Catalan Museum of Art Vs Palace of Catalan Music

Concert hall in Barcelona, Spain

Palau de la Música Catalana

The Palau de la Música Catalana in 2019
Location	Barcelona, Spain
Coordinates	41°23′xv″Northward ii°x′32″E  /  41.38750°Northward 2.17556°Eastward  / 41.38750; 2.17556 Coordinates: 41°23′15″N two°x′32″E  /  41.38750°N 2.17556°East  / 41.38750; 2.17556
Type	Concert hall
Construction
Built	1905–1908
Opened	February 9, 1908
Builder	Lluís Domènech i Montaner
Website
Official website
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Role of	Palau de la Música Catalana and Hospital de Sant Pau, Barcelona
Criteria	Cultural: i, ii, iv
Reference	804bis-001
Inscription	1997 (21st Session)

Palau de la Música Catalana (Catalan pronunciation: [pəˈlaw ðə lə ˈmuzikə kətəˈlanə], English: Palace of Catalan Music) is a concert hall in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Designed in the Catalan modernista style past the architect Lluís Domènech i Montaner,^[1] it was built between 1905 and 1908 for Orfeó Català, a choral society founded in 1891 that was a leading forcefulness in the Catalan cultural move that came to exist known as the Renaixença (Catalan Rebirth).^[2] Information technology was inaugurated on 9 February 1908.

The construction project was mainly financed by Orfeó Català, simply of import fiscal contributions as well came from Barcelona's wealthy industrialists and bourgeoisie. The palace won the architect an award from the Barcelona City Council in 1909, given to the best edifice built during the previous twelvemonth. Betwixt 1982 and 1989, the building underwent all-encompassing restoration, remodeling, and extension under the direction of architects Oscar Tusquets and Carles Díaz.^[3] In 1997, the palace de la Música Catalana was declared^[4] a UNESCO World Heritage Site forth with Hospital de Sant Pau. Today, more than one-half a million people a year nourish musical performances in the Palau that range from symphonic and chamber music to jazz and Cançó (Catalan song).

Building [edit]

Location [edit]

The palace is located in the corner of a cramped street, Carrer Palau de la Música, and Carrer de Sant Pere Mes Alt, in the section of former Barcelona known as Casc Caper. Most of the other prominent modernista buildings, those designed past Antoni Gaudí, for instance, are located in the chic 19th-century extension of the city known equally the Eixample.

Blueprint [edit]

The design of the palace is typical of Catalan modernism in that curves predominate over straight lines, dynamic shapes are preferred over static forms, and rich decoration that emphasizes floral and other organic motifs is used extensively. In contrast to many other buildings congenital in the modernisme mode, however, it must also be said that the design of the palace is eminently rational. Information technology pays strict attention to role and makes full use of the near up-to-engagement materials and technologies available at the outset of the 20th century (eastward.m., steel framing). Equally Tim Benton has commented:^[ii]

"To eyes unaccustomed to the architecture of Barcelona, the impression of a riot of ornamentation lacking any logic or control seems overwhelming. And withal the building follows exactly the exhortations of the [architectural] rationalists. The structure, in brick and iron, is clearly expressed." Really, its walls are the first case of curtain wall structures.

The wealthy citizens of Barcelona, who were condign e'er more sympathetic to the Renaixença at the time the palace was congenital, asked its architect for building materials and techniques that symbolized the Catalan grapheme. In response, he commissioned and gave great creative liberty to a multifariousness of local artisans and craftsmen to produce the fabulous ornament, sculpture, and decorative structural elements for which the palace is famous.

Façade [edit]

Miquel Blay'south sculptural group (The Catalan song) on the corner.

