Born in Camprodón, Albeniz is well known for his piano works, which reflect the spirit of Spanish folk music. He was a child prodigy on the piano. At the age of 13 he left his parent's home, and started working as an itinerant pianist in Latin America.

He later returned to Europe and studied at the Brussels Conservatory (1875-78), with the Hungarian pianist-composer Franz Liszt (1878), and in 1883 with the Spanish nationalist composer Felipe Pedrell.

In 1892 he settled in Paris. His most famous composition is the evocative piano suite Iberia (1906-9), a virtuosic and musically complex work. His most notable nonpiano work is the opera Pepita Jiménez (1896).