Outreach, entertainment, innovation: Exiled Spanish composers and European radio

Moreda Rodriguez, E. (2019) Outreach, entertainment, innovation: Exiled Spanish composers and European radio. Contemporary Music Review, 38(1-2), pp. 7-23. (doi: 10.1080/07494467.2019.1578112)

Abstract

This essay takes as its starting point the involvement of exiled Spanish composers Salvador Bacarisse and Roberto Gerhard with the public radio broadcasters of the countries to which they were exiled. It examines the music (both incidental and autonomous) they composed and arranged, as well as features on music they wrote, presented or contributed to. In doing so, it articulates a critique of the dominant historiographical narratives that understand Spanish twentieth-century music as a continuous, monolithic advance toward a single ideal of modernity. Such narratives were first introduced by Federico Sopeña and Tomás Marco under Francoism, yet they continue to be influential in the present day. I examine how the music for radio of Bacarisse and Gerhard forces us to consider key components of these narratives, such as the understanding of exile as either assimilation or resistance to the host culture, the role of artistic collaboration in the careers of many exiles, and the dichotomy of commercialism and absolute music.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Moreda Rodriguez, Dr Eva
• Authors: Moreda Rodriguez, E.
• College/School: College of Arts & Humanities > School of Culture and Creative Arts > Music
• Journal Name: Contemporary Music Review
• Publisher: Taylor and Francis
• ISSN: 0749-4467
• ISSN (Online): 1477-2256
• Published Online: 11 March 2019
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2019 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor and Francis Group
• First Published: First published in Contemporary Music Review 38(1-2): 7-23
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the publisher copyright policy