Study of Catalan Composer Federico Mompou’s (1893-1987) Música Callada

This study examines Mompou’s Música Callada within the context of musical, literary, and philosophical influences. Mompou’s piano miniatures reflect the concentrated expression of his primitivista philosophy. Mompou thought his ideals of concentrated expression were best realized in the four volumes of Música Callada (1959-1967). The title for Música Callada , loosely translated as “Silent Music,” is taken from Cántico Espiritual entre el alma y Cristo, su esposo, by the great Spanish mystic and poet, St. John of the Cross. The study addresses interpretive issues in each of the work’s 28 pieces, and considers recorded performances of the work by Herbert Henck, Joseph Colom and Mompou himself.

“This is a scholarly thesis with an unusual amount of musical analysis. It integrates in detail the influence of other composers. This book should be invaluable for any study of Mompou’s work. Nothing of its depth is in publication. . . . Each composition of the Música Callada is described in infinite detail with the most lucid discussion in the most difficult and hermetic section, the fourth book or Mompou’s favorite. It is the most austere and in many ways climactic. . . . does show remarkable piano literature, rich in sonority, vivid in historical reminiscence and inventive within small but beautiful measure of music.” – Virginia Raad