Federico García Lorca & Fernando de los Ríos

The first time that Fernando & Federico met, Fernando was director of the cultural centre of Granada as once Federico went in & played at the piano a piece of Beethoven. Federico was about 15 years old. Fernando was in his working desk...& needed to get out to see who was playing music so beautifully... Federico began to visit Fernando regularly...Their friendship never ended. Fernando was 10 years older than Federico. Later he became his law proffesor & helped him to finish his law studies. Knowing Federico very well, Fernando was the one to convince the father of Federico to allow him to go to Madrid & live the cultural ambiente of the capital, it could help the literary development of Federico, as well as goint to a biger city, more opened ambiente. 1929 as Federico went into depression (love pains) Fernando spoke to the father of Federico...it could be a good idea that Federico went out of Spain for a while...Fernando was invited to give some conferences in New York, he would take Federico & arrange a room at the Columbia University of N.Y. Federico stayed between Ney York & Cuba about one year long. He wrote "Poet in New York" Fernando was Minister of Justice & later Minister of Education...again their lives crossed. Fernando impulsed a Clasical Theater Company which was going to be directed by Federico which aim was to bring classical pieces of spanish theater to all the rural areas of Spain... La Barraca. During the Civil war, Federico was fussilated & Fernando went into exile. Fernando managed that one by one all the family members of Federico could leave Spain to New York. sisters, brother, nephews & as well mother & father (86 years old as he took the ship to N.Y.) They lived first at home by Fernando. Francisco, brother of Federico married finally the only daughter of Fernando in the States, they had three girls, one of which, the youngest is today the director of the Legacy foundation of Federico García Lorca. She is Laura García-Lorca de los Ríos