Manuel Blasco de Nebra facts for kids

Manuel Orlandi Blasco de Nebra (born May 2, 1750 – died September 12, 1784) was a talented Spanish musician. He was an organist and a composer. He lived in the city of Seville, Spain.

Manuel followed in his father's footsteps. His father, José Blasco de Nebra, was the main organist at Seville Cathedral. Manuel became his assistant in 1768. Later, in 1778, he took over the main organist position.

Manuel was known for being very good at playing music. He could easily read music he had never seen before. He played the organ, harpsichord, and fortepiano. These were all popular keyboard instruments of his time.

Even though he lived a short life, Manuel wrote about 170 pieces of music. Sadly, only about 30 of his compositions still exist today. All of these are for keyboard instruments.

Discovering His Music

Many of Manuel's musical pieces were lost for a long time. But over the years, music experts have found some of them.

Six of his sonatas were found by a music expert named Robert Parris. These were from the first published edition of his works, called Sonatas, Op.1. This book is kept at the Library of Congress in Washington.

Later, twelve more sonatas and six pastorellas were found. These were discovered at the Monastery of Montserrat in Catalonia, Spain. A Danish music expert, Bengt Johnsson, helped publish these.

Even more sonatas were found by María Inmaculada Cárdenas Serván. She discovered six sonatas at the Encarnación Monastery in Osuna, Spain. She published these with help from the Spanish Musicology Society.

Finally, two other sonatas were found by Pedro Casals. He found them in a old handwritten book at the Santa Clara convent in Seville. This book is now at Madrid’s Universidad Complutense. These two pieces have not yet been published for modern musicians.

His Known Works

Here are some of the musical works by Manuel Blasco de Nebra that we know about today:

• Six sonatas for harpsichord and fortepiano, called Op.1 (published in Madrid, 1780).
• Six pastorellas and 12 sonatas (found in the Montserrat manuscript).
• Six keyboard sonatas (found at the Encarnación Monastery in Osuna).

Recordings of His Music

You can listen to Manuel Blasco de Nebra's music today. Many musicians have recorded his works.

• Blasco de Nebra: Piano Sonatas by Javier Perianes, Harmonia Mundi / IODA, 2010.
• Blasco de Nebra: Complete Keyboard Sonatas Vol 1 by Pedro Casals, Naxos 2009.
• Blasco de Nebra: Complete Keyboard Sonatas Vol 2 by Pedro Casals, Naxos 2010.
• Blasco de Nebra: Complete Keyboard Sonatas Vol 3 by Pedro Casals, Naxos 2010.
• Blasco de Nebra: Complete Piano Works, Vol. 1 by Pedro Piquero, Columna Música, 2009.
• Blasco de Nebra: Complete Piano Works, Vol. 2 by Pedro Piquero, Columna Música, 2010.
• Blasco de Nebra: Complete Piano Works, Vol. 3 by Pedro Piquero, Columna Música, 2011.