Isabel María Francisca de Paula Luisa Clementina Güell y López[1] was born in Barcelona on November 23, 1872.[2] Her mother was Isabel López Bru, born in Cuba (daughter of the first Marquess of Comillas, Antonio López y López); her father was Eusebi Güell, first Count of Güell. Isabel had a cousin, Sister Eulalia Anzizu.
She began her studies with Josep García Robles, composer of her father's court. She studied with her aunt, Josefa Bacigalupi, and later studied piano and organ in Barcelona and Paris.[2]
Isabel's father, a patron of Antoni Gaudí, commissioned works such as the Palau Güell and Park Güell.[3] She lived in Palau Güell with her parents and siblings from her teenage years until 1901, when she married Carlos de Sentmenat y Sentmenat, Grandee of Spain, IX Marquis of Castelldosrius, Marquis of Orís and Baron of Santa Pau.[2] Gaudí decorated the young couple's house on Junta de Comercio Street. The anecdote is told that Gaudí, unable to fit Isabel's grand piano, recommended that she play the violin. This fact is recorded by Josep Carner in a passage of his book Auques i ventalls.[3][4]
From 1939 onwards, she devoted herself to her grandchildren, giving them music and French lessons. She died in Barcelona on May 8, 1956, and was buried in the family pantheon of Dosrius (Mataró).[3]
Career
She played the piano and the organ and belonged to the choir of the Centro de Cultura de Mujeres Francesca Bonnemaison [ca] directed by Francesca Bonnemaison i Farriols.[2] Her main dedication was to charity and philanthropy, as befitted a woman of her social class. She was also interested in education. In 1902, she was appointed a member of the Board of Public Instruction of Barcelona.[3]
She composed approximately 34 works, mostly religious music, which were performed at different times, for example, on April 23, 1911, in a mass celebrated at the Colonia Güell [es] for the feast of Sant Jordi.[3] She also composed chamber music and songs with piano accompaniment incorporating lyrics by different poets. She also wrote a Te Deum (1918) and a Stabat Mater (1917).[5]
Selected works
Amunt! (1889). Lyrics: Ramón Picó Campamar
Gavota (1890). Dedicated to Enriqueta Goletti.
La llar (1890). Dedicated to her son Félix de Sentmenat y Güell. Lyrics: Ramón Picó Campanar
Sanctus (1892)
Ave María (ed. Londres 1894). Lyrics: Ramón Picó Campanar
Corpus Christi (1911). Lyrics: Ramón Picó Campanar
Jesús als noys (1911)
Pregaria al Sagrat Cor de Jesús (1911Lyrics
Balada (1912). Dedicated to Melchor Rodríguez de Alcántara. Lyrics: Joan Roís de Corella
Barcarola "Lo que diu una cançó" (1912). Lyrics: Miguel Costa y Llobera
Domine Dominus noster (1913)
La rosa marcida (1915). Dedicated to the choir of the Institut de Cultura Popular per a la Dona. Lyrics: Jacint Verdaguer
Sacris solemnis (1915)
Tantum ergo (1915)
Cançó trista (1916). Lyrics: Apeles Mestres
Stabat Mater (1917)
Jubilate Deo omnis terra, Psalmo XCIX (1918)
Benedictus. Lyrics: Isabel López Bru
Comunión
Douce espérance. Dedicated to María Cristina de Habsburgo, queen regent
Misa
Misa en honor de San Eusebio
O salutaris
Pulchra est, et decora
Discography
CD, Compositores catalanas. Generación modernista. María Teresa Garrigosa (soprano) and Heidrun Bergander (piano). La mano de guido. Dip.leg. B-45.116-2008.