Relationships between music and literature in 19th-century piano music and song. On the bicentenary of Marcial del Adalid (1826-1881)

 

 

 

 

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE

 

23 - 24 October 2026

 

Escuela Superior de Canto de Madrid

 

C/ San Bernardo, 44, Madrid

 

 

 

• Spanish

The year 2026 marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of the Galician composer Marcial del Adalid (1826–1881), a leading figure in 19th-century Spanish music, particularly with his piano works and songs. Trained in London under Ignaz Moscheles and fascinated by the music of Chopin and Liszt, his piano music—romances, ballads, nocturnes, improvisations, sonatas—are mostly in the expressive lyrical style that links the piano with vocal music. In addition to his impressive catalogue of piano compositions, Adalid is the author of over a hundred songs written in six languages (German, Spanish, French, Galician, Italian and Latin). His interest in folklore led him to collect Galician songs, some of which are used in his piano works, and his twenty-five Galician songs are the result of applying the prosodic principles of French to the Galician language, and form part of a tradition that has survived to the present day.

This anniversary provides an excellent opportunity to organise a symposium exploring the relationship between music and literature in these two fields: the piano and the song. The Romantic period was particularly conducive to the convergence of music and poetry, a connection which we propose here as a subject of study from a fundamentally analytical perspective. In the nineteenth century, the dialogue between music and literature manifested itself in many forms: from the setting of poetic texts to music in the vocal repertoire to the influence of vocal rhetoric and literature on piano genres such as the song without words, the nocturne and the ballad. These intersections shaped a musical language deeply marked by expressiveness, narrative and poetic evocation. In this context, the work of Adalid and his contemporaries allows us to explore the circulation of European aesthetic models and the relationships between literary and musical creation in the nineteenth century.

The conference aims to provide a forum for interdisciplinary reflection to analyse the many ways in which music and literature intersected in the vocal and piano repertoire of the 19th century. Furthermore, the conference aims to contribute to the re-evaluation of under-studied repertoires, as well as to the recognition of female composers whose work developed within this context, given that women had a very limited presence in the public sphere as composers, but a very significant one in the private sphere, expressed mainly through song and piano music.

Furthermore, special attention will be paid to the connections between Spain and Europe during the 19th century, exploring both the reception of European music in Spain and the presence and dissemination of Spanish music abroad. With this proposal, the conference aims to advance in areas of research that remain largely unexplored, open up new lines of research, and contribute to the exchange of knowledge among specialists in the fields of musicology and literature, performers, and students.

 

Conference’s thematic areas:

1. Relationships between music and literature in 19th-century song

• Analysis of compositional strategies used to integrate literary content and musical discourse
• Styles and topoi present in 19th-century song
• Ways in which folklore was utilised in art songs
• Relationships between composers and literary circles
• Circulation of repertoires

2. Influences of vocal music and literature on 19th-century piano music

• Analysis of the influences of vocal music on 19th-century piano music
• Presence of rhetorical or narrative elements in genres such as the nocturne, the ballad or the song without words
• Analysis of piano works inspired by poems or literary texts
• Relationship between Spanish piano composition and European compositional models

3. Musical compositions by women (the same themes, applied to compositions created by women in the 19th century)

CALL FOR PAPERS

The deadline for submitting abstracts is Sunday 6 September 2026. Please send them to the following email address: 

musicayliteraturaadalid@gmail.com

Abstracts, in Spanish or English, must not exceed 300 words and must be accompanied by the following details:

• Title
• Author(s)
• Institutional affiliation
• Email address
• Contact telephone number
• Brief curriculum vitae (maximum: 10 lines)

The organising committee will notify authors of the acceptance of their proposal by 20 September 2026.

 

Conference Chairs:

María Nagore Ferrer (UCM)

Luis López Ruiz (UCM)

 

Secretary:

Laura López Caballero (UCM)

 

Organization Committee:

Carmen Romero Valencia (UCM)

Patricia Pradillo (UCM)

Adrian Alvarez Gálvez (UCM)

 

Coordination with the Escuela Superior de Canto de Madrid:

Fernando Delgado García

 

Scientific Committee:

Teresa Cascudo (Universidad de La Rioja)

Fernando Delgado García (Escuela Superior de Canto de Madrid)

Małgorzata Grajter (Akademia Muzyczna im. Grażyny i Kiejstuta Bacewiczów w Łodzi, Poland)

Nieves Hernández Romero (Universidad de Alcalá)

Elena Torres Clemente (Universidad Complutense de Madrid)

Laura Touriñán Morandeira (Instituto de Historia - Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas)

Carlos Villar-Taboada (Universidad de Valladolid)