Music for a Literary Celebration: Lope de Vega's Tercentenary and the National Fine Arts Contest in 1935

The celebration of the third centenary of Lope de Vega’s death in 1935, had some interesting consequences in the Spanish music scene. Using music from several times and styles was limited in many cases to the sound setting for homages or music examples from Lope’s days during conferences or theatre performances. The pieces that were normally used were those coming from the musicological research of Jesús Bal y Gay Thirty songs of Lope de Vega that was published that year. But, what encouraged contemporary composers to write music about Lope’s lyrics was the announcement of the National Fine Arts Contest and the homage paid by the Madrid Conservatory of Music to «El Fénix de los Ingenios».