Concert "Sardanes Centenàries" in Barcelona

CICLE DE COBLA A BARCELONA - SARDANES CENTENÀRIES takes place at Teatre l'Aliança del Poblenou in Barcelona on Monday 19 October 2026, from 19:00 to 21:00. Admission is free. The programme looks at 1926, when music for cobla was at one of its most vital moments, during the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera.

In the interwar period, an active network of organisations, composers, cobles, competitions and concert halls encouraged the development of the repertoire for cobla. The consolidation of the cobla concert in emblematic spaces such as the Palau de la Música Catalana, the Palau de Belles Arts and the Teatre Olympia placed the sardana alongside new genres, such as the glosa and free works, and brought it closer to the languages of chamber and symphonic music. The programme presents sardanes premiered or written in 1926, works of very diverse aesthetics: some conceived for the concert, others born for the square.

The vila de Peralada is present in two works composed expressly for a celebration at the Palau dels Comtes: El roserar by Eduard Toldrà and Peralada by Josep Serra. Primavera gentil by Antoni Català was written for the Festa de la Sardana de l'Orfeó Gracienc, an entity also associated with Germanor by Joaquim Serra. Teresa, dedicated by Vicenç Bou to his daughter, gives special prominence to the tible; L'abella i la flor by Antoni Juncà and Nit estelada by Josep Saderra refer respectively to Figueres and Banyoles.

Cançó d'amor i de guerra by Rafael Martínez Valls, premiered at the Paral·lel in April 1926, includes a sardana in its score, and Montserratina is among the four sardanes with which Amadeu Vives entered the world of the cobla that year. The programme is completed by Sardana de carrer by Enric Casals, premiered in 1927.