"La música en Cervantes: un instrumento para la provocación" / "The Music in Cervante

Yesterday evening I was invited by the Museum of Quixote of Ciudad Real to give a talk in the context of the II Lecciones Cervantinas. This activity, promoted by the City Council, involves academics, scholars, and writers that every Wednesdays of April will meet to explain different perspectives and readings of Cervantes' Works.

I presented, warmly sorrounded by friends and colleagues, a tour of the places and fragments where music adopts in Cervantes a provocative meaning, both from a sexual perspective -forbidden at his time by censorship authorities- as well as from the literarly heritage point of view. We could show how musical instruments, songs, romances and public musical celebrations of XVIth and XVIIth centuries were recreated in several parts of his theatre plays, Novelas ejemplares and, above all, Don Quixote, and how Cervantes tries to shape a musical universe that adds an specific value that must be considered in order to correctly understand the purposes and meanings of his works.

I should like to thank all of you for attending this talk. Here are some pictures and articles of journals that report on the evening that all we shared.