It was 90 years ago today that Catalonian/Spanish composer/pianist Enrique Granados lost his life trying to save his wife. They had been in America, enjoying the success of Granados' opera Goyescas at the Met in New York, and then delayed their trip back to Spain to accept an invitation from President Woodrow Wilson to visit the White House.
That delay was fatal.
After an uneventful Atlantic crossing, they were in the English Channel when their ship (SS Sussex) was torpedoed by a German U-boat. Granados jumped out of his lifeboat to save his wife and drowned with her...90 years ago today.
John Milton, the author of the highly acclaimed novel about Granados,
The Fallen Nightingale, sent me a poem honoring the occasion this morning. (see extended entry)
This trilingual poem is in English, Catalan, and Spanish.
Granados
March 24/24 de mar
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