“Más poéticas que pedagógicas palabras”: Gerardo Diego y el curso de historia de la música para piano en el Ateneo de Soria (1921)

Abstract

Gerardo Diego’s lifetime passion for music gave rise to an enormous output of poems, criticism and essays as well as programme notes, radio collaborations and an endless number of concert-lectures. Between February and May 1921, during his first year as Professor of Spanish Literature, Diego embarked on an ambitious project of explaining and performing two hundred years of piano literature for the members of the Ateneo of Soria in thirteen illustrated lectures. This “Course on the History of Piano Music” was, undoubtedly, his first large-scale project. This article thus views this course as a clear demonstration of the young Gerardo Diego’s precocious musical talent and excellent knowledge gained during his formative years in Santander, Bilbao and Madrid, and as a rare example of cosmopolitan musical agendas present in a local context due to the generous contribution of wealthy individuals.