Sarasate was born in Pamplona, the son of a military bandmaster. He gave his public debut at the age of eight, and studied first in Madrid and later at the Paris Conservatoire. He gave concert tours from 1859, playing throughout Europe and both North and South America. He died in Biarritz.
Sarasate's own compositions are mainly flashy show-pieces designed to demonstrate his exemplary technique. Perhaps the best known of his works is Zigeunerweisen (1878), a work for violin and orchestra. Another piece, the Carmen Fantasy (1883), also for violin and orchestra, makes use of themes from Georges Bizet's opera Carmen. He also made arrangements of a number of other composers' work for violin. In the early 20th century he made a small number of recordings.
James Whistler's Arrangement in Black: Pablo de Sarasate (1884) is a portrait of Sarasate.
While Pablo de Sarasate was indisputably one of the most prominent and successful violin virtuosos of the 19th century, his reputation as a composer has sometimes suffered due to his avoidance of the larger, more serious genres.
Sarasate favored the French repertory and an engaging style of performance, while Joachim's Germanic approach was more classical and refined, and focused on the conservative repertory.
Sarasate wrote Navarra as a tribute to his birthplace of Pamplona, the largest city in the Spanish part of the Navarre region (which extends across the border into France as well).
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