El combat (The combat)

Jaume Pahissa began his career as a composer under the tutelage of a young musician who had just arrived from Brussels: Enric Morera. From that first contact steeped in the spirit of the modernists and the Wagnerian influence, Jaume Pahissa and Jo threw themselves fully into the techniques of composition and symphonic music. His own style and the innovative and risky harmony that characterized him quickly brought him immediate recognition.

The symphonic poem El combat premiered on November 15, 1906 at the Teatre Novetats under the direction of the composer himself. It was a symphonic concert with a program entirely focused on his works; it was supported by the success previously achieved with the stage play La presó de Lleida, premiered in March of that same year. Although El combat was conceived as a piece with its own entity, after some years Jaume Pahissa incorporated it into the lyric work Canigó, specifically at the opening of the third act. This work is based on the poem by Jacint Verdaguer, with a libretto by Josep Carner. It premiered at the Arenes de Figueres on June 10, 1910 under the stage direction of Adrià Gual.
The manuscript of the work The Combat is headed by these words:
In the tranquility of an immense green plain you can hear the distant sounds of the
war horns. The two armies seek each other and fight; the calm of the plan
disappears in the horrible noise of combat. After the last raid
victorious, only the honor of the battle remains on the field, and once again the sweet
Nature blooms again in the tranquility of the immovable plain.