The Cambridge History of Music in Spain

Spanish music is universally popular but seldom well understood. For the first time in English, in a single volume, and in a style that will be accessible to specialists and non-specialists alike, leading experts survey a rich legacy of classical music as well as a diverse heritage of regional folklore.

Spain's musical history has often resided on – or been consigned to – the margins of historical narratives about mainstream European culture. As a result, Spanish music is universally popular but seldom well understood outside Iberia. This volume offers, for the first time in English, a comprehensive survey of music in Spain from the Middle Ages to the modern era, including both classical and popular traditions. With chapters from a group of leading music scholars, the book reevaluates the history of music in Spain, from devotional works of the Middle Ages and Renaissance to masterpieces of the postwar avant-garde. It surveys a deep legacy of classical music as well as a rich heritage of folklore comprising songs and dances from Spain's many regions, especially but not exclusively Andalusian flamenco. Folklore in turn informed the nationalist repertoire with which music lovers are most familiar, including pieces by Albéniz, Granados, Falla, Rodrigo, and many others.