Songs of the War Thesis Continued

I read chapters 3 and 4 of the thesis dealing with the songs of the war. These chapters were more interesting to me because they dealt with specific musical aspects of the songs, even showing snippets of sheet music as examples.

Republican songs were sung in many languages to showcase the international struggle and the universal goals embodied by the international brigade and the Republican fighters. Also, the Basque people and others sung songs in their regional languages to emphasize the regional differences the Nationalists failed to recognize in Spain. This reminds me of what Senegalese singer Baaba Maal said at a recend concert I attended. He sings songs in many different languages, and he said he chooses the language based upon which group he wishes to address or speak to in the song. The choice of language was important to the Republicans and is still important for Baaba Maal. In fact, The International, one of the most popular songs, was translated into a dozen languages in one songbook released by the Republic.

Melody was second to lyrics, and many songs simply changed the lyrics to already popular melodies. This made the songs easy for the population to pick up and remember. Also, some composers worked with successful Spanish poets who would create couplets as lyrics to the songs.

Some songs were improvised in the trenches.

In 1937, the Republican National Music Committee held a public song writing contest. The winners were published as Six Songs for Democracy, which were sung as a group on the album you let me borrow entitled Songs of the Spanish Civil War by Ernst Busch and Chorus.

Some of the musical propaganda groups included the Alianza de Intelectuales para la Defensa de la Cultura, the National Institute of Culture, the Milicias de la Cultura, the Brigadas Volantes, and the Republican radio station Altavoz del Frente. Carlos Palacio was the main composer for the station, and was given the money to work with a full orchestra in recording new songs.

Although many of the composers were highly-trained classical musicians, they generally stuck to simple marches because the intent of the songs was not groundbreaking new music but music that the people could relate to. Many of the songs were loud and grand, with a repetitive baseline to emphasize the march tempo. The 2/4 time signitures further underscored the march theme. Although it is true that some songs were improvised in the trenches, the musical propaganda associations often claimed their professionally-crafted songs were thought up by soldiers in the heat of battle. This lie tried to add authenticity and raw emotion to the songs, but many of them were passionate despite the fact that they were not composed by a soldier.

I was surprised by the amount of emphasis and organization propaganda groups for both sides placed in music.