Miguel Hilarión Eslava

Miguel Hilarión Eslava

Miguel Hilarión Eslava Elizondo (born October 21, 1807 in Burlada , Province of Navarra , † July 23, 1878 in Madrid ) was a Spanish composer , conductor , music teacher and music researcher.

Life

Hilarión Eslava was inducted into the boys' choir of Pamplona Cathedral in 1816 ; there he also received violin and piano and organ lessons from Julián Prieto (1765–1844). From 1827 he trained in composition with Francisco Secanilla (1775–1832), the conductor in Calahorra ( La Rioja region ). After completing this training, he applied on April 14, 1828 for the position of Kapellmeister at the cathedral in El Burgo de Osma and took up this position on August 13 of this year. Only a few months later he applied for the same position at the Cathedral of Seville , but did not get this position until February 20, 1832. In September of the same year he was ordained a priest. In order to get secure income, Eslava turned to composing operas; in the years 1841 to 1843 his three traditional stage works were created.

In 1844 Eslava accepted the position of assistant conductor in Madrid; three years later the position of Maestro de la Real Capilla (Kapellmeister of the royal chapel) there after the previous incumbent MR Ledesmas had retired. His special affection and solidarity with the Spanish royal family resulted in their recognition and support, so that he was awarded the title of Commander in 1847 by King Charles . An official letter from the Queen gave him free access to the archives of the Spanish cathedrals. With the documents and scores obtained in this way by Spanish composers of earlier centuries, he implemented his plan for a lira sacro-hispana (publication "Spiritual Spanish Lyra"), which appeared in sequels from June 1852. In 1854 he founded the Orfeo Español (Spanish Orpheus) body , whose task it was to propose spiritual and secular music projects to the government. The establishment of the weekly Gaceta musical de Madrid (published February 1854 to January 1857) was his first step in this direction. Here he discussed artistic concerns and possibilities for artistic progress and published many of his own didactic and musicological treatises.

Also in 1854 he received the chair of composition at the Royal Conservatory as deputy to R. Carnicer and was appointed full professor a year later after his death. In 1866 he also became director of this facility. As a result of political adversity in the run-up to the revolution of 1868 , Eslava got into conflict, which caused him to resign from his chair in 1868. In the same year the Queen awarded him the title of capellán de honor (honorary bandmaster ). He was accepted as a member of the Academia de Bellas Artes San Fernando (Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando) in 1873. In addition, he received many other honors and awards in the last years of his life.

meaning

Among the works of Eslava, his Miserere from 1835 achieved particular popularity and was performed on Good Friday for over a hundred years instead of the Miserere settings by earlier masters. Most important and interesting, however, are his compositions from the Madrid period (1844–1878). In comparison with his lively activity in sacred music, musicology and music education, however, his work on the stage is less important.

Through intensive preoccupation with older Spanish music, Eslava had come to the conviction that one had to return to the "old school", with the melody being the main element. In the course of this endeavor he took on a pioneering role in his country in the historical processing of the sacred music of Spain from earlier centuries. He planned to publish a four-part Historia de la música en España (sacred music, drama, folk and textbooks), and he wanted to write the sacred music and textbooks himself. He entrusted the subject of stage works to Francesco Asenjo Barbieri and the folk music to Juan Inzenga. It was first realized by publishing the Lira sacro-hispana (1852–1860) for sacred vocal music and the Museo orgánico español (1853) for organ works. His two textbooks were of great educational use, namely his Método completo de solfeo (1845) and his Escuela de composición , which was laid out in five parts (1845–1861), with the fifth part remaining unfinished. The latter work has been used in music schools for a very long time.

Works (summary)

(Detailed list from José Luis Ansorena 1999)

• 10 masses and 1 credo in different line-ups
• 35 motets in different scoring
• 17 psalms in different formations
• Sequences, masses for the dead, hymns, antiphons, cantica, responsories, lamentations, villancicos, paraphrases and others
• 3 operas
• 2 pieces “Andante y allegro” for solo instrument and string orchestra
• 1 Sinfonía fantástica for orchestra
• 2 editions: “Lira sacro-hispana”, Madrid 1852–1860 (sacred vocal music) and “Museo orgánico español”, ibid. 1853 (organ works)
• 4 writings: “Escuela de composición”, 4 volumes (5 planned), Madrid 1845–1861; “Método completo de solfeo”, ibid. 1845; “Breve memoria histórica de la musica religiosa en España”, ibid. 1860; “Prontuario de contrapunto, fuga y composición”, ibid. 1860

Literature (selection)

• A. Peña y Goñi: La ópera española y la música dramática en España en el siglo XIX , Madrid 1881
• C. Saint-Martin: Don Hilarión Eslava , Pamplona 1973
• L. Hernández Ascunce: Estudio bio-bibliográfico de Don Hilarión Eslava , Pamplona 1978
• José Luis Ansorena: Monografía de Hilarión Eslava , Pamplona 1978
• JE Ayarra Jarne: Hilarión Eslava en Sevilla , Sevilla 1979

Web links

Commons : Hilarión Eslava  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Music in the past and present (MGG). Person part Volume 6, Bärenreiter Verlag Kassel and Basel 2001, ISBN 3-7618-1116-0
2. ↑ Marc Honegger, Günther Massenkeil (ed.): The great lexicon of music. Volume 3: Elsbeth - Haitink. Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau a. a. 1980, ISBN 3-451-18053-7 .