The musical press in the early years of the Franco regime (1939-1951)

• Main Author: Rodriquez, Eva Moreda
• Published: Royal Holloway, University of London 2009
• Subjects: 946.082
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.521412

This thesis examines the writings on music during the earlier phase of the Francisco Franco regime in Spain (1939-1951) in three groups of periodical publications: the daily press, music periodicals and magazines, and cultural and humanities periodicals with relevant music sections. Through the analysis of this material, the study attempts to assess the expression in musical criticism of ideological elements germane to early Francoism, thus exploring the connection between music and politics in an era to which Anglo-American musicologists have paid little attention so far. The study opens with an assessment of the journalistic and legal framework in which music critics developed their activity, as well as of the doctrinal role they were expected to conform to, and then moves on to explore three topics of particular relevance for the ideology of the regime: the problematic relationship of Francoist critics with modernism and modernity, the devotion to traditional (folk) music, and the revival of Spain's musical past. Each of these topics is contextualized by establishing parallels with certain aspects of the cultural outlook pursued by contemporary fascist regimes (Germany and Italy) and by pointing out lines of continuity with trends active in Spanish musicology and musical criticism before 1936. Finally, the last two chapters explore the application in musical criticism of these three topics to two particular processes: the appropriation of composer Manuel de Falla as a composer-laureate of the regime, and the discourses surrounding musical exchanges with foreign countries (the Axis until 1945, the Western Block afterwards) throughout the decade. The study is complemented by appendices which offer individual descriptions of the most relevant publications and biographical profiles of the critics studied in this thesis.