Between Silence and Music. The Soundscape of Don Quixote.

In Don Quixote, Cervantes describes silence as "calm, admirable, rejoicing" and, above all, "marvellous", an adjective that he repeats in other works, clearly demonstrating where his aesthetic preferences lie. His assessment of music, on the other hand, is not quite as positive, even if the opposite is often claimed, taking too much at face value a statement by Sancho Panza. The hero of the novel does not demonstrate any special musical talents or interests when he is presented to readers at the start of the work until, halfway through the first part, he declares that all "knights-errant in love" are "great troubadours and great musicians". It is in the second part of the novel, published in 1615, where Don Quixote plays the vihuela, sings and dances, as well as giving a pedantic lesson in organology that has generally been misunderstood. Music acquires a greater presence in the second part of this novel, in country and pastoral situations and especially in scenes at the court of the dukes. The complex soundscape in Don Quixote is completed by noises, which play a significant role in the plot, and obviously, by words which constitute the raw material of a work written to be read aloud.