Music Education in the First Years of Franco’s Regime. Another Battleground between the Catholic Church and Phalangist Party

Between 1936 and 1940 there were several political and doctrinal disputes between Phalangist leaders on one side and Catholic Traditionalists, supported by the Church hierarchy, on the other. The most important conflicts took place within the areas of culture and education, with the Conservative Catholics finally taking over, although the Phalangist leaders had control over the propaganda apparatus. In the specific case of music, the Jesuit priest Nemesio Otaño became the person overall responsible for musical policy in the first years of the Franco Regime, which meant a victory for the Church that had an effect on professional musical training along with the reform of the Spanish conservatories. However, musical education in schools was assigned to the Phalangist Frente de Juventudes (Youth Front) and the Sección Femenina. In the present article, we review the movements and strategies that occurred in those years with the participation of Manuel Borguñó, which will lead us to a better understanding of the reality of musical education in Spanish schools during great part of the twentieth Century