Gerardo Diego and Frédéric Chopin: Prima la musica e poi le parole. Conversation in the Cathedral

Abstract

This paper addresses the intrinsic and foundational relationship between the lyricism of Gerardo Diego and the musical work of Frédéric Chopin, who was a constant presence in his texts and can be summarized by the Italian baroque maxim Prima la Musica e poi le parole. Diego's work, considered from the perspective of a rigorous architecture aimed at achieving the «inner harmony of being», drew from a deep musical experience that crystallized early in his Paráfrasis románticas de los Nocturnos de Chopin, conceived in 1918. We will explore how the constructive rigor of this project—where the author articulated poetic rhythm according to a musical pattern—was supported by an extensive intellectual knowledge, evidenced by a personal library with works by Chopin and numerous musicological texts that influenced both his critical thought and his own writing. Similarly, we will examine how the textual evolution of the work was inseparably linked to a continuous performative experience, manifested in the format of lecture-concerts initiated in 1918—not in 1919—in which the poet performed Chopin's pieces while presenting his verses, serving as a crucial public laboratory for the textual maturation of the poetry collection over more than fifty years. Its long and controversial editorial history is reflected in its initial publication—a provisional configuration as Nocturnos de Chopin in 1963—and its definitive form in 1969 with the title Ofrenda a Chopin (1918-1962). We will thus develop part of the context that must be considered to understand how the construction of these poetic architectures was nourished not only by Chopin's pianistic writing but also by a constant dialogue between the creative and written dimension of its author and his intellectual condition as a musician and lecturer through his interpretative practice.