Crossing Paths: Spanish Piano Music and Folklore in the Nineteenth Century

This is a pioneering work on the study of popular music--songs and dances--from the eighteenth to early twentieth centuries. The piano was the dominant solo instrument in European art music of this period, including Spanish, and Ana Benavides uses this as a vehicle for examining a wide variety of vernacular songs and dances, offering a wealth of musical, historical, and ethnographic insight. First published in Spanish in 2019, this translation by Walter Aaron Clark shows how one of the most frequent and established practices in the history of Western art music has been the borrowing and reinterpretation of traditional and popular musics, which reflect the lives and spirit of those outside the upper social strata. This volume provides an exploration of specific folk-inspired works with an inquiry into the historical cross-pollination between popular and classical musical idioms. It will prove invaluable not only to pianists but also to scholars, performers, and students in general.

Ana Benavides is currently a Distinguished Professor at the Real Conservatorio Superior de Música de Madrid and Associated Professor at the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid.

Walter A. Clark is Distinguished Professor of Musicology at the University of California, Riverside. He has written biographies of Isaac Albéniz, Enrique Granados, and Federico Moreno Torroba, as well as a Research and Information Guide on Joaquín Rodrigo for Routledge.