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Laura Adkins
HON 395
13 March 2012
Sociopolitical influences on the production and recognition of
Classical and Romantic orchestral music in Spain

Throughout the Classical and Romantic eras of music, composers from a handful of
countries dominated the landscape: France, Germany/Austria, Italy, and Russia. These countries,
along with Spain, were also prominent players in the cultural and political climate of Europe
during the 18th and 19th centuries. However, Spain produced a comparative lack of well-known
Romantic and Classical composers and therefore a distinct lack of Spanish orchestral works from
that time period.
Most major symphony orchestras today perform music from what is considered to be the
standard repertoire, the orchestral music canon. This canon includes almost exclusively music
from the 1740s onward, with special emphasis on the music of the 19th century. With the
exception of J.S. Bach and G.F. Handel, major orchestras almost never perform music from the
Baroque period or music affiliated with the Catholic Church (though the Churchs patronage did
lead to the creation of an astounding amount of music). The size and instrumentation of modern
orchestras is not typically consistent with the ensembles for which Baroque composers wrote,
and music for the Church typically relies heavily on vocal soloists and choirs. Modern symphony
orchestras perform with choirs relatively rarely. In the 18th and 19th centuries, we begin to see
orchestras that mirror the modern symphony orchestra.
Other European nations experienced the same Renaissance and Baroque periods that
Spain did, and felt the effects of the Church, yet they continued to produce music after those time
periods that has become classic, become part of the orchestral canon; Spain is conspicuous only
in its absence.
Why did Spain seemingly fall out of step with its European neighbors? Was there a lack of

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Spanish composers, and therefore Spanish music composed during the 18th and 19th centuries?
Or, was music written but then rejected by Spanish and/or wider European audiences? I will
investigate possible influences, both positive and negative, on the creation and performance of
instrumental art music in Spain during this time period.
Many of Spain's best-known composers lived during the Spanish Golden Age (approx.
1500 1650), a period of time in which the arts flourished. Spain's empire was ever-expanding,
and the sudden influx of precious metals from the New World meant that patronage of the arts
now came almost as naturally to the Spanish nobility as breathing. The music written during this
time in all of Europe falls into the Renaissance and Baroque periods. Furthermore, almost all of it
is associated in some way with the Catholic Church, and so relies heavily on vocalists rather than
instrumentalists.
Though the music of Spain's Golden Age is not within the parameters of today's most
popular performances, this does not explain the complete and utter lack of Spanish contributions
to the standard repertoire. Spains history does not stop after 1650, so it is initially surprising that
the countrys musical output seems to drop off.
Because the end of the 19th century marked a radical shift in political and social
philosophies and structures in Spain with the collapse of the Spanish empire, and the cultural
stirrings that would lead to the Franco's rule as well as significant and rapid changes in musical
aesthetics, I will end my investigation with the 19th century. Spain in the 20th century is a very
involved topic for another thesis.
In order to investigate these 200 years of music, I will first explain European instrumental
music typical of this time period, so that any Spanish music I describe can be viewed in a larger
context. Then, because music is a product and reflection of its environment, I will focus primarily
on the sociopolitical climate of Spain during the 18th and 19th centuries, with a brief introduction
to earlier Spanish history in order to contextualize later developments. Finally, I will examine the
careers of five Spanish composer/performers, so that the reader can see the specific effects that

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the sociopolitical climate had on individuals. I chose these case studies based on several criteria:
the amount of reliable documentation about them that was available; their backgrounds and
hometowns I wanted a wide range, due to Spains entrenched regionalism, which I will describe
in more detail later; and finally, the geographic locations each of these musicians worked, lived,
and visited again, I wanted a wide range, to effectively situate the impact of Spanish musicians
within the context of the European continent.
To complicate matters further, much of what we know about music of this time is
determined by the people who wrote about it. What historians choose to investigate, we learn.
What 16th - 19th century scribes chose to document, we consider to be fact. As an example, the
most prominent English-language music history textbooks place a strong emphasis on German
orchestral music, and Italian opera (Grout vi-x). While I cannot fully address the historiographical
issue in this thesis, I constantly try to see through that perspective. I am fully aware that I may not
have the complete picture, but I constantly look for sources and information to fill in the gaps.
To gather this information, I have consulted many secondary sources, as well as primary
sources, when available. The secondary sources include journal articles and dissertations, as well
as informational websites maintained by scholastic institutions. Many primary sources that would
have been helpful such as compendiums of articles by Spanish music critics, catalogs of the
musical libraries of prominent European patrons during the 18th and 19th centuries, programs of
concerts given by 18th and 19th century European orchestras, and Spanish-language music
encyclopedias/biographical dictionaries are either nonexistent or unavailable in this country. I
have been able to find some digitized versions of these, but they are few and far between, and
often incompletely digitized. I have used what I gained from the secondary sources to piece
together a more complete picture of musical life in Spain during the 18th and 19th centuries. In
other words, I have compiled research done on many specific topics into an overarching analysis,
citing specifically the most prominent themes and most likely reasons for Spains absence from
the standard orchestral repertoire.

