EARLY MUSIC IN FRANCOIST SPAIN: HIGINI ANGLÈS AND THE EXILES

In 1942, the priest and musicologist Higini Anglès was appointed director of the Instituto Español de Musicología (IEM) by the newly established Franco regime. As IEM director, Anglès was primarily concerned with Hispanic medieval and Renaissance repertory, and launched a successful series of monuments of Spanish music. Such focus certainly complemented well the government's celebration of Spain's imperial past as the foundation of the new regime. Nevertheless, research into Spanish early music was certainly not a right-wing or conservative pursuit, and indeed some of the left-wing exiles who had left Spain fleeing the Franco regime were interested in early music too. In spite of his prominent position within the regime, Anglès maintained a lively correspondence with some of these exiles, including the music critic Adolfo Salazar, the musicologist and composer Jesús Bal y Gay, and the composer Roberto Gerhard. By focusing on some of this correspondence, this essay explores the collaboration between Anglès and the exiles under the Franco regime, concentrating on the role of the early music revival in reviving and animating the dialogue between Francoist Spain and its exiles.