El hombre del rincón: José Subirá y la historia cultural e intelectual de la musicología en España. By María Cáceres-Piñuel

Abstract

In her new book, María Cáceres-Piñuel argues that the career of José Subirá (1882–1980) provides deep insight into a ‘contemporary Spanish musical historiography’ (p. 2). On the one hand, she provides a clear account based on solid evidence. She explains Subirá’s arguments according to new primary sources, which include personal correspondence. On the other, she interprets evidence by shifting between three viewpoints: a review of Subirá’s biography, critical reflection on the professionalization of Spanish musicology, and an analysis of the social networks and discourses to which Subirá contributed and responded. Beyond organizing empirical data, she manages to place Subirá and the emergence of twentieth-century Spanish musicology at the heart of political and class conflicts. First, she probes the valuation of Subirá’s research, outlining the reception of his legacy, describing his private archive and library, and reconstructing his family milieu and formative training. Subirádd's was a socialist protected by members of the aristocracy and the Church. Cáceres-Piñuel details his services as a public servant during the first decades of the twentieth century and analyses the consequences of the Spanish Civil War and its aftermath for the reception of his output. A convinced Catalanist, Subirá's scholarly specialization was castizo (‘traditionally authentic’) musical genres, focusing above all in the tonadilla, which he identified as the exemplar of local popular culture. Politically, his sympathies lay with the Second World War allies, and he defended music à la portée de tout le monde, criticizing the elitist and sometimes authoritarian drift of the Second Spanish Republic’s musical institutions under the influence of figures such as the critic Adolfo Salazar. Yet Subirá’s reverence for German contributions to historical musicology’s repertory and methods led him to write the first essay in Spain about Arnold Schoenberg.