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An introduction to 18th and 19th century high music

The term classical is loaded word. It has a multitude of meanings depending on the
context, and each musician, music theorist, historian, etc. seems to use the word to mean a
something different. For the sake of clarity, I will use the phrase high music in this essay, by
which I mean music that entertained members of high culture: nobility, royalty, major patrons.
This does not include folk or regional musics, like flamenco. These musics are not unworthy of
study; they have, in fact, already been well documented, and I am interested in exploring the
less-documented world of instrumental art music in Spain during this time period.
The 18th century give or take a few years is known as the Classical Era of music. (It
should be noted that Spain, perhaps due to its geographical isolation, or perhaps for other
reasons entirely, always seemed to be a few years behind the rest of Europe in terms of
development of tastes and styles. So, a Spanish composer's stylistic contemporaries may not quite
be his chronological contemporaries.) During this time, importance was placed on the restraint of
emotion, as opposed to melodrama (Sadie). Musical audiences expected and respected
demonstrations of great technique, but without the overly florid ornamentation of the earlier
Baroque period.
Popular Classical composers, like Mozart and Haydn, developed very standardized, easily
recognizable genres like the string quartet, the symphony, and the multi-act opera. The pieces
within these genres followed very standardized forms that developed during this era, like ternary
forms, rondo, and sonata-allegro (Grout 510).
Orchestras during this period consisted of a
relatively small string section (approximately 10-12 violins, 4-6 violas, 4-6 cellos, 2 basses), a
smattering of woodwinds (at most, 2 each of flutes, oboes, clarinets, and bassoons), and
occasionally a small number of brass instruments (1 or 2 trumpets, 1 or 2 horns).
In contrast, the 19th century known as the Romantic Era placed importance on
expression of the self. Less emphasis was put on following a standardized form, though the

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influence of the 18th century precedent was still palpable. In order to break the rules, after all,
one must have rules to break. Music and art in general became a tool to share one's soul and to
move the souls of others (Taruskin). The Romantic composers, like Brahms, Schumann, Chopin,
and Berlioz, did not necessarily write using the same forms as their Classical counterparts, but
they did generally write for the same types of ensembles, the same genres (Grout 633).
Romantic orchestras vary widely with the specific piece and composer, but as a general
rule, they are significantly larger than Classical orchestras, and represent the typical symphony
orchestra today. The string sections are full (as many as 30 violins, 16 violas, 14 cellos, 6-8 basses),
the woodwinds almost always include some combination of primary and auxiliary instruments
(piccolo, English horn, bass clarinet, contrabassoon), the brass sections are full and include low
instruments (trombones and tuba, in additions to horns and trumpets), and the use of percussion
is greatly increased. The larger orchestras reflected the increased melodrama and expression
sought by composers (Grout 634).
The most inclusive of these genres is chamber music, pieces played by a group of
(roughly) 2-8 musicians the most prevalent is the string quartet. Chamber music usually served
to set the mood for the parties of nobility or upper class society. It was therefore performed in
smaller rooms as opposed to grand concert halls (Sadie). The audiences were also smaller - the
guests of the party, and even a large party does not have nearly the number of people in
attendance as a concert at a grand hall. Chamber music works from the 18th and 19th century are
typically multi-movement, and are often based on lighter material, like dances (Subir 181). Even
more dramatic, Romantic works still do not reach the heights of completely involved melodrama
that only pieces written for large ensembles can.
The symphony as we know it today came into being during the Classical Era. It typically
consists of four movements though some later Romantic composers wrote symphonies in five
movements and each movement follows a particular form (Grout 511). Even the smallest
Classical Era orchestra still involved a significant number of performers, and therefore a significant

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expense, making these pieces only feasible in large concert halls that could sell many tickets, or
through the patronage of high nobility who typically had large courts and more disposable
income. By the late Romantic Era, symphonies were performed almost exclusively in public
concert halls as commercial ventures, as opposed to being under the patronage of the upper class
(Grout 648).
The last basic genre of 18th and 19th century music that I will discuss is the opera.
Symphonies require large scale spaces because of the number of performers involved; operas
demand enormous amounts of time and resources because of not only the number of
performers, but also the theatrical aspects involved: staging, set design, costumes, etc. Operas
need wealthy investors or patrons of high nobility to produce them.
Operas of the 18th and 19th century are multi-act productions that are usually entirely
sung. Occasionally a brief amount of spoken dialogue may be included, but the vast majority of
opera from this time period is exclusively musical (Grout 307). Opera originated in Italy in the late
Renaissance/early Baroque period and subsequently spread throughout the rest of Europe (Grout
308). Many countries put their own cultural influences into opera and developed unique national
styles, including Spain to a certain extent.
While the grand, dramatic, serious Italian operas retained popularity in Spain throughout
much of the 18th and 19th centuries (Martn Moreno 22), the
zarzuela
began to compete for that
popularity and established itself as a distinctly Spanish musical form. Favored by the rising
bourgeois class for its fusion of the cultured and the profane,
zarzuelas
are still popular in Spain
today (Lamas 48). Unlike French, German, and of course, Italian opera however,
zarzuela
did not
spread beyond its country of origin.
Zarzuelas
mirror operas in their staging, but the story lines are often light-hearted rather
than dramatic, and the music is frequently interspersed with spoken dialogue. Meant more as
light entertainment than as grand productions,
zarzuelas,
particularly during the Romantic era,
were often finished in a single act, as opposed to the lengthy multiple acts of dramatic opera

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(Alier and Stein para 21).

