Why do Orchestral and Band Musicians in Exile Matter? A Case Study from Spain

Abstract

Abstract Even though scholarship on music and exile under Franco has grown steadily for the past three decades, little attention has been paid thus far to exiled performers who were active primarily as members of orchestras and bands. This article makes an initial contribution to this field by focusing on the Banda Madrid as a case study. The Banda Madrid was founded in the spring of 1939 in the internment camp of Le Barcarès (France) by Rafael Oropesa. Its members went into exile in Mexico City and became a fixture of the Spanish exile community until 1947. I discuss how the Banda Madrid and the stories of some of its individual members expand our understanding of politics and modernity in the Spanish Republican exile. In order to do this, I follow the trajectories of Banda Madrid musicians before, during, and after the Civil War, and contrast them with those of left-wing composers in exile.