The Vulnerable Virility of a Modernist Hero (1914-1918): Usandizaga's Music, Ornament and "Seduction"

Abstract

The success of the zarzuela Las golondrinas (1914), by José María Usandizaga and Gregorio Martínez Sierra (his wife, María Lejárraga, actually wrote the text), marked a milestone in Spanish stage music, in a context of artistic dynamism and crucial socio-cultural transformations that involved questioning traditional gender roles. This article traces the gender controverses implicit in the discourses that underpinned Usandizaga’s fame as a musical icon of the time, as well as in the reviews that discussed his aesthetic leanings towards a “modernism” considered decadent and subtly “effeminate”. To this effect, the analysis of press articles and other contemporary publications is contrasted with the composer’s public image, together with certain biographical and dramaturgical evidence. The contradictions detected between the surmised canonical requirements of an advocate for Spanish musical theatre and the reality of personal constraints and concerns shed light on certain mystifications in the reception of his works.