P
rince
of
A
sturias
A
wards
1981-2014. S
peeches
9
world have felt themselves tremble as they allow themselves to be rocked by the chords of Joaquín
Rodrigo’s music, which reaches degrees of sublime perfection and awakes inside us melodies
which not only extend the tradition of the Spanish musical genius, but which are also the result of
a fresh and intense originality.
Enshrined by the immortal
Concierto de Aranjuez
, in each of his pieces, Rodrigo expresses
the profundity of being Spanish with unmistakable lyricism. He is the ambassador of Spanish
music transposed to the guitar, an essentially Spanish instrument, which he has managed to endow
with a new physiognomy aimed at concert halls. Guitarists look to him with veneration, as it is
through him that they have achieved glory and the applause of all audiences. Young composers
also follow his lead, because Joaquín Rodrigo has earned fame without ever failing to be rigorous
and honourable, two principles which shape the authority of the great creators.
This year, the Prince of Asturias Award for Social Sciences has been granted to British historian
Sir John Elliott. Few scholars have managed to approach our past as this distinguished authority
has, especially that of 16th- and 17th-century Spain. He has told us that, whilst still almost an
adolescent, contemplating some of the scenes of the pictures in the Museo del Prado he even then
caught a glimpse of what Unamuno called the “intra-history” of our country.
Since then, his research, extended in his professorship at the University of Oxford, has but tried
to explain Spanish history, its crucial problems, which needed
new light and rigorous interpretation. For there are few tasks
as delicate as that of a historian, who must boldly maintain
an objective ideal and not let himself be carried away by his
personal opinions or beliefs when analysing past events. Here is
the greatness of this science, and that is why it is so important for
nations to cultivate it, transmit it from generation to generation
as the most valuable part of their heritage and teach it from the
standpoint of truth.
One of John Elliott’s major contributions is that, via his
profound analyses, he has helped to shatter stereotyped and
clichéd views of our history.
Elliott belongs to that brilliant group of Spanish scholars who study Spain because they love it, and
they themselves have seen how their love grows together with the knowledge of the beloved object.
Valentín Fuster, Prince of Asturias Award for Technical and Scientific Research, is an admirable
example of a life fully given over to helping human beings in his efforts to surpass the limits which
Nature has established. His work is not only proof of his personal worth, but also embodies the
worth of science when it is devoted to improving man’s existence.
For many years pledged to a persistent struggle against coronary diseases, this Catalan doctor
has studied one of the most terrible ailments which has afflicted modern man, without once giving
in to despondency or fatigue.
Starting from his conviction that clinical efforts do not suffice to advance rigorously if they are
not accompanied by basic research, Valentín Fuster has managed to attend to both these fronts
and harmonise his results, whilst proving his extraordinary scientific training and his exceptional
organization capacity, heading work in large and highly specialised teams.
Symbolised in him we see other Spanish scientists who were obliged to emigrate in search of
better means to carry out their endeavours, eager, in many cases, to return and form part of our
research community.
A great poet from his native Catalonia, Salvador Espriu, sang of the melancholy of the human
being and his life with these lines:
There are no wakes left in the water,
no sign
of the boat, of man, of his passage.
“The pro-European feeling of the Spanish
peoples, which have been forged over
time, and in which Asturias has played
its part, finds continuity in our finest
intellectuals of this century.”
