Montsalvatge Speaks for Himself

Summary

I never understood music as a radically abstract manifestation, much less a matter of formula. In each note, in each musical sign that we write there is something of ourselves: our sincerity, our privacy, even our faults, lies and cynicism, if we are capable of such.

– 1975

Perhaps our age will mark the end of pure music, and the art of sounds will go back to being, as it was in prehistoric times, a functional phenomenon or complementary to other biological or spiritual manifestations.

Whatever the case, humanity can conserve and exhibit an enormous cultural treasure accumulated over two thousand years.

– 1970

I believe in the Caribbean music that was originally Spanish, exported overseas, reintegrated into our country, and reassembled on the peninsula like a new, wandering, and evocative manifestation of musical emotion. I believe that it is a priceless treasure (or one despised by folklorists), one that can most help the Catalan composer to develop an art that is popular and belonging to us, capable of achieving a fully universal resonance free of provincial narrowness. For me, a sardana and a habanera are equally likeable — with the difference that the sardana has come only to Déodat de Sévérac and the habanera to Ravel, after having first gone round the world.

– 1952

I do my best to evolve, and although some may say otherwise, I am sure that I don't step back, since if I sometimes look backwards, I do it conscientiously.

– 1975