On December 4, at the “Joaquín Rodrigo” Higher Conservatory of Music in València, Salvador Astruells Moreno delivered the lecture Soundscapes and the Origins of Valencian Wind Bands (1790–1830), as part of the seminar and lecture series «Phonospheres of the Monarchy from the Ancien Régime to Liberalism» of the FonUrMed project.
The talk addressed the central role of sound in the shaping of political and social identities during the transition from the Ancien Régime to liberalism, focusing on the earliest Valencian wind band formations, known as músicas del Ayre. Far from the later model of musical societies, these groups fulfilled representative and festive functions in the public space, becoming part of the phonosphere of the Hispanic monarchy in a context of profound transformations.
Drawing on scattered evidence found in notarial records and other documentary sources, Astruells presented new lines of research that make it possible to advance knowledge of the origins of Valencian wind band culture, highlighting the relevance of this phenomenon in the musical and urban history of the region.
About FonUrMed
This project, Sonic Cities. Urban Phonospheres of the Mediterranean (1500–1900) (FonUrMed), continues the research carried out by the Emerging Research Group “Sonic City. Music, Sound and Noise in València (1609–1813)” [CIGE/2021/165], which has consolidated significant results in its proposed field: the study, from the perspective of urban musicology, of how music and urban culture evolved in València between the expulsion of the Moriscos in 1609 and the absolutist restoration of 1813 with the entry of Ferdinand VII into València.
Research project: Sonic Cities. Urban Phonospheres of the Mediterranean (1500–1900) (FonUrMed)
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