Yradier, Sebastián de

(b Lanciego, Alava, 20 Jan 1809; d Vitoria, 6 Dec 1865).
Spanish composer.

He was appointed organist first of S Miguel Arcángel in Vitoria (1825) and then of S Juan Bautista, Salvatierra (1827), which he won through competition, gaining ‘marks in excess of highest quality’ in sight-reading, prepared works and accompaniment. He received a leave of absence of three or four months from S Juan Bautista in July 1833, but never returned. In 1839 he was appointed to teach solfège at the Madrid Conservatory, a post he held until 1851, when he was succeeded by Juan Castellano.

In 1847 he collaborated with Cristóbal Oudrid and Luis Cepeda in the production of the zarzuela La pradera del Canal. In Paris, in 1855, he taught singing to the Spanish-born Empress Eugénie. His Spanish songs, many exploiting the Cuban habanera rhythm, became immensely successful in both Europe and the Americas, and were performed by such famous singers as Viardot and Patti. La paloma (Madrid, 1859, Paris, 1864) remains perhaps the most popular Spanish song ever written. Bizet adapted his song El arreglito for the habanera in the first act of Carmen; apparently he thought it was a folksong. On learning his mistake – it had been published in a French translation, along with 24 other songs, in Iradier’s Fleurs d’Espagne (Paris, 1864) – he added a note in the vocal score of Carmen acknowledging the source.