The rich decoration of the façade of the palace, which incorporates elements from many sources, including traditional Spanish and Arabic architecture, is successfully married with the building's structure. The exposed reddish brick and iron, the mosaics, the stained glass, and the glazed tiles were chosen and situated to requite a feeling of openness and transparency. Fifty-fifty Miguel Blay's massive sculptural grouping symbolizing Catalan music on the corner of the building does not impede the view into or out from the interior (see photograph). As Carandell and co-authors (2006, xx) have pointed out, in the palace "the house every bit a defense and protected inner space has ceased to exist."

Two colonnades enjoy a commanding position on the 2nd-level balustrade of the primary façade. Each column is covered uniquely with multicolored glazed tile pieces in by and large floral designs and is capped with a candelabrum that at nighttime blazes with light (meet photograph). Above the columns are big busts of Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Johann Sebastian Bach, and Ludwig van Beethoven on the main façade and Richard Wagner on the side. The top of the main façade is graced by a big allegoric mosaic by Lluís Bru that represents the members of the Orfeó Català, just it is impossible to run into it conspicuously from the narrow street below.

Former ticket box, in an archway pillar.

A item from the entrance

Archway [edit]

Originally, guests entered the palace from the street through two arches supported by thick pillars that opened into the entrance hall. The former ticket windows, which are located in the center pillar, are beautiful concentric arches adorned with floral mosaics of various materials created by Lluís Bru.

Lobby, staircases, and foyer [edit]

The ceiling of the entrance hall is busy with glazed ceramic moldings that are arranged in the shape of stars. From the foyer, on the left and right, chiliad marble staircases ascend from between crowned lamps on columns to bring visitors to the second floor. The balustrades of the staircases, too marble, are supported by unusual transparent yellow glass balusters. The underside of the staircases is covered with tiles that grade gleaming canopies on either side of the vestibule.

Today, guests generally enter the palace through the vestibule, which was created in the renovations of Tusquets and Díaz from what originally were the headquarters of the Orfeó Català. The large space of the foyer is more soberly decorated than the rest of the palace, but the wide exposed brick arches with their marvelous glazed green, pinkish, and yellow ceramic flowers restate the ornament of the residue of edifice. The foyer features a large counter where tapas and beverages can exist served to concert-goers or visitors who are touring the edifice. The bar is situated betwixt massive pillars of brick and is illuminated from behind by expansive stained-glass panes that are suspended in a higher place it. A glass case in the foyer displays the Orfeó Català's banner, which bears its crest embroidered on material in the modernisme fashion.

Lluís Millet hall [edit]

The Lluís Millet hall is a salon located on the second flooring of the palace that is named later ane of the founders of the Orfeó Català. The hall is a popular gathering place for concert-goers and also serves as a teaching area for visitors touring the edifice. From flooring to ceiling the hall is two stories high and affords views of the intricate mosaics on the two rows of columns outside its windows that are much improve than those available from the street.

It is ornated by several bronze busts of musicians related to the palace: Lluís Millet and Amadeu Vives (Orfeó Català founders), Pablo Casals, Eduard Toldrà (founder and first conductor of the Orquestra Municipal de Barcelona), Just Cabot (Orfeó Català president) and pianist Rosa Sabater.

Concert hall [edit]

The concert hall is one of the about beautiful in the globe (...) without exaggeration. It is one of its most important architectural treasures. Its pace, simple, complex, mystical and paradoxical, defies accurate description.

-David Mackay
(Quoted in Carandell et al. 2006, 62)

The concert hall of the palace, which seats virtually ii,200 people, is the merely auditorium in Europe that is illuminated during daylight hours entirely by natural light. The walls on two sides consist primarily of stained-glass panes set in magnificent arches, and overhead is an enormous skylight of stained glass, designed by Antoni Rigalt, whose centerpiece is an inverted dome in shades of gold surrounded by blue that suggests the sun and the sky.

The architectural decoration in the concert hall is a masterpiece of creativity and imagination, yet everything has been advisedly considered for its utility in the presentation of music. The hall is non a theater, because the massive sculptures flanking the phase make the utilize of scenery nearly impossible. Likewise, fifty-fifty though a noble pipe organ graces the apse-like area above and behind the phase, the hall is not a church.

