Universitat de València Botanical Garden welcomed the 'Vents de revolució: música i política a l'Espanya del segle XIX' ('Revolutionary winds: music and politics of Spain in the 19th Century') act on 16 May 2025, a day of reflection and dissemination revolving around the connection between music, emotions and politics in the times of revolution.
This activity was part of the research project 'Sentir la revolución. Política, música y emociones en el liberalismo español (1836-1843)' ('Feeling the revolution. Politics, music and emotion in the Spanish liberalism [1836-1843]') les by Contemporary History professor Xavier Andreu Miralles and funded by BBVA Leonardo Grant 2023.
'FonUrMed. Ciutats Sonores. Fonosferes Urbanes de la Mediterrània' ('FonUrMed. Sound Cities. Urban Phonospheres of the Mediterranean') [CIAICO/2023/055] research project member Ferran Escrivà-Llorca was invited by the organisation to provide his point of view on the contributions of urban musicology and historical sound landscapes of the previous study. The approach combines history, sound etnography and cultural analysis. Escrivà-Llorca defended the importance of 'listening to' the history to better understand how past cities were acustically articulated. In his own words 'what picks our interest is the role music and sound played in the creation of identities, emotions and power relations'. With concepts such as phonospheres, acustic community or sound agency he highlighted the sound and music reception as something undivided from the social, political and symbolical context. He also made special mention of sources like the press, columns and account book to rebuild these sound experience of the 19th Century.
The session took place in a round table format, with interventions by Maria Àngels Faus, Juan Gomis Coloma and Frederic Oriola, and had a closing concert in charge of the Benimaclet CIM Symphonic Band conducted by James Keirle, with a repertoire of patriotic songs and political pieces of composers such as Ferran Sor, Gomis o Barbieri. The activity contributed to make evident the potential of sound history research, a line in constante expansion FonUrMed project keeps exploring with Mediterranean and transnational will.
