TO THE MUSICIAN WHO LEAVES AND THE KNOWLEDGE HE LEAVES US. THE OBITUARIES IN THE DISCURSIVE FRAMEWORK OF THE SPANISH NEWSPAPERS

Abstract

The deaths of notorious academia performers and composers are widely discussed in the press
through heartfelt obituaries, often written by personalities that are either close to the person or
followers of their works. The discourse around those events is closely related to the editorial line of
each newspaper, as well as its treatment of both the particular artist that passed away and the scene
that they belong to. When it comes to discussing musicians that are part of the academic music
scene, they are seen not only as individuals but also as part of a genealogy that constitutes the canon
of a country’s music. Because of this, they will get a special treatment reserved to just a few. In this
paper we will observe how important obituaries are and how they impact music from the academia.
For this purpose, we will study how the Spanish newspapers ABC, La Vanguardia and El País

approached the death of five of the most important musicians in the Spanish 20th century: Pau
Casals, †1973; Andrés Segovia, †1987; Rodolfo Halffter, †1987; Ernesto Halffter, †1989; and
Joaquín Rodrigo, †1999. The study will be based on the Critical Discourse Analysis studies as well
as on those works that explore obituaries and their relationship with culture.