Sebastián Yradier
Sebastián Yradier was born in Sauciego, Álava, Spain on January 20, 1809. Little is known of his career beyond the fact that his music instruction took place with private teachers; that in 1851 he was appointed singing master to the Empress Eugénie in Paris; and that for a period he lived in Cuba. He died in Vitoria, Spain, on December 6, 1865. He was a successful composer of Spanish songs. The most famous is “La Paloma,” which is in the habanera rhythm, its melody in the sensual, sinuous style of a flamenco song. “El Arreglito,” also a habanera, was borrowed by Bizet for his opera Carmen where it re-emerges as the world-famous “Habanera”; Bizet made only minor changes in the melody while retaining Yradier’s tonality and accompaniment. A third popular Yradier song, in a style similar to “La Paloma,” is “Ay Chiquita!”