Musical heritage | Cultural Heritage. Goverment of Catalonia.

Musical heritage

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"The best word is the one unsaid, as we all know, I am a man of few words and a musician of few notes". Frederic Mompou was defined as a shy and discreet man, something which can also be said of his delicate and intimate music, with influences of impressionism. He called it "silent music". This subtlety led him to be one of the most internationally recognised Catalan composers, particularly for his works for solo piano.

After his death in 1987, his widow, the pianist Carme Bravo, dedicated herself to making her husband’s work more widely known. Finally, in 2006 she founded - together with the Joventuts Musicals de Barcelona (Young Musicians of Barcelona) organisation and Joan Millà i Francolí  - the Frederic Mompou Foundation. Its aim has been to preserve, publicise and promote the study and dissemination of the work of Mompou, particularly among young people, for whom the musician held a special regard.

The headquarters of the Foundation is the flat where Mompou and his wife lived on the Passeig de Gràcia in Barcelona, which still houses his personal belongings. In addition, this organisation looks after part of the composer’s collection, among which there are several unpublished piano pieces, dated between 1911 and 1920, as well as some from the 1940s. The other part of the collection is housed in the Biblioteca de Catalunya (National Library of Catalonia). His piano is conserved in the Museu de la Música (Music Museum) in Barcelona.
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Built in 1847 on the Rambla of Barcelona, the Gran Teatre del Liceu was converted from its beginnings into a symbol of the emerging bourgeoisie of Barcelona and Catalonia.

The origin of the Liceu must be situated in the "Liceo Filarmónico Dramático Barcelona de SM la Reina Isabel II" (Barcelona Dramatic and Philharmonic Lyceum of HM Queen Isabel II), an organisation created to fill the need for a music conservatory in the city. The success of the initiative resulted in the construction of a new theatre, which was financed through commercial efforts: the boxes and seats were owned.

In its more than 150 years of history, it has seen three tragic events: the fire of 1861, the anarchist bomb of 1893, and the devastating fire of 1994. The last reconstruction, which lasted five years, has modernised the building, retaining as much as possible of its original essence. Notable is the Hall of Mirrors and its decoration of gilded and polychrome plaster mouldings.

With 2,292 seats, it is currently one of the largest opera houses in the world, and each year puts on more than forty opera performances, as well as dance, recitals, concerts and children's shows.

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As a social and popular phenomenon, the "festa sardanista" stands out for its ability to capture audiences and dancers. Just a floorboard in a square and a dozen chairs for the "Cobla" musicians.

In the popular Catalan folk dance, characterised by a circle formed by dancers holding hands, the music and melody are as important as the choreography, and have reachd a symphonic value all their own.

Most theories agree that the Sardana has its origin in pre-Roman or Greek dances and that the current dance is an interpretation of the "contrapàs", a liturgical dance from the nineteenth century.

The person responsible for its modernisation and popularisation was the musician Pep Ventura, who during the nineteenth century, changed the structure of the Sardana and introduced the tenor ensemble. Its character identity can be attributed to the leader of the Regionalist League, Francesc Cambo, who, at the beginning of the twentieth century, made the Sardana the "national dance of Catalonia".

Currently, there are 5,000 "sardanista" activities across the territory, including gatherings, dances, performances, concerts, composition contests and membership competitions.

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The musical heritage of Barcelona and Catalonia is immense, and one of the institutions that has done the most to conserve, study and disseminate it has been the Museu de la Música de Barcelona. Located on the second floor of the Auditorium, it has a collection of 2,000 musical instruments from all over the world and 10,000 sound documents received from legacies and donations. It is considered one of the most important music collections in Spain.

The permanent exhibition invites visitors to experience the world of music and to understand that instruments are the living documents of our past, full of meaning and information related to our musical heritage. On display along the route of the museum are more than 500 pieces, explained through audiovisual, sound and textual resources.

The itinerary for the exhibition enables the visitor to learn about the instruments through the history of music: from ancient civilisations, progressing on to the birth and diffusion of polyphony, Baroque, Classicism and Romanticism, until reaching the new colours and industry of sound in the 19th century and the new styles and new technologies of the 20th century.

String instruments are the most widely represented in the museum, with an outstanding collection of guitars and keyboard instruments. The museum also focuses, deservedly, on wind instruments, as they reflect the important Catalan construction tradition and its use in South American and Asian cultures.

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The musicians Lluís Millet and Amadeu Vives, founders of the Catalan Choral Society in 1891, commissioned Lluis Domenech i Montaner to construct a building as the headquarters of the organisation. However, they didn't want just any building, rather a unique building that would reflect the sentiment of the Catalan bourgeoisie of the late nineteenth century. On 23rd April, 1905, construction was started and the Barcelona high-society did not miss its opening on 9th February, 1908.

A particularly outstanding feature of the façade is the sculptural cluster representing Catalan popular music. Once inside, the visitor encounters main foyer, a baroque area full of colour, before they are presented with the real jewel of the building: the concert hall. Domenech i Montaner used a steel structure that supports the weight of construction in order to obtain a large, open and clean space. In addition, the ceiling is adorned with a large skylight in the shape of an inverted dome that represents a sun surrounded by female faces. The stage is the other big attraction of the hall, flanked by the most important sculptures of the building.

Domenech i Montaner designed a palace where architecture is combined with sculpture, joinery, marquetry, glasswork, mosaic and ceramics. This is what we know as a true work of art.

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The Pau Casals Museum is one of the most significant testimonies of the legacy of Pau Casals, one of the most universal Catalan musicians, who revolutionised the world through innovation in playing the cello.

The building it occupies is the Vil·la Casals, which the musician had built in 1910, on the seafront in Sant Salvador, El Vendrell. Originally designed as a summer house, it was renovated in the noucentista-style, along with the Music Room, the garden and the viewpoint. Casals lived there until 1939, when he had to go into exile and never returned.

In 1972, the musician and his wife, Marta Montañez, created the Fundació Pau Casals to conserve the heritage contained in their house in Sant Salvador. After his death, La Sala del Sentiment, La Sala de Concerts and La Sala del Vigatà were opened to the public and in 1976 the house was opened as a museum.

In the current museum, opened in 2001, the visitor can admire various sculptures, paintings, musical instruments, photographs, autographs, pieces of furniture and other personal belongings of the musician, in addition to participating in various activities aimed at the promotion and dissemination of music.