‘Spain in our Ears: International Musical Responses in Support of the Republic during the Spanish Civil War’

This introduction presents and sets the rationale for the special issue ‘Spain in our Ears: International Musical Responses in Support of the Republic during the Spanish Civil War’. It argues that, while research into music during the Spanish Civil War has enjoyed significant advances in the last fifteen years, concern with the international dimensions of such musical responses remains scarce and circumscribed to prominent classical composers with Communist affiliations (Hanns Eisler, Silvestre Revueltas). By inviting a wide range of contributions dealing with a wide range of musics (classical music, film music, popular music), geographies (the US, the URSS, Britain, Germany) and individuals (from Paul Robeson to Dimitri Shostakovich), this special issue therefore enriches discussion of music and the Spanish Civil War with new perspectives (e.g. concerning race issues), while at the same time calling for an increased transnational approach to the study of music and war more generally.