Latin American musical avant-gardes in the official discourse of Hispanic Identity

Abstract

This paper deals with the presence of Latin American musical vanguards in Madrid during the decade of the 1950s and 1960s, focusing on the reception of new musical trends by the young generation of Spanish composers -the socalled "Generation of 51", as well as analyzing the cultural policies of Franco's regime as regards musical exchanges. The role played by the Chilean composers Gustavo Becerra-Schmidt and Pablo Garrido in the diffusion of twelve-tone technique in Spain has also been studied. The attention provided to these musicians in the 1950s was minimal in comparison with the official propaganda of events such as the Biennial on Contemporary Music and the Festival of Music of the Americas and Spain (1964). The latter was used by the regime to promote the internationalism of Spanish avant-garde music. In addition, it also served to defend the idea of a shared Hispanic culture, now oriented to the adoption of serial music by both groups of composers as a metaphor of modernity.