Journey to the origin of all music with the Conservatori del Liceu

The one at the Conservatori del Liceu is the story of a human chain of musical talents.

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
21 May 2022 Saturday 23:05
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Journey to the origin of all music with the Conservatori del Liceu

The one at the Conservatori del Liceu is the story of a human chain of musical talents. That of indisputable artists who were lucky enough to have that institution at a time when training in art was not something within the reach of everyone. Joan Lamote de Grignon, Joaquín Zamacois, Pere Tintorer (father of Catalan pianists) or the refreshing Joan Guinjoan are just some of the figures who began as students and returned to teach.

That flame of knowledge and excellence has been kept alive for almost two centuries. Carles Santos graduated in piano here. And mythical voices such as the tenor Viñas, Victoria de los Ángeles or Montserrat Caballé, in the same way that new lyrical glories such as Sara Blanch or Serena Sáenz have passed through the center today. It has also ridden with the times: in 1978 it became the first school to teach modern music and jazz in Spain. And in 1991 he created the specialty of flamenco guitar.

Looking back means feeling the weight of responsibility for those at the helm of this institution, which on its 185th anniversary claims to be a beacon of musical education in the country, in all styles. Legends such as the composer Engelbert Humperdinck, Wagner's collaborator in Bayreuth, or later Pau Casals, became part of the Liceu faculty, a term that, as the director of the Conservatory, Maria Serrat recalls, means education. “The Liceu brand owes the theater to us”, she points out.

Indeed, the current Gran Teatre was created by the Lyceum Philharmonic to help finance the chairs. All this from Barcelona and thanks to the initiative of a group of people linked to the emerging bourgeoisie. It was 1837. On February 21, a group of people linked to the 14th Battalion of the Barcelona National Militia met in the office of Commander Manuel Gibert i Sans with the idea of ​​organizing dances to pay for the battalion's uniforms.

“But a month and a half later they changed their goals and agreed that what should be created was a society to give impetus and encourage the study of dramatic art. On November 14 of that same year, the first Regulations of the Lyceo Filodramático de Montesión were approved, considered as a society of friends gathered to contribute 'with their lights or flows' to the development of dramatic art and musical art and whose objectives were the creation of declamation and singing academies and other theoretical schools as essential studies”.

It is explained in detail by Serrat, who in addition to being the tireless promoter of the modern headquarters in Nou de la Rambla, which was already hosting classes in 2008, has dedicated a referential thesis to the history of the entity.

The first Conservatory became a reality thanks to the confiscation of Mendizábal. "Her Majesty of her, the Queen Governor, has deigned to grant the Montesión ex-convent building to the Philharmonic Lyceum, understanding said transfer limited to the time that the chairs of public and free education remain in place," read the official document.

However, the academy needed a theater to help finance itself. In 1844 she managed to exchange the convent of Montesión for the old convent of the Trinitarios, larger and located on the Rambla. It would house the theater, the school and the Cercle del Liceu.

And although during the excavations to lay the foundations it was necessary to remove even skeletons –the businessman Joaquim de Gispert went bankrupt investing 80,000 pesos–, the “grace” granted to the project is temporary. "Only while the objectives of public utility that were taken into account in the original concession to the aforementioned Lyceum last." From the income of the theater, 80,000 duros will be allocated to its maintenance and 36,000 to the chairs.

But in 1854 the conservatory decided to give autonomy to the theater, which, according to legend, outraged a nun who recalls that the convent was ceded for a noble cause such as teaching... "The theater will suffer three fires", it is said that said. The first, in 1861, was not long in coming. The next was 1994. A third would be missing, although the anarchist bomb that exploded in 1893 could well be considered a fire.

At the turn of the century, the Liceu Conservatory becomes the entity that will teach the first official musical study plan in the State. In the thirties it grew unstoppably, music schools in Catalonia became subsidiaries. In 1944, the Conservatori Superior de Música i Declamació de Barcelona was created: the Liceu for the former and the Institut del Teatre for the latter. In 1983 the Generalitat receives the transfer of powers.

The public-private relationship of the project has had its ups and downs. “Reaching the 21st century, an in-depth reform of the Conservatory is necessary so that it lives up to that extraordinary legacy. For which modern equipment is necessary that meets the conditions that the historic center of La Rambla did not have, ”explains the composer and professor Benet Casablancas, who led the academic refoundation.

“And it was not done in a simple or conducive context - he adds -, because the Administration had just founded another higher center [the Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya, Esmuc] and felt it as something of its own. But the capitals have not one but two or three higher schools. The important thing is that they are excellent”.

Serrat fought hard to build the new building in Nou de la Rambla. Today it houses 700 of the 10,000 students that all its centers add up to. And currently he does not receive a euro of public aid.

“Today the Fundació Conservatori Liceu obtains financing for its teachings and activities thanks to the support of patronage and philanthropy, and with the fees of its students. For reasons of fairness, it would be highly desirable to be able to lower the fees, something for which it would be necessary to benefit from public subsidies, in accordance with the desire for public service that the Liceu Conservatory has always had”, concludes the director.


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