On Thursday, February 27, 2025, the Museu de la Música de Barcelona will host the symposium Ressonàncies del Passat: la recerca arqueomusicològica a Catalunya, organized by the ERC research projects Artsoundscapes and CULT-AURAL from the Universitat de Barcelona.
This symposium brings together a wide range of studies—including archaeological, musicological, architectural, and art-historical approaches—focused on the sounds and music of the past in Catalonia, covering a time span from the Upper Paleolithic to the 20th century.
The main goal of the event is to provide, for the first time, a diverse and representative overview of the current state of archaeomusicological research in Catalonia, fostering new synergies and opening pathways for future studies in this fascinating field.
In addition to marking the final stage of the ERC Artsoundscapes and CULT-AURAL projects, the symposium aims to serve as a starting point for new meetings, ideas, and research, encouraging a stimulating dialogue among professionals in archaeology, musicology, and related disciplines.
Admission is free until full capacity is reached, but prior registration is recommended by clicking here.
You can download the full program here.
PROGRAM
Thursday, February 27, 2025
Welcome
10:00 – Jordi Alomar (Museu de la Música); Margarita Díaz Andreu (ICREA, Universitat de Barcelona); Zorana Đorđević (Universitat de Barcelona); Miquel López Garcia (Universitat de Barcelona):
Welcome from the Museu de la Música and the organizing projects.
I. Prehistory
Chair: Miguel Ángel Cau Ontiveros (ICREA, Universitat de Barcelona)
10:20 – Juan José Ibáñez (CSIC-Institució Milà i Fontanals); Jesús Salius (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona); Ignacio Clemente-Conte (CSIC-Institució Milà i Fontanals); Narcís Soler (Universitat de Girona):
The Paleolithic aerophone of Devan Pau (Serinyà): manufacturing techniques and use.
10:40 – Margarita Díaz-Andreu (ICREA, Universitat de Barcelona); Lidia Álvarez Morales (Universitat de Barcelona); Neemias Santos da Rosa (Universitat de Barcelona, Université de Bordeaux):
The sounds of the past: possibilities and limitations of Archaeoacoustics in the context of Levantine rock art in Catalonia.
11:00 – Miquel López Garcia (Universitat de Barcelona); Margarita Díaz-Andreu (ICREA, Universitat de Barcelona):
Prehistoric marine horns in Catalonia: study and acoustic experimentation.
11:20 – Marc Guàrdia i Llorens (Museu de Granollers); Eric Sobrevia Corral (Associació Laietania Arqueologia i Patrimoni); Jordi Nadal Lorenzo (Universitat de Barcelona):
The marine horn of the Iberian settlement of Puig del Castell de Samalús (Vallès Oriental).
11:40 – Discussion
12:00 – Break
II. Musical Objects from Antiquity to the Early Modern Period
Chair: Gianni Ginesi (Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya)
12:30 – M. Isabel Panosa (Universitat de Lleida):
Ancient Greek music: functional space and sound dimension.
12:50 – Cristina Alís Raurich (Instituto Complutense de Ciencias Musicales):
More than an object: sound, aesthetics, and function in a rare case of a 13th-century portative organ reconstruction based on musical archaeology.
13:10 – Teresa Soler Llobet (independent researcher); Rafel Mitjans Berga (independent researcher):
Perhaps a musical perspective is needed: reflections on the discovery of the Montsoriu flabiols (small flutes).
13:30 – Josep Borràs (Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya, Societat Catalana de Musicologia):
Double-reed sound instruments: uniqueness versus subordination to the human voice. A journey through the role and typologies of these instruments from the Late Middle Ages to the early modern period.
13:50 – Discussion
14:10 – Break
15:40 – Visit to the Esquellòrium installation, led by Núria Andorrà.
Foyer of Sala 1 Pau Casals at L’Auditori.
III. Soundscapes from the Middle Ages to the Early Modern Period
Chair: Ona Balló Pedragosa (École Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture de Grenoble)
16:20 – Laura de Castellet (Universitat de Barcelona, Apémutam):
Sound communication between towers and castles in the Middle Ages: examples from the Carolingian-Andalusian border (8th-10th centuries).
16:40 – Zorana Đorđević (Universitat de Barcelona); Xavier Costa-Badia (Universitat de Barcelona); Lidia Álvarez Morales (Universitat de Barcelona):
Aural Networks of the Past: Bell Soundscapes in Medieval Pallars Sobirà.
17:00 – Eduardo Carrero (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona):
Sound, time, and architecture through the liturgical books of the Abbey of Sant Cugat del Vallès.
17:20 – Tess Knighton (ICREA, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona):
The concept of soundspace in the analysis of musical experience of the past.
17:40 – Break
18:10 – Vicent Matamoros (Universitat de Barcelona); Martí Ruiz (Universitat de Barcelona):
The drummer of Bruc: what lies behind the myth?
18:30 – Jordi Raventós Freixa (Universitat Internacional de València):
The politics of sound and sonic intensity in medieval and early modern Catalonia and the Mediterranean.
18:50 – Francesc Daumal i Domènech (Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya); Sandra del Río Bonnín (Universitat de les Illes Balears):
The lost voices of door knockers: analysis of Barcelona’s Gothic Quarter.
19:10 – Discussion
Closing
19:40 – Farewell and brief musical performance by event participants.
Organized by:
Artsoundscapes, CULT-AURAL
In collaboration with:
Museu de la Música, Institut d’Arqueologia de la Universitat de Barcelona (IAUB).