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:^[1]

• Carmelo Alonso Bernaola (1929–2002)
• Miguel Alonso [es] (1925–2002)
• Ángel Arteaga (1928–1984)
• Cristóbal Halffter (1930–2021)
• Ramón Barce [es] (1928–2008)
• Agustín Bertomeu (born 1929)
• Amando Blanquer [es] (1935–2005)
• Francisco Calés [es] (1925–1985)
• Manuel Castillo [es] (1930–2005)
• Juan José Falcón Sanabria (born 1936)
• Antón García Abril (1933–2021)
• Agustín González Acilu [es] (born 1929)
• Juan Hidalgo (1927–2018)
• Ángel Oliver [es] (1937–2005)
• Luis de Pablo (1930–2021)
• Claudio Prieto (1934–2015)

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.^[1]

The Catalan members of this generation are associated with the reforming and renewing tendencies that emerged after the post-Civil War isolation:^[2][1]

• Xavier Benguerel i Godó [ca] (1931–2017)
• Joan Guinjoan (1931–2019)
• Josep Mestres Quadreny (1929–2021)
• Josep Soler i Sardà (1935-2022)

Soler's compositional palette involves serial techniques, and he is particularly noted for his dramatic music.^[1]