About
Diagonal: An Ibero-American Music Review is the open access online journal of the Center for Iberian and Latin American Music at the University of California, Riverside. Its purpose is to highlight the latest research into the vast musical heritage of Iberia and Latin America, as well as other regions once under Iberian colonial rule whose cultural traditions bear some imprint of Spanish or Portuguese influence, e.g., the Philippines or parts of the United States. The name refers to the fact that the journal's mission cuts across disciplinary and regional boundaries. It accepts contributions in Spanish, Portuguese, or English from scholars in musicology, ethnomusicology, and related disciplines. Diagonal: An Ibero-American Music Review is a peer-reviewed journal with an editorial board, and it conforms to the highest standards of modern humanistic scholarship.
Volume 5, Issue 2, 2020
ARTICLES
Actividad y crítica musical de Guillermo Morphy durante la Restauración borbónica: su modelo de drama lírico nacional
En 1871, en medio de los debates sobre el establecimiento de la ópera española, Guillermo Morphy, el Conde de Morphy, publica un artículo de fondo en el que acomete un modelo de drama lírico nacional vinculado a la tradición musical centroeuropea. Su proposición constituye un paso adelante hacia el drama lírico moderno que otorgara a España un sitio en la escena musical europea. Este trabajo recupera el movimiento de renovación dentro del nacionalismo musical liderado por el Conde de Morphy durante la Restauración borbónica, con importantes avances en la escena culta musical española. Con este propósito, nos aproximamos a la actividad regeneracionista y crítica musical de Morphy y su influencia en aquellos compositores que estuvieron más unidos a su figura como Tomás Bretón, Pablo Casals e Isaac Albéniz, poniendo el foco de atención en la cuestión de la ópera española como señal de identidad nacional. Recogemos asimismo una relación de los artículos publicados por Morphy en la prensa.
The Narrative Imperative of Granados’s "Goyescas"
Enrique Granados’s monumental piano suite Goyescas is widely acknowledged as an important work in the piano-repertoire canon but is infrequently programmed in recitals. One obstacle to its inclusion is that relatively little is known by the pianistic community about its narrative elements. Like similar works that contain strong narratives, such as Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition or Schumann’s Carnaval, Goyescas holds great potential because of its musical variety, its inspired writing, and because it is exciting for musicians to convey extra-musical ideas to an audience in a way that “tells a story.” The 6 movements of Goyescas are not only narrative vignettes but also part of a larger arc that holds the listener’s attention in the same way as an opera; Goyescas is, quite simply, a story. A narrative approach is applied here in order to enhance the meaning of Goyescas for performers as well as appreciators, and perhaps will result in an increased receptiveness to the inclusion of this work in the modern recital program.
La percepción de la guitarra en las ediciones mexicanas: Desde finales del virreinato al siglo de independencia
Este artículo pretende dar cuenta de la difusión de la guitarra en todos los estratos sociales, por medio de las publicaciones periódicas y los escritores en el México del siglo XIX. Basado en la historia cultural, se analizan factores relacionados con la percepción social del instrumento, y las categorías en las que fue ubicado por los cronistas de la época, destacando su relación con la cultura mexicana. Mi propuesta es que la guitarra se convirtió en un símbolo de identidad y del incipiente nacionalismo.
New Ways of Making Music and Being a Musician in the Digital Era
The existence of the Internet has revolutionized the music industry, forever changing its forms of participation and promotion. As a result, the space of execution-promotion of music is expanded to include the virtual world, being able to reach com-munities that share similar interests or common identity traits at a global level. This situation is presented as an opportunity for little known repertoire, such as the Latin American and Iberian art song. Based on the experiences with Internet2, which occurred at the Barcelona Festival of Song, the article explores concepts such as the real, the virtual, and the interspace. It analyzes how the interactions produced in these spaces affect our identity, either as musicians or as consumers of music. This new scenario demands that educational institutions train musicians to develop new ways of being a musician and of making music, mediated by technology.
Samuel Zyman’s "Concerto for Cello and Orchestra": An Analytical Approach
A professor at The Juilliard School since 1986, Zyman is one of Mexico’s foremost composers of today. His cello concerto (1990) exhibits solid technique, intense expression, and effective interaction between soloist and orchestra. The author demonstrates much stylistic and formal freedom. His opus mixes both antique and modern references within traditional instrumental usage and prevailing neomodal flair. One outstanding feature is the full exploitation of a basic melody to generate an interrelated musical idiom that reveals both unity and variety. The appendix contains an interview with the Mexican artist.