Música y polisemia. Folklore y Flamenco en Iberia de Albéniz

Abstract

Iberia by Isaac Albéniz is a piano masterpiece and a crucial piece in the Spanish musical panorama. In order to understand it and interpret it correctly, we need to analyse its historical context and the musical events that occurred during the life of Albéniz. Firstly, great changes in the Spanish musical scene during the second half of the 19th century (the debate for the creation of the National Opera, the Spanish Zarzuela, musical nationalism and the exaltation of popular music). Secondly, the separation between flamenco and folklore through the professionalisation of flamenco artists in the so-called café-cantantes. Finally, it is worth mentioning the French modernism that would accompany Albéniz in the change of the century. Being a formal musical composition, Iberia is impregnated with Spanish popular music elements recreated by the author. The main objective of this study is to identify those elements and then understand their process of elaboration.