Precision & Passion

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Merci, Monsieur Bartley. I was born in 1875 in the little town of Ciboure, in the Basque country of southwestern France. My father was an inventive man, an engineer with a passion for mechanics. My mother was of Basque and Spanish descent, and it was from her that I inherited my love of Spanish rhythms and colors. Those two influences—precision and passion—shaped me from the beginning.

That’s fascinating—the mechanical precision of your father and the Spanish warmth of your mother. Did music enter your life early?

Very early. I began piano lessons around the age of seven, though I must confess I was not a prodigy. I studied diligently, but what fascinated me most was sound itself—its clarity, its structure, its elegance. By the time I entered the Paris Conservatoire at fourteen, I was already dreaming of becoming a composer, though I was never the favorite student. In fact, I was often considered… how shall I put it… a bit stubborn.

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