Editorial

Abstract

‘Otherness’ in Spanish early music is a huge field of study that needs both a theoretical approach and a knowledge of many individual case studies to establish a dialogue between the received musicological canon and the more complex reality, where groups of people or issues until now ignored or underestimated are shown to emerge with surprising energy. The five themed articles presented here under the title ‘Musical “Otherness” in the Iberian world, 1500–1800’ show different approaches to particular aspects of ‘Otherness’, centred around ‘foreigners’, ‘women’ and ‘Amerindians’. These were the focus of an International Seminar, The ‘Other’ in Spanish music (16th–18th centuries): an interdisciplinary overview, which took place in Barcelona on 28–9 October 2010 and was organized by a Research Project (har2009-07706) of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) at the Milà i Fontanals Institution.