Music and National Identity in Spain

In my last post we talked about the lack of national identity in 19^th-century Finland, resulting in the population’s pride in Sibelius’ nationalistic Finlandia. A similar pride developed in Spain during the 20^th century following the premiere of Joaquín Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez. The work was first performed in 1940, not long after the end of the Spanish Civil War. Inspired by Spanish classical and folk music, art, and literature, the piece is exactly what Spain needed to hold onto a sense of national pride.

Joaquín Rodigo was blind from the age of three yet showed musical talent early on, studying with the famous composer Paul Dukas. Rodrigo had a strong interest in the classical guitar, at least 6 of his 13 concertos involving the instrument. Aiming to create a Spanish ambiance in his music, the Concierto de Aranjuez references the flamenco style and Spanish folksong. Rodrigo noted that the piece was named for the royal palace located between Madrid and Toledo. Describing the concerto, Rodrigo once commented, “It should sound like the hidden breeze that stirs the treetops in the parks, as strong as a butterfly, as dainty as a verónica [a classic pass in bullfighting].”

Below you can listen to the Adagio from this concerto. This movement is known as one of the most-recognized guitar melodies in history. Take note of the beautiful lyricism used in this work. Perhaps the piece became instantly popular following its premiere because it evokes a romanticized idea of how the composer viewed his country rather than the difficult reality they had just experienced during a civil war? What do you think?

Sibelius' Finlandia

Over the past several weeks, we have looked at various composers and their use of nationalism. Many of these composers found that using folk music from their homeland helped to forge a connection between their music and national pride. Finnish composer Jean Sibelius went about composing his famous Finlandia in a different way. Finding inspiration in the nature surrounding him as well as in the Finnish epic Kalevala, Sibelius created his own melodies and wound up accidently composing Finland’s folk anthem when he completed Finlandia.

During the 19^th-century, Finland lacked a sense of national identity as it was a part of the Russian Empire and culturally saturated with influences from Sweden. Finlandia was composed during a period of political unrest in Finland as the Russians sought to draft Finns into their own military. Sibelius’ iconic work was first performed under the heading Finland Awakes at a national event in Helsinki.

You may have heard this piece performed with lyrics at some point. Did you know that Sibelius did not actually write lyrics to his work and was angered by the fact that others did so? Here’s a listening clip of Finlandia. Can you see why the Finnish people felt so much national pride when listening to this work?

Villa-Lobos and Music in Brazil

Today I would like to talk about Heitor Villa-Lobos, the 20^th-century Brazilian composer known to be South America’s most famous. There is quite a lot that could be said about Villa-Lobos and his music but, due to the constraints of one blog post, I must limit myself to mentioning only a couple of his works.

At the time of Villa-Lobos’ birth, Brazil was embedded in European musical tradition and virtuosi from Europe and America received greater accolades than those natives from Brazil. Loving music from an early age, Villa-Lobos longed to modernize a Brazilian musical style. In the year 1900, the young composer set off to wander the inaccessible regions of Brazil for ten years, observing folk, geographical, and musical influences. Culturally diverse Brazil became his inspiration for composition rather than the rules and formulas taught at the conservatory.

One of Villa-Lobos’ earlier pieces is below. Amazonas was written in 1917 and shows his early unique style. In this work, the composer uses primitivism and folklore ideas he gained from his travels as inspiration. At the first performance of this work, the violinists actually tied handkerchiefs to the end of their bows in protest, refusing to create the sounds Villa-Lobos wrote into his music!

Spending time in Paris later in life, Villa-Lobos began to appreciate European traditions as well as Brazilian. In many works, we can see a fusion of these two traditions as he became a less abrasive nationalist composer. The Bachianas brasileiras (1930-45) is an excellent example of one of these later works. It consists of a cycle of nine suites written for various combinations of instruments and voices. In it, Villa-Lobos adapts Baroque compositional procedures to Brazilian music. You can listen in to the first of these suites below. Notice the unique instrumentation he uses: an orchestra of cellos!  

Join me next time as we travel to Finland and listen to the music of Sibelius!