Palau de la Musica Catalana

 In the mid 1800s, Italian opera was all the rage in Barcelona, but only attended by the money class.  Italian opera was considered to be superior to the northern forms of the French, Germans or Belgians.  This type of elitism with respect to music, collided with the more radical ideology of Catalanism and socialism, which led to the revival of traditional Catalan folk music.  Josep Clave, a bit of a revolutionary, started choral groups among the workers in Barcelona.  He taught music and wrote music for the groups, his own folk songs proved to be very popular.

The Palau was designed by Domenech, it was built for the Orfeo Catala, the most important choral group, which was founded in 1891 by Lluis Millet and Amadeu Vives.  This is the building that deeply reflects the ideology of Catalan Modernisme.

On the main facade of the Palau, the mosaic at the very top is a scene of song and of the choir Orfeo Catala.  Below are busts of the composers Bach, Beethoven and Palestrina, the bust of Wagner is around the side.  On the corner, ‘The Catalan Folk Song’ represents people from various social classes:  children, old man, grandmother, peasant and fisherman fronted by a female figure which symbolizes Catalan folk song.  All are protected by the patron saint of Catalunya, Sant Jordi - Saint George wielding his sword.  The shape of the sculpture resembles the bow of a ship.

Offices and rehearsal rooms are on the ground floor, separated by walls of wood and glass.  Above, floats the auditorium, exhibiting the themes of sound and light.  Upon entering the building, the foyer and staircase prepares the visitor for entry into the auditorium.  According to frequent visitors, the experience is always a surprise as one is confronted with a visually saturated concert hall with the play of light and colour coming at you from stained glass.  A spectacular stained glass skylight of a radiating circle of angelic choristers transmits soft pink and blue.

The main loads of the structure are carried on a steel frame, which supports glass walls.  The walls are mostly glass, allowing light to flood in.  In the evening, the light is of an amber hue due to the light fixtures, I think it would be even more stunning in the daytime.

In the concert hall, the proscenium, which is the area surrounding the stage, is carved in soft white pumice and is supported by a hidden iron structure.  The stark white carving is in sharp contrast to the explosion of colour in the remainder of the concert hall.  The scene depicts the old and the new, the Catalan folk songs and the classical music of northern Europe.

On the left is the bust of Clave and the figure represents Clave’s own folk song ‘The May Flowers’

Under a willow a girl sits braiding joyfully
Her rich golden hair, ay, yes!
Her mirror is a fresh crystalline spring
Her ornaments are violets of the forest
Another weaving a nuanced garland
Rocks her body as the grace of treasure

On the right is a bust of Beethoven between two Doric columns of ancient Greece, symbolizing the birth of traditional classical music.  The other element is Wagnerism, from Wagner’s opera The Valkyrie, four female figures on their winged horses reaching toward the roots of Catalan culture.  The Catalans adopted the nationalist ideology of Wagner, his works were popular and were often performed in Catalunya at the end of the nineteenth century.

On the back wall a full colour hemi cycle in ceramic is the permanent background to the music, the Palau was not meant to have sets, the building is the scenery.  The hemi cycle depicts eighteen Muses playing eighteen different instruments.

When the Palau was inaugurated in 1908, it was thought to be magnificent, but less than a decade  later, it was detested.  In addition, complaints rose because the acoustics were awful, the glass walls carried street noise right into the concert hall.  There was even talk of tearing it down or stripping the interior and replacing the glass with wood walls.  The Palau was declared a national monument in 1971 and was restored in the 1980s.

There are tours of the Palau but we opted for the budget option, six euros got us into a concert, an organ concert by Thomas Trotter.  Before everybody falls off of their chairs in hysterics, the music was really good and Trotter, who is British, was, as the British are fond of saying, brilliant.

The concert hall is overwhelming in its ornamentation, Trotter stated that he has never played in a concert hall with more colour.  He played with his back to the audience; thus, we could witness how much work it is to play an organ, his hands flew over the four keyboards and his feet flew as well.  Trivia of the day, the phrase, ‘pull out all the stops’ is derived from the construction of a pipe organ, the stops are pulled to increase airflow, and thus, the musical volume.

Unfortunately, we discovered that organ music, although loud, is a great cure for insomnia, as sleep deprivation has caught up to us, we both had great difficulty staying awake.  As we struggled to stay semiconscious, there were other people in the hall who had nodded off completely.

Facade

Mosaic at top of facade of the scene of song and of the choir Orfeo Catala

Mosaic of choir and elegantly dressed women of high society

Sculpture of the members of society, female figure representing Catalan folk song and, above her is Sant Jordi

Bust of Wagner

Good view of the ceramic work

View of the top which is impossible to take from the front due to the narrow street

Nice brick work and ceiling ornamentation in the restaurant of the Palau

Very decorative staircase

Foyer ceiling decoration

Staircase to concert hall

Incredible skylight and ceiling ornamentation and the concert hall

Hemicycle of the eighteen muses with musical instruments

The Proscenium:  old music meets new music

Every column is decorated with ceramic designs

Ceiling ornamentation above upper balcony

Some seats have obstructed views

 Sitting area framed by decorative columns on first level of concert hall