Interpretative practice in the Spanish cathedrals (1563-1833)

Liturgy, musical styles and performance conditions

 

_{Choir of the New Cathedral of Salamanca. Image: Ángel M. Felicísimo}

Despite the enormous progress made in recent decades by musicology, there are numerous gaps in the gaps on the musical internship in the Spanish cathedrals in the Modern Age.. Not in vain were they the places of training and work par excellence of musicians, as well as the main centers of production. Hence, most of the written musical repertoire preserved in Spain is religious.

To improve our understanding of the phenomenon of sound, it is necessary to examine the complex interrelationship between music and liturgy. One of the most impactful currents in musicology in recent years, performance practice ( Ausführungpraxis) claims the importance of ritual and spatial context. Through interdisciplinary research, which includes musicology, history, art history, liturgy and practical music, it will be possible to advance in the knowledge of different interpretative aspects of music in Spanish cathedrals of the modern period.

The purpose of this project is to study the religious ceremonial books produced in cathedrals in peninsular European Spain during the 16th to 19th centuries. This research, together with the study of the performance practice associated with these sources, will have a direct impact on the conception of innovative programmes that rediscover repertoires or propose the performance of works by composers active during the 16th to 19th centuries. The ultimate aim of this project will offer the possibility of restoring ceremonies and recreating them in situ as far as possible.

The main challenge of project will be to go beyond the boundaries between disciplines with the goal to offer a better knowledge of Hispanic religious music through the multiple links between music performance practice, liturgy and religious space.

Team

_{project PID2020-120590GB-I00 funded by MCIN/ AEI /10.13039/501100011033}