Across all of these genres, music of the 18th and 19th centuries generally follows the
typical rules of tonality, meaning that a piece stays within the context of a single key (for example,
B Major). While it may venture into related keys, these tonal relationships are always clearly
recognizable to the listener. The music has a home base note, a point of relaxation around
which to build tension.
Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, European culture placed a heavy emphasis on
the Italian musical tradition (Garca Mallo 165). Indeed, most written terms used in musical scores
from the Classical and Romantic eras are in Italian. Toward the end of the 19th century perhaps
influenced by the onset of nationalism there is in increasing emphasis on French, and
particularly German musical traditions. Composers from these nations begin to mark their scores
in their native languages, and many music patrons begin to favor the darker, somewhat more
angst-filled German sound and style (Garca Mallo 170).

A history of Spain as it relates to the creation and performance of high music

Spain has a long history of regionalism and division. The county as it is known it today
occupying most of the Iberian peninsula up to the Pyrenees came into existence after the
marriage of Isabella to Ferdinand in 1469. In addition to internal division, Spain also has a history
of trans-European politics of controlling other regions, like southern Italy, and of sharing
monarchs. Spain and Portugal were united under one king for almost 60 years, and Spanish
monarchs throughout the 16th-19th centuries had close, familial ties to monarchs in England,
Austria/Germany, and France.
These ever-changing European connections, coupled with Spains internal divisions played
a significant role in a seemingly constant political instability, particularly in the 19th century. By
looking at Spain since its inception, one can clearly see a cycle of prosperity and destruction, of
peace and war both international and domestic. As one approaches the 19th century, the

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periods of the cycle become ever shorter, and ever more skewed. Periods of war and destruction
occur more frequently and last longer than the uneasy peaces that intersperse them.
After the marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella (the monarchs who expelled the Moors from
Spain and sent Columbus to the New World), the Habsburgs tied themselves to Spain. The
Habsburgs were the leaders of the Holy Roman Empire, of Austrian descent; they entered Spanish
society through marriage. Ferdinand and Isabella's daughter, Juana, married the Habsburg
emperor. She unexpectedly became first in the line of succession in Spain after the death of
Ferdinand and Isabellas only male heir (LaLonde para 3).
Juana's half-Habsburg descendants ruled Spain, and its holdings in southern Italy, for
approximately the next 200 years (Solsten and Meditz, Ferdinand and Isabella). For much of this
time, the Habsburg monarchs governed Spain with a system of advisory councils, more like a
confederation than a centralized hierarchy. Spain's power military and political led it to
become the gold standard for the rest of Europe:
Well into the seventeenth century, music, art,
literature, theater, dress, and manners from Spain's Golden Age were admired and imitated; they
set a standard by which the rest of Europe measured its culture (Solsten and Meditz, Charles V
and Philip II para 6). Spains Golden Age musical standards, however, do not reflect the tastes of
modern orchestras. While other major European players seem to have taken Spains musical
influence and run with it, Spain did not keep up. Its musical influence waned.
The kings in power in the first half of the 17th century
proved to be incompetent and
unable to manage the entire monarchy. Their advisors gained power and attempted to set up a
centralized authority, following the models of other European nations of the time, particularly
France. This attempt caused a strong backlash among the ethnically diverse and divided
populations of the Iberian Peninsula. Catalua openly revolted, and Andalusia attempted to
secede (Solsten and Meditz, Spain in Decline).
The last Habsburg king,
Charles II, came to power in 1665. He remained childless and in
1700 passed Spain on to his nephew, Philip V, a Bourbon related to the king of France (Gascoigne

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para 1). Despite their shortcomings as political and diplomatic leaders, the Habsburg rulers were
great patrons of the arts. Spain's Golden Age occurred during their rule: in particular, painting and
church music flourished, and the effects of these innovations were felt in much of Europe for
many years after (Solsten and Meditz, The Golden Age).
The fall of the Habsburgs created a crisis in Spain and its neighboring countries. Thus
began the War of Spanish Succession (Payne, A History of Spain and Portugal 15). During this
war, not only did other countries in Europe fight to influence Spanish succession, the different
regions of Spain were divided in their support. Catalua in particular opposed Philip V out of a
fear of the centralized government that he promised (Payne, Nationalism, Regionalism, and
Micronationalism in Spain 480). The war, both external and internal, ended in 1714 with the
recognition of the foreign Bourbon king Philip V (Gascoigne para 5).
Under the influence of French and Italian advisors, Philip V and later his son, Charles III
built a centralized government. He revoked many of the rights of provinces, in favor of an
absolutist rule originating from Madrid. Spain became a political protg of France, strengthening
ties and often filling a subservient role (Solsten and Meditz, The Enlightenment). Reforms were
made to modernize the Spanish economy and government, which led to a period of relative
prosperity (Solsten and Meditz, The Enlightenment). However, many of these reforms were to
be undone by the unstable Charles IV, who took the throne in 1788.
From this point until the end of the 19th century, we see almost constant instability in
Spain. Historical documents show frequent changes of power, influence and interference from
other European nations, many resource-intensive wars among Spain's regions, between the
motherland and its colonies, and with other European nations and a rocky liberalization of the
government that weakened some of high music's strongest traditional patrons, like the Catholic
Church (Boyd 73).
The effects of this instability on the creation and promulgation of high music in Spain are
difficult to fully document. Because of the diversity of the country, and therefore the diversity of

