The use of pre-existing repertoire in musical creation has always been a constant throughout the history of music: from the medieval organum that accompanied Gregorian chant to the 21st century, with various ways of approaching the music of other eras. Numerous tributes, quotes, allusions and stylizations aim to recreate or adapt the past through the present.
In this way, it seems doubly interesting to observe the role of ancient music in contemporary music due to its presence and significance in the musical creation of the 20th-21st centuries. This thesis focuses on modern and contemporary Spanish creation (20th-21st centuries), which addresses the ancient melodies of Spanish medieval musical heritage, such as the Cantigas de Santa María, the Llibre Vermell and the Canto de la Sibila. It is proposed to observe this process in all its integrity: from the historical, aesthetic and technical point of view. It is interesting not only the fact of the presence of ancient themes in contemporary compositions, but also the reason for their use by composers, which is closely linked to historical periods, aesthetic currents, personal creative intentions and, above all, all, the rediscovery of the previously mentioned musical sources.
It has been considered doubly interesting to study the presence of ancient music in contemporary music through the discovery, transcription and editing of music from the past, a fact that became very evident throughout the 20th century and influenced many composers. and interpreters of the time. For example, at the beginning of the 20th century, the musicological studies of Felipe Pedrell and his ideas about the restoration of national musical art and the search for the essence of Spanish in popular singing and early music influenced Manuel de Falla and the composers of this period, whose musical creation was developed under the ideas of Pedrell's nationalism.
Another important figure in relation to early music is Higinio Anglés, who developed his work between the 30s and 50s of the last century. His new transcriptions, studies and editions, especially those of the Cantigas de Santa María and the Llibre Vermell, inspired composers both during the Franco period and later to create their musical works. Finally, the entire period between the 1960s and the present is extremely interesting regarding the intertextual use of early music, which makes new approaches and aesthetic visions possible.
A particular case involves the phenomenon of the Canto de la Sibila in the Barcelona Cathedral, which constitutes a recovery of the ancient tradition of that liturgical center, carried out since 2010 and focused on the idea of interpreting the ancient tradition with the inclusion of contemporary media. In this way, for each annual performance a version or recreation of the sibylline verse is composed by a current composer. This tradition may also seem interesting, especially with regard to its musical part, which forms a union between ancient and contemporary music.
On the other hand, the intention of this thesis has not only been to observe ancient music through contemporary music, its aesthetics and compositional techniques, but also to take a reverse path, examining contemporary music from the point of view of ancient music. As a result, some unexpected and interesting fruits have been obtained, evidencing a close relationship between medieval, Renaissance and baroque music and avant-garde music, particularly in the compositional and structural field.