Granados

“Spirit of the Living God”

Improvisation

Granados was delighted to come to New York to see his opera Goyescas at the Metropolitan, but it was done so poorly that it gave him more pain than pleasure. He was, however, quite happy with the money he received for it. On account of the war (WWI) he was afraid to accept checks or banknotes and took all his compensation in the form of gold which he wore in a belt under his clothes. Shortly afterwards, he was invited to perform a piano recital for President Woodrow Wilson. Accepting the recital invitation caused him and his wife to miss their boat back to Spain, so they took a ship to England instead. Then they took a ferry across the English Channel to France which was torpedoed by a German U-boat. Seeing his wife flailing in the water, Granados jumped out of his lifeboat to save her, and pulled down by the weight of gold in his belt they both drowned.