Benejam, Lluís

Lluís Benejam was born in Barcelona in 1914, he studied at the Conservatori del Gran Teatre del Liceu in his hometown. He always remembered with fondness and admiration the teachings of professors Antoni Bosom, Josep Barberà and Joan Lamote de Grignon, and particularly of P. Antoni Massana, with whom he studied har-mony and composition.
He played the violin and viola in several symphonic and chamber groups. In 1953, he was awarded the Ciutat de Barcelona music prize for the work for string orchestra, Poema.
In 1954, he moved to Ecuador where he founded the country’s National Symphonic Orchestra. He lived there for four years and was the concertino and assistant conductor of this orchestra. In 1958, he moved to the USA and performed as a concertino in the city of Birmingham’s orchestra (Alabama) and as a professor of composition and instrumentation at Birmingham Southern College and University of Montevallo. He recived his master at University of Alabama. He died in Birmingham on 28th March 1968.

Lluís Benejam’s music flows forth from an open and vivacious spirit, susceptible to different influences. His work includes reminiscences of impressionism and jazz, incorporated in a personal way of understanding music: formally clear and with carefully fashioned themes, rhythmically solid sections, naturally shaped melodies, often narrative, and a harmony which evolves from a jazz-impressionistic conception towards polyinterval chords generated by the procedure of added notes and substitutions.
His work is the result of a professional, music-playing career. He wrote for his chord ensembles, which predominate in chamber music. Of the wind instruments, chamber and orchestral works are dedicated to the oboe, the trumpet and the saxophone.
The last 8 years of his life, spent in Birmingham (USA), afforded him a unique opportunity to produce most of his orchestral work, which he grasped. Montevallo University (Alabama) named its music library after Lluís Benejam, in recognition of his artistic work. His manuscripts are stored there.
His entire work is published by Clivis Publicacions of Barcelona.