Felipe Pedrell

From Hispanopedia
Felipe Pedrell Sabaté
Photographed by Pablo Audouard
BornFebruary 19, 1841
Tortosa (Spain)
DiedAugust 19, 1922 (aged 81)
Barcelona (Spain)
OccupationsComposer, ethnomusicologist

Felipe Pedrell Sabaté[1][2][3] (Tortosa, February 19, 1841 – Barcelona, August 19, 1922)[4] was a Spanish musicologist, composer and musician.[5]

The most important of his undertakings was the creation of modern Spanish musicology. He was the first musician to take on the study of traditional or folk music of Spain (ethnomusicology), finding in flamenco in particular the appropriate object and inspiration to embark on the search for a national music, or music of its own character, in Spain.[6] He was also an editor and scholar of the work of Tomás Luis de Victoria, vindicating the great Spanish Renaissance tradition leading to the Baroque.

Thanks above all to Pedrell's great work, Spanish composers began to include themes, rhythms and scales characteristic of the Spanish tradition, creating what is known as "Spanish musical nationalism".[7] Among his main direct disciples were Isaac Albéniz, Enrique Granados, Cristòfor Taltabull, Pedro Blanco, José María Peris Polo, Joaquín Turina and Manuel de Falla. It can thus be said that Pedrell links and redirects the musicological universalism of Antonio Eximeno to the theoretical and practical needs of the Spanish music of his time[8] in correspondence with the other important European traditions.

Felipe Pedrell represents, after the universalist Antonio Eximeno (1729–1808), the summit, or one of the two great moments, of modern Spanish musicology. It may be affirmed that he continued the Spanish musical construction undertaken by Francisco Asenjo Barbieri, who alone can be compared with him in the outlining of that project.[9]

Felipe Pedrell's personal documentation collection is preserved in the Library of Catalonia.

Intellectual biography

Pedrell around 1870.

His first contacts with music came as a boy chorister in the choir of the cathedral of Tortosa in his native town. At the age of fifteen he had already composed a Stabat Mater for three voices. In 1863 Pedrell went to Barcelona to pursue his musical studies, but soon traveled to Rome (1876) and Paris (1877) on grants from the Provincial Councils of Tarragona and Girona in order to develop his musical knowledge. Later, in 1894, he moved to Madrid, where in 1915 he was appointed professor at the Conservatory.

Thanks to his travels to Italy and France, Pedrell was the first modern Catalan musician to engage with foreign music.[citation needed] This was decisive for the definition of his future musical tendencies as a composer of art and popular music. It should be remembered that he was one of those who introduced the music of Richard Wagner into Spain, coming to be known as "the Spanish Wagner".[10] Furthermore, in his role as a music theorist, and as a promoter of drawing inspiration from popular songs as a starting point for creation, he was the teacher of musicians such as Isaac Albéniz, Enrique Granados, Manuel de Falla and Robert Gerhard, among others, so that it can be affirmed that he definitively built the modern Spanish School of Music.[11]

Pedrell as seen by Ramon Casas (MNAC).

As a musicologist, he was also interested in terminology and compiled a compendium of technical terms, among which he meticulously gathered those of popular origin.[12] If in his academic work he must be credited with the founding of schools of musicology throughout Spain, his vast musicological activity includes, alongside journalism and press criticism, the compilation of repertoires, historical research and the editing of the work of numerous composers, such as Joan Brudieu and, especially, Tomás Luis de Victoria, the key and foundation of the History of music in Spain.

Pedrell was a very active composer, in that he applied himself to the development of the most diverse musical styles. Thus, in addition to his operas, he also composed a large number of lyrical pieces, symphonic poems, and religious and chamber music.

Musicological works

Cover of Por nuestra música (1897), by F. Pedrell
Cover of the Diccionario Técnico de la música by F. Pedrell

Pedrell, already published in various languages in his own time, was the author of everything from manuals to important treatises and musicological research, and the editor of collections and even periodicals.