Phase with the muses in the background

The dominant theme in the sumptuous sculptural decor of the concert hall is choral music, something that might be expected in an auditorium deputed by a choral lodge. A choir of young women surrounds the "sun" in the stained-glass skylight, and a bust of Anselm Clavé, a famous choir director who was instrumental in reviving Catalan folk songs, is situated on the left side of the stage, under a stone tree. Seated below this statue are sculpted girls singing the Catalan song Les Flors de Maig (The Flowers of May).

The whole arch over the front end of the stage was sculpted by Dídac Masana and Pablo Gargallo. On the correct side is depicted the 'Ride of the Valkyries' from Wagner's opera Dice Walküre. Under the Valkyries and amongst two Doric columns is a bust of Beethoven. The arch thus represents folk music on the left and classical music on the correct, both united at the height of the arch.

In a semicircle on the sides of the back of the stage are the figures of 18 immature women popularly known as the 'muses'.^[five] The upper bodies were sculpted by Eusebi Arnau and the mosaic work of their lower bodies was created by Lluís Bru. The monotone upper bodies of the women protrude from the wall and their lower bodies are depicted past colorful mosaics that grade function of the wall. Each of the women is playing a different musical instrument, and each is wearing a dissimilar skirt, blouse, and headdress of elaborate design. In the centre between the 2 groups is a mosaic of the glaze of arms of Catalonia. The muse to the right of the Catalan coat of arms is the only i that depicts on her dress the glaze of arms of Austria and double-headed eagle of the Castilian Habsburgs dynasty.

The sculptures of winged horses that relish a commanding position in the upper balustrade are in honour of Pegasus, the equus caballus of Greek mythology and the symbol of high-flying imagination.

In each of the vaults between the pillars and the glass walls, there is a white tile medallion, bordered with laurel green leaves, with the names of notable musicians. To the left of the stage, starting from it: Palestrina, J. Southward. Bach, Carissimi, Beethoven and Chopin; to the right: Victoria, Handel, Mozart, Gluck and Wagner. On the wall betwixt the ceilings of the main room and that of the dorsum of the 2d floor of the same room, there are 4 more ceramic medallions, which synthesize the history of Catalan music: Joan Brudieu, Mateu Fletxa el Vell, Anselm Viola i Valentí, Domènec Terradellas and Josep Anselm Clavé.

Robert Hughes has noted how the non-soundproof glass walls of the palace impact the acoustics of the hall:

"...there was never a shortage of complaint about its audio-visual conditions - which, since its glass walls carry music similar drum skins, accept e'er been awful."^[6]

Remodeling and extension [edit]

Betwixt 1982 and 1989 parts of the building were restored to their original state, technically upgraded and expanded to allow additional uses. The new work did not compromise the decorative or structural integrity of the original building. Stone, brick, iron, glass, and ceramics were used in the same way that Domènech i Montaner used them. One of the well-nigh of import expansions is the bordering building of six stories that houses dressing rooms, a library, and an archive.

From 2006 to 2008, farther restoration was carried out: the lantern on the top of the belfry on the corner of the edifice was reinstalled, every bit were some ornamental features of the façade.

Petit Palau [edit]

The new six-story tower, projected by Oscar Tusquets and officially opened in 1989, houses dressing rooms, a library, and archives.

Opened in 2004, the Petit Palau ("small palace") is 11 metres beneath the foursquare that was created in the work of 1982-1989 between the palace and the neighbouring church. It has a seating capacity of 538 people and is equipped with variable acoustics for unlike types of music and spoken word. It also possesses the latest in audiovisual technology. Like the other additions, it was designed in the spirit of Domènech i Montaner. It is lite and transparent like the palace proper, but at the same time it is modernistic in its not bad flexibility for different cultural, social, and business uses.