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composers and musicians, it is difficult to paint an overarching picture of which events

encouraged or discouraged the high music culture. However, I will describe the most prominent
issues in Spain in the late 18th and 19th centuries in the hopes that this might shed some light on
what might have contributed to the lack of Spanish high music in the standard repertoire of
today's instrumental ensembles.
The first and perhaps most destabilizing issue is that no one person held power for any
significant length of time. While Napoleon set this precedent by briefly installing his brother as
the Spanish King, the greatest and most prolonged instability occurred during the rule of Queen
Isabella II (granddaughter of Charles IV). Her father (Ferdinand VII), fearing the reactionary views
of his brother Infante Carlos, declared that Isabella should succeed him to the throne. Having
inherited said throne at the age of 3, Isabella's regents ruled for her for 10 years. Her mother,
Maria Cristina, successfully suppressed Infante Carlos' first attempt to gain the throne by force
though it took 6 years but was then forced out of the regency by her own general, who took
over the government. His reforms caused controversy and he was overthrown by another general
after being in power only a few years (Solsten and Meditz, Liberal Ascendancy).
When Isabella came of age, she only ushered in more frequent changes in power. She
constantly sacked and re-hired heads of government throughout her entire reign. None of them
lasted more than a few years. She did, however, manage to found a public Royal Conservatory in
Madrid in 1830 on the European conservatory model first established in Paris. Yet it did not
become well-established until a decade or so after its founding, probably due to the instability of
the country and the monarch that created it (Rey).
There were multiple attempted coups against Isabella, two of which succeeded in
removing her head of government, and the last of which the 1868 Glorious Revolution
succeeded in removing her from power entirely. Spain then underwent two years of revolution
and anarchy (Ruiz Corts). In 1870, the
cortes
legislative bodies formed by common citizens
chose the Italian Prince Amadeo to become Spain's new king. He bravely tried to bring all the

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diverse political ideologies together diplomatically. In 1873 he fled Spain, declaring it to be

un-governable (Solsten and Meditz, Liberal Rule).
Spain's problems were worsened by the fact that these shifts of power were not smooth
each represented a strong, sometimes complete, shift in government policies. Charles IV's
reversal of his father's policies would be a hallmark of his rule, and of the 19th century Spanish
government that followed him. He initially sided against France in the Napoleonic Wars, only to
be defeated in battle and therefore convinced to again strengthen ties with its northern neighbor
(Solsten and Meditz, The Napoleonic Era). As another example, Queen Isabella II's constant
cycling through conservative, liberal,
moderado
(moderate), and
progresista
(progressive) heads
of government only fanned the flames of the ever-increasing chagrin of her citizens (Boyd 100).
Because of Spain's instability, other European nations became involved on repeated
occasions, spreading their influence over the Iberian Peninsula. Already a foreign king, the
Bourbon Charles IV abdicated in 1808 and his son, Ferdinand VII assumed the throne, still in an
uncertain opposition of Napoleon. During his rise to power in France, Napoleon quickly became
disenchanted with the inconstant Bourbon monarchs, and sent his brother, Joseph, to invade
Madrid and become the new king, which he accomplished in July 1808 (Solsten and Meditz, The
Napoleonic Era). The Spanish citizens were immediately opposed to this new puppet monarch,
and a nationalistic sense of a unified Spain began to form. This nationalism led Spanish citizens to
form the
cortes
, which drafted a constitution in 1812 (Solsten and Meditz, The Cadiz Cortes).
After a military revolt that forced King Ferdinand VII to accept the 1812 constitution, Spain was
ruled by a liberal government from 1820 1823. This made other European nations wary, and
France eventually stepped in to restore Ferdinand VII as an absolute monarch (Payne, A History
of Spain and Portugal 16).
The strong influence of other European nations, helped by the ties of the Bourbon
monarchs to France (i.e. that they were essentially French), contributed to the unrest and
backlash that destabilized Spain in the 18th and 19th centuries. Because of this resistance to the

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modernization attempts that the monarchs made, much of the rest of Europe began to see
Spain as backward, or behind-the-times (Christofordis 112).
External interferences led to military struggles between Spain and other European
nations. In addition to foreign wars, Spain also fought many internal battles during the 19th
century. The fighting occurred both among the many Spanish regions, and between the Spanish
colonies and the motherland. None of these conflicts were resolved quickly or easily; all of them
had multiple stages of fighting and vacillation. The War of Spanish Independence from
Napoleon's France succeeded in 1812, but was extremely bloody (Solsten and Meditz, The
Napoleonic Era). Spain lost nearly all of its colonies during the 19th century, though not for lack
of trying. The government sent multiple armadas across the Atlantic with the goal of suppressing
the spreading rebellion, but all of the voyages were ultimately unsuccessful (Payne, A History of
Spain and Portugal 16).
Isabella's son, King Alfonso XII, was crowned 1874. With him, the Spanish people saw an
opportunity for stability, and for a real constitutional monarchy (Solsten and Meditz, The
Constitutional Monarchy). Alfonso XII established
turnos
a system in which liberals and
conservatives would take turns heading the government. This was as much stability as Spain had
known in the 19th century, and it produced relative progress until the very end of 19th century
(Gascoigne para 17).
Spain in the 18th and 19th century constantly made new policies and then reversed them
after a few years at the most, and a few weeks at the least. This extreme lack of significant stable
periods perhaps encouraged the exodus of composers and musicians, many of whom completed
their musical education outside of Spain. Close ties with Italy and France would have facilitated
their travels abroad.
In addition to the constant changes in government and policy, Spain was drained
financially and intellectually because of constant political uprisings and wars at home and abroad.
This constant state of fighting took away the ability and resources needed to support anything

