Music in the Cinema of the Spanish Civil War

Film is more than just a succession of images. Each of the elements that make up the audiovisual work fulfills specific functions, and music, because of its capacity for suggestion and evocative power, stands out in particular. Sound and music make it possible to reach where images do not always succeed: the most sensitive realm, the deepest human emotions. And that was, to a large extent, the way music was used in the films produced during the Spanish Civil War.

Despite the uneven nature of film production—Republican output was far more numerous and diverse—it is possible to outline some general characteristics that define and differentiate the music used in films created by the opposing sides.

In the case of the Republic, whose film production was largely documentary and propagandistic, music played a fundamental role on the ideological level. To achieve this, instrumental versions of popular wartime anthems such as The Internationale, Riego’s Anthem and the anarchist songs Sons of the People and To the Barricades, were used.

Indeed, anarchist films were the ones that paid the greatest attention to soundtracks. An effort to construct social identification through music can be observed even in films that do not feature an original music, such as the The Last Minute and And You… What are You Doing?. Here, the working class is associated with symphonic music while the upper class is linked to foxtrot and tango, identifying the bourgeoisie as preoccupied with leisure and indifferent to social engagement. In this video clip, one can observe the use of Dvořák’s New World Symphony in And You… What are You Doing? accompanied by images of the protagonist leaving his children to go to war, underscoring his resolve and moral righteousness.

The music used in Francoist films had quite opposite characteristics. Propaganda was conveyed through narration, and, in documentaries, music moves into the background, serving merely as reinforcement for the image and discourse. However, in fiction films, and especially those produced by the German company Hispano Film Produktion,—whose themes which did not focus directly on the war—, there was no rupture with earlier Republican cinema. Popular songs performed by famous folclóricas (folklore singers) such as “Suspiros de España”, a pasodoble sung by Estrellita Castro and featured in the film of the same title, continued to be used to evoke a sense of Spanish identity through sonic nostalgia.

Composers from diverse backgrounds and styles converged in the writing of music used in the films produced during the war. Some of them, such as the Frenchman Darius Milhaud, Font de Anta, or Rodolfo Halffter, wrote for film only occasionally, while others, such as Joan Dotràs Vilas, Jaume Mestres, or Conrado Bernat, were referenced on numerous occasions as film composers. All of them shared a connection to the wartime context and the need to illustrate the conflict sonically, appealing to the emotions of the audience and helping to shape the emotional experience of the conflict on screen.

LLG