La música de Beethoven en la obra de José Segrelles

Abstract

Throughout his life, the artist José Segrelles from València, (Albaida, 1885-1969) produced an extensive series of works that illustrate musical scenes. He was most interested in Beethoven, one of his all-time favorite composers, and published various illustrations inspired in his work in The Illustrated London News, in 1927. For this publication he incorporated parts of the scores, particularly the opening notes of Beethoven’s Symphony nº5, the «Fate Symphony». Segrelles captured in his paintings the images the music evoked, and reflected on the historical and symbolic dimension of the scores. This paper exams the key elements of the dialogue between music and painting as manifest in the work of Segrelles, using as sources the information the painter himself possessed about the topics to be illustrated. The artist’s success as an illustrator is part of his legacy and today he is recognized the world over. He is admired and studied by generations of illustrators and movie makers, including John Howe, Roy Krendel, William Stout and Guillermo del Toro.