Sound and Space during Charles V’s Visit to Barcelona in 1519

Abstract

Royal entries and visits set in motion a series of ceremonial events in the city where the king resided temporarily that brought about a shift or change in density in the sounds that were heard in the street and in the most emblematic buildings of the urban complex. When Charles V entered Barcelona in 1519, he was accompanied by the musicians of his household and chapel, among them the Flemish instrumentalists and singers who brought different ways of playing and singing and performing a distinct polyphonic repertory, probably never heard before there. The sonic impact of the visit would have varied according to the experience and expectations of the different acoustic communities present at the variety of ceremonies celebrated in religious and festive contexts: the inhabitants of the city were ear-witnesses to the processions mounted in the streets, but were excluded from the interior spaces of cathedral and palace, while nobles and ecclesiastic and civic authorities listened to polyphonic masses and motets at church services, and French chansons at banquets. This article aims to analyse the relationship between sound and space in the different ceremonies held in Barcelona during Charles V’s visit to the city and to what extent and for whom the urban soundspace was transformed.