Snapshots of the Three Composers Featured in LOST/FOUND
Posted January 22, 2025
ENRIQUE GRANADOS

Enrique Granados was one of the great pianists and composers of the late 19th-early 20th century. He left his native Barcelona to study in Paris; there he performed in a trio with the young Pablo Casals.
He was also a painter.
Granados was inspired by the work of his fellow countryman Francisco Goya’s paintings. After visiting the Prado Museum in Madrid in 1896, he wrote a piano suite – Goyescas – based on 6 of Goya’s paintings.
The paintings he chose depict the bohemian lower class of 18th-century Spain, known for their colorful clothing and lively behavior.
He later turned the piano suite into an opera in 1915, making it the first operatic arrangement of a piano work. Goyescas was premiered at the Metropolitan Opera in January, 1916. Following the premiere he was invited by President Wilson to perform at the White House.
Sadly he and his wife were killed when the ship they were traveling on was torpedoed by a German sub in the English Channel. They left behind 6 children.
LILI BOULANGER

Lili Boulanger was one of the most exciting composers of the early 20th century. Her mother was a Russian princess who studied at the Paris Conservatoire. Her father, Ernest Boulanger, was a conductor and composer. Her older sister, Nadia, was a famous composer and teacher.
A promising talent from a very early age, Boulanger was a multi-instrumentalist and pioneering composer. She played piano, violin, cello and harp, as well as singing. She was just two years old when she began to be noticed for her musical prowess. The great composer Gabriel Fauré, a friend of the family, spotted that she had perfect pitch and she was able to sing melodies by ear.
Her parents nurtured her abilities and encouraged a prestigious music education. Before the age of five she was accompanying Nadia to lessons at the Paris Conservatoire. Later she would attend independently, taking classes in music theory and the organ.
In 1912, Lili Boulanger entered the Prix de Rome – the most prestigious honor for artists at the time.
Among its winners are some of Europe’s finest composers: Georges Bizet, Hector Berlioz, Claude Debussy, and even Lili’s own father, Ernest, in 1835 at the age of 20.
However, her 1912 entry did not come to fruitioin; she was unable to complete her entry when she collapsed from illness during her performance. However, Boulanger attempted once more in 1913, then aged 19, and won. Composed in just four weeks, Faust et Hélène is the piece that gave the Prix de Rome judges no choice but to give her the award.
Her victory made her the first woman to win the Prix de Rome, though the judges couldn’t quite bear to let her enjoy the honor on her own. So, they also awarded first prize that year to a man, Claude Delvincourt.
Lili passed away at the very young age of 24.
DOMINICK ARGENTO

Dominick Argento began his career in 1958 at the University of Minnesota, where he taught composition and theory. He spent the next sixty years – his entire career – as Minnesota’s resident composer, crafting works for nearly every Minnesota performing group and gaining international acclaim.
He hoped to become a professional pianist when he entered college, but was drafted into the Army in 1945, where he served in North Africa as a cryptographer. In 1947 he entered Peabody Conservatory on the GI bill. In 1951 he received a Fulbright grant to study in Florence.
Argento returned to Peabody for his master of music degree, and for his PhD work. He studied with a prominent list of mid-20th-century contemporary composers, including Henry Cowell, Richard Rodgers, Alan Hovhaness, Howard Hanson, and Luigi Dallapiccola.
Most of Argento’s compositions—primarily song cycles and operas— feature the human voice. When he composed vocal works, he noted that the words must come first in his process, believing that “The very tone, texture, color and speed of the music are dependent on the text.”
Dominick Argento received the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1975 for his song cycle From the Diary of Virginia Woolf. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1979, and in 1997 was honored with the title of Composer Laureate to the Minnesota Orchestra, a lifetime appointment.