A Palau with history
23th april 1905: the placement of the first stone
12th MARCH 1904:
The Orfeó Català (Catalan Choral Society) requests a building project and quotation from the architect Lluís Domènech i Montaner for their society headquarters, the future Palau de la Música Catalana.
The Orfeó Català (Catalan Choral Society) requests a building project and quotation from the architect Lluís Domènech i Montaner for their society headquarters, the future Palau de la Música Catalana.
31st MAY 1904:
Domènech i Montaner is granted approval to carry out the project.
Domènech i Montaner is granted approval to carry out the project.
13th OCTOBER 1904:
The deed is signed for the property containing the former cloister of the convent of Sant Francesc on which the Palau is to be built.
The deed is signed for the property containing the former cloister of the convent of Sant Francesc on which the Palau is to be built.
23th APRIL 1905:
An official ceremony is held to celebrate the placement of the first stone.
An official ceremony is held to celebrate the placement of the first stone.
19th MAY 1906:
Six thousand bonds are issued at one hundred pesetas each to finance the project.
Six thousand bonds are issued at one hundred pesetas each to finance the project.
9th FEBRUARY 1908:
Official inauguration of the Palau de la Música Catalana.
From here, the history of the Palau as a concert hall is identified with the musical events that took place within its walls.
Over these past one hundred years, some of the most illustrious figures in the world of international music have graced the stage of the Palau. Some of these world-renowned performers include Pau Casals, Jacques Thibaud, Alfred Cortot, Enric Granados, Blanca Selva, Emil Sauer, Wanda Landowska, Clara Haskil, Fritz Kreisler, Arthur Rubinstein, Claudio Arrau, Yehudi Menuhin, Mstislav Rostropóvitx, Alícia de Larrocha, Victòria dels Àngels, Montserrat Caballé, Josep Carreras, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Barbara Hendricks, Alfred Brendel, Sviatoslav Richter, Mauricio Pollini, and others too numerous to mention.
In terms of symphonies, the Palau has hosted the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra with Richard Strauss, Herbert von Karajan, Claudio Abbado and Mariss Jansons; the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra with Carl Schuricht, Karl Böhm, Zubin Mehta and Leonard Bernstein; the Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam, with Eugen Jochum, Antal Dorati and Mariss Jansons; the Israel Philharmonic with Zubin Mehta; the Berlin Staatskapelle and the Chicago Symphony with Daniel Barenboim; the New York Philharmonic with Kurt Masur; the Munic Philharmonic with Sergiu Celebidache; the Philharmonie Orchestra with Carlo Maria Giulini; the Concentus Musicus Wien with Nikolaus Harnoncourt, and many others.
The most distinguished composers of the 20th century, such as Ravel, Serguei Prokófiev, Igor Stravinsky, Manuel de Falla, Arnold Schönberg, Anton Webern, Robert Gerhard, Georges Enescu, Darius Milhaud, Francis Poulenc, Arthur Honneger, Frederic Mompou, Krzysztof Penderecki, Witold Lutoslawski and Pierre Boulez have performed or conducted their works at the Palau. The history of the concert hall also features the world debut of three transcendent compositions: Manuel de Falla’s Concert for the Harpsichord and Eight Instruments (5th November 1926 with Wanda Landowska and conducted by the composer), Alban Berg’s Concert for the Violin and Orchestra (19th April 1936, in the framework of the 14th Festival of the International Society for Contemporary Music) and Joaquín Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez (9th November 1940).
Open to all sorts of events of cultural and musical interest and with a decided leaning toward modernism, the stage of the Palau has also seen performances from prominent figures such as Vittorio Gassman, Maurice Béjart, Ángel Corella, Duke Ellington, Tete Montoliu, Oscar Peterson, Woody Allen, Keith Jarret, Ella Fitzgerald, Michael Camillo, Tamara Rojo, Paco de Lucía and, more recently, Bebo Baldés, Jorge Dexler, Cassandra Wilson, Vicente Amigo, Anoushka Shankar, and Norah Jones, among others.
The Palau has served as the ideal setting for various different civic, cultural and national events. In the strictly political arena, events at the Palau include a wide range of events from the l’Assemblea de Solidaritat Catalana (29th June 1908) to the so-called “Palau Events” (10th May 1960). The latter involved incidents derived from the governmental prohibition against performing El Cant de la Senyera at a concert given by the Orfeó Català dedicated to the one-hundred year anniversary of the birth of Joan Maragall.
