Joaquin Rodrigo was born on November 22, 1901, in Sagunto, Valencia, Spain. He was blinded by complications from diphtheria when he was three years old. His condition did not improve after a surgery and then glaucoma blinded him completely. Rodrigo confessed without regret, that his blindness predisposed him to music. Young Rodrigo studied piano and violin at a school for blind from the age of eight. By the age of 20 Rodrigo became an accomplished pianist. His first compositions for piano were written in 1923 and premiered a year later. In 1927 Rodrigo moved to Paris. There he studied with 'Paul Dukas' . In 1933 Rodrigo married a young Turkish musician Victoria Kamhi. She became his life-long collaborator and contributor to his creativity until her death in 1997. Joaquin Rodrigo died on July 6, 1999, in Madrid, Spain, and was laid to rest next to his wife Victoria in the cemetery at Aranjuez, Spain.
