“Know, Sancho, that he is not a man more than another, if he does not do more than another.” It is not hidden from Don Quixote that these “doings” are not always or even mainly those of geniuses or great personalities of history, but rather the chores of many ordinary people who, tired of talking, decide to act. Quijano himself, or Quijana – because Miguel de Cervantes I didn’t know his exact name, he was still an anonymous gentleman who lived in a village in La Manche, whose name the novelist doesn’t want to remember either, until he decided to go out and become knight-errant.
One of those normal, determined people who get things done is a native of Toledo, Mariano Lozano Cid. A music lover to whom the music lovers of Toledo will always be indebted and who deserves the support and recognition of the city’s institutions. Co-founder of the musical group Toledana, now defunct, and president of the choir of the Superior University “José Saramago”since 2014 Mariano has dedicated himself to the information, dissemination and promotion of classical music, bringing Toledonians closer to the major musical events organized in Madrid, managing the purchase of tickets (with significant discounts), as well as travel to attend the best selection of programming National Orchestra and Choir of Spain (National Auditorium), RTVE Orchestra and Choir (Monumental Theater), Teatro de la Zarzuela or Teatro Real. It is not a foundation or a cultural association: it is a little man of flesh and blood who, in 2023 alone, managed the tickets and transported 1,675 citizens of Toledo by bus to Madrid. And all this, needless to say, in a completely altruistic and selfless manner, with no other motivation than the love of music and one’s fellow human beings (for when someone with a noble heart appreciates such a sublime manifestation of the human spirit as music, he feels the need to share it with others).
We owe to Mariano the necessary complement to the musical activities scheduled in the Tagus city, which, although worthy, are insufficient. In the initiative promoted by the Toledo City Hall why a few days ago the residents of Toledo were able to follow live on the big screen the opera with which the Teatro Real opened its season, we think that Mariano has something to do with it.
These activities do not happen alone, but require enthusiasm, dedication and a lot of work. Thanks to Mariano Lozano, thousands of Toledo residents have experienced many mornings in the National Music Auditorium the three modes of this old witch that is music, capable of traveling through all the corners of the human soul: the mode of dream, that of smile and that of lamentation, ways of feeling the music that remembers, mutatis mutandisthe modes of archaic Greek music, which are essentially maintained in the music of all times: the lugubrious and funereal Lydian, the virile and bellicose Dorian, and the enthusiastic and bacchanalian Phrygian. Thanks to these morning or afternoon excursions in Madrid, the music of Falla, Beethoven, Mahler and many other composers, performed by the best national and international performers, fills our daily reality with dreams and fantasy.
No one is unaware of the benefits of listening to good melodies, even if they are just sounds. I said Franz Liszt that this sonorous and therefore invisible reality constitutes the heart of life and, consequently, the universal language of humanity. Because, we can also recall with Verdi, there is no Italian, German or Spanish music: only music exists. Music continues to be the best antidote against idiotic nationalisms (from the Greek “idiots”, one who only minds its own business) and myopic identity ideologies, which proliferate so much in these unfortunate times. Melancholy was traditionally combated through music. And when words are missing or insufficient to express what we feel, music comes to our rescue. Since ancient times, it has been possible to verify that a set of tones, cadences and rhythms can immediately affect our mood and affect our feelings. We started with a quote from Don Quixote. We would like to conclude with this other where, with admirable conciseness, the prince of Spanish letters says that “music composes broken spirits and relieves the labors of the spirit”. How many of us Toledons who accompanied Mariano to Madrid left Toledo sad or worried and returned comforted?