The Palau was also the prestigious setting of the “Nova Cançó” (New Song) movement up to the point at which performing solo –Doing a Palau- was considered by performers to be the turning-point in their careers: Raimon was the first to accomplish this on the 26th of January 1967. And finally, in the cultural arena, the Palau has for some years been a regular venue for theatrical performances (Catalan Experimental Theatre, the Adrià Gual Company, and particularly, the Barcelona Drama Club (1955-1963)) which took the place of a non-existent National Theatre.
Official inauguration of the Palau de la Música Catalana.
From here, the history of the Palau as a concert hall is identified with the musical events that took place within its walls.
Over these past one hundred years, some of the most illustrious figures in the world of international music have graced the stage of the Palau. Some of these world-renowned performers include Pau Casals, Jacques Thibaud, Alfred Cortot, Enric Granados, Blanca Selva, Emil Sauer, Wanda Landowska, Clara Haskil, Fritz Kreisler, Arthur Rubinstein, Claudio Arrau, Yehudi Menuhin, Mstislav Rostropóvitx, Alícia de Larrocha, Victòria dels Àngels, Montserrat Caballé, Josep Carreras, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Barbara Hendricks, Alfred Brendel, Sviatoslav Richter, Mauricio Pollini, and others too numerous to mention.
In terms of symphonies, the Palau has hosted the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra with Richard Strauss, Herbert von Karajan, Claudio Abbado and Mariss Jansons; the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra with Carl Schuricht, Karl Böhm, Zubin Mehta and Leonard Bernstein; the Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam, with Eugen Jochum, Antal Dorati and Mariss Jansons; the Israel Philharmonic with Zubin Mehta; the Berlin Staatskapelle and the Chicago Symphony with Daniel Barenboim; the New York Philharmonic with Kurt Masur; the Munic Philharmonic with Sergiu Celebidache; the Philharmonie Orchestra with Carlo Maria Giulini; the Concentus Musicus Wien with Nikolaus Harnoncourt, and many others.
The most distinguished composers of the 20th century, such as Ravel, Serguei Prokófiev, Igor Stravinsky, Manuel de Falla, Arnold Schönberg, Anton Webern, Robert Gerhard, Georges Enescu, Darius Milhaud, Francis Poulenc, Arthur Honneger, Frederic Mompou, Krzysztof Penderecki, Witold Lutoslawski and Pierre Boulez have performed or conducted their works at the Palau. The history of the concert hall also features the world debut of three transcendent compositions: Manuel de Falla’s Concert for the Harpsichord and Eight Instruments (5th November 1926 with Wanda Landowska and conducted by the composer), Alban Berg’s Concert for the Violin and Orchestra (19th April 1936, in the framework of the 14th Festival of the International Society for Contemporary Music) and Joaquín Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez (9th November 1940).
Open to all sorts of events of cultural and musical interest and with a decided leaning toward modernism, the stage of the Palau has also seen performances from prominent figures such as Vittorio Gassman, Maurice Béjart, Ángel Corella, Duke Ellington, Tete Montoliu, Oscar Peterson, Woody Allen, Keith Jarret, Ella Fitzgerald, Michael Camillo, Tamara Rojo, Paco de Lucía and, more recently, Bebo Baldés, Jorge Dexler, Cassandra Wilson, Vicente Amigo, Anoushka Shankar, and Norah Jones, among others.
The Palau has served as the ideal setting for various different civic, cultural and national events. In the strictly political arena, events at the Palau include a wide range of events from the l’Assemblea de Solidaritat Catalana (29th June 1908) to the so-called “Palau Events” (10th May 1960). The latter involved incidents derived from the governmental prohibition against performing El Cant de la Senyera at a concert given by the Orfeó Català dedicated to the one-hundred year anniversary of the birth of Joan Maragall.
The Palau was also the prestigious setting of the “Nova Cançó” (New Song) movement up to the point at which performing solo –Doing a Palau- was considered by performers to be the turning-point in their careers: Raimon was the first to accomplish this on the 26th of January 1967. And finally, in the cultural arena, the Palau has for some years been a regular venue for theatrical performances (Catalan Experimental Theatre, the Adrià Gual Company, and particularly, the Barcelona Drama Club (1955-1963)) which took the place of a non-existent National Theatre.