The Song of the Sibyl, Friday (Cant de la Sibil·la) the 5th in the church of Vendrell

diciembre 02, 2025

 


María  Dolores García Martínez
esguarddedona



An extraordinary musical and cultural event:
The Song of the Sibyl (Cant de la Sibil·la)

Original score from the 15th century


Performed by Cor Francesc Valls.
Mariona Llobera: Sybil
Juan de la Rubia: organ
Pere Lluís Biosca: Conductor


Friday, 5 December
Church of El Vendrell
Organised by l'Orgue del Vendrell 
Tickets may be purchased at Entrapolis

The choir "Cor Francesc Valls" was founded in 2003.   Its name pays tribute to Francesc Valls (1671–1747), chapel master and composer.


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The Song of the Sibyl from Barcelona Cathedral
Cor Francesc Valls
Mariona Llobera, Sibyl
Juan de la Riba, organ
Pere Lluís Biosca, conductor
Shared on YouTube on 17 December 


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A bit of history


Diego Velázquez (1599 - 1660) 
Sybil
ca 1630
Museo del Prado
Public domain


Who were the sibyls?

In classical Greek and Roman culture, sibyls were priestesses who expressed the oracles of Apollo [1]. They were prophetesses who communicated divine revelations.

[1] Source: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Mythology. Pierre Grimal. 

The Sibyls' predictions took the form of hexameter verses and were recorded in writing on parchment, so the prophecies could be preserved and passed on. This meant they could be consulted in difficult times to seek answers about what to do or what was inevitable.

The texts were ambiguous (cryptic): consequently, it was necessary to interpret them.

Sibila was like a title that preceded the proper name of each of those women. 

For Marcus Terentius Varrón [1] (1116 BC – 27 BC), sibyl meant ‘God's will’ or ‘God's design’.

[1] Varrón was a prolific author. Among other works, he wrote: De Lingua Latina on the etymology, analogy, and syntax of Latin. 



Michelangelo (1475 - 1564)
Sibyl Eritrea (Sixteenth century)
Sistine Chapel
Vatican Museums


Who was the Sibyl of the Song of the Sibyl? 

The original text is believed to be from the Eritrean Sibyl. Her words and their interpretation have come down to us today, following a long and winding path.

Ernest Dudley Heath (1867 - 1945)
Illustration from the book ‘The History of Rome,’
 author Mary MacGregor (Mary Keith) (1872–1961) 
Tarquinius Superbus and the Sibylline Books.
Source of the narrative: Aulus Gellius (c. 125 AD–c.180 AD)
Attic Nights" cap. XIX
Painted in 1912


The Sibylline Books


The scrolls (books) of the Sibyls contained their prophecies. During the Roman Empire, they were kept in the Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus. A fire that occurred in 83 BC. destroyed the books. 


These books were guarded by high-ranking priests known as "Quindecemvir". Only they could interpret the texts.

After the fire, a commission of the Roman Senate was tasked with collecting, compiling, and rewriting the texts so that they could once again be consulted in times of danger for the Roman Empire.


In 69 BC, they were once again placed in the new temple of Jupiter Capitolinus.

However, at the end of the 4th century or beginning of the 5th century [1] AD, they were burned once and for all.

[1] Sources give possible dates between 400 and 405 AD.


Flavius Stilicho (c. 360 AD – 405 AD) gave the order. He was a Roman general of Vandal origin who had been the son-in-law of Emperor Theodosius and the guardian and twice the father-in-law [1]of Emperor Honorius. 

[1] Honorius married one of Stilicho's daughters, and when she died, he married another. 



Claudius Rutilius Namacianus (4th century AD - 5th century AD) explains that they were destroyed because they contained a prophecy: the end of the Roman Empire some years later. The prediction would have been made some 1,200 years ago. 


(The Roman Empire disappeared on 4 September 476 AD, the date on which the last emperor, Romulus Augustulus, was dethroned.) 

Although we sometimes hear of books called Sibylline Oracles or Oracula Sibilina, they are not the Sibylline scrolls or books, but later creations.

However, the original texts could have served as sources for writers like Virgil (70 BC - 19 BC). Thus, in the Aeneid [1], the hero Aeneas visits the Cumaean Sibyl (Cumae was a city on the Gulf of Naples; it contained an artificial cave where the Sibyl delivered her prophecies; today the cave is located in Pozzuoli). The Cumaean Sibyl tells Aeneas his future and also guides him to visit the underworld, where he can speak with his deceased father and return to the world of the living.

[1] Aeneas was the son of Anchises and the goddess Aphrodite. He was the son-in-law of Priam, king of Troy. The Aeneid recounts Aeneas's journey after Troy lost the war, his arrival on the Italian peninsula, at the city of Palantia, on the Palatine Hill, where years later Romulus would found Rome. Romulus was a descendant of Aeneas.


Besides, Virgil, in his Bucolics, publishes in Eclogue IV a text