16 Facts About Guillermo Morphy

Guillermo Morphy y Ferriz de Guzman, best known as Conde de Morphy or Count Morphy was a Spanish aristocrat, music critic, musicologist, historian, educator, composer and politician.

Guillermo Morphy became personal secretary to King Alfonso XII of Spain in 1875.

Guillermo Morphy became a highly admired figure in artistic circles of late nineteenth century Madrid, and for his service to the Crown of Spain.

Guillermo Morphy was a friend of Isaac Albeniz, who he arranged a grant for to study at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels.

Guillermo Morphy served as director of the Royal Concert Society at the Teatro Real in Madrid until 1891.

Guillermo Morphy spent his childhood traveling through France, Italy and Germany, among other countries, where he had a European renaissance education becoming a lover of art and literature.

Guillermo Morphy lived for two years in Germany between 1846 and 1848.

Guillermo Morphy moved to France to engage in musicology, and during the Franco-Prussian War he traveled to Vienna to be with Prince Alfonso.

Guillermo Morphy published several studies and translated into Spanish a biography of Beethoven, and in 1892 entered the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando.

Guillermo Morphy served as director of the Royal Concert Society at the Teatro Real in Madrid until 1891.

Guillermo Morphy was an acquaintance and benefactor of several notable musicians of the time, such as Tomas Breton, Pablo Casals and Isaac Albeniz.

The count was a close friend of Albeniz in particular and was highly enthusiastic towards his talent, and it was Guillermo Morphy who arranged for a grant for him to study at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels.

Guillermo Morphy arranged for violinist Enrique Fernandez Arbos to study under Henri Vieuxtemps in Brussels.

In late 1883, a number of musicians, led by Count Guillermo Morphy, sharing the same concerns regarding the regeneration of Spanish art, gathered together in a society in Madrid to found the Philharmonic Institute with the aim of offering musical training at the same level as other European centres.

From 1886 to 1895, the Count of Guillermo Morphy assumed a leading role as president of the Fine Arts section, he engaged with the activities of the society by giving lectures and by introducing the Ateneo to his own aesthetic principles, including his regenerationist agenda and his musical nationalism.

Guillermo Morphy extended invitations to some of the most relevant international figures and to a young generation of Spanish artists, with the intention of bringing the public closer to the European cultural scene.