Appearances in moving picture [edit]

On seven September 2018, the palace appeared in BBC Television's Release Date trailer for Season 11 of Doc Who. The trailer shows Jodie Whittaker, as the beginning female Doctor, literally 'shattering the drinking glass ceiling' of the palace's striking skylight.

Artistic history [edit]

From the opening of the palace in 1908 special attention was given to the promotion of local composers and artists. Subsequently World War I the Orquestra Pau Casals performed at the palace, and amongst composers featured gave presentations of the music of Enrique Granados from 1921 onwards.^[7]

Many of the globe'due south best soloists and singers accept visited the palace, among them: Andrés Segovia, Lela Tsurtsumia, Pablo Casals,^{[half dozen]} Jacques Thibaud, Alfred Cortot, Eugène Ysaÿe, Albert Schweitzer, Enric Granados, Blanche Selva, Wilhelm Backhaus, Emil Sauer, Wanda Landowska, Clara Haskil, Fritz Kreisler, Manuel Quiroga, Arthur Rubinstein, Claudio Arrau, Yehudi Menuhin, Mstislav Rostropovich, Julian Lloyd Webber, Alicia de Larrocha,^[6] Victòria dels Àngels, Montserrat Caballé, Josep Carreras, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Barbara Hendricks, Alfred Brendel, Wilhelm Kempff, Sviatoslav Richter, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Maurizio Pollini, Maria João Pires, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Jessye Norman, and Daniel Barenboim.

Many great orchestras and conductors have played at the auditorium, including the Berliner Philharmoniker with Richard Strauss, Herbert von Karajan, Claudio Abbado and Mariss Jansons; the Wiener Philharmoniker, with Carl Schuricht, Karl Böhm, Zubin Mehta and Leonard Bernstein; the Amsterdam Concertgebouw with Eugen Jochum, Antal Doráti and Mariss Jansons;the State of israel Philharmonic with Zubin Mehta; the Staatskapelle Berlin; the Chicago Symphony with Daniel Barenboim, the New York Philharmonic with Kurt Masur; the Münchner Philharmoniker with Sergiu Celibidache; the Cleveland Orchestra with Lorin Maazel; the Philharmonia Orchestra with Carlo Maria Giulini; and Concentus Musicus Wien with Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Václav Neumann, Jordi Savall, and Philippe Herreweghe.

Pablo Casals' bust at the palace'south Fèlix Millet Hall, past Brenda Putman (1928)

Also performing at the palace accept been choirs, such equally the Orfeón Donostiarra, Escolania de Montserrat, the Sistine Chapel Choir, and the Wiener Sängerknaben. From 1920 to 1936, the Orquestra Pau Casals was resident under the management of Pablo Casals, Richard Strauss, Vincent d'Indy, Igor Stravinsky, Arnold Schönberg, Anton Webern, Arthur Honegger, Manuel de Falla, and Eugène Ysaÿe, amidst others. For years, the resident orchestra at the Palau has been the Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona.

Important composers take performed or conducted their ain works, including Enric Granados, Richard Strauss, Maurice Ravel, Sergei Prokofiev, Igor Stravinsky, Manuel de Falla, Arnold Schönberg, Sergei Rachmaninov, Anton Webern, Roberto Gerhard, Georges Enescu, Darius Milhaud, Francis Poulenc, Arthur Honegger, Frederic Mompou, Krzysztof Penderecki, Witold Lutosławski, and Pierre Boulez.

Other artists, actors, dancers, jazz soloists, popular singers, and bands have performed at the palace: Lela Tsurtsumia, Vittorio Gassman, Maurice Béjart, Ángel Corella, Charles Aznavour, Knuckles Ellington, Tete Montoliu, Oscar Peterson, Woody Allen, Keith Jarrett, Ella Fitzgerald, Michel Camilo, Tamara Rojo, Paco de Lucía or Bebo Valdés, Jorge Drexler, Cassandra Wilson, Vicente Amigo, Anoushka Shankar, Norah Jones and Juanes.

