Most visitors to Catalonia will be familiar with the sight and sound of the sardana, the simple round dance performed to the distinctive accompaniment of the cobla throughout the country. Yet while a Catalan folk music tradition can be readily identified it is more problematic to define a Catalan school of composition even at the high point of musical activity in the first third of the twentieth century. Clearly, the disruption of the Civil War and Franco dictatorship and the resulting diaspora of many of the protagonists, notably Roberto Gerhard, Jaume Pahissa and Pau Casals, had a deleterious effect on the consolidation of any such school. This chapter will explore the increase in musical activity from the time of the Universal Exhibition in 1888 until 1936 as well as developments later in the twentieth century.

Cultural heritage and contexts for music-making are central to this study; but music and language are also inevitably intertwined. The extent to which both the flourishing of a distinctive musical culture and its subsequent disruption is inextricably linked to the history of the language has yet to be thoroughly explored but is, nonetheless, immediately evident. Once again, in this respect as in so many others, we are faced with the notion of the history of Catalonia repeating itself as the cultural situation in the early decades of the twentieth century has a precedent in a much earlier period, as is readily apparent in the chapters by Alexander Ibarz and Miquel Strubell.

From the second half of the fourteenth century, the Catalan–Aragonese court witnessed intense musical activity that coincided with a flowering of literature in the vernacular. This, too, was largely disrupted by political circumstances. When the ambitions of the first non-Catalan-speaking king, Alfons el Magnànim (1396–1458), focused on expansion in the Mediterranean and, in particular on taking Naples (which he entered in triumph in 1443), the royal court in Barcelona ceased to be the focal point for musical activity. Furthermore, with Castilian correspondingly established as the language of the court in Naples, surviving musical settings of Catalan verse dwindle and display few distinctive stylistic traits.

The paths a modern thinker might take in life are various. For musical historians these might include not only teaching, lecturing and research, but also forays into performance and other forms of communication such as commercial recordings and broadcasting. Each requires specific skill sets and specialist knowledge, and it is indeed a rare thing to find all wrapped up in a single person. In terms of music, literature and the performing arts, Christopher Page is surely one of the great artistic polymaths of our generation. The Christian West and its Singers: The First Thousand Years (2010), is arguably his greatest accomplishment to date, and, in attempting to sum up the author, Elizabeth Aubrey hit a perfect mark in observing that only Page could have written this book: ‘not only because of the knowledge and skills he brings to it, but also, perhaps more importantly, because of the imagination that characterises all of his research’ (Journal of the American Musicological Society, 66/1 (2013)). Page's unique and vivid imagination is key to his successes on so many academic and practical fronts. As a man who has spent his life devoted to literature, his chief ambition has always been to keep the imagination working while reading in order to enrich the ability to think creatively. This is evident in all his work.

Page's extensive and wide-ranging output is an impressive testament to his tireless industry. From 1974 to the present day he has produced ten monographs and over sixty book chapters or articles on subjects ranging from the study of musical instruments to a variety of social and musical histories from the first to the eighteenth centuries. As a performer he produced twenty-two highly acclaimed recordings (including three Gramophone Award winners) with his ensemble Gothic Voices, known in concert for their flawless performances interspersed with illuminating and entertaining historical anecdotes by Page himself. Page's natural and seemingly effortless ability to speak to all levels of listeners, whether they be academic peers or students, is both admirable and remarkable. His manner not only inspired new generations of the ‘performer-scholar’ but also, in accordance with the aims of Lord Reith, founder of the BBC, informed, educated and entertained thousands of listeners via the airwaves.