Antonio Soler
Spanish composer and priest Antonio Soler was born at Olot, Catalunya, and baptised on 3 December 1729. From the age of six he was a member of the Escolania de Montserrat - the boys' choir based near Barcelona. He studied with Benito Esteve and Benito Valls.
From 1744, he was organist and subdeacon at the Cathedral at La Seu d'Urgell in the Catalan Pyrenees. Later he was chapel master at Lleida and at the El Escorial Royal Court, where he died on 20 December 1783, aged fifty-four.
His more than five hundred works include about 150 keyboard sonatas, often compared with those of Domenico Scarlatti. He also wrote the treatise Llave de la modulación of 1762.
A selection of articles about Antonio Soler
Ensemble. Dancing Vigour - Percussionists Owen Gunnell and Oliver Cox, appreciated by Mike Wheeler
Ensemble. Wit and Effervescence - Music in the Time of Goya, by Derek Murray
Refreshingly Wide-ranging - A recital by Korean pianist Jenna Sung, reviewed by Mike Wheeler