Quintin Esquembre (Villena, Alicante, 1885 - Madrid, 1965)
Not much biographical data exists about this musician and what was available was unfortunately very difficult to obtain. In this sense I am most thankful to Javier Suarez Pajares and Roberto Ortiz Esquembre, the grandson of the composer, for the information they supplied, not only about the composer himself but about other important facts which appear here and some which will be included in future editions.
Esquembre moved to Madrid at the beginning of the century. Apart from studying the guitar as an autodidact, in 1903 he was able to take some master classes with Miguel Llobet when the latter was passing through Madrid. He was also a cellist and became a permanent teacher in the Municipal Music Band in Madrid. He was also a guitar teacher in the Cultural Cuitar Association in Madrid, an entity that fulfilled an important role in the teaching of the guitar; at that time the guitar was not part of the curriculum at the Madrid Conservatory. All this allowed him to perform chamber music frequently, it was he who introduced Paganini's Duets and some Boccherini's Quintets to the Spanish public.
He was also a composer of symphonic and lyrical works. In 1928 he wrote his symphonic poem Cuitarra Andaluza (Andalusian Guitar), out of which, later in 1938, he would create a version for two guitars and orchestra he called Capricho Andaluz (Andalusian Capriccio) which would be premiered by Emilio Pujol and his wife, the flamenco guitarist Matilde Cuervas.
When the Republican Authorities of Madrid moved to Valencia, Esquembre travelled along as clerk of the Municipal Music Band.
(The Legacy of Manuel de Falla, Spanish Guitar Music from the Generation of 1927, Volume 1, Series directed & edited by Rafael Catalá)