Biography of Pablo Sarasate

Born Pablo Martín Melitón de Sarasate y Navascuéz in Pamplona, in the Spanish province of Navarre, on 10 March 1844, Pablo began studying violin at the age of five with his father, an artillery bandmaster. Later he took lessons from a local teacher. He gave his first concert at La Caruña when he was only eight years old.

Having been received with enthusiasm by his early audiences, Pablo was provided funding by a wealthy patron so that his parents could take him to Madrid to study with Manuel Rodríguez Saez. It was not long after his arrival that the young violinist became a favorite performer at the court of Queen Isabel II.

When Pablo was twelve, his mother decided to take him to Paris to study with the famous teacher Jean Alard at the Paris Conservatoire. The lad and his mother boarded a train for Paris, but tragedy befell them soon after they had crossed the French border. Pablo's mother was seized by a heart att