ARRIAGA (Y BALZOLA), JUAN CRISSTOMO (JACOBO ANTONIO)

born Jan. 27, 1806, near Bilbao, Spain died Jan. 17, 1826, Paris, Fr. Spanish composer of extraordinary precocity whose potential was cut short by his early death. Stylistically, his music stands between the Classical tradition of Joseph Haydn and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and the Romanticism of Gioacchino Rossini and Franz Schubert; it shows abundant invention, freshness, and technical resourcefulness. After the success of his opera Los sclavos felices (produced 1820, Bilbao) and of an octet for French horn, strings, guitar, and piano, Arriaga enrolled in the Paris Conservatory, where by the age of 18 he became an assistant professor. His other compositions include three string quartets and a symphony.