Press, Opinion and Music Theatre in Madrid, 1780-1791

Abstract

Through the study of two stage tonadillas escénicas and articles published in the Madrid periodical press, this article suggests that music theatre in Madrid was a breeding ground for the formation of modern public opinion in Spain. This phenomenon can be especially observed between 1780 and 1791, the year when periodical publications were temporarily banned. The reopening of the Teatro de los Caños del Peral in 1787 led to the publication of numerous articles and letters debating the situation of foreign versus national theatre in the Madrid press. As a result of this and other similar debates, both the press and tonadillas questioned whether the phenomenon of opinion Spanish society. To conclude, I will argue that Jürgen Habermas’s theorization of the public sphere only partially illuminates the genesis of modern public opinion in Spain. In the end, the fact that the Spanish case differs from those considered by Habermas doesn’t mean that Spain has remained on the sidelines of the European processes of the formation of modern public opinion.