Sebastián Yradier

Life

Born: 20 January 1809

Died: 6 December 1865

Biography Sebastián de Iradier y Salaverri (Salberri)aka Sebastián Yradier, was a Spanish composer. Iradier was born in Lanciego, in the province of Álava. His publisher in Paris urged him to "universalize" his name, from Iradier to Yradier. He is known primarily for his habaneras, especially the one titled "La Paloma", written around 1860 after a visit to Cuba. "La Paloma" was extremely popular in both Spain and America (especially Mexico), where it was responsible for the great popularity achieved by the habanera. Another of Iradier's compositions is "El Arreglito", an habanera used by Georges Bizet in his opera Carmen. Bizet, thinking it was a folk song, took the melody of "El Arreglito" and created what is known today as the "Habanera" from Carmen: the song "L'amour est un oiseau rebelle". Iradier died in obscurity. (Above is from Wikipedia - for complete biography use the link below.)

View the Wikipedia article on Sebastián Yradier.