VilaWeb - Diari escola: The Palau de la Música Catalana

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diumenge, 22 de desembre de 2024

> The Building

> Lluís Domènech i Montaner

> Modernism

dimarts, 26 d'abril de 2005

The 23rd of April was the hundredth anniversary of the laying of the first stone of one of the most emblematic seats of Catalan culture: the Palau de la Música Catalana in Barcelona, a jewel of Catalan art designed by the Modernist architect Lluís Domènech i Montaner.

The building was completed in 1908, and that very year it became the seat of the Orfeó Català, a choral association that was highly representative of Catalan culture of the last century. It was this organisation that commissioned the building and that actually owns it. The Orfeó Català was founded in 1891 by musician Lluís Millet and composer Amadeu Vives.

Of great renown, the Palau de la Música concert hall has served as the setting for performances by many eminent musicians, composers and conductors: Richard Strauss, Pau Casals, Sergei Prokofiev, Arnold Schönberg, Igor Stravinsky...

We'll talk about the building itself in a moment. But first it should be mentioned that the Palau de la Música Catalana has been remodelled twice, in the periods 1982-1989 and 2000-2004, under the direction of the architect and designer Òscar Tusquets.

+ Webs relacionades dins Nosaltres.Com: Arquitectura

The Building

+ The Palau de la Música Catalana is extremely rich in decorative elements.

The Palau de la Música Catalana has been described as the most Modernist building in the world, maybe because all the basic features of Modernism are perfectly visible within it, on a powerful and unusual scale. As we mentioned, it was designed by Lluís Domènech i Montaner, and the central piece, the concert hall itself, has glass walls and a large central skylight. It is extremely rich in decorative elements, which were created by artists such as Pau Gargallo, Miquel Blay, Lluís Bru, Jeroni Ferran Granell, Miquel Massot...

Lluís Domènech i Montaner

+ Portrait of Lluís Domènech i Montaner.

Lluís Domènech i Montaner was highly influential on Catalan Modernism. He helped to define and disseminate it from his position as professor of the School of Architecture of Barcelona, the city in which he was born in 1850. As well as the Palau de la Música Catalana, his other major works include the Castell dels Tres Dragons (the current Museum of Zoology), the Casa Lleó i Morera, the Casa Fuster and the Hospital de Sant Pau, all in his home town. These buildings have positioned him as one of the world's leading Modernist architects.

Modernism

+ The Hospital de Sant Pau was designed by Domènech i Montaner.

The word 'modernism' refers to the cultural movement that developed in the West at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries. This movement was very widespread in our country, and it encompassed literature, music, the plastic arts and architecture. It is in this latter field that we find such famous Catalan names as Antoni Gaudí, Josep Puig i Cadafalch and Lluís Domènech i Montaner. The curved lines, rich ornamentation, asymmetry, plant motifs and movement of the forms are some of the main characteristics of Modernist art.

MATERIALS

Palau de la Música Catalana
Format:Web
Web del Palau de la Música Catalana: història, informació de l'Orfeó Català, tomb virtual...
El Palau de la Música Catalana: vídeo
Format:Web
Vídeo explicatiu d'aquest edifici projectat per Lluís Domènech i Montaner; inclòs a la videoteca de la Xarxa Telemàtica Educativa de Catalunya (XTEC).
El modernisme i el seu temps
Format:Web
Espai, interactiu i dinàmic, que dóna compte dels factors d'ordre divers que van afavorir l'aparició del modernisme.
Gaudí i el modernisme
Format:Web
Web íntegrament dedicada al modernisme català, en arts gràfiques, arquitectura, literatura i música. Comprèn apunts biogràfics dels artistes més representatius de cadascuna d'aquestes disciplines.
El modernisme
Format:Web
Pàgina de la XTEC, centrada en el modernisme arquitectònic català; inclou un treball sobre el Palau de la Música Catalana.

QUE HO SABIES?

In 1997 the Palau de la Música Catalana and the Hospital de Sant Pau were declared World Heritage Site by UNESCO, the United Nations Organisation for Education, Science and Culture.
As well as architecture, Lluís Domènech i Montaner devoted himself to history and politics. He was a member of the Catalan Nationalist Movement, which became progressively more established in the last quarter of the 19th century.
The anthem of the Orfeó Català is 'El cant de la senyera', ('The Song of the Catalan Flag'), with lyrics by the writer Joan Maragall and music by Lluís Millet, co-founder of the choir.