The salon was the meeting place of the wealthy classes in Colombian cities of the 19th century. In Bogotá, there was little to do at dusk: one could go to mass, take a stroll along the main streets of the city before sunset, or visit friends. Occasionally, one would attend a theatrical or operatic season, breaking with the monotony of city life: A dance or a party were events that Bogotanos talked about for days!
Music in
the Salon
Notables de la capital, provincia de Vélez by Carmelo Fernández. This 1850 plate is part of a collection of watercolors by Fernández to disseminate the results of the Chorographic Commission. (Colección de la Biblioteca Nacional de Colombia)
After the sun had set, the life of citizens of Bogotá mostly transpired in the intimacy of their homes. Nevertheless, these domestic spaces began to open up little by little to small groups of friends. The salon and the social gathering known as “tertulias” became important domestic spaces for socialization: people talked over a hot chocolate (“chocolate santafereño”) or a cup of tea; they discussed local news and novelties; some perhaps flirted with each other; families arranged marriages and others gossiped while dancing to the waltz. A fragment of “Teresa la limeña”, a novel by Soledad Acosta de Samper, takes us back to these elegant rooms to understand what was sometimes “meant to be said” thanks to the music being performed and danced to.
Medellín, by Enrique Price. Print from 1852 from the collection of watercolors of the Chorographic Commission. Enrique Price, in addition to being a watercolorist, was one of the founders of the Bogotá Philharmonic Society (1946)
Music played an important role in these salons. Following the model of femininity promoted in Victorian England and the Second French Empire, elite women in Colombia showcased their musical talent and their “good” education by playing the piano, guitar, or singing, during “tertulias.”
“[Teresa Tanco] has always been in the superior sphere of art-making, sitting at the piano, moving the bow of her violin, making an oboe or the strings of the harp or the tiple moan, singing“ bambucos” with her delicate and just voice, composing pieces like the Alba, which is a [musical] pearl. " (Miguel Cané, En viaje (1881-1882), capítulo XIV)
Men also played the piano to accompany the young ladies (“señoritas” as they were known in the 19th century) or simply to show off their talent as dilettantes. Music teachers and some suitors composed pieces that they dedicated to their students and lovers, respectively. From time to time, music teachers took part in the “tertulias.” A notable foreigner every once in a while also joined these social gatherings. At that time, the flute, violin or cello were also featured, although they were music instruments reserved exclusively for men to perform on.
It was not strange to hear someone playing the piano and accompanying arias from Italian operas, or playing a waltz or a polka in the streets of Bogotá. However, it was during the “tertulia” that social dances were performed, guided by the social codes and choreographies that only the privileged knew. At the end of the century, bambucos and corridors showed up in the salons, something that demonstrates how the affluent members of Colombian society slowly incorporated musical expressions linked to popular culture and the lower classes.
El bambuco—Bogotá, by Ramón Torres Méndez. (Colección del Banco de la República)
Music in the salon was, in the 19th century, a “cosmopolitan” practice associated with luxury, enjoyment, good taste, and elegance. Throwing a dance at their homes allowed citizens of Bogotá to feel as if they were in Paris or London for a couple of hours. But was it always like this? This nostalgic image, presented as a consequence of the overwhelming discourse surrounding “civilization” throughout America, must be confronted with some articles of customs or customs texts that make fun of these rooms. And what mockery! Two of the selected texts, “El duende en un baile” and “Quejas al Mono de la Pila”, written by renowned musicians from Bogotá, showcase a politically incorrect point of view. The rigidity of customs, the clumsiness of some, the greediness of others, the inconvenience of certain rhythms, the poor technique of the musicians and the deplorable “good taste,” were some observations that made up the world of those elegant and fashionable citizens, according to these musicians. But who to believe? Elegant or grotesque —with all the nuances that could exist between these two poles— the salon was one of the few nocturnal spaces designed to have fun and socialize, marking the daily (or nocturnal) rhythm of Bogotá citizens during the turn of the century.
