Ars Musicae de Barcelona

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The group Ars Musica in 1941 in the Gothic “Hospital de la Santa Creu”, today's Biblioteca de Catalunya
Detail of a replica of a historical viol by Ignasi Fleta from 1941

Ars Musicae de Barcelona , often simply referred to as Ars Musicae , was a Catalan vocal and instrumental ensemble from Barcelona that specialized in medieval and early modern music from Catalonia and Spain. The ensemble was active from 1935 to 1979. It was founded in Barcelona in 1935 by the musicologist Josep María Lamaña . It was dedicated to the interpretation of the music of the Middle Ages, the Renaissance and the Early Baroque on old original instruments or on copies of such instruments. The ensemble was one of the world's pioneering groups addressing the topic of early music and historical performance practice .

history

The origins of the ensemble go back to the Orquestra d'Estudis Simfònics de Barcelona , founded by Eduard Toldrà and made up of non-professional instrumentalists . These musicians were willing to play on historical instruments or their replicas for a research project in the field of early music. On this basis, Josep María Lamaña took over the orchestra in 1935 and renamed it Ars Musicae . The first public concert of the renamed ensemble took place at the opening of the International Congress of Musicology in 1936 in Barcelona. From 1935 onwards the ensemble was directed by Josep María Lamaña , from 1957 to 1972 by Enric Gispert and from 1972 to 1979 by Romà Escalas i Llimona , director of the Museu de la Música de Barcelona .

In 1941, in the early phase of this music formation, the well-known soprano Victoria de los Ángeles joined the ensemble as a flautist. In the following five years she made herself familiar with old Catalan and Spanish music, including singing. Her first public appearance with the ensemble took place on May 19, 1944 in the Palau de la Música Catalana . She later appeared sporadically with the ensemble of which she became honorary president. In the 1960s she also made a few recordings with the ensemble. From 1965 onwards the ensemble received permanent support from the Al leluia choir founded by Enric Gispert . Other artists who performed with this group were the tenor Josep Benet , the violist and violist Jordi Savall and his wife, the soprano and specialist in early music Montserrat Figueras . They all started their careers in the ensemble.

The ensemble has performed at major European music festivals such as Edinburgh, Granada and Barcelona. It made recordings for radio and television in France, England, the USA and Spain. It made numerous recordings.

After the ensemble was disbanded in 1979, documents (facsimiles of historical scores) and the valuable inventory of instruments (almost one hundred instruments made according to historical models) were given to the Museu de la Música de Barcelona . Many of these instruments were designed by Ignasi Fleta, a member of the group, and Josep Maria Lamaña himself. With these replicas, an attempt was made to approximate the originals and to ensure the authenticity of the sounds for each musical period.

literature

Web links

Individual references and comments

  1. ↑ The article is based on the Spanish-language Wikipedia article of the same name and has been expanded. The version history of the Spanish-language article has been added to the article.
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l Enciclopèdia Catalana: Ars Musicae.
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Romà Escalas (Ajuntament de Barcelona): Ars Musicae de Barcelona.
  4. ↑ a b c d Fundacion Victoria de los Angeles (archive): Victoria de los Angeles. 2007, accessed October 16, 2019 .