José Elías

José Elías, full name Josep Elias i Verdaguer, was a Catalan organist and composer in the tiento tradition. He may have studied with Juan Cabanilles in Valencia but is first documented as organist in Barcelona at Sant Pere de les Puelles in 1712 and then at SS Justo y Pastor from 1715 to 1725, after which he moved to Madrid to become Capellan de su Majestad and principal organist of the Convent of Las Descalzas Reales. It is unknown whether Joseph Elias, organist from 1739 to 1741 at the Hieronymite monastery of El Parral was the same person.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article on José Elías.

From the period sources

The Spanish organist and chapel master D. Joseph Elias, who served the royal convent of Discalced Carmelites in Madrid, held a high opinion of his contemporary, D. Joseph Cavanillas, organist of Urgel Cathedral. According to Elias’s own manuscript work, Cavanillas surpassed other celebrated organists of the time in “dextérité, mécanisme et science” (Biographie universelle des musiciens, Vol. 2, 1883). Elias further recorded that Cavanillas was a prolific composer, stating that he himself had played over three hundred of Cavanillas’s pieces in his youth, and believed the total works exceeded eight hundred by Cavanillas’s death in 1725, due to his “génie fécond et de grand amour du travail.” Elias also noted that French audiences highly valued Cavanillas’s compositions, paying well for them, and that Cavanillas was frequently invited to play the organ in various cathedrals in southern France for solemn occasions (Biographie universelle des musiciens, Vol. 2, 1883).