Where Music Lives / Oslo’s Opera House and Barcelona’s Palau de la Música

What is architecture if not music played through a combination of stone, metal, and glass? The most beautiful buildings are like complex symphonies, with some rooms quiet as a whisper, others like music played as loudly as possible. Some of the most fascinating buildings in the world – Sydney Opera House, the Metropolitan Opera in New York, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg – have been created to house symphony orchestras and opera singers. We travelled to Spain and Norway to take a closer look at the houses where music lives in Barcelona and Oslo.

Palau de la Música Catalana, Barcelona

Designed in the Catalan modernista style by the architect Lluis Domènech i Montaner, the building was completed in 1908 for Oleó Català, a choral society and a leading force in the Catalan movement that came to be known as Renaixença. This was a romantic revivalist movement that incorporated stylistic and philosophical elements of other 19th century movements such as Naturalism and Symbolism. Their aim was a full restoration of Catalan as a language of culture (and consequently an official language of Catalonia). 

One year after its completion, the musical palace won an award from the Barcelona City Council as the best building built during the previous year and since 1997 it has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The design of the palace is typical of Catalan modernism in that curves predominate over straight lines, dynamic shapes are preferred over static forms, and rich decorations that emphasizes floral and other organic motifs is used extensively (in contrast to many other buildings constructed in the modernist style). However, the palace is at its core rational, as it pays strict attention to function and makes full use of the most up-to-date materials and technologies available. 

Barcelona’s bourgeoisie, who in part funded the construction, asked for the building’s Catalan character to be even further enhanced, and so local artisans and craftsmen were commissioned and given great creative freedom in producing ornamentation, sculpture, and the decorate structural elements for which the palace is famous. The façade also incorporates elements from traditional Spanish and Arabic architecture. On the second-level balcony, two colonnades take a commanding position. Each column is covered uniquely with multicoloured glazed tiles in floral designs.

The ceiling of the vestibule is decorated with glazed ceramic mouldings, arranged in the shape of stars. From here, the marble staircase ascends to the second floor, but the main room is of course the concert hall, the only auditorium in Europe that is illuminated dring daylight hours entirely by natural light. The walls on two sides consist of stained-glass planes in magnificent arches, and overhead is an enormous skylight designed by Antoni Rigalt. The dominant theme of the decorations in this room is choral music, depicting flowers and young girls singing.

While the use of glass in the music palace is great for bringing natural light into the concert hall, to the enjoyment of the visitors, neighbours have not been as fond of this innovation as glass walls carry like drum skins. To live near the music hall is to, whether you want to or not, is to live in a world of constant music.  

The Norwegian Opera & Ballet, Oslo

For a long time, Oslo was not really considered a relevant destination. Neighbouring cities like Stockholm in Sweden and Copenhagen in Denmark were more attractive to international travellers. But once Oslo found oil, the nation’s economy changed, and so did the Oslo skyline. Contemporary architecture – skyscrapers, modernist museums, and completely new neighbourhoods – redefined Oslo’s image, turning it into a Scandinavian version of Miami, where tall buildings line the boardwalks. 

Since 2008, the building that more than any other symbolise Oslo is the Opera House, its angular architecture inviting people to visit both its exteriors (as the sloped roof is a popular meeting place) and interiors, with perfect acoustics for musical performances. A request from the city to the architects, the renowned architecture studio Snøhetta, was that the new building would be part in creating a new urban landscape that would connect the city with the Oslo Fjord. 

The foyer is a light, open space, its one side a large, undulating oakwood wall. On the other side of the wall are the opera house’s three performance halls. All design choices were based in acoustic requirements, and so the materials and shape of the house are an effect of what was best for the timbre and tonal possibilities. In this way, the house is sound turned into architecture, and the main stage is a large wooden instrument. 

The house is built to naturally separate the backstage – rehearsal rooms, song and ballet studios, workshops, and offices – from the public spaces, so that people who work here can focus on their craft without being disturbed, and visitors who want to experience the building don’t have to feel like they are intruding. However, the common element is openness, and visitors can look through big glass windows and see activities in the scene painting room, sewing room, and hat and mask section. 

Primarily three materials were used: stone, wood, and metal. The stone was white marble from Carrara, the wood was oak, and the metal facades were made from aluminium. 17 artists were invited to create site-specific artworks, integrated into the building. One of the most suggestive pieces is Olafur Eliasson’s four white-lit installations in the wardrobe area, called “The Other Wall”.