View source for Ramón Barce

[[File:Barce19.jpg|thumb|Ramón Barce in Alicante. Photo by Elena Martín, taken from the artist's website (ramonbarce.es)]]
Ramón Barce Benito (born in Madrid, March 16th 1928 - died in December 14th 2008) was a [[:Category: Spain|Spanish]] composer, translator, philosopher and musicologist. Part of the [[Generación del 51]], his contributions are essential in understanding Spanish music of the second half of the 20th century.

== Biography ==
Ramón Barce began his bachelor's degree studies at the Cardenal Cisneros Institute in Madrid in 1939, and moved to Guadalajara the following year, where he began studying music. Eight years later, he returned to Madrid to study Harmony at the Real Conservatorio Superior de Música de Madrid and Romanic Philology at the Madrid University, where he would become a doctor of Philosophy in 1956.

From 1959 onwards he became a teacher, first in Albacete, where he taught Spanish Literature, then in Madrid. He took courses at Darmstadt under Olivier Messiaen and [[György Ligeti]].

He is one of the most recognizable members of the so called Generación del 51 (Generation of 51), and his musical contributions and activity in the broader musical field led him to promote and collaborate with groups such as [[Nueva Música]] ("New Music", which had a decisive impact on the musical aesthetics of Spanish composers of the time) in 1958, the Aula de Música del Ateneo, the Sonda magazine and concert series (which he directed), the [[Zaj]] group in 1964, and the Spanish Symphonic Composer Association (of which he was president during its early years), among others.

In his written works, Ramón Barce demonstrates a very personal way of thinking about music, expressed in many essays regarding topics such as technique, aesthetics, sociology and musicology, among others. He translated important works on music to Spanish, including Arnold Schönberg's Harmony, as well as works by authors such as Strobel, Stepun, Schenker, Hába, Piston and others. He created his own compositional system, which he entitled the Levels System (1966), which manifests itself throughout much of his work. He collaborated with filmmaker Javier Aguirre in ''Espectro Siete'' (1970), for which he provided the soundtrack.

== References ==
* Cabañas Alamán, Fernando J., Ramón Barce. Madrid: SGAE, 1997. (Catálogos de compositores)
* Medina, Ángel, "Barce Benito, Ramón". En: Diccionario de la Música Española e Hispanoamericana. Madrid: SGAE, 1999-2002, vol. 2, pp. 218-224.
* Dios Hernández, Juan Francisco de, Ramón Barce: hacia mañana, hacia hoy. Madrid: Ediciones Autor, 2008.
* Barce, Ramón, Las palabras de la música. Madrid: ICCMU, 2009.
* Martín, Elena, Llego sábado 23. Correspondencia entre Ramón Barce y Elena Martín de 1970 a 1977 y algunos recuerdos posteriores. Editorial Alpuerto, Madrid, 2018, 2ª edición. ISBN 978-84-381-0512-2.

== External Links (in Spanish) ==
* [http://www.ramonbarce.es/ Official web page] 
* [http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2008/12/15/obituarios/1229342214.html "Experimental music pioneer"] 
* [http://www.elpais.com/articulo/Necrologicas/Ramon/Barce/musico/agitador/intelectual/elpepinec/20081216elpepinec_2/Tes Ramón Barce, músico y agitador intelectual. El País. 16 de diciembre de 2008]
* [http://www.deia.com/es/digital/cultura/2008/12/15/522930.php Muere a los 80 años el compositor Ramón Barce. Deia. 15 de diciembre de 2008]
* [http://digital.march.es/clamor/es/fedora/repository/atm%3A922 Ramón Barce en CLAMOR: Colección Digital de Música Española]

''Text adapted from the Spanish Wikipedia''
[[Category: Spanish Profiles]]