Conductors in Barcelona and Catalonia

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The instrumentalists Alicia de Larrocha and Pau Casals , the singers Montserrat Caballé and Josep Carreras or the early music specialists Montserrat Figueras and Jordi Savall have been and are internationally recognized as outstanding representatives of Catalan musicians of the last two centuries. But they are by no means the only significant representatives of classical or early music from this cultural region. The remarkable vitality of the Catalan classical and old music culture, which manifested itself among other things in the Catalan pianist and in the Catalan guitarist school , was and is particularly evident in those personalities who have large musical ensembles such as orchestras or choirs, i.e. the flagships of the directed and direct classical music, especially in Barcelona .

19th century

The personality of the orchestra conductor first appeared in Barcelona and Catalonia in the 19th century with Ramon Carnicer (1789–1855), conductor of the Teatre La Santa Creu , and with Marià Obiols (1809–1888). Obiols was the first musical director of the Gran Teatre del Liceu . He was trained at Saverio Mercadante in Milan. His successor, Joan Goula (1843–1917), was the first Catalan conductor who sought and earned an international reputation for his conducting skills in France, Germany and Russia. He did a great job at the Imperial Theater in Moscow .

Pau Casals, the Lamote de Grignons and others

At the beginning of the 20th century, the Barcelona concert calendar became full. For this purpose, recorded especially Antoni Nicolau responsible (1858-1933), the first to play all nine symphonies of Beethoven and works by contemporary composers such as César Franck and Richard Strauss in Barcelona brought to the performance.

Nicolau was followed by Joan Lamote de Grignon (1872–1949), who initially founded the Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona (1910–1925) and, from 1914, as the successor to Celestí Sadurní, also musically directed the Banda Municipal de Barcelona . Lamote de Grignon expanded the repertoire of the Banda Municipal considerably. His son Ricard followed in his father's footsteps as a conductor and continued his work with the Orquestra Simfònica de Girona , among others . Both Lamote de Grignons lost their positions in Barcelona in 1939 as republican-minded musicians due to the civil war due to “collaboration with the enemy” and went to Valencia. There they founded the Orquestra de València , which Joan de Lamote directed musically. Ricard de Lamote acted as deputy musical director. The conductors Jaume Pahissa i Jo (1880–1969), who also emigrated to Argentina in 1937 due to the civil war, and Joan Pich i Santasusana (1911–1999) worked at the same time as Ricard de Lamote in Barcelona.

Pau Casals i Defilló (1876–1973), world-famous as a cellist, felt himself primarily as the orchestra leader of the Pau Casals Symphony Orchestra, which he and his brother Enric founded in Barcelona in 1920 . In the course of its existence, this orchestra has achieved the very highest international reputation. Casals was musically effective, demanding and encouraging as well as open to the musically necessary innovations of the time. He publicly performed the works of Catalan and foreign composers. In addition, Pau Casals founded the Associació Obrera de Concerts (Workers' Concert Association) in 1926, which introduced the less educated classes to orchestral life in Barcelona. The Pau Casals Orchestra as well as its social project of the Workers' Concert Association had to be discontinued as early as 1936 due to the civil war.

In 1943, after the civil war, Eduard Toldrà (1895–1962), who had already worked as concertmaster and second conductor of the Pau Casals Orchestra , was commissioned to found a new orchestra in Barcelona. He then became musical director of the newly founded Orquestra Municipal de Barcelona , the predecessor orchestra of today's Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya ( OBC ), which has given well over 800 concerts to date. In 1957 Toldrà reintegrated the orchestra leader and composer Ricard Lamote de Grignon into the musical life of Barcelona as deputy conductor of the Orquestra Municipal de Barcelona .

The generation change with Ros i Marbà

With Antoni Ros i Marbà (* 1937), who headed the Orquestra Municipal de Barcelona from 1967 to 1978 and from 1981 to 1986, there was a generation change. The Toldrà, Celibidache and Martinon pupil Ros i Marbà , who conducted other major Spanish orchestras, ushered in a brilliant period in Catalan orchestral music. This was followed by the conductors Salvador Mas (* 1951) and Edmon Colomer (* 1951), who began their conducting careers as choir leaders. Mas studied in Vienna and conducted choirs in Maastricht and Düsseldorf and finally the Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya from 1978 to 1981. Colomer initially directed the Jove Orquestra Nacional d'Espanya (Spanish Youth Orchestra), the Orquestra de Cadaqués and the Orquestra Simfònica del Vallès and the Orquestra Simfònica de Balears Ciutat de Palma .

The current generation

Josep Pons (* 1957), currently musical director of the Gran Teatre del Liceu , initially brought innovations to the stage in the performance of 20th century music in the Orquestra de Cambra Teatre Lliure (Chamber Orchestra Teatre Lliure). Ernest Martínez i Izquierdo (* 1962) was also interested in the performance of contemporary music. He also directed the OBC . Salvador Brotons (* 1959) studied conducting in Barcelona and in the USA and has directed the Banda Municipal de Barcelona since 2008 .

Among the outstanding young conductors are Manel Valdivieso (* 1967), who has directed the Jove Orquestra Nacional de Catalunya (JONC, Youth Orchestra of Catalunya) since 2001 and is professor of conducting at the Conservatori del Liceu , David Giménez Carreras (* 1964), who Nephew of the tenor Josep Carreras , and Josep Caballé i Domenech (* 1973).

List of Catalan conductors

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af Generalitat de Catalunya - Culturcat (Archive): Catalan Musicians. Conductors.