Josep Anselm Clavé i Camps

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Monument to Josep Anselm Clavé i Camps on Passeig de Sant Joan in Barcelona
Bust of Josep Anselm Clavé i Camps in the Palau de la Música Catalana
The tomb of Josep Anselm Clavé i Camps on the Cementiri de Poblenou in Barcelona

Josep Anselm Clavé i Camps (born April 21, 1824 in Barcelona ; † February 24, 1874 ibid) was a Catalan composer , choir director , music writer and politician . Since around 1850 he was the founder of the Catalan orfeó and folk choir movement, which he brought into being based on the model of the French Orphéons . He organized big singing festivals with the Societat Coral Euterpe . He became popular as a composer of popular songs, choirs, and zarzuelas . Politically, he was intensely committed to improving the social and cultural situation of the workers. In this context, he took on political responsibility in Barcelona and Catalonia in the last phase of his life. The folk choir culture initiated by Clavé lives on in Catalonia to this day, for example in Orfeó Català , which was later founded in his spirit .

Life

Clavé was born into a simple but socially well-positioned carpenter family in Barcelona. At the age of six, he lost vision in his right eye due to an infection. Around 1838, his father Josep Anselm Clavé's economic problems forced him and his brother to give up schooling and take up employment. Clavé became a wood turner , but had to give up this job after two years for health reasons. He then worked as a musician in cafes and taverns in Barcelona, ​​where he sang songs with guitar accompaniment. He also composed songs that he later published in 1858 under the titles El cantor de las hermosas ("The song of beauties") and Flores de estío ("Summer flowers").

In the 1840s he came into contact with ideas of the French socialists . In Barcelona he came under the influence of republican circles around Abdó Terrades and Narcís Monturiol . He took part in the attack on the Barcelona citadel in 1843 and was injured in the arm. In 1845 he was imprisoned in the citadel for several months because of his left political ideas. When he was released, some young people asked him to serve as a conductor and choir director for their music group. This group formed the core of the later Barcelona music society L'Aurora ("Dawn"), from which La Fraternitat ("brotherhood"), the first choral society in Catalonia and Spain, emerged on February 2, 1850 . This society also acted as an association of mutual practical help. Soon afterwards other such musical groups formed in Barcelona and across the country. In 1853, La Fraternitat succeeded in establishing itself in the Jardins de la Nimfa on Passeig de Gràcia and holding regular public music events there. Under pressure from public authorities, who feared Clavé's labor choirs and their republicanism, these events in this central location in Barcelona have been suspended. The Choral Society moved its events to also at Passeig de Gràcia nearby camps Elisis to where many concerts and dance events were held.

After conflicts and clashes with Captain General Juan Zapatero , responsible for Catalonia , Josep Anselm Clavé and his brother were arrested in 1856 and deported to the Balearic Islands . After his return in 1857, Clavé gave the choral movement new impulses. He named his choir and music movement Fraternitat after Euterpe , the muse of the flute, and thus avoided further political confrontations. He set up the so-called Jardins d'Euterpe , in which the Societat Coral Euterpe now gave public concerts. In 1860 the Associació Euterpense was founded, which was an umbrella organization for all these choirs. The choral movement continued to consolidate. She continued to achieve great cultural success. Numerous Euterpe music societies were formed in Catalonia and Valencia . In Barcelona, ​​Clavé organized large choral festivals. In 1864 over 2000 singers took part in such a festival. Clavé performed with his choirs in Saragossa, Madrid (1861) and Montserrat (1863).

In 1867, Clavé was arrested again and deported to Madrid and imprisoned there. After the revolutionary movement was able to prevail in Madrid in 1868, numerous social and cultural concepts were adopted by Clavé. In 1868 Clavé became a member of the Revolutionary Committee and worked closely with various newspaper editors, including La Vanguardia . He was elected deputy head of the Revolutionary Committee. He held the position of President of the Diputació de Barcelona , the civil governor of Castellón and the government delegate of Tarragona. After the coup d'état by General Pavía on January 3, 1874, Clavé withdrew from public life and returned to Barcelona, ​​where he died a few weeks later.

plant

Clavé created both text and music for his numerous popular songs. These works of light, catchy melodies immediately became popular with the people. He skillfully tied the Italian influence in the music of Catalonia with the original Catalan folk song. The uplifting Catalan Renaixença prompted him to write first works such as La Font del Roure (“The spring on the oak”) and Les nines del Ter (“The girls from Ter”) in Catalan from 1854 . He later presented the themes of work and progress in works such as Els pescadors (1861, "The Fishermen"), La verema (1862, "The Grape Harvest "), La Maquinista (1867, "The Machinist") and in Els xiquets de Valls ( 1867, The Xiquets of Valls , "The boys from Valls, who form human towers") and Pasqua Florida (1868, "Blossoming Easter") thematically focus on the joy of folk festivals.

He underscored his political vocation in the choral work La Revolución (1868, “The Revolution”), composed to commemorate Abdó Terrades . His Marsellesa (1871), an arrangement of the French national anthem in Catalan, served similar purposes . The music of the Catalan revolutionary anthem La campana ("The Bell") based on a text by Abdó Terrades is attributed to Clavé. Other “political” works are Els néts dels almogàvers (1860, “The grandsons of the Moors”), which were dedicated to the Catalan participants in the Morocco war. His best compositional work was probably the serenade Goigs i planys (1873, “Praise and Lamentations”).

Clavé also worked in the genre of musical theater. In this genre he also created works in Spanish such as the Zarzuela Una zambra en Alfarache (1851, "A Flamenco Festival in Alfarache") or the Catalan and Spanish-speaking Zarzuela L'Aplec del Remei ("The Feast of Our Lady Remei at the Chapel" ). The latter work was so successful when it was premiered in Liceu in 1858 that this piece was performed in Barcelona music theaters for several years.

Clavé founded and directed the music magazines El Eco de Euterpe (1859) and El Metrónomo (1863).

One of Clavé's daughters, the composer and pianist Àurea Rosa Clavé (1856–1940), arranged significant parts of her father's compositional work for orchestra, brass band and piano.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Josep Anselm Clavé i Camps. In: Gran Enciclopèdia Catalana.
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k Josep Anselm Clavé i Camps. In: Gran Enciclopèdia de la Música.
  3. ↑ a b c d Wilibald Gurlitt: Josep Anselm Clavé i Camps. In: Riemann Musiklexikon.
  4. ↑ a b c d e f section after: Josep Anselm Clavé i Camps. In: Gran Enciclopèdia Catalana.
  5. ↑ a b c section after: Josep Anselm Clavé i Camps. In: Gran Enciclopèdia de la Música.
personal data
SURNAME Clavé i Camps, Josep Anselm
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Catalan composer, choir director and politician
DATE OF BIRTH April 21, 1824
PLACE OF BIRTH Barcelona
DATE OF DEATH February 24, 1874
Place of death Barcelona