Musical tribute to Goyeneche in Nuevo Baztán

The coat of arms of the House of Goyeneche is a checkered board with a decidedly modern appearance. The lack of embellishment and the simplicity of its design bring it closer to a rational, orderly, and essential way of thinking. It is said to have been granted by the Navarrese king Sancho, after the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa , remembered as one of the fundamental events of the Reconquista, at the beginning of the 13th century. The Goyeneche family came from the Baztán Valley and from there traveled in very different directions, settling in Peru, France, and elsewhere near Alcalá de Henares. It was here that the New Baztán was built, an example of an ideal city like Babel or the models of Le Corbusier. Its promoter was Juan de Goyeneche (1656-1735), a precursor of the Enlightenment movement who soon left his homeland to go to Madrid, determined to breathe new life into the heaviness of a country that remained deeply entrenched between the aristocratic and the ecclesiastical. The third way of Juan de Goyeneche involves the defense of the Bourbon dynasty and the promotion, together with the architect José de Churriguera , of that city of reticular urbanism which, as if it were the family crest, brought order to the lives of a group of settlers dedicated to the manufacture of glass, cloth, hats and paper.

The order and hierarchy of Nuevo Baztán 's streets reveal Goyeneche's reforming ideas, just as the musical affinities of Madrid society at that time are revealed through the music of his era. Architecture and music have always had a close relationship as arts of proportion that are explored and experienced. The material legacy of music takes the form of a score, a painting, a costume, a fan, or an instrument. Thus, with the aim of recovering the sound image of Goyeneche's era, the exhibition " The Soundtrack of Goyeneche's Madrid " can be seen at the Nuevo Baztán Interpretation Center until June 29. This exhibition, organized by the Ministry of Culture, Tourism, and Sports of the Community of Madrid and curated by Judith Ortega Rodríguez , is on view.

The examples shown are revealing of a powerful musical heartbeat that, from the vantage point of the 21st century, has a special appeal. Numerous research works have led to just as many musical practices. Ortega knows the subject very well and it is evident in the synthesis with which he explains the environment of the court and the nobility, the penetration into the aristocratic theater and even into the military sphere, and how in parallel church music develops, forming a great dome under which other particularly identifying repertoires grow, closer to the everyday and to entertainment. Distinction and idiosyncrasy mixed in the French environment imposed by the Bourbon dynasty, although characteristic gestures immediately emerged due to the influence of Italy, which acquired prominence as the 18th century progressed through the intervention of the consorts Maria Luisa of Savoy, Isabel de Farnesio and Barbara de Braganza .

The beginning of the century brought with it ideas and a sense of direction that are reflected in the Nuevo Baztán exhibition space. At the same time, the group Ars Combinatoria and, more recently, Concerto 1700 have been heard in the Church of San Francisco Javier, attentive to instrumental music and the sonata as a characteristic musical form. It is the performer who ultimately connects the present with the past, and the only one who can recall the mystery of what has been lost, but it is helpful to do so in connection with its natural space. The Church of San Francisco Javier, still under restoration, spruces up Churriguera's profusion of ornamentation, but above all, its very scale provides a space capable of integrating the domestic sense of the works presented in the program.

Scarlatti was a powerful start because the composer's musical authority is unquestionable and because Concerto 1700 imaginatively recreates the apparent rectitude of this repertoire, from then on performed with the agility of a jam session. Thus, Ester Domingo demonstrated quality in the 'Symphony of Cello' by Giacomo Facco , considered a pioneer in the solo use of this instrument. The harpsichordist Ignacio Prego looked with extraordinary perspicacity at Sonata No. 11 by the no less innovative Sebastián de Albero , an author whose short life did not prevent him from leaving testimony of a personal tendency towards the sentimental. Pablo Zapico delved into the very curious meditation of the guitarist Santiago de Murcia , whose 'Grabe' points to the echo that many of these works had in the New World, in this case in colonial Mexico.

And Daniel Pinteño was also the protagonist of other compositions centered on the violin. The recovery in modern times of the more conventional 'Sonata No. 1', by the unknown Mauro D'Alay, is a relevant fact that has been made possible thanks to the edition of Raúl Angulo . Guillermo Turina , Ana Lombardía and Daniel Pinteño himself are responsible for the transcription of other works in the program, such as the very surprising 'Sonata a violino solo' by Juan de Ledesma , devoted to curious instrumental effects, as singular in their approach as they are complex in their execution. Also the 'Toccata V' by José Herrando , a member like Ledesma of the Royal Chapel of Madrid, is an example of a booming violin market that defined an equally essential part of the Spanish 18th century. All of this was observed with technical rigor and enjoyed with true satisfaction. Because it was made possible by Daniel Pinteño's proposal and the performance of Concerto 1700, in this case dedicated to recreating the 'soundtrack' of an era that, as demonstrated by the fandango performed off-programme, reconciled ease and agility with imagination: that old and, today more than ever, necessary faculty of the soul, which enlightened figures like Juan de Goyeneche united with reason and progress.