COMPOSING CATALONIA

COMPOSING, IN WHAT IS GENERICALLY REFERRED TO AS CLASSICAL MUSIC, HAS EVERYWHERE SUFFERED THE ONSLAUGHT OF PROFOUND FORMAL CONVULSIONS, ESPECIALLY SINCE THE END OF WORLDWAR 11. IN THE VARIED AND COMPLEX CORPUS THAT GOES TO MAKE UP CATALANMUSIC, THEREFORE, THE FIELD OF COMPOSING ALSO LACKS THE STRUCTURE IT NEEDS TO GIVE IT MORE OR LESS INTEGRATING GUIDELINES.

JAUME COMELLAS MUSICALSoClOLOGIST ROBERT GERHARD, 193 1

omposing, in what is generically writers, dramatists and, of course, mu- went into exile in London, thus break- referred to as classical music, sicians. ing a link with Catalonia that had enor- has everywhere suffered the There are two Catalan who, mous possibilities to offer. Once the onslaught of profound formal convul- in al1 certainty, belong to this group: war was over, Homs made an important sions, especially since the end of World Joaquim Homs (born , 1906) contribution with his presence in the War 11. In the varied and complex cor- and Xavier Montsalvatge (born Girona, Catalan musical desert, with formal pus that goes to make up Catalan mu- 19 1 1). Both musicians are undoubtedly principles to which he has kept up great sic, therefore, the field of composing leading references in the Catalan musi- loyalty. Al1 the same, his teaching has also lacks the structure it needs to give cal creation of the last decades. been limited to his work's capacity to it more or less integrating guidelines. Joaquim Homs was a student of Robert project itself and to promotional ini- For the sake of clarity, 1 ought to men- Gerhard (Valls, 1895 - Cambridge, tiatives of some importance, such as tion the two European cultural refer- 1970), a Catalan who intro- "Música Oberta" and "Club 49". entes on which the most elitist Catalan duced the atonalist and serialist renewal Xavier Montsalvatge, for his part, culture has tended to base itself: French of the Vienna school into Catalonia, es- transformed the profound and exclusive and Germanic. In fact, they are two pecially as regards the work of his for- Wagnerian leanings of his master Enric generic frames of reference which have mer master, Arnold Schonberg. Morera (1865 -1942) into a range of become landmarks attracting artists, As a result of the Civil War, Gerhard varied affinities marked by an evident MUSIC

JOAQUIM HOMS XAVIER MONSALVATGE CARLES GUINOVART

French spirit. The neoclassical influ- Guinjoan (1931); also, not directly in- tres Quadreny, already mentioned, and, ence is clear: it starts with Poulenc and fluenced by Taltabull, Lleonard Balada the oldest of the group, Joan Comellas Messiaen and takes off along exotic cen- (1935), Francesc Taverna (1 932), Salva- (1913). For his part, tral-American diversions -Antillian, to dor Pueyo (1 939, Narcís Bonet ( 1933) (1920-1984), one of the group's most be more precise- thereby constructing a and Jordi Cervelló (1935), who form an active members, was a pupil of Father series of affinities that has substantially important generational nucleus. Donostia. enriched the rough body of his work. A As regards the formal aspect and the Other generations have followed those professional musician thanks partly to characteristics of the work of these mu- already mentioned: the pupils of Josep the exercise of parallel activities -he is sicians, the lack of a broader temporal Soler -almost al1 of them born in the an important music critic-, Montsal- perspective makes it difficult to classify. fifties- and those who have opted for vatge's projection as leader of his gen- Whereas Josep Soler and Xavier Ben- electro-acoustics as the basis of their eration is reduced to the traces of his guerel could be said to represent the compositional system, thanks to the work, to the openness that reveals the more genuinely Germanic side, the teaching of Gabriel Brncic (born 1942). profound and subtle intelligence with work of Joan Guinjoan -who has had a Amongst the former, there is Benet Ca- which he manages to convert materials lot of contact with France- looks to Pa- sablancas (born 1956), Albert Llanas of different types into rich musical ris more than it does Vienna. On the (1957), Llorenc Balsach (1953), Joan pieces. other hand, Mestres Quadreny -with- Josep Olives (1 957), Albert Sarda (1 943), The generational delimitation becomes out leaving what we might cal1 the Carles Santos ( 1943) and Miquel Roger especially complex in the context of a "world of Taltabulln- has produced (1954). Amongst the latter, Josep Ma- country that has suffered a war that dis- fringe work, influenced by the experi- nuel Berenguer (1955), Lluís Callejo rupted al1 spheres of social activity. mental fever that grew out of the (1 930), Merck Capdevila (1 946), Oriol There were not only the three years of Darmstadt courses. These are no more Graus ( 1957), Jep Nuix (1 955), Eduard forced paralysis and exiles like that than pointers to a generational nucleus Polonio (1941), Jordi Russinyo1 (1956) of Gerhard, but also the long period of which is still fully active and which has and Claudi Zulian (1960). cultural isolation that Catalonia suf- fed a large part of post-war Catalan But there is also another complete fered until well into the fifties. composition. group of composers who are more diffi- However, it is possible to identify a new Between Xavier Montsalvatge and Joa- cult to classify. We have, for example, generation of musicians born in the quim Homs's generation and that of Carles Guinovart (1941), with an im- time of the Republic, between 1930 the musicians born during the years portant contribution to teaching, Joan and 1936. This group of musicians is of the Republic, there is a nucleus of Lluís Moraleda (1 943), also a conduc- marked by the teachings of Cristofol remarkable composers who llved in a tor, David Padrós (1942), who also Taltabull (1 888-1 964), a leading figure particularly difficult period when they teaches , Josep M. Brotons, in teaching in the post-war years. Talta- should, in fact, have been coming into trained partly in the United States, Er- bu11 -who spent 28 years in France, their own as creators. These musicians, nest Martínez Izquierdo (1962) and from 19 12 to 1940- was a pupil of Max who are some ten or fifteen years older Jesús Rodríguez Picó (1 953). Reger, for which reason he can be than their successors, came into the At a moment of great formal confusion, considered a kind of meeting-point bet- limelight of Catalan music through the at the height of the crisis of the concept ween the two influences mentioned ear- Manuel de Falla circle, which the of the avant-garde, it is difficult to lier, the French and the German. French Institute protected in the forties make out the historical importance of Amongst the representatives of this and fifties. Some of these musicians the work of al1 these musicians. generation and the pupils of Taltabull, also benefited from the teachings of However, we can safely say that Catalo- we might mention Josep Soler (born Taltabull. We might mention Josep Ca- nia today is going through a truly lively 1935), XavierBenguerel (193 l), Josep sanovas (born 1924), Angel Cerda period as regards musical creation, M. Mestres Quadreny (1929) and Joan ( 1 924), Josep Cercós ( 1 925- 1 990), Mes- which offers every hope for the future. i