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other than basic necessities (Payne, A History of Spain and Portugal 16). Monarchs did not have
time, or perhaps presence of mind, to establish a pattern of supporting their artistic tastes.
The artistic tastes of monarchs and nobility were particularly important in Spain because
much of the wealth was concentrated in the royalty, and high nobility. Thus, their continued
patronage would have been necessary to support musicians and composers. The constant
instability negatively affected arts patronage. Because of the extreme inequalities in the
distribution of wealth, Spain did not have the middle classes that other European nations
developed, so public concerts did not occur nearly as frequently (Payne A History of Spain and
Portugal 16). Musicians and composers that could not find a wealthy patron mostly likely would
have had to leave Spain in order to put on public concerts.
The Catholic Church also held much of wealth in Spain until the government began to
seize Church lands for redistribution in 1835, using a decree known as
la desamortizacin de
Mendizbal
(Payne A History of Spain and Portugal 16). While the Church was a significant
source of patronage up to this point and even beyond, to a lesser extent I have already
discussed that music written for church almost never made its way into the orchestral canon.
Political and cultural instability can have a generally negative effect on support for music
take, for example, modern American schools' constant battles with economic instability and the
funding of arts programs. However, each region of Spain felt different effects of political and
social upheaval. Just because Catalua openly revolted against a new government does not mean
that Madrid and its surrounding areas became a battle ground. Musical creation, study, and
performance have different histories within each region, making overarching claims very difficult
to formulate. While the ethnic and geographic diversity of Spain produced a unique society with
the capacity to create an exceptionally rich culture, this diversity and the conflicts it caused,
both in the day-to-day operations of the country and in the philosophical direction of the nation
were ultimately more problematic than productive.

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The life of 18th & 19th century Spanish musicians through selected case studies
Each of the following case studies reflects major trends in the culture and climate of
classical instrumental music in Spain in the 18th and 19th centuries. Many of these composers
studied abroad, principally in Italy or France. Those that were educated in Spain studied at the
Montserrat monastery in Catalua. Judging by their education beginning at an early age, they
were from fairly well-to-do families, who could afford to pay private teachers, and who could
afford travel expenses. Many of them in addition to traveling abroad for education were
touring musicians, performing in Europe and elsewhere.
Patronage is a part of many of the stories of these musicians, but many of them also
branch into commercially-funded performances: subscription series, public concerts, etc. Given
the frequent political upheaval in Spain during the 18th and 19th century, it follows that noble
support for the arts would be limited, leading musicians to find different ways of supporting
themselves.
Soler
Antonio Francisco Javier Jose Soler Ramos was a Catalan composer, monk, and priest
during the early Classical era. He is also known as Padre Antonio Soler. He began his studies at the
Monastery of Montserrat, in Catalua, even singing in the famed boys choir, the Escolana (Izumi
para 2). He began his musical studies there under Benito Esteve, the music director at the time.
He took up organ under the tutelage of Benito Valls, the monastery's principal organist (Carroll 7).
After his studies, he held positions in the clergy and music faculty of several cathedrals in
Spain, and at the Royal Court in El Escorial, a historical residence of Spanish royalty northwest of
Madrid. His duties there included composing music for church services and visiting dignitaries, as
well as teaching piano and harpsichord to the children of the royal family (Carroll 4). During
Soler's time at El Escorial, the famed Italian composer Domenico Scarlatti visited for an extended
period. It is unclear whether or not Soler actually studied with Scarlatti, but his music certainly
shows Scarlatti's influence (Carroll 10). Soler spent most of his life in Spain and was dedicated to

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the church.
Soler produced approximately 500 works, many of which were keyboard sonatas. He also
composed many works for solo organ (Carroll 13). The rest of his compositions include concertos,
chamber works including organ, as well as many vocal compositions including motets, and
masses. He wrote a treatise on modulation in 1762,
Llave de la modulacin y antigedades de la
msica, en que se trata del fundamento necessario para saber modular
Keys to modulation and
antiques of music, in which are addressed the necessary fundamentals to modulate. Several
analytical articles and dissertations have been written about it, as well as at least one translation
into English. The full text is available at the Biblioteca Nacional de Espaa in Madrid.
From Soler, we see the influence of the Church on the musical culture of Spain. The abbey
at Montserrat was and is still a major center for musical learning (Mart Bonet). We can also
see that there was significant patronage from the Royal family in support of music because of
Soler's position at El Escorial. What Soler's appointment there does not show, however, is the
general political instability of that time. It seems that Soler worked at El Escorial during a period of
calm between storms.
The Pla Brothers
The Pla brothers - Joan Baptista (alt. Juan Bautista - 1720-1773) and Josep (alt. Jos 1728-1762) - were composers and touring chamber musicians of the early Classical era. They were
born in Catalua, and toured many of Europes major cities in their adult life. Both began
performing in the Madrid Royal Court in the 1740s. The two met Domenico Scarlatti during their
time there (Haakenson 83).
On recommendation from Scarlatti, Joan traveled to Lisbon to play for the royal court
there in 1747. Josep joined him shortly thereafter. After a few years in Lisbon, the two left for
Paris in 1751. There they performed in the Mercure de France and at the Royal Chapel. While in
France, it was noted in publications of the time that the Pla brothers did an excellent and
well-received job combining remarkable Italian music with the grace of French fashion

