Music in the Poetry Competition Held in Girona, 1622

Abstract

Poetry competitions usually formed part of the festivities celebrated on the occasion of a religious event, such as beatifications and canonizations. The poems, written in honour of the blessed, were sent previously and read aloud in public events which usually took place in ecclesiastical spaces with the attendance of crowds of people. This paper studies the presence of music in the poetry competitions, using as a case-study the joust celebrated at Sant Martí Jesuit College in Girona in 1622 in the context of the festivities of canonization of St Ignacio of Loyola and St Francisco Javier. The competition was commissioned by the patrons of the College, Martín and Leonor de Agullana, who covered the expenses of the music for the whole canonization ceremonial, and commissioned the publication of a report on the event (relación) which was printed in Barcelona in 1623. In this poetry competition music acted not only as a sounding element, but also as a concept, since one of the sections of the joust was devoted to music. This provides details of the musical literacy in seventeenth-century Girona, as well as of the imbrication of music in urban culture.