FRACTURE AND FORM, ARCHITECTURE AND MUSIC: GUINJOAN'S ‘GAUDÍ’

Extract

Joan Guinjoan's opera Gaudí: el trencadís i l'absolut was commissioned as part of the cultural programme parallel to the Barcelona Olympic Games in 1992. Guinjoan completed the work in June of that year, but it was not staged until November 2004, the delay due in part to the fire of January 1994 that completely destroyed Barcelona's Gran Teatre del Liceu opera house (this had happened before, in April 1861). The rebuilding was completed in late 1999, though Guinjoan had to wait a further five years to see the opera staged. Librettist Josep Maria Carandell was not so lucky: he died in 2003.