The Gran Teatre del Liceu in Catalan Culture: History, Representation and Myth Charlie Allwood Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy 1 This thesis examines the position of Barcelona’s Gran Teatre del Liceu within Barcelona’s cultural lanscapeas a means of exploring its modern-day role as one of Europe’s most important opera houses. Other studies of the Liceu have provided extensive historical narratives, but have rarely considered any kind of sociological or cultural theory when analysing the theatre’s role in the city. Chapter 1 explores the Liceu in Spanish and Catalan literature and dramaturgy and questions its role as a representative of upper-class Barcelona culture, and the changes this role has undergone over the course of Spain’s transition to democracy. The Liceu’s location in the adjacent Raval district is examined in Chapter 2: the area has undergone considerable physical and demographic changes over the last decades, and the opera house’s relationship to this area and the larger Barcelona context is discussed in some detail. The third chapter contextualises the Liceu within the wider Catalan cultural panorama and examines the impact of the recession in Spain, which has greatly affected cultural spending, and consequently the theatre’s programme. This problem has been aggravated by an awkward, opaque system of management; the thesis provides examples and analysis of the difficulties the theatre experienced between 2010 and 2013. The final chapter seeks to underline the efforts of the artistic direction to make the Liceu a referent of modern European operatic productions, with three case studies of stagings that represent modern interpretations of opera by contemporary Catalan directors. These works have been chosen as representative of the Liceu’s determined modernisation of the operatic spectacle and of its commitment to local artists. The thesis aims to present a more critical view of Barcelona’s opera house that goes beyond chronological narrative and anecdote in depicting the modern-day situation of the institution and its place in the Barcelona context. 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS ....................................................................................................................3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..................................................................................................................5 LIST OF IMAGES ..............................................................................................................................6 INTRODUCTION ..............................................................................................................................6 CHAPTER 1: THE GRAN TEATRE DEL LICEU: A CULTURAL SURVEY ................................... 25 Barcelona: Industry and Class ................................................................................................................. 27 From the Galliner to the Llotja: Prestige and Class at the Liceu .............................................. 41 Panoramic visions of Barcelona: Edmondo de Amicis’s Spagna and Narcís Oller’s La febre d’or ............................................................................................................................................................ 44 Latter-day Liceu: Eduardo Mendoza’s La ciudad de los prodigios and Carlos Ruiz Zafón’s La sombra del viento ..................................................................................................................... 55 Modern psychogeographies: Lluïsa Cunillé’s Map of Shadows ............................................... 58 An inside and outside view of the Liceu: Other modern theatre ............................................ 67 Conclusion ......................................................................................................................................................... 71 CHAPTER 2: THE LICEU AND THE RAVAL: HISTORICAL LOCATION AND ............................. 73 CULTURAL LANDMARK .............................................................................................................. 73 Growth and Wealth: The Creation of 19th-century Barcelona ................................................ 74 Historical Locations: Space, Economics and Politics .................................................................... 77 The Process of the Liceu: Desamortización and Tender.............................................................. 84 Public and Private Theatres: The Liceu and the Palau de la Música Catalana ................ 91 The Liceu and its Surroundings: Theatre as Urban Nexus......................................................... 95 Madrid and the Teatro Real ...................................................................................................................... 99 CHAPTER 3: THE LICEU AND THE RAVAL: URBAN REGENERATION, RECONSTRUCTION AND POLITICAL THEATRES ..................................................................................................... 102 Culture as panacea: The Case of the Raval ...................................................................................... 106 The modern political theatres: Teatre Nacional de Catalunya and the Ciutat del Teatre .............................................................................................................................................................................. 120 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................................................... 124 CHAPTER 4: EL LICEU DE TOTS: MANAGEMENT, PROGRAMMING AND POLITICS ........... 127 Un teatre de veus: Refashioning the programming traditions of the Franco regime 129 3 El Liceu de tots: ‘de tots’ or ‘de tota la vida’ (‘Everybody’s Liceu ’ or ‘as it always has been’) ................................................................................................................................................................ 135 Culture Funding, Politics and the Liceu ........................................................................................... 142 The Liceu’s management structure .................................................................................................... 154 Modern money: the Liceu and the Recession ................................................................................ 161 Politics and Culture: Joan Francesc Marco and the Liceu ERE .............................................. 167 Joan Francesc Marco’s appearance at the Catalan Parliament ............................................. 177 Towards sustainability: the future of the Liceu ........................................................................... 180 CHAPTER 5: PRODUCING BARCELONA: CALIXTO BIEITO’S CARMEN (2010), LA FURA DELS BAUS’S LE GRAND MACABRE (2011) AND CAROL LÓPEZ’S COSÍ FUN TUTTE (2012) ..................................................................................................................................... 189 The Gran Teatre del Liceu: from opera house to concert hall ............................................... 190 ‘Una Carmen más madura’: Calixto Bieito and his return to the Liceu (2010) ............. 198 La Fura dels Baus: Contaminated bodies and Le Grand Macabre (2011) ........................ 216 Carol López’s Cosí FUN Tutte: Girls just want to have fun (2012) ....................................... 229 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................................... 241 THE GRAN TEATRE DEL LICEU: A CONCLUSION .................................................................. 243 Barcelona, Politics and Branding ........................................................................................................ 248 Communication and the Liceu: Future strategies ....................................................................... 252 The Future ...................................................................................................................................................... 257 BIBLIOGRAPHY ......................................................................................................................... 266 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This doctorate was funded by an Arts and Humanities Research Council Collaborative Doctoral Award with the Gran Teatre del Liceu and I am grateful to the AHRC for their support of this project. I would also like to thank my supervisors, Maria Delgado, for her tireless efforts, gracious patience and endless enthusiasm, and Jordi Larios, for his excellent humour and wisdom. I would like to give special thanks to my colleague Anna Wilson for her constant sympathy, company and encouragement over the last few years. I would also like to thank the staff of Queen Mary, University of London for their help and support during this project over the last four years. I would also like to thank the Gran Teatre del Liceu and Joan Matabosch for their help and assistance during the research period in Barcelona. 5 LIST OF IMAGES Figure 1. Archaeological map of Barcelona: Reconstruction of Medieval and Modern walls (Barcelona: Ajuntament de Barcelona, 2013), p. 82. Figure 2. Illustrative map of Barcelona showing Ciutat Vella, La Ribera and the defences around the Raval, Varia: Reconstruccions i deconstruccions <http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-D-ZWxl- _Q_w/UcF140usZkl/AAAAAAAACoo/Tc09hFDGjg0/s1600/barcelonas_xiv_.jpg>