Editing Palau de la Música Catalana (section)

===Concert hall===
[[File:Palau - Vitrall platea.jpg|right|thumb|Stained-glass skylight]]

:''The concert hall is one of the most beautiful in the world (...) without exaggeration.  It is one of its most important architectural treasures.  Its pace, simple, complex, mystical and paradoxical, defies accurate description.''
-David Mackay<br />
(Quoted in Carandell et al. 2006, 62)

The concert hall of the palace, which seats about 2,200 people, is the only auditorium in Europe that is illuminated during daylight hours entirely by natural light.  The walls on two sides consist primarily of stained-glass panes set in magnificent arches, and overhead is an enormous skylight of stained glass, designed by Antoni Rigalt, whose centerpiece is an inverted dome in shades of gold surrounded by blue that suggests the sun and the sky.
 
The architectural decoration in the concert hall is a masterpiece of creativity and imagination, yet everything has been carefully considered for its utility in the presentation of music.  The hall is not a theater, because the massive sculptures flanking the stage make the use of scenery nearly impossible.  Likewise, even though a noble pipe [[Organ (music)|organ]] graces the apse-like area above and behind the stage, the hall is not a church.
[[Image:Palau de la Música - Escenari.JPG|thumb|left|Stage with the muses in the background]]

The dominant theme in the sumptuous sculptural decor of the concert hall is choral music, something that might be expected in an auditorium commissioned by a choral society.  A choir of young women surrounds the "sun" in the stained-glass skylight, and a bust of [[Josep Anselm Clavé|Anselm Clavé]], a famous choir director who was instrumental in reviving Catalan folk songs, is situated on the left side of the stage, under a stone tree.  Seated beneath this statue are sculpted girls singing the Catalan song ''Les Flors de Maig'' (''The Flowers of May'').

The whole arch over the front of the stage was sculpted by Dídac Masana and [[Pablo Gargallo]].  On the right side is depicted the 'Ride of the Valkyries' from Wagner's opera ''[[Die Walküre]]''.  Under the Valkyries and among two [[Doric columns]] is a bust of Beethoven.  The arch thus represents folk music on the left and classical music on the right, both united at the top of the arch.

[[File:Palau de la Música - Escultures d'Eusebi Arnau.JPG|thumb|The muses on the right side, with one showing the [[coat of arms of Austria]] and [[double-headed eagle]]]]

In a semicircle on the sides of the back of the stage are the figures of 18 young women popularly known as the '[[muses]]'.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Cazurra |first=Anna |title=The Symbolism of the Muses of the Palau de la Música Catalana |journal=Music in Art: International Journal for Music Iconography |volume=27 |issue=1–2 |date=2002 |pages=116–126 |issn=1522-7464}}</ref> The upper bodies were sculpted by Eusebi Arnau and the mosaic work of their lower bodies was created by Lluís Bru.  The monotone upper bodies of the women protrude from the wall and their lower bodies are depicted by colorful mosaics that form part of the wall.  Each of the women is playing a different musical instrument, and each is wearing a different skirt, blouse, and headdress of elaborate design. In the middle between the two groups is a mosaic of the [[coat of arms of Catalonia]]. The muse to the right of the Catalan coat of arms is the only one that depicts on her dress the [[coat of arms of Austria]] and [[double-headed eagle]] of the [[Spanish Habsburgs]] dynasty.

The sculptures of winged horses that enjoy a commanding position in the upper balcony are in honour of [[Pegasus]], the horse of [[Greek mythology]] and the symbol of high-flying imagination.

In each of the vaults between the pillars and the glass walls, there is a white tile medallion, bordered with laurel green leaves, with the names of notable musicians. To the left of the stage, starting from it: [[Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina|Palestrina]], [[J. S. Bach]], [[Carissimi]], [[Beethoven]] and [[Chopin]]; to the right: [[Tomás Luis de Victoria|Victoria]], [[Handel]], [[Mozart]], [[Gluck]] and [[Wagner]]. On the wall between the ceilings of the main room and that of the back of the second floor of the same room, there are four more ceramic medallions, which synthesize the history of [[Catalan music]]: [[Joan Brudieu]], Mateu Fletxa el Vell, [[Anselm Viola i Valentí]], [[Domènec Terradellas]] and [[Josep Anselm Clavé]].

Robert Hughes has noted how the non-soundproof glass walls of the palace impact the acoustics of the hall:

: "...there was never a shortage of complaint about its acoustic conditions - which, since its glass walls carry music like drum skins, have always been awful."<ref name="Hughes">Hughes, Robert, ''Barcelona''.  Alfred A. Knopf (New York), {{ISBN|0-394-58027-3}}, pp. 462-463 (1992).</ref>