Gomis and the National Militia’s Wind Band: Revolution and Patriotism in the Liberal Triennium (1820-1823)

Abstract

Spanish Musicology frequently has ignored the impact of military wind music and musicians during the revolution and restoration of institutions and policies in the Liberal Triennium, despite of the large number of Spanish musicians who belonged to military sphere, like Sor or Gomis Colomer. Nevertheless, military wind bands were used as a powerful medium to bring together all kind of citizens in public spaces, theatres and institutional buildings, performing not only patriotic works transcribed for wind bands (such as guitar variations by Sor) but also transcriptions of famous Italian opera. The role of Gomis and his National Militia’s wind band are studied here, as well as the Riego’s patriotic hymn. Thereby, we show how Gomis and this hymn became into a symbol and banner of freedom, since the Liberal Triennium (when it was established like a national hymn) until nowadays, erroneously used on several occasions as a Spanish National Anthem.