Mr. Arrillaga was born in 1848 at Iolosa in the Province of Guipuzcoa,
Spain, and at the age of ten began the study of music in the old
Spanish fashion, with a solfeggio master who employed no instrumental
accompaniment whatever. In the course of a year he had fully mastered
all that could be taught him by his master. He then began the study of
the piano as a recreation, his teacher being D.E. Aguayo, organist of
the parish church. He attended school, both in Spain and France, until
the age of sixteen, when, having decided to pursue the musical art as
a profession, he was sent to the Royal Conservatory at Madrid, where
he became the pupil of Don M. Mendizabal in piano, Don R. Hermando in
harmony and Dr. H. Esloa in counterpoint. At the close of three years
he was graduated with the highest honors, having obtained the first
prize at the public examination and being decorated with the gold
medal of the university, which was conferred on him by Queen Isabella
(the second). In 1867 Senor Arrillaga went to Paris, where he studied
at the conservatory and also took private lessons. At the age of
twenty-one he was seized with a desire to travel and, after a sojourn
in several South American cities and in the Antilles, he came to this
country.
At San Jose de Costa Rica he remained for five years and he would in
all probability have made his home at that delightful place, as he had
every inducement offered him to do so, had not the climate of the
tropics shattered his health. This compelled him to seek a more
congenial locality, and in 1875 he departed for San Francisco, where
he has since resided. In all the places where he has resided or
visited he has given concerts with marked success, his playing being
particularly admired for the elegant and graceful style and his facile
technique. When Carlotta Patti visited the Pacific coast she
especially engaged him to act as her accompanist for her concert tour.
Although his time has mainly been devoted to teaching, he has found
opportunity to do clever and characteristic work as a composer.
Conspicuously successful have been his "Gata and Danga Habanera" and
his "Trip to Spain," the latter being for piano and orchestra. He has
written many piano compositions, two masses and a great deal of church
music, generally distinguished for its imaginative and musicianly
qualities. As a teacher, Senor Arrillaga has been remarkably
successful, and during his long sojourn in San Francisco he has
gathered about him a large coterie of pupils, to whom he is guide in
art and a valued personal friend.
[From "A Hundred Years of Music in America," published in 1889,
Chicago, by G.L. Howe and W.S.B. Matthews.]