Havana delights in ancient music

Mireya Castañeda

A veritable event has taken place in Havana. The Lesser Basilica of the San Francisco de Asís Convent was the appropriate venue for two concerts of works not heard for more than 200 years.

It was the first performance (June 20 and 27) of works by Cayetano Pagueras (Catalonia, 18th century-Havana 19th century?) and Juan París (Catalonia 1759-Santiago de Cuba, 1845), the oldest music preserved in Havana’s La Merced Church and Santiago de Cuba Cathedral.

Knowing and listening to unpublished musical works has been made possible thanks to the rigorous research of musicologists Miriam Escudero and Claudia Fallarero.

Currently director of the Esteban Salas Musical Heritage Department attached to the City Historian’s Office, Miriam Escudero received us in her office in the San Gerónimo de La Habana University College, on Obispo, in Old Havana.

That’s right. In the beginning, the research came about through my relationship with the Advanced Institute of Arts (ISA), where I studied musicology. I had excellent professors who encouraged the research. My tutor, Dr María Victoria Elis, directed me to the archives of Catholic cathedrals, also a challenge, given that that means studying the liturgy surrounding this cult. Conclusion, I ended up studying the archives of La Merced Church. The music of Cayetano Pagueras was there, that work was the beginning of a whole body of research conducted over two years.

I had the idea of reproducing the music found in La Merced in the atmosphere of the church, but that was not possible. Finally, on June 20, 1997, the result of my research was presented in a concert in the San Francisco Lesser Basilica.

On the one hand, in order to keep my role as a researcher relevant and active, which was my premise, I had to put the results of it into practice, disseminate the music. I was able to do that though Ars Longa. We recorded material resulting from my research and I was part of that, to the point of interpreting it. (Cubadisco 2000 Prize for Música en la Habana Colonial). I maintained that research-performer relationship until last year. This coincided with the publication of the eight volumes of the Cuban 18th Century Sacred Music Collection, dedicated to the work of Esteban Salas (Havana, 1725 - Santiago de Cuba, 1803).

The origin is in the Santiago de Cuba research. In fact I was there in 1995 trying to begin the research into Salas. They didn’t think I was sufficiently apt for that research and they were right; they were going to place in my hands, at the age of 25 years, the oldest musical archive preserved in Cuba. Then I was terrified. I returned to Havana and discovered the possibility of doing it in La Merced, and having in my hands nothing less than the music of Pagueras, Esteban Salas’ counterpart, fate was concurrent. I began to work with Havana’s most important collections. At that time, Diccionario de la música hispano-americana hadn’t been published and the draft said that there were no scores, but there were, in La Merced. It was a privilege. In 1997, I won the Casa de las Américas Musicology Prize (El archivo de música de la iglesia habanera de La Merced: estudio y catálogo). When the opportunity arose to return to Santiago in 1999, with a resume and a prize, they gave me the possibility of going into the archives and we began the work of organizing Salas’ music, which we have completed.

We are now proposing to completely catalogue the archive in Santiago de Cuba Cathedral and the Elvira Cape Library. This time we are a team of five researchers. Also in Havana, once again in La Merced, we are researching religious music orchestras at the end of the 19th century. There is a fabulous archive there, of works from different sources, music from the Havana Cathedral itself and that of itinerant orchestras. We are working on chamber music from 19th century Cuban publications, in conjunction with Dr. Zoila Lapique.

It appeared last year after my Doctorate thesis. I thought that I was in a position to confront more comprehensive research, always in relation to Ars Longa, given that ancient music is considered as such up until the 18th century. I am attached to the San Gerónimo College Academy, and the City Historian’s Heritage Department gives me the possibility of extending these lines of research. We have projects which reach to the end of the 19th century; we promote events like the 1st Encounter of Young Pianists (May 25-June 9), which is related to musical heritage because Ignacio Cervantes is played. The Office is now responsible for the administration and study of heritage, restoration and conservation, and we can acquire heritage collections. We include in our publications facsimiles so that the original documents are preserved.

That’s right, two concerts with different works each day. We linked Pagueras, with his liturgical works in Latin, and París, in Spanish. Both were heard for the first time in Havana. I can confirm that because in the 1997 concert there were just five Pagueras works and now 19 have been played. The scores utilized are not only those we found in La Merced, but also in Reina Church. Some missals appeared in the Jesuit Church of Belén College, in the San Francisco Church in Santiago de Cuba, in the Puebla de Los Angeles Cathedral, in a small chapel in Oaxaca and in Mexico Cathedral. In relation to Juan París, musicologist Claudia Fallarero undertook the comprehensive research into his musical works in Santiago de Cuba Cathedral and the rescue of eight carols composed for the 1807-1809, 1812 and 1814 Christmas masses are due to her.

The Sine Nomine, directed by Leonor Suárez, is distinguished by its male voices, at it was in its era. Women were not allowed to sing in churches. The high parts were done by counter-tenors, recalling the legendary Farinelli. The interpretation of the ISA Orchestra, conducted by José Antonio Méndez (assistant director at the Havana Mozart Lyceum directed by Ulises Hernández), was excellent. It was performed as if in the era.

Yes, but in a recording studio, so that it is perfect, and the works will be the first of the Documentos Sonoros del Patrimonio Musical Cubano Collection. It is to be in DVD format, including a CD, plus the filmed concerts, lectures given by Claudia and myself for arts schools and the scores. It is to be a joint production by Colibrí and La Ceiba, the City Historian’s Office label.

Conservation in situ is not our responsibility, we just digitalize and publish them, and preserve them in that way. Nothing directly with manuscripts. The Church has innumerable documents and music is not generally considered a work of art because, like art, it is immaterial. It is not taken into account that the supports for this art are material, documents, scores, the elements which hold the information to then make this art immaterial. Music is not a priority in any sphere of restoration. The missals are the priority because they are on parchment and that gives them additional value and they have illuminations, which make them valuable from the artistic point of view.