Writings and research

Article

El verisme a la pell: la història del tenor Manuel Suaña (1863-1939)

Verismo in the skin: the story of tenor Manuel Suaña (1863-1939)

https://www.revistamusical.cat/el-verisme-a-la-pell-la-historia-del-tenor-manuel-suana-1863-1939/

From an old piano we discover the existence of an artist who was at the heart of Italian Verismo, the tenor Manuel Suaña i Font, born in 1863 in Es Castell (Menorca) and died in Barcelona in 1939, now 85 years ago. He sang at La Scala in Milan, Liceu, Covent Garden and the best Italian theatres. Suaña or Suagnes, as he was known professionally, had a dazzling career.

Author: Marina Rodríguez Brià

Name of the magazine: Revista Musical Catalana. (Barcelona)
Published online:  14/11/2024
Catalan language

Article

Jerzy Artysz, the voice of the soul, dies

Mor Jerzy Artysz, la veu de l'ànima

https://www.revistamusical.cat/mor-jerzy-artysz-la-veu-de-lanima/

Born in 1930 in Sochaczew (Poland), Artysz was a legendary figure on the operatic scene of his country. His repertoire covered the main baritone roles from the Baroque period to the music of the 20th century. His immense task, however, did not only develop in his country but also reached Catalonia. His biography is full of awards that I cite in this article.

Author: Marina Rodríguez Brià

Name of the magazine: Revista Musical Catalana. (Barcelona)
Published online:  23/7/2024
Catalan language


Article

La compositora Carmen Barradas (1888-1963) i el seu pas per Catalunya.

The composer Carmen Barradas (1888-1963) and her time in Catalonia.

http://www.revistamusical.cat/la-compositora-carmen-barradas-1888-1963-i-el-seu-pas-per-catalunya/

2023 marks the 135th anniversary of the birth and 60th anniversary of the death of the Uruguayan pianist and composer Carmen Barradas. She was associated with an important circle of artists and intellectuals formed around her brother, the painter Rafael Barradas. Linked to the artistic avant-gardes, but separated from any musical school, Carmen Barradas' work is surprising for her personality, modernity and strength.

Author: Marina Rodríguez Brià

Name of the magazine: Revista Musical Catalana. (Barcelona)
Published online:  13/9/2023
Catalan language

Article

The Intellectual Circle of Muzio Clementi in London: A Contribution to His Biography.
El Cercle intel·lectual de Muzio Clementi a Londres: Una contribució a la seva biografia.

This article focuses on the relationship that the musician Muzio Clementi had with the intellectuals of his period in England. The most significant connection stems from his friendship with the writer Thomas Holcroft and the philosopher William Godwin. From the analysis of documents, recently published studies and their comparison with different testimonies about the musician, the article aims to make a contribution to the biography of Clementi based on his interactions with the thinkers of the period, which had an effect on his personality and his professional activity as a musician. It becomes clear that as well as being an exceptional musician he was also an intellectual with an enlightened mind who played a part in the ideas that were provoking great changes in Europe, in his case through music.
Aquest article se centra en la relació que el músic Muzio Clementi va mantenir amb els intel·lectuals del seu període a Anglaterra. La connexió més significativa prové de la seva amistat amb l'escriptor Thomas Holcroft i el filòsof William Godwin. A partir de l'anàlisi de documents, estudis publicats recentment i la seva comparació amb diferents testimonis sobre el músic, l'article pretén fer una aportació a la biografia de Clementi a partir de les seves interaccions amb els pensadors de l'època, que van incidir en la seva personalitat i la seva activitat professional com a músic. Es fa evident que, a més de ser un músic excepcional, també va ser un intel·lectual de ment il·lustrada que va participar en les idees que estaven provocant grans canvis a Europa, en el seu cas a través de la música.