The palace became an emblematic theater for Catalan singers of the Nova Cançó (New Vocal, or Catalan popular vocal from the 1960s). Singing at the palace was a kind of consecration for a singer. For example, Raimon, Joan Manuel Serrat, Maria del Mar Bonet, and Lluís Llach take sung there.

For some years, plays were performed there. Companies such every bit the Teatre Experimental Català, Companyia Adrià Gual or Agrupació Dramàtica de Barcelona (1955–1963) performed their shows at the palace.

Premières performed [edit]

As the main concert hall in the metropolis, the palace has staged many world premières of musical compositions, including the post-obit (the most relevant for music history are in bold type):

• 1908 Enric Granados' symphonic poem Dante.
• 1911 Enric Granados' starting time book of his piano suite Goyescas and his Allegro de concierto and Cant de les estrelles (Vocal of the stars), for chorus and orchestra; Isaac Albéniz'south Azulejos, prelude for piano finished past Enric Granados.
• 1914 Enric Granados' Tonadillas en estilo antiguo, song cycle for vocalism and pianoforte.
• 1921 Eduard Toldrà'southward string quartett Vistes al mar (Sight to the sea) (31 May).
• 1923 Joaquín Turina's Tres arias for soprano and piano.
• 1925 Manuel de Falla's Psyché, and Frederic Mompou's Charmes, núm. 4-6.
• 1926 Jaume Pahissa'southward Suite intertonal (October 26); Joaquín Turina's Dos canciones (October 29) for soprano and piano; Manuel de Falla's Harpsichord Concerto (November 5).
• 1928 Eduard Toldrà's opera El giravolt de maig (The May sunflower); Frederic Mompou'southward Comptines, three songs for voice and piano; Joaquín Turina'south Ritmos: fantasia coreográfica for orchestra (Rhythms: a choreographic fantasy) (October 23), and Evocaciones for pianoforte (October 29).
• 1929 Roberto Gerhard's Concertino for strings, Current of air quintet, and other of the author'south early works.
• 1932 Manuel Blancafor]'southward El rapte de les sabines (The Sabine women abduction) (other Blancafort's works were premiered here after: Ermita i panorama (Hermit and panorame) (1946), Concert omaggio a Franz Liszt (1944), Concert ibèric (Iberian concerto) (1950), Simfonia en mi (1951), Cantata Verge Maria (Virgin Mary cantata) (1968), Rapsòdia catalana (Catalan rhapsody) (1972), etc.)
• 1936 Alban Berg'southward Violin concerto (Apr 19); Roberto Gerhard's suite from the ballet Ariel.
• 1938 Roberto Gerhard'due south Albada, interludi i dansa (Sunrise, interlude and dance) (May 14)
• 1940 Joaquín Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez (November 9).
• 1945 Xavier Montsalvatge's Cinco canciones negras (only the four beginning songs; the beginning performance of the five songs was given a few months after at the Ateneu Barcelonès); many other of the Montsalvatge's works take had their premieres at the palace.
• 1946 Joaquín Rodrigo'southward Quatre cançons en llengua catalana (4 songs in Catalan linguistic communication). and Tríptic de Mossèn Cinto (Jacint Verdaguer's triptych), both song cycles for soprano and orchestra.
• 1948 Xavier Montsalvatge'due south Simfonia mediterrània (Mediterranean Symphony).
• 1952 Frederic Mompou's Cantar del alma, choral version.
• 1954 Salvador Bacarisse's 3rd Pianoforte Concerto.
• 1957 Salvador Espriu's play Primera història d'Esther.
• 1959 Joaquín Nin-Culmell's ballet Don Juan.
• 1960 Xavier Montsalvatge'southward Càntic espiritual.
• 1961 Frederic Mompou'south Variacions sobre un tema de Chopin for orchestra; Joan Brossa's play Or i sal.
• 1963 Xavier Montsalvatge'due south Desintegració morfològica de la xacona de J. S. Bach (Morphological disintegration of J.Due south. Bach's chaconne); Josep Carner's play El Ben Cofat i l'altre.
• 1966 Joaquin Homs' String quartet no. six; other of Homs's works accept had their premieres at the palace: Invention for orchestra (1965), Presències for orchestra (1970), Dos soliloquis (1976), Brief symphony (1978), Nonet (1979).
• 1967 Cristòfol Taltabull'southward oratorio La Passió (Passion).
• 1971 Krzystof Penderecki's Prélude for winds, percussion and double basses.
• 1974 Josep Soler's opera-oratorio Oedipus et Iocasta (many of Soler's works were first performed at the palace); Cristóbal Halffter's Oración a Platero for choir and orchestra.
• 1977 Joaquín Rodrigo'due south Sonata a la breve, for cello and pianoforte.
• 2017 Guido Lopez-Gavilan'south Una Cancion de Amor (24 July), for choir (deputed by the IFCM for the Ansan City Choir, on the occasion of the 11th World Symposium on Choral Music); Xavier Pages-Corella's Audito e un Canto (24 July), for choir (commissioned by the IFCM for The Rose Ensemble, on occasion of the 11th Globe Symposium on Choral Music); Jaakko Mantyjarvi'southward Juliet November Tango (27 July), for choir (commissioned past the IFCM for Elektra Women's Choir, on occasion of the 11th World Symposium on Choral Music).

