catalan lyric theatre drama by Morera (lyric theatre is Catalan zarzuela genre) "Don Joan de Serrallonga" at Barcelona's Tivoli Theater during its Lyric Theatre season. This genre made him widely popular with audiences in Barcelona, Valencia and Madrid. He sang the premiere of Jacinto Guerrero's "Los Gavilanes" in 1923-4 in Madrid and then "Cançó d'amor i de guerra" and Amadeo Vives'"Doña Francisquita" in Barcelona. Such was his success in this zarzuela that he would sing it some 1.300 times along the years, also in South America and European tournées including France, Italy and Great Britain. Another of his most popular zarzuela performances were "La Generala", "Molinos de viento" and "Los Claveles"; in 1930 he also sang the premiere of "La Dolorosa" by José Serrano in Valencia, another favorite of the audience which he performed over 800 times. He auditioned at the Liceu theater and in 1936 would sing there Beethoven's 9th. symphony with the Pau Casals orchestra. After the Civil War ended he was judged and condemned to five years exile from Catalonia because of his defence of Catalan culture, afterwards reduced to half that length, which he spent in Madrid and Valencia before returning to Barcelona to great acclaim. He was also popular because of his many radio broadcasts and phonograph recordings, mainly of traditional Catalan songs, which, paired with his dramatic ability, made him specially beloved in his homeland. His delivery of songs like "L'emigrant", "El cant dels ocells", "La taverna d'en Mallol", "A l'ombra d'un lledoner" or "Rosor" (from the lyric play "Pel teu amor" by Ribes) made them favorites to this day. According to the Real Academia de la Historia, Emili Vendrell's voice was "beautiful in tone, pure in emission and clear in diction". Examples can be found in the External Sites section. He also loved writing and wrote "Les meves cançons" (1921), poems like "El miracle de Sant Ponç" (1949) and lyric pieces ("La Pintosilla", "Adelaida"). He married Marie Coutier, sister of an Orfeó singer, and they had a son, Emili. He coached his son, also a lyric tenor, and arranged for his presentation, and they often performed together. Emili Jr. would inherit his father's taste for Catalan songs and zarzuelas. In 1953, aged 60, he retired from the stage, and in a significant gesture according to his personality, reentered the Orfeó as one more in the men's choir. He wrote two books, the memoirs "El Mestre Millet i jo" ("Teacher Millet and I", 1953) and "El Cant, llibre pel cantant i l'aficionat" ("Singing, a book for the singer and the amateur", 1955). He died in Barcelona in 1962. At his funeral service, people crowded Aragó wide street in Barcelona where the Concepció church is, singing L'emigrant.