Generación del 51

Generación del 51 is a designation for one of a series of "generations" of Spanish composers, identifying a group born between 1924 and 1938.

Members of this group of composers from the Basque and Castilian-speaking regions of Spain include (Perez Castillo 2001):

• Carmelo Alonso Bernaola (1929–2002)
• Miguel Alonso (1925–2002)
• Angel Arteaga
• Cristóbal Halffter (b. 1930)
• Ramón Barce (1928–2008)
• Agustín Bertomeu (b. 1929)
• Amando Blanquer (1935–2005)
• Francisco Calés (1925–1985)
• Manuel Castillo (1930–2005)
• Juan José Falcón Sanabria (b. 1936)
• Antón García Abril (b. 1933)
• Agustín González Acilu (b. 1929)
• Juan Hidalgo (b. 1927)
• Ángel Oliver (1937–2005)
• Luis de Pablo (b. 1930)
• Claudio Prieto (b. 1934)

In their earlier works, members of this generation tended toward the avant-garde, with post-Webernian serialism evident in the work of Halffter and Luis de Pablo in particular. By the end of the 1970s a mellowing of their language becomes apparent, and during the 1980s many of them began to turn to tonality of one sort or another (Perez Castillo 2001).

The Catalan members of this generation are associated with the reforming and renewing tendencies that emerged after the post-Civil War isolation (Gómez 2001; Perez Castillo 2001):

• Xavier Benguerel i Godó (b. 1931)
• Joan Guinjoan (b. 1931)
• Josep Mestres Quadreny (b. 1929)
• Josep Soler i Sardà (b. 1935)

Soler's compositional palette involves serial techniques, and he is particularly noted for his dramatic music (Perez Castillo 2001).