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(Haakenson 85).
After leaving Paris, the brothers promoted a subscription concert series in London with
violinist Giuseppe Passerini. There the brothers also had their first compositions published: a set
of trio-sonatas written for two treble instruments and basso continuo. In 1754, Joan left for
Germany, and Josep returned to Madrid (Haakenson 87).
Josep returned to playing in the Royal Court. Joan travelled to Stuttgart to play in the
court of the Duke of Wrttenberg, where he met many of the most famous performers of the
time. In 1759, Josep joined his brother playing for the court at Stuttgart. The two were granted a
leave of absence to tour Italy in 1762, stopping at Bologna and Padua. Shortly after returning to
Stuttgart, Josep died at the age of 34. Joan left Stuttgart - possibly returning to Spain to be with
his family after his brothers death (Haakenson 89). There is record of his playing a concert in Paris
in December of 1763, and then a record of his return to Stuttgart in 1765, where he stay for 3
more years.
In 1768, the dukes orchestra disbanded, probably due to a lack of finances. Joan returned
to London for several months, and then continued on to Lisbon, where he played in the court of
the Portuguese king until 1773 (Haakenson 91). After this date, there is little record of his travels.
Some sources imply that he travelled to Amsterdam, while others place him back in London.
The Pla brothers were well loved and well received in their time. It is alleged - though
unconfirmed - that even J.C. Bach plagiarized some of their works (Haakenson 92). Some of their
music is still in print today, though a significant lack of proper cataloging and record has limited
accessibility and perhaps popularity of their pieces.
The lives of the Pla brothers suggest several important aspects of musical life in Europe in
the late 18th century: first, the balance of patronage where wealthy, noble, or royal families
would pay musicians to live in their home, to compose, and perform private concerts and
commercial ventures. Though they had positions in a German court for many years, the brothers
also set up subscription series and public concerts in London and Paris, and perhaps other cities. It

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should be noted that there is no record of their giving public concerts in Spain, most likely due to
the lack of a public with enough money to support these concerts, as I discussed above. The Plas
demonstrate the shift between the two systems of musical support, and the lack of this shift in
Spain. This shift occurred in the rest of Europe in general during this time because of great shifts
in social structures: revolutions, increased democracy, larger middle classes, reduced power of
the upper classes; all of which meant that the greater (non-Spanish) public could, and would, pay
to attend cultural events.
Arriaga
Juan Cristosomo Jacobo Antiono de Arriaga y Balzola was, musically, a child prodigy, and
died very young, hence his seemingly ubiquitous nickname, the Spanish Mozart. (Much as I have
tried to identify the origin of this nickname, I have been unable to find a reliable source.) Born in
1806 in Basque country, Arriaga's first music teacher was his father. He later went to Paris and
studied composition under Fetis at the Conservatoire. He studied violin there as well, under Pierre
Baillot (Soto Cano 247). Both men were renowned as great pedagogues of the time.
He composed a relatively few number of works, but an astounding amount given that he
died in 1826 at the age of 19. His works span several different genres, demonstrating his
compositional versatility: he wrote several pieces of church music, some instrumental chamber
works, an opera, and a Symphony in D.
It is Arriaga's symphony that sets him apart, for several reasons. First, looking at the
compositional output of his Spanish contemporaries, symphonies are few and far between. This
could be partly because the cost and time associated with producing large-scale concert (like a
performance of a symphony) was too much for a society in a constant state of upheaval to
support (Lamas 49). Second, Arriaga's Symphony in D is unusual in its construction. The typical
18th century symphony chooses one tonality for example, A Major and then may have
sections in keys closely related to that original tonality for example, the subdominant D Major
(4th note of the A Major scale); the dominant E Major (5th note of the A Major scale); the relative

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minor key, f# minor (which has the same 8 notes, but begins on F# instead of A). However,
Arriaga's Symphony in D works through both D Major and d minor without really settling on one
key. Though it does include sections based in other tonalities, it is difficult to determine what role
these secondary tonalities play, given that the principal tonality of the piece is never truly clear
(Cassuto and Orquestra do Algarve).
There are many possible factors that could have contributed to Arriaga's unorthodox
compositional style. Because he died so young, it may have been that he did not know his style
was so unique. Furthermore, the time that he spent in Paris coincided with a very cosmopolitan
era many people from all over Europe lived and creatively worked there (Christoforidis 111).
In Arriaga's story, we see a much more cosmopolitan life. His studies in Paris would
certainly have given him a sense of the musical culture of the rest of Europe, as opposed to Soler,
who rarely if ever left Spain. Given Arriagas Basque upbringing, it is not surprising that he
studied in Paris. Basque country crosses the border between Spain and France, and Basque
culture is an entirely unique entity, separate from the cultures of Spain and France, so it is also
unsurprising that his music does not display any characteristic Spanish influence.
To further complicate the potential conclusions that could be drawn from his life,
Arriaga's nickname could suggest a multitude of things about his life, and about the musical
awareness of the nickname's originator. In the most historically optimistic perspective, it could
suggest that Arriaga was well known, even at an early age, to those who would also have been
acquainted with Mozart's music. This would mean that Arriaga's music was heard in central and
northern Europe often enough for the stylistic comparison to become apparent. It could also
mean that it was heard in Spain by those who would have heard Mozart's music often enough to
draw the comparison. Either way, it implies a significant amount of musical exchange between
Spain and central and northern Europe.
The nickname could also be the result of the fact that both composers died quite young,
after earning childhood-prodigy status. This comparison becomes even stronger because the two

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share the same birthdate, 50 years apart (Soto Cano 247).

