The Role of Music in Shaping the Spanish Public Sphere during the Nineteenth Century. Ideas and Guidelines for Research

Abstract

As in the rest of the Western world, a new public sphere was being shaped in Spain since the mid-eighteenth century. In recent years, Spanish historiography has made remarkable progress in studying the history of this process, from its early stages in the academies and societies of friends, to the more complex forms of the public in today’s society. Nevertheless, there are enormous gaps and unknown areas in this history. One of these understudied aspects refers to the role music played in the process of creating new public spaces of sociability, debate and civic activity during the liberal era. This article introduces some ideas and suggests guidelines for research on how to approach the study of the shaping of a modern musical public in nineteenth-century Spain.