Come across also [edit]

• List of theatres and concert halls in Barcelona
• List of Modernista buildings in Barcelona
• List of concert halls

References [edit]

1. ^ Andrew Ferren (2010-12-16). "Barcelona's Other Architect, Domènech". The New York Times . Retrieved 2020-12-22 .
2. ^ ^{a b} Benton, Tim. Modernismo in Catalonia In: Fine art Nouveau Architecture (Frank Russell, editor), New York: Arch Cape Press, 1986. ISBN 9780856701368.
3. ^ Josep M. Carandell, Ricard Pla, and Pere Vivas, The Palau de la Música Catalana, Barcelona: Triangle Postals SL, ISBN 9788484782100 (2006).
4. ^ Graham Keeley (2008-05-08). "Barcelona's rebel centenarian". The Guardian . Retrieved 2020-12-22 .
5. ^ Cazurra, Anna (2002). "The Symbolism of the Muses of the Palau de la Música Catalana". Music in Art: International Journal for Music Iconography. 27 (1–2): 116–126. ISSN 1522-7464.
6. ^ ^{a b c} Hughes, Robert, Barcelona. Alfred A. Knopf (New York), ISBN 0-394-58027-3, pp. 462-463 (1992).
7. ^ Walter Aaron Clark Enrique Granados: Poet of the Piano 2005 "... bundled by Casals and programmed by him as manager of the Orquestra Pau Casals in Barcelona during the years after Granados'southward death. The offset such presentation took identify on April thirty, 1921 at the palace."

Bibliography [edit]

• Cararach, Joan Anton, El Palau de la Música Catalana: simfonia d'un segle, Barcelona: Edicions 62, 2007. ISBN .
• Domènech i Girbau, Lluís. Fifty'arquitectura del Palau. Barcelona: Lunwerg Editores, 2000. ISBN .
• Fahr-Becker Thou. Fine art Nouveau, Königswinter: Tandem Verlag GmbH, 2004. ISBN .

External links [edit]

• Official website
• Urban center of Barcelona Catalan-linguistic communication folio on the Palau de la Música Catalana
• UNESCO World Heritage Listing page on the Palau de la Música Catalana and the Hospital de Sant Pau, Barcelona
• Catalunya (Catalonia) page on the Palau de la Música Catalana
• Photos
• 360 view
• Play and Bout City Guides, 'Palau de la Música Catalana'
• La Barcelona Modernista blog, 'Palau de la Música Catalana'

jacksonterid1965.blogspot.com

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palau_de_la_M%C3%BAsica_Catalana

Share this post