If t
his is indeed the origin of Arriaga's
nickname, it does not necessarily imply exchange of the music itself between Spain and other
parts of Europe, though it does imply that Europeans did talk and write about this music to each
other. We can infer that either Spaniards had heard of Mozart, or that central and northern
Europeans had heard of Arriaga.

Arrieta
Pascual Emilio Arrieta y Corera was born in Spain in 1821. He spent much of his childhood
in Madrid, where he showed promise in his music lessons. He then took several trips to Italy, and
eventually spent four years at the Milan Conservatory, where he studied under Vaccai. He
befriended Amilcare Ponchielli (Webber). Like the people who influenced Arriaga in Paris, both of
these Italians were well-known musicians and composers of the time.
Upon completing his studies in Milan, he returned to Madrid, where he was instantly
favored by Queen Isabel II (Webber para 2). He served her in many roles, and she eventually
appointed him Composer Director of the
Teatro Real
(Royal Theater). There, many of his popular,
distinctly Italian operas premiered, many of which included libretti in Italian by Temistocle Solera.
Arrieta began teaching at the Madrid Conservatory in 1857, and his most notable pupil is
Ruberto Chap y Lorente. He directed the Conservatory after the Glorious Revolution of 1868, but
fell out of favor after the deposition of Queen Isabel II. He died in 1894 (Webber para 2).
As demonstrated and perhaps reinforced by his favor with the Queen, Arrieta was
musically and politically conservative, showing little interest in development of Spanish nationalist
styles and genres (Webber para 3). Though he did write several
zarzuelas
, they are Italianate in
style, and were criticized as an attempt to subvert the nationalist trend of combining high music
and popular culture. He stood in almost exact opposition to Francisco Asenjo Barbieri, a
prominent Spanish nationalist and
zarzuela
composer (Alier and Stein para 17).

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With Arrieta, as with Arriaga, we see a strong influence of non-Spanish styles of music.
Educated in Italy, Arrieta seems to have utilized that composition style throughout his entire
career, even when writing in the most characteristically Spanish genre:
zarzuela
. Given his favor
with the queen, and his employment at the Royal Conservatory, we can infer that the general
tastes of the upper class of the time were for Italian music, as opposed to the creation and
nurturing of a distinctly Spanish style.
This inference is further supported by Spanish music historian Garca Mallo's look at the
music library of Anselmo Gonzlez del Valle, a music collector and pianist. Born in Cuba to a
Cuban mother and a Spanish father, Gonzlez del Valle ended his piano career when he married in
1874. He settled his family in Oviedo, in northern Spain, and there amassed an incredible
collection of the popular music of the day (Garca Mallo 164).
Looking at the collection itself, Garca Mallo notes the prevalence of Italian music,
particularly for a small number of performers: voice and piano, guitar and voice, violin and piano,
etc. The collection also includes many variations on popular pieces for example, a set of arias
from a popular opera arranged and adapted for voice and piano, with newly composed variants of
the thematic material (Garca Mallo 165). Garca Mallo also notes the rise of popularity in German
music of the last quarter of the 19th century (171). While she does not give any direct cause for
this, there are many factors that could have contributed to the change, such as the Revolution of
1868 and a desire to reject the old status quo after the new government had settled in, or the
general increased appreciation for the Germanic tradition that began to occur at this time (Grout
750).
Nuo
Jaime Nuo Roca was born in 1824 in Catalua. He began studying music in his childhood,
and, because of the promise he showed, went to Italy to study with Mercadente, a prominent
pedagogue (Stevenson). He returned to Barcelona in 1851 after his studies, and there directed the
Queens Regiment Band. He traveled with the group to Cuba, where he met former Mexican

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President Antonio Santa Anna (Stevenson para 1).

In 1853, Santa Anna - again in power in Mexico - appointed Nuo to direct the Mexican
military bands. He also composed the Mexican national anthem during this time. After Santa
Annas downfall, Nuo moved to New York and began work as a conductor and opera director. He
toured the Americas with one of his opera productions. He then returned to Spain, and eventually
settled in New York (Stevenson para 2). Upon hearing of his whereabouts in 1901, Mexican
President Diaz invited him to Mexico and bestowed on him several honors and awards. Nuo
returned to New York and died there in 1908 (Anthemist Exhumed para 2).
Nuo's story, again, shows the prevalence of studying music abroad. Also educated in
Italy, Nuo eventually ventured to the New World. His success there came mostly from his
conducting and directing, perhaps demonstrating a lack of appreciation of his style of
composition. Nuo, like the Pla brothers, also exemplifies the shift from the patronage system to
a commercial system of public concerts and tours. And again, his decision to remain abroad
implies the existence of some shortcoming in the Spanish musical scene.
General patterns
The recurrence of musicians' studying and touring outside of Spain gives the impression
that there was not much work to be had in Spain itself, and that there was not with a few
exceptions a strong emphasis on musical education. The abbey at Montserrat of course
counters this idea, but it is one bastion of arts education in a country of otherwise dubious
support. The repeated sacking and burning of abbeys and monasteries during the Napoleonic
wars, and the seizure of Church lands by the various liberal governments further destroyed the
ability of these institutions to provide comprehensive musical education (Mart Bonet).
This also
could account for some of the difficulties I encountered in trying to find primary sources. It is
likely that many important church/monastery records and artifacts were destroyed along with the
buildings.
The Royal Conservatory of Madrid is another counterexample to the lack of musical