Author: Marina Rodríguez Brià
Name of the journal: The Keats-Shelley Review
Volume: 37 
Edition year: Issue 1, 2023
Pages: 28-45
Published online: 16 Jun 2023
Routledge. Taylor & Francis Group
English language


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Article
200 anys del ballet Cendrillon de Ferran Sor.
200 years of the Cendrillon ballet by Ferran Sor.

Ferran Sor és conegut internacionalment com a compositor per a guitarra i per haver estat un gran intèrpret d'aquest instrument. En canvi, els seus nombrosos ballets, representats als millors teatres d'Europa, són desconeguts pel públic actual. 
Ferran Sor is known internationally as a composer for the guitar and for having been a great performer of this instrument. On the other hand, his numerous ballets, performed in the best theaters in Europe, are unknown to today's public.


Author: Marina Rodríguez Brià
Name of the magazine: Revista musical catalana
Volume: 376
Edition year: May-August 2022
Catalan language

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Article
120 years of the birth of Joan Flotats i Claramunt (1902-1988), a musician from Bages (Barcelona)

Memory of a Catalan pianist and composer, Joan Flotats i Claramunt (1902-1988), with works dedicated to Spanish Dance, Flamenco and to other popular genres of different origins.


Author: Marina Rodríguez Brià
Name of the magazine: Revista musical catalana
Volume: Online edition
Edition year: January 2022
Catalan language

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Article
A biographical sketch of the musician Joan Flotats i Claramunt (1902-1988). The profession of piano maestro and composer. 

ABSTRACT:
Joan Flotats i Claramunt belongs to the generation of musicians whose careers unfolded both before and after the Spanish Civil War, a fact that marked their lives significantly. However, he was able to complete his music studies in Manresa and Barcelona, and to receive a classical higher education. He worked as a piano maestro and composer in theatres, cafés-théâtres and academies in these two cities and also in Terrassa. Flotats dominated the musical genres of the Spanish dances and those of the dances of other origins, rhythms and artistic temperaments. The study of this figure reveals what it meant to be a maestro – a wide-ranging profession in which one had to be an expert musician in the instrumental, compositional and stylistic aspects of the singing and dancing of the period. It was equivalent to being a musical director at the same time as an improviser and a composer. From the late sixties, this profession had fallen into a certain obscurity for various historical and social reasons. The music of Flotats, however, has been performed in concerts for several years now, even though it has yet to enjoy the widespread revival that it so rightly deserves.



Author: Marina Rodríguez Brià
Name of the journal: Revista catalana de musicologia
Volume: 14: 2021
Edition year: 2021
Pages:  259-275
Catalan language







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Article

Beethoven i el focus musical de Londres

Beethoven and the musical focus of London

Numerous musicians of all nationalities passed through the cosmopolitan city of London, around 1800. Some lived their best years there. Thanks to the enthusiasm and interest of some of them, the music of Ludwig van Beethoven was promoted in the city to the point that the London Philharmonic Society was the institution that commissioned the Ninth Symphony. Although he was invited, Beethoven never went to London even though he expressed a desire to do so: "I would like to visit England and all the wonderful artists there.


Author: Marina Rodríguez Brià
Name of the magazine: Revista musical catalana
Volume: Online edition
Edition year: April 2021
Catalan language  

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Article

Muzio Clementi's contribution to the history of music.

La contribució de Muzio Clementi a la història de la música.

ABSTRACT:
Muzio Clementi (1752-1832) has been one of the most multifaceted and influential musicians in the history of the piano. His long life represents a bridge between the Baroque—from whose fountains he drank during his Roman youth—and the Romanticism portrayed by the individuality of its most representative instrument—the piano. Settled in England since the age of 14, his activity encompassed piano performance, conducting, music promotion, composition, didactics, music publishing, and piano manufacturing. He excelled extraordinarily in all his facets, being an active part of the European society of the moment and leaving a legacy that has endured to our days and that we want to summarize in this article.

  
Author: Marina Rodríguez Brià
Name of the magazine: Harpsichord & Fortepiano
Edition year: Spring 2021
Number of pages: 
English language










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Capítol de llibre /  Book chapter
1820 London-Vilanova. A Clementi piano in a liquors ship. 