Monographs

  • Gramática musical, o manual expositivo de la teoría del solfeo (in collaboration with Tomás Campano) (1883.)
  • Diccionario técnico de la música. Escrito con presencia de las obras más notables de este género (1894) - Facsimile eds.: Valencia, Librería París-Valencia, 1992; Valladolid, Maxtor, 2009.[3]
  • Hispaniae Schola Musica Sacra (1896).
  • Por nuestra música (1897) - Pour notre musique quelques observations sur l'importante question d'une ecole lyrique espagnole motivees par la trilogie Les Pyrenees.
  • Diccionario biográfico y bibliográfico de músicos españoles (1897).
  • L'evoluzione musicale della Spagna (Rome, 1898).
  • El teatro lírico español anterior al siglo XIX (1898).
  • Folklore musical castillan du XVIe siècle (1988).
  • Emporio Científico e Histórico de Organografía Musical Antigua Española (1901).[13]
  • La festa d'Elx o el drama litúrgic espanyol (1901) - La festa d'Elche, ou Le drame lyrique liturgique espagnol. Le trépas et l'assomption de la Vierge. Conférence Composée pour les Fêtes musicales et populaires de la Schola à Montpellier (Paris, 1906) - La festa de Elche o el drama lírico-litúrgico La muerte y la asunción de la Virgen (Elche, Librería Atenea, 1951).
  • Músics vells de la terra (Old musicians of the land). On Catalan musicians of the 16th and 17th centuries (1904–1910).
  • Músicos contemporáneos y de otros tiempos (Estudios de vulgarización). Primera serie (1910).
  • Salterio sacro-hispano, published in 1882, which did not survive the year. In 1886 there was a failed attempt to restart the publication. A third series resumed in 1905.
  • El organista litúrgico español (1905).
  • Los orígenes del Canto Romano. El antifonario gregoriano (Barcelona, "Gazeta de Mallorca", 1907).
  • Antología de Organistas Clásicos Españoles: siglos XVI, XVII y XVIII (1908), 2 vols.
  • Catálogo de la Biblioteca de la Diputación de Barcelona (1908).
  • El plagio en las obras de Haendel (1911).[14]
  • Reintegración de obras olvidadas (1914)[15]
  • Coplas e instrumentos populares (1914)[16]
  • Profesores músicos de antaño (1916)[17]
Cover of Pedrell's book on Antonio Eximeno
  • Las formas pianisticas. Orígenes y transformaciones de las formas instrumentales estudiadas en los instrumentos de teclado moderno (1918).
  • Tomás Luis de Victoria, «Abulense». Biografía, bibliografía, significado estético de todas sus obras de arte polifónico-religioso, Ávila: Diputación provincial de Ávila. Institución «Alonso de Madrigal», 1918. (Facsimile edition: Valladolid, Maxtor, 2014).
  • Obras completas de Tomás Luis de Victoria (1919)[2]
  • Eximeno. Glosario de la gran remoción de ideas que para mejoramiento del arte músico hizo el ilustre jesuita valenciano, Bilbao, Unión Musical Española, 1921. (Facsimile edition: Valencia, Librería París-Valencia, 1992).
  • Cancionero musical popular español (1922) - New edition: Barcelona, Editorial de Música Boileau, 2010, 4 vols.
  • Els madrigals i la missa de rèquiem de Joan Brudieu (The madrigals and the requiem mass of Joan Brudieu) (written in collaboration with Higinio Anglés) (1927).

Articles and periodicals

His various articles include:

  • those published as "Jornadas de arte" (1841–1891),
  • monographic pieces such as "Palestrina y Victoria" (1899),
  • the anthology collection Musicaleria. Selección de artículos escogidos de crítica musical (Madrid, Librería de J. Cintas, 1906) (Valencia, F. Sempere y Cia., 1906 - Facsimile ed., Valencia, Librería París-Valencia).
  • as well as "Jornadas postreras" (Valls, Eduardo Castells, 1922).

From 1896 to 1899 he was in charge of editing the monthly bulletin La música religiosa en España.

Other writings

  • Los Pirineos. Original trilogy in Catalan verse and Castilian prose translation by Víctor Balaguer; followed by the Italian version by José Mª. Arteaga Pereira, adapted to the music of Felipe Pedrell, and by the latter's work entitled "Por los Pirineos" (1892).
  • "Carta abierta", in Federico Pastor y Lluis, Narraciones tortosinas, páginas de historia y biografía, Tortosa, Imprenta de J.L. Foguet y Sales, 1901.

