Amadeo Vives was born at Collbató, near Montserrat, on November 18th 1871,Amadeo¹ Vives was an early pupil of Felipe Pedrell, the father figure of 20th Century Spanish music. Whilst studying in Barcelona with composer José Ribera, he helped found the influential Orféo Catalá (1891), a key element in Catalunya's musical renaissance. Madrid soon beckoned, and he lived the rest of his life there, first publishing a series of concert works, solo and much-loved choral songs - notably L'emigrant (1894), which became a rallying cry for Catalan exiles around the globe - before turning to the zarzuelas on which his reputation rests.