Abstracts
Abstract
The Bombing of Guernica stands as the best-known war crime during the Spanish Civil War. The town symbolically representing the Basque essences was destroyed by a German-Italian air raid lasting over three hours, and almost two hundred people were killed. Unfortunately, this abominable event remains contentious among disparate political factions, sometimes upholding its memory by means of tailor-made interpretations.
As music often performs a political role within conflicts, particularly those involving violence, it is not surprising that the Bombing of Guernica has inspired several compositions of art music. Among them, we study three works by Basque composers, namely Pablo Sorozábal, Francisco Escudero, and Ramon Lazkano. Each case study respectively stands, politically speaking, as a propagandistic event, a musical appropriation, and a collateral depoliticization of the vivid memories around the war crime.
Keywords:
- Guernica,
- nationalism,
- Basque music,
- music and conflict,
- Francisco Escudero,
- Pablo Sorozábal,
- Ramon Lazkano,
- Mikel Laboa
Résumé
Le bombardement de Guernica est le crime de guerre le plus connu de la Guerre d’Espagne. La commune, symbole des essences basques, a été détruite par un raid aérien italo-allemand ayant duré plus de trois heures, et près de deux cents personnes ont été tuées. Malheureusement, cet événement abominable demeure toujours controversé parmi les factions politiques disparates, donnant parfois lieu à une mémoire abondante en idées reçues.
Comme la musique joue souvent un rôle politique au sein des conflits, en particulier ceux impliquant la violence, il n’est pas surprenant que le bombardement de Guernica ait inspiré plusieurs compositions de musique dite « savante ». Parmi les cas possibles, nous étudions trois oeuvres de compositeurs basques : Pablo Sorozábal, Francisco Escudero et Ramon Lazkano. Chaque étude de cas reflète, en termes politiques, un événement de propagande, une appropriation musicale et une dépolitisation collatérale des mémoires autour du crime de guerre.
Mots-clés :
- Guernica,
- nationalisme,
- musique basque,
- musique et conflit,
- Francisco Escudero,
- Pablo Sorozábal,
- Ramon Lazkano,
- Mikel Laboa
Appendices
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