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education in Spain, but again, it was founded relatively late, in 1830, and did not gain significant
recognition until several years after that (Rey). As a result of the back-and-forth liberalization of
the Spanish government, the Jesuits were expelled from Spain and then re-instated several times
during the 19th century (Payne, A History of Spain and Portugal 16). The Jesuit focus on higher
education was therefore stunted in Spain, creating not only a lack of musically well-educated
citizens, but also a lack of generally well-educated ones. This may partially account for the trend
of sons from families of sufficient means studying abroad.
The recurrence of musicians and composers working abroad also emphasizes the lack of
work in Spain itself. Because of the concentration on wealth in the Church and royalty/high
nobility, and because of the constant upheavals faced by both of these institutions, arts
patronage in Spain was constantly in jeopardy during the 18th and 19th centuries. While these
musicians/composers could have worked outside of Spain simply because they had integrated
into the social circles of other countries during their musical studies abroad, it is likely that the
lack of good-paying work in Spain also contributed to their decisions to work elsewhere.
The lives of all the musicians mentioned above raise the question of why some composers
and performers enter the historical record, and the orchestral canon, and why some are left out.
It is difficult to make judgments about those who were left out simply because of the lack of
information about them. Could it be that those who left Spain to pursue a career in the rest of
Europe were more respected, and therefore better documented, by historians? Were they more
respected by the Spanish society of the time? Perhaps looked upon as a point of national pride?
Or was the issue only that there was no good work to be had in Spain, forcing top-caliber
musicians to search for better pay elsewhere? Were there records of other composers and
performers that were destroyed during the various years of political upheaval in Spain? These are
difficult, perhaps impossible questions to answer, but they provide a good framework for further
investigation.

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Conclusion
Though it is difficult to determine any sort of direct causal relationship between historical
events and the musical culture of Spain, it seems that several factors have a significant amount of
influence. As a general rule, political instability negatively affects support for the arts, and Spain
was a model of instability during the Classical and Romantic Eras, particularly in the later part of
the 19th century.
The pronounced regional diversity in Spain throughout its history seems to have
negatively impacted the creation of a unified, national style of Spanish music. This lack of
cohesion could have diminished the spread of Spanish music because anything that was produced
was done so without much context or background.
The issue is exacerbated today by the
tendency of current scholars to stay clear of strongly nationalistic research as a result of Francos
emphasis on creating a unified Spanish identity (Caballero Mengibar 6).
Spanish regionalism also frequently caused military conflict during the 18th and 19th
centuries, draining the government of resources. The military was stretched even further by wars
with European neighbors, as well as colonial uprisings in the Americas and the Philippines. Spain
lost almost its entire empire during this period. A constant state of war has much the same effect
on arts patronage as political instability.
The perpetually precarious state in which Spain found itself during the 18th and 19th
centuries simply was not conducive to great cultural output. Many composers and performers
studied and worked abroad, creating a lack of serious talent remaining in the country. What these
musicians did produce may not have been recognized as Spanish by the general public because,
after all, besides the
zarzuela
, high music does not appear to have inspired or centered on a
distinctly Spanish style. In the 20th century, a handful of Spanish composers Granados, De Falla,
and Albniz finally gained international recognition by using Spanish folk music as inspiration for
their compositions. They fit Spanish-ness into the genres and styles that European audiences
were used to hearing: principally orchestral and chamber pieces. Even in Spain itself during the

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18th and 19th centuries, before these composers made Spanish-ness more easily recognizable,
much of the upper class seems to have been more interested in the music en vogue in Italy,
Germany, or France, than in Spanish musical developments.
I qualify all of these statements with the ever-present challenge that investigating a topic
that is not well documented inevitably leaves room for doubt. Many sources that would have
been helpful were either nowhere to be found, or unavailable in this country. Further, more
in-depth research into Spanish high music of the 18th and 19th century will undoubtedly lead to
more solid conclusions.
The primary sources that would be most informative are articles by Spanish music critics,
catalogs of the musical libraries of prominent European patrons during the 18th and 19th
centuries, programs of concerts given by 18th and 19th century European orchestras,
Spanish-language music encyclopedias/biographical dictionaries, and letters or personal papers of
Spanish composers working both in Spain and abroad. Some of these sources are available
through the Biblioteca Nacional de Espaa in Madrid. Others of them if they exist may be
available in monasteries throughout Spain. The libraries or cultural institutions in composers'
hometowns may also have some of these documents. Relatively small amounts of these types
primary sources have been digitized to date.

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