Music and the Reconstruction of Spanish Modernism by Fernández-Escárzaga, Amanda García;

Short description:

This book provides new critical insights into Spanish musical, artistic, and literary works produced between the concluding years of the nineteenth century and the initial decades of the twentieth century. This book will be of interest not only to music scholars but also those involved in art, literature, and philosophy.

Long description:

This book provides new critical insights into Spanish musical, artistic, and literary works produced between the concluding years of the nineteenth century and the initial decades of the twentieth century. Fernández-Escárzaga creates a conceptual map to assist in comprehending the multifarious aesthetic particularities of Spain at the turn of the century. The argument proceeds from two main musical works which share concepts based in art and literature: the opera Els Pirineus by Felipe Pedrell (1841–1922) and the Goyescas piano suite by Enrique Granados (1867–1916). Utilising the philosophy of José Ortega y Gasset (1883–1955) allows an understanding of how multiple cultural and compositional threads tie these works together. This methodological process challenges several long-held notions concerning the idea of Spain in music and the relationship between music and philosophy, and therefore broadens existing debates on Spanish modernist music. This book will be of interest not only to music scholars but also to those involved in art, literature, and philosophy.

This is one of the most intellectually sophisticated and conceptually significant books on Spanish music, and it will be of interest not only to music scholars but also those interested in art, literature, and philosophy.  It persuasively challenges several long-held notions concerning the relationship between Spanish music and philosophy; however, what further impresses the reader are the author's literary flair and ability to convey the complexities of this subject with verbal nuance.

Professor Walter Aaron Clark, University of California, Riverside.

Amanda García Fernández-Escárzaga has written a fine and extremely well-documented study of Felipe Pedrell’s Els Pirineus and Enrique Granados’s Goyescas, which she places within their historical and cultural context. Instead of reading them from a purely musical standpoint, she explores both works vis-à-vis Spanish modernist art, literature, and philosophy. This interdisciplinary approach proves to be extremely fruitful: in addition to providing a thorough and expert analysis of those two musical pieces, by placing music at the forefront of cultural discussion García Fernández-Escárzaga offers an original and persuasive account of the “broken mosaic” of Spanish modernism. 

Professor Nil Santiáñez, Saint Louis University Research Institute. Author of Wittgenstein's Ethics and Modern Warfare.

Table of Contents:

Section One 1. Circumstance and Perspective 2. The Circumstance of Contradiction 3. The Profound Dimension: Fracture 4. Between Myth and Reality Section Two 5. Prismatic Music 6. Aesthetic of Conflict 7. Recreation as Profound Dimension 8. Recreation as Game and Dehumanization