Musical works

Chamber compositions

  • Noches de España
  • Nocturno-trío - 1873
  • Orientales
  • Quartet - (Quartet - 1879)
  • Gaillard - 1879

Choral works

  • Super Flumina Babilonis

Comic lyric theater[18]

  • Ells i elles - 1873 (Catalan zarzuela)
  • La guardiola - 1873 (zarzuela)
  • La fantasma groga - 1873/1876 (adaptation of the operetta La Dot mal placé by Paul Lacôme with new music)
  • La veritat i la mentida - 1873 (Catalan zarzuela)
  • Lo rei tranquil - 1873 (Catalan zarzuela)
  • El diplomático (opéra bouffe operetta), later Lluch-Llach (Catalan zarzuela) - 1873
  • Les aventures de Cocardy - 1873 (opera buffa)
  • Eda - 1887/1888 (comic opera)
  • Mara - 1889 (comic opera)
  • Los secuestradores - 1889 (zarzuela)

Masses / religious pieces

  • Al·leluia - 1865
  • Missa per dos veus i òrgan (Mass for two voices and organ) - 1857
  • Tres Misses per tres veus i òrgan (Three masses for three voices and organ) - 1861 - 1865 - 1866

Opera

Felip Pedrell became involved in operatic composition with a twofold purpose. On the one hand, he sought the creation of a "Spanish opera", pointing out "the paths to be followed on this journey of national artistic exploration".[19] On the other, there was his rivalry with the composer Tomás Bretón, made evident after the latter's premiere of Los amantes de Teruel, which was harshly criticized by Pedrell. In this task he acknowledged as his master Francisco Asenjo Barbieri, "because he has perhaps been the first to imbue his music with the true Spanish character", and to whom he wrote:

Such is my determination that it alone has been able to force me, albeit exceptionally and against my intentions, to throw myself headlong into the hated militant life of art, abandoned not so much out of weariness as out of boredom and repugnance. It came, in faith, at a climacteric moment after the excesses of Los Amantes, and all that remains for me is to witness the possible spectacle of inconsistency that may be offered to me by a public that yesterday applauded the work and the author wildly.[19]

With this avowed intention he produced L'ultimo abenzeraggio (The Last Abencerrage, 1874, in Italian), Quasimodo (1875) and Cleopatra (1878), which won a prize in Frankfurt. After Eda (1887) and Mara (1889) came two of his most celebrated works: the trilogy Los Pirineus (The Pyrenees, 1902) and La Celestina, tragicomedia lírica de Calisto y Melibea (1904), unperformed until 1921.[20][21][22] That same year came El comte Arnau (Count Arnau) and later A matinada (The Dawn, 1906).

Religious canticles

Portrait of Felipe Pedrell
  • Estrofas de Santa Teresa de Jesús
  • Les cinq roses (The five roses)
  • L'herba de l'amor (The herb of love)
  • Lo sant nom de Jesús (The holy name of Jesus)
  • Sant Joseph (Saint Joseph)
  • Sospirs (Sighs)
  • Tantum ergo

Songs

  • Cada vegada que et veig (Every time I see you)
  • Canciones Arabescas
  • Cantos Andaluces
  • Íntimas
  • Jesús als pecadors (Jesus to the sinners)
  • La Sagrada Familia
  • La primavera que a estimar convida (The spring that invites one to love)

