At the time of writing Minorca had one daily newspaper, called Menorca, published in Mahon, and one weekly newspaper, El Iris, published in Ciudadela.  Menorca issued an occasional supplement in English to assist tourists on their holidays, and during the summer months of 1973 a monthly English newspaper called Roqueta appeared to meet a similar need. Foreign newspapers - British, German and American – were, and still are, available. 

By far the most important newspaper on the island was Menorca, which became an institution. It passed its 9,000th issue, and was in its thirty-fourth year of publication, the first copy appearing in 1941. Its first two or three pages were devoted to international and Spanish news, and a similar number at the end to sports-mainly football. The central section was headed 'Minorca and the Minorcans - Each and All' and is a daily chronicle of life on the island, which it faithfully and fairly reflects. It maintained an extremely high standard of journalism, with frequent articles of an informative nature on local topics, interviews with local personalities, both humble and famous, even poems. Its coverage of the town's cultural activities is objective and full, and there is a welcome absence of syndicated material.
 

LITERATURE

A distinction has to be made between literature in Castilian Spanish, and in the Minorquin (Catalan) dialect. The former obviously reaches a wider public. Written or literary Minorquin differs quite considerably in idiom and vocabulary from the spoken language, so that although Minorquin is still the common spoken tongue of Minorcans among themselves, many are unable to write it correctly. As in other countries with an ancient surviving language a small group of local writers and poets have done much in recent years to keep literary Minorquin alive.
The most notable modern Minorcan writer was D. Angel Ruiz Pablo (1865-1927). He was born in Villa Carlos and wrote both prose and verse in Castilian as well as Minorquin. In recent years some of his narrative prose has been adapted for the theatre. Another writer, D. Francisco Camps Mercadal, has written a book on island folklore, Folklore Menorqui de la pagesia.
Among Minorcan writers in Castilian Spanish, special mention is made of Mario Verdaguer's Piedrasy Viento ('Stones and Wind'), a delightful novel about Minorca in the eighteenth century during the British occupation. 
The majority of Minorcan writers have chosen historical or archaeological themes. Over a thousand papers have been written on the island's megalithic monuments, a large number of them by Minorcans. The chief of these is a comprehensive reference book entitled Prehistoria de las Baleares, by J. Mascaro Pasarius, which is well illustrated. Only two others deserve mention. Minorca's greatest historian was Francisco Hernandez Sanz, who published a comprehensive history of the island in Spanish entitled Compendia de Geografia y Historia de Menorca in I908. He is still greatly honoured in Mahon, where cultural prizes are often named after him. The second is the only biography in existence on Sir Richard Kane, the Gobierno de Sir Richard Kane en Menorca, a slim volume by A. Victory, published in 1924.
 

MUSIC AND ART

Minorcans are musical and have a number of musical societies. They are interested in both classical and modern works. Mahon's 'opera week' has been mentioned; and an International Festival of Song was held in 1973 at which singers from seven European countries competed. All Minorcan towns have their town bands, and Mahon sometimes invites guest bands and orchestras with a wide reputation to her more important fiestas. Mahon has a handsome Opera House with over eighty boxes, built in 1824 by an Italian architect.

The organ of Santa Maria
But the musical pride of Mahon is its monumental pipe organ in the church of Santa Maria, designed by the Swiss organ-builder Kyburz and completed by him in 1810. It has four manuals, fifty-seven organ stops and 3,006 sound pipes; clearly not for the novice.
It is an organ whose history goes back to the Napoleonic Wars. In 1810, although Minorca had been returned to Spain by Britain eight years earlier, the British Mediterranean fleet under Admiral Collingwood was still protecting the island against invasion by French forces, and Collingwood was staying briefly at El Fonduco in Port Mahon. Minorcans asked him to arrange a 'safe conduct' for the great pipe organ to be brought by sea from Barcelona, and to help negotiate a similar agreement with the French. This was the last of Collingwood's many services to Minorca. He was a sick and lonely man, who had not been able to visit his wife and daughters in England for over five years. He sailed from Port Mahon shortly afterwards for home, but died at sea the day after leaving port. There was no requiem for the admiral.
The organ's second adventure was during the Spanish Civil War of 1936-9. It narrowly escaped destruction by Nationalist rebels, and was only saved by the bodily intervention of the aged writer Hernández Sanz, who suggested they might care to spare it for their secular celebrations after victory.
The organ has had many gifted organists, and recently underwent a substantial renovation.

Folk music and dance
There is a lively interest in the island in the preservation of folk songs in the Minorquin dialect, fostered by several folk groups. The oldest of these songs are associated with dances, and are believed to have been introduced by the soldiers of Alphonso III of Aragon after the conquest of 1287, later becoming modified and altered to suit the changing life and attitudes of the people. Some of the old songs had a religious theme and these are still popular, such as 'El Bon Jesuset' ('The Good Child Jesus') and' Un Senor Damunt d'un Roc' ('A Master Mounted on an Ass').
Señor Mercadal, a leading contemporary musician and conductor in Mahon, composed and recorded many popular folk songs, mostly based on Minorcan legends which have survived orally from Moorish times. 
The most popular are 'Su Novia Aljandar' ('The Bride of Algendar'); a Minorcan serenade called 'Sure a Sa Fenestra' ('Come to thy Window'), and the gayer 'Si em Casare' ('If I were to marry').
The dances have a smoother and more soothing tempo than that associated with Spanish music, in spite of the customary castanets accompanying the guitars, and the woman's movements are more restricted than the man's. The commonest local dances are a form of the fandango, and the Minorcan Jota - a speciality of the town of Mercadal. On a formal occasion for tourists traditional Minorcan costume will be worn.
Special mention must be made of a Scottish dance which the people of Villa Carlos adopted from Highland troops and their families in the eighteenth century, and which they still dance at their fiestas. It is called the 'Ball d'Escocia' ('The Ball of Scotland'), and its twelve dancers wear a kind of tartan and carry little sticks. It is accompanied by a solitary fife with drums, and sounds like the plaintive song of a Highland exile.

Art
Because of the brilliant quality of its light, Minorca attracts artists, and many Minorcans are accomplished painters. Rural scenes, showing shadows cast by the sloping roofs of farmhouses, or a lonely cove, are common and satisfying subjects. Attractive watercolours can be bought as reminders of one's holiday.
Minorca has had several famous visiting painters and one of its own. The Italian painter Guiseppe Chiesa settled and married in Minorca in the eighteenth century, and opened an art academy in Mahon. He sent his pupil, a Minorcan called Pascual Calbo Caldes, to Italy to study art. The latter was a brilliant artist, who specialised in portraiture but liked to paint peasant children. He became court-painter to the Empress Maria Theresa at the age of twenty-seven, and later returned to Minorca after a brilliant career.
As we have already read, Sir Joshua Reynolds visited Minorca in 1749, on his way to Italy, and is reputed to have painted a number of portraits of officers of the garrison.
 
 

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