Prefiguring the Spanish recording diva: how gabinetes fonográficos (phonography studios) changed listening practices, 1898–1905

Moreda Rodríguez, E. (2017) Prefiguring the Spanish recording diva: how gabinetes fonográficos (phonography studios) changed listening practices, 1898–1905. In: Rowland, D. and Barlow, H. (eds.) Listening to Music: People, Practices and Experiences. Open University Press: Milton Keynes. ISBN 9781473023208

Abstract

This chapter situates early commercial recordings made in Spain by local gabinetes fonográficos between 1898 and 1905 in the aural landscape of their time. In order to do so, it examines a range of audio-visual media, including original wax cylinders, advertisements, trade publications, press articles and other accounts of listening experiences from the arrival of phonographs in Spain in the late 1870s to the demise of the gabinetes around 1905, when they were absorbed or rendered obsolete by multinational recording companies. Such early recordings must be interpreted alongside the thriving theatrical culture that prevailed in Spain at the time, especially that of zarzuela – the preferred genre of theatre-goers and the best represented, according to available evidence, in catalogues of gabinetes fonográficos. A range of primary sources suggest that recordings were intended as a memento to go hand-in-hand with the experience of listening to music live; as such, the gabinetes fonográficos industry was uniquely built in close connection to the theatrical culture.

• Item Type: Book Sections
• Status: Published
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Moreda Rodriguez, Dr Eva
• Authors: Moreda Rodríguez, E.
• College/School: College of Arts & Humanities > School of Culture and Creative Arts > Music
• Publisher: Open University Press
• ISBN: 9781473023208