Nicolau Guanyabens i Giralt was a Catalan musician of remarkable character, an artist and a multi-faceted scientist who succeeded in all aspects. He was born in Mataró on 12 December 1826 in a large family of traders with an extensive tradition in the town. His father was a doctor who started out in homeopathy. His mother was born in Palma de Mallorca. He studied at the School of Piarists of Mataró where he would have met Josep Rius, the author of a work on translating operas into Spanish.
Guanyabens musical education became firmly established with Jaume Isern i Colomer (1798-1880). Ferdinand VII had granted Isern an allowance of 300 Ducats in order to protect his talent. He drafted teaching methods that were adopted from 1826 onwards at the London School for the Indigent Blind, and in Barcelona and Madrid. He was awarded the Large Silver Medal by the Royal Philanthropic Society of London.
Nicolau Guanyabens got married on 24 March 1851 in Mataró. His early preserved musical compositions began thereafter. His poetic works with four zarzuelas and one opera stand out, along with eleven choir pieces and a sufficiently substantial and successful number of songs in which he proved his pioneering role, as well as seven religious pieces. Of all of these, the premiere of the opera Arnaldo di Erill(1859), with libretto by Joan Cortada, at the Gran Teatre del Liceu has been inscribed in the collective memory. He is also credited with composing the barcarolle La Calma (1858), popularly known as La calma de la mar.
The name Guanyabens resounded ever increasingly among Barcelona musical circles alongside influential composers. He was associated with the journal El Lloyd español, a “maritime journal with commercial interests”. His political commitment to Republicanism is noteworthy. He coincided in the same ideological circles as Josep Anselm Clavé. He ran as a candidate for the Committee of the Federal Republican Party of Barcelona. He was a columnist for the newspaper El Liberal and in 1868 he composed a revolutionary choir piece: Correm-hi tots, which he signed with the pseudonyms N. Tortini and Fermí Arcon. His martial chorus Despertaferro (1870) was also revolutionary in nature. However, shortly after, he fully devoted himself to his medical practice. Since 1871, he often appeared referred to as a homeopathic doctor, also involved in projects that were not strangers to controversy. His move to Mallorca in 1874 interrupted his dedication to composition and drew him away from musical circles. In 1879 he became an activist in the Democratic Party. He died on 8 January 1889.