Luisa Lacal de Bracho (, 1874–1962) was a Spanish pianist, musicologist, lexicographer and writer. She was the writer of the first dictionary of musical terminology by a Spanish woman.

Biography

de Bracho was born in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

in 1874 to Amalia Infanzón Igaraiburu, niece of Eva Canel, and Saturnino Lacal. Coming from a

bourgeois The bourgeoisie ( , ) are a class of business owners, merchants and wealthy people, in general, which emerged in the Late Middle Ages, originally as a "middle class" between the peasantry and Aristocracy (class), aristocracy. They are tradition ...

and conservative family, she began her musical education at an early age. No later than 1883, her family moved to

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

where she continued her piano studies at the

Conservatori Superior de Música del Liceu Conservatori Superior de Música del Liceu () is a music college in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It was created in 1837 with the name ''Liceo Filo-dramático de Montesión''. In 1847 the institution inaugurated the opera house Gran Teatre del Li ...

. She was recognized with various prizes, like the Gold Medal at the

1888 Barcelona Universal Exposition The 1888 Barcelona Universal Exposition (in Catalan language, Catalan: ''Exposició Universal de Barcelona'' and ''Exposición Universal de Barcelona'' in Spanish language, Spanish) was Spain's first International World's Fair and ran from 8 Apri ...

and First Prize and Grand Medal of the Royal Conservatory of Barcelona in 1890. Along with this, she was appointed teacher and part of the faculty of the conservatory in the 1890-91 academic year. She finished her piano studies at the National Conservatory of Madrid. While developing her repertoire between 1894 and 1899, de Bracho performed as a concert pianist and participated as a member of the

Red Cross The organized International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 16million volunteering, volunteers, members, and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ...

in various charitable activities and also in events for the

Sociedad General de Autores y Editores The Spanish Society of Authors and Publishers (''Sociedad General de Autores y Editores, SGAE'') is the main collecting society for songwriters, composers and music publishers in Spain. It is similar to AGADU, ASCAP, GEMA, SADAIC, SACEM and SA ...

(the Spanish Society of Authors and Publishers) as an honorary member. In 1900, she married Carlos Bracho Jiménez, a professor in the military riding corps and also a member of the Red Cross. Through the next several years, she moved between various Spanish cities, though she continued her work as a concert pianist. In 1899, de Bracho wrote ''Diccionario de la música, técnico histórico, bio-bibliográfico'', publicado (Technical, historical, bio-bibliographical Dictionary of music), which was the first dictionary of

musical terminology A variety of musical terms is encountered in Sheet music, printed scores, music reviews, and program notes. Most of the terms Italian musical terms used in English, are Italian, in accordance with the Italian origins of many European musical conv ...

by a Spanish woman. It received widespread acclaim at the time of publication and was reprinted several times. She later published two novels, ''Trinar de amores'' (Lovers' Chirping), in 1921, a collections of short stories that she had been publishing in the specialized magazine ''Gloria Femenina'' throughout the 1920s, and ''Peregrina de la ilusión'' (Pilgrim of Illusion) in 1929. She died in 1962 in Madrid.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:de Bracho, Luisa Lacal 1874 births 1962 deaths Writers from Madrid Musicians from Madrid Spanish women pianists Spanish women musicologists 19th-century Spanish women writers Spanish lexicographers