Música e identidad nacional en la España de entreguerras: los conciertos populares del Círculo de Bellas Artes (1914-1924)

Abstract

In 1914 the Círculo de Bellas Artes de Madrid (Madrid Fine Arts Society) began organising popular concerts with the intention of disseminating “the highest and purest form of lyrical art” among “the Spanish masses”. Through its performances, the Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Bartolome Perez Casas, helped consolidate a national symphonic school, premiering new works on a regular basis and performing existing ones. This process is analysed from three angles: The perspective of the artistic/recreational group, the procedures used by composers to instil their music with national meaning, and the way in which works were received by an enthusiastic audience. The aim in doing so is to assess the extent to which these “artistic festivals” forged a cultural identity that tied in with the bourgeois nature of the audiences at the Teatro Price.