Baltasar Samper i Marquès

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Independent Composer of Catalonia (CIC). From left to right: Robert Gerhard , Agustí Grau , Joan Gibert Camins , Eduard Toldrà , Manuel Blancafort , Baltasar Samper and Ricard Lamote de Grignon . Frederic Mompou is missing in the picture . (1931)

Baltasar Samper i Marquès (born May 3, 1888 in Palma , † 1966 in Mexico City ) was a Spanish pianist, conductor, composer and folk song researcher. Samper was one of the most important figures in the field of classical music and musicology in the Catalan cultural area in the first half of the 20th century. His long exile, first in Toulouse and then in Mexico City, almost brought him into oblivion in Europe - right up to his role as a Catalan folk song researcher.

life and work

Baltasar Samper's interest in music was aroused in the family. His father was an opera singer, his brother was also active in music. He received his first music lessons from private teachers Cardell and Oliver. He first studied at the Balear Institute , now the Ramon Llull Institute . At the age of 19 he moved to Barcelona and studied piano with Enric Granados and composition with Felip Pedrell . For a while he was also a student of the pianist Édouard Risler in Paris.

After completing his studies, he worked in the field of music in a variety of ways. In addition to his work as a concert pianist, he has conducted the Orquestra de Cambra de Barcelona , the Orquestra Pau Casals and the Orquestra Simfònica de Madrid . He worked as a columnist and music critic for the magazines La Publicitat and El Mirador and for the Radio Associació de Catalunya . He worked actively for the Associació de Musica da Camera (Chamber Music Association) and for the Compositors Independents de Catalunya as well as for the associations for old and new music set up by JM Thomàs in Mallorca such as the Mallorca-Associació Bach (Mallorcan Bach Society), the Comitè pro-Chopin in Mallorca (Chopin Committee Mallorca), the Chopin Research Institute on Mallorca and the Chopin Festival on Mallorca. He dedicated himself particularly to the dissemination of the works of Catalan composers and the English composer Cyril Scott , with whom he was friends.

Inspired by Felipe Pedrell, he devoted himself in particular to musicological research. From 1924 to 1932 he took part in research on the Obra del Cançoner Popular , a project to research Catalan folk music, and led seven research trips to the Balearic Islands and the Pityuses . This work was reflected above all in the 629 folk songs published in 1929 on clay rolls. In 1925 he held the Ideal Mallorquí conference at the Associació per a la Cultura de Mallorca (Association for Mallorcan Culture), where he revealed his aesthetic thinking in terms of the musical Catalan folk culture. In 1936 he presented at the III. International Musicology Congress in Barcelona gave a lecture on The Working Songs on Mallorqua .

As a result of the Spanish Civil War , Samper emigrated to Toulouse for a few years in January 1939, where he worked as an organist. After the German invasion of France in June 1940 , he emigrated to Mexico City. Here he first gave music lessons. He later studied and researched Mexican folk music. He headed the ethnomusical department of the Institut Nacional de Belles Arts of Mexico . He taught musical folklore at the National Conservatory of Mexico City. Samper never returned from exile and was more or less forgotten in Europe.

The results of Samper's folk song research flowed in a very direct way into his compositional work. As a composer he is assigned to a post-impressionist Catalan musical tradition. Among other things, he created the symphonic suite Cançons i danses de l'Illa de Mallorca (1929, songs and dances of the island of Mallorca), the small suite Ritual de pagesia (1933, peasant ritual ). He also created symphonic works including vocal parts such as the Càntic espiritual for choir and orchestra (1941). In addition, he created numerous pure vocal and piano works. Few of his compositions have been published. The Mallorcan pianist Joan Moll and the musicologist Amadeu Corbera have seen and described the Fons staff of Samper for the Conservatori Superior de Música de les Illes Balears , administered by Samper's family in Mexico . Many of his compositions can still be found in this archive as manuscripts. Baltasar Samper's grandson, Àngel Samper Wilson, preserved this cultural heritage in Mexico until 2017. In December 2017, the government of the Balearic Islands decided to purchase this personal archive from Baltasar Samper for EUR 40,000 for research purposes and to make these cultural documents accessible again to the population of the Balearic Islands. The purchase was completed in June 2018.

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Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Baltasar Samper i Marquès. In: Gran Enciclopèdia de la Música.
  2. ↑ a b c d e f Amadeu Corbera i Jaume: Baltasar Samper. In: Revista Catalana de Musicologia.
  3. ↑ a b c César Calmell y Piguillem: Baltasar Samper i Marquès
  4. ^ Government of the Balearic Islands: El Govern compra el legado en el exilio del músico folklorista mallorquín Baltasar Samper. December 28, 2017, Retrieved December 23, 2019 (Spanish).
  5. ^ Mari Nova: Adquisición del fondo documental personal del músico mallorquín Baltasar Samper (1888-1966). In: El plural. June 19, 2018, accessed December 23, 2019 (Catalan).
personal data
SURNAME Samper i Marquès, Baltasar
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Mallorcan pianist, conductor, composer and folk song researcher
DATE OF BIRTH May 3, 1888
PLACE OF BIRTH Palma
DATE OF DEATH 1966
Place of death Mexico city