Symphonic poems

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Entierro del ilustre maestro compositor D. Felip Pedrell". Blanco y Negro (in español) (August 27, 1922): 9. August 27, 1922. Retrieved October 18, 2011.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Pedrell, Felipe (1919). Manuel Villar (ed.). Obras completas de Tomás Luis de Victoria. Abulense. Biblioteca Villar (in español). Maxtor. ISBN 978-8490010235. Retrieved October 17, 2011. {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Pedrell, Felipe (1897). Torres Oriol, Isidro (ed.). Diccionario Tecnico de la Musica (in español). fac-símil, 2009 (ilustrado). Maxtor. ISBN 978-8497616379. Retrieved October 17, 2011. {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
  4. ↑ "Los que mueren. El maestro Pedrell" (PDF). La Vanguardia (in español): 8. August 20, 1922. Retrieved October 17, 2011.
  5. ↑ Luis Villalba Muñoz, Últimos músicos españoles del siglo XIX: Felipe Pedrell. Semblanza y biografía, Barcelona, Imprenta de La Tierra de Segovia, 1922.
  6. ↑ Ríos Ruiz, Manuel (1997). Ayer y hoy del cante flamenco (in español). Madrid: AKAL. p. 93. ISBN 9788-470903113. Retrieved October 17, 2011.
  7. ↑ Sánchez Terol, Antonio (June 21, 2010). "Las corrientes nacionalistas". Campus digital (in español). Universidad de Murcia. Archived from the original on June 29, 2012. Retrieved October 17, 2011.
  8. ↑ Aullón de Haro, P., La Escuela Universalista Española del siglo XVIII, Madrid, Sequitur, 2016, pp. 210-219.
  9. ↑ Cf. Gómez-Elegido Ruizolalla, Mª Cruz, "La correspondencia entre Felipe Pedrell y Francisco Asenjo Barbleri", in Ricerca Musicologica, no. 4 (1984), pp. 177-242.
  10. ↑ Serrano, Carlos;Salaün, Serge (2006). Los felices años veinte: España, crisis y modernidad (in español). Marcial Pons Historia. p. 304. ISBN 978-8496467200. Retrieved October 17, 2011.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  11. ↑ Matarrita Venegas, Manuel (2006). "La "Fantasía baética" de Manuel de Falla: Nacionalismo musical español y universalismo en el siglo XX" (PDF). Artes y Letras (in español). XXX (1). Universidad de Costa Rica: 107–113. ISSN 0378-0473.
  12. ↑ Gamboa, José Manuel, Felipe (1992). "Felipe Pedrell, Las voces del Pueblo" (PDF). La Caña. Revista de Flamenco (in español) (4). Asociación España Abierta: 52–54. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 12, 2012.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  13. ↑ Pedrell, Felipe (1897). Torres Oriol, Isidro (ed.). Emporio Científico É Histórico de Organografía Musical Antigua Española. Biblioteca Villar (in español). fac-símil, 2010. BiblioBazaar. ISBN 978-1141639823. {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help); |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  14. ↑ Pedrell, Felipe (July 1911). "El plagio en las obras de Haendel" (PDF). Revista Musical (in español). Año III (7). Bilbao: 157–161.
  15. ↑ Pedrell, Felipe (April 1914). "Reintegración de obras olvidadas" (PDF). Revista Musical Hispano-Americana (in español). Año VI (4.Segunda época). Bilbao: 19.
  16. ↑ Pedrell, Felipe (1914). "Coplas e instrumentos populares" (PDF). La Alhambra (in español). Año XVII (402): 542–545. A copy of the article can be found at "Un artículo de Felipe Pedrell". Papeles flamencos (in español). August 3, 2011. Retrieved October 17, 2011.
  17. ↑ Pedrell, Felipe (January 15, 1916). "Profesores músicos de antaño" (PDF). Summa (in español). Año II (7). Madrid: 33.
  18. ↑ Álvarez Losada, Cristina. "El pensamiento musical de Felip Pedrell (1841-1922)" (PDF). Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (in español).
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 Gómez-Elegido Ruizolalla, María Cruz (1984). "La correspondencia entre Felipe Pedrell y Francisco Asenjo Barbieri". Recerca musicològica (in español) (4): 177-242 (182). ISSN 0211-6391. Retrieved October 18, 2011. (Art. cit.)
  20. ↑ "La Celestina". Red Teatral (in español). Carlos Tren Producciones. 2008. Archived from the original on November 19, 2011. Retrieved October 17, 2011. El compositor Felipe Pedrell creó la ópera La Celestina que debía haberse estrenado el año 1904. Pero no ocurrió así y solamente en 1921 se pudieron interpretar algunos fragmentos de la compleja partitura
  21. ↑ Menéndez Pelayo, Marcelino. Fundación Ignacio Larramendi (ed.). "La Celestina". Orígenes de la novela. Obras completas (in español). Biblioteca Virtual Menéndez Pelayo. p. 453. Retrieved October 17, 2011. Impreso corre el libreto de una ópera del maestro catalán don Felipe Pedrell no cantada hasta ahora: La Celestina, tragicomedia lírica de Calisto y Melibea (Barcelona, 1903, tipografía de Salvat)
  22. ↑ Regarding its not yet having been premiered, Gregorio Martínez Sierra wrote in 1916 (Martínez Sierra, Gregorio (August 27, 1922). "Las guitarras mágicas". Blanco y Negro (in español) (July 30, 1916): 21–24. Retrieved October 18, 2011.):

    Magic guitars, sorceress guitars, [...] Know that you have been chosen as his own by one who has passed through all the Parises of France and has lost himself in all the misty labyrinths of the misty music of the North. Have you not heard of a venerable and wise little old man who took refuge in you many years ago now, to lament the tragic loves of Melibea? Well, he still lives and sings, although his Homeland has not yet wished to hear him... Magic guitars, guitars of Spain, sound in honor of Felipe Pedrell!

Bibliography

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