In this article, Marina Rodríguez emphasises the singularity of the cabinet piano of the Masia d'en Cabanyes, manufactured by one of the most famous musicians of his time: Muzio Clementi (1752-1832). The Clementi & Co. brand acquired great prestige for the musical quality of its instruments. It was the major exporter of pianos from England and in just over thirty years it produced 25,000.

The instrument was acquired by Josep Anton Cabanyes in 1820 in London, when he was twenty-three years old. Marina Rodríguez Brià points out that the young melomaniac and collector must have been easy seduced by the frenzied musical activity of the city. Sea, rivers, and canals trading routes were the best way to transport pianos. 

Author: Marina Rodríguez Brià
Name of the book: La Masia d'en Cabanyes. Poesia, música i mites al romanticisme català.
Editor: Consell Comarcal del Garraf. Vilanova i la Geltrú (Barcelona)
Edition year: 2020
Deposit legal: B 553-2021
First chapter: P. 10-17
Catalan language





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Article

Confluències musicals en temps de revolucions. L'etapa londinenca de Ferran Sor (1815-1823) i la seva relació amb Muzio Clementi i integrants de la London Pianoforte School

Musical convergences in times of revolution. The London period of Ferran Sor (1815-1823) and his relation to Muzio Clementi and members of the London Pianoforte School

ABSTRACT:
The beginning of the 19th century marked a vibrant period for the piano in London. When Ferran Sor arrived in the city in 1815, Muzio Clementi had already made an extraordinary contribution to piano development with a method, several publications and the building of pianos. The piano became popular and affordable in England. What’s more, Clementi would be a pioneer who educated the first generation of professional pianists, known today as the London Pianoforte School. Sor would come into contact with them and the world of piano composition, finding thus a model for the guitar, which had been hitherto confined to more popular music. Clementi published a work by Sor dedicated to Kalkbrenner and Sor would also dedicate a work to Cramer. Likewise, Sor performed at the Philharmonic Society, founded by Clementi and other musicians, and shared the stage with these pianists. In his method for guitar, he mentioned these names and others as examples to emulate. Sor also wrote his works for piano in London, meeting the leading pianists there and broadening his musical activity. The recent finding in Catalonia of a Clementi & Co. piano signed by Sor has opened a new line of research.

Author: Marina Rodríguez Brià
Name of the journal: Revista catalana de musicologia
Volume: 12: 2019
Edition year: 2019
Number of pages: P. 311-330
Catalan language







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Article

La relació entre Beethoven i Clementi, un capítol poc conegut

The relationship between Beethoven and Clementi, a little-known chapter

One of the evolving disciplines, like so many aspects today, is music research. The work done by thousands of researchers in various geographies of the world and the numerous publications that appear continuously allow us to obtain more information and to complete or rectify the story that the tradition has been repeating. 
This is the case with the new studies on Muzio Clementi (1752-1832). In the late 18th-century music scene, the focus of Londonian pianism, known as the London Pianoforte School, of which Clementi was one of the main protagonists, is one of the least explained. But who was this musician who described himself as "I'm a young Italian but an old Englishman"?
Author: Marina Rodríguez Brià
Name of the magazine: Revista musical catalana
Volume: Online edition
Edition year: March 2020
Catalan language  (English translation is available in this blog)


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Article

José de Udaeta (1919-2009), una doble efemèride

(José de Udaeta (1919-2009), a double event)

José de Udaeta, a dancer, choreographer, teacher and virtuoso castanets player, but especially a singular person on and off the stage, was born in Barcelona in 1919 and died in Sant Feliu de Guíxols in 2009. This year, therefore, we commemorate the centenary of his birth and ten years of his death. The pianist Marina Rodríguez Brià, who played with him on numerous occasions, recalls him in this article.
Author: Marina Rodríguez Brià
Name of the magazine: Revista musical catalana
Volume: Online edition
Edition year: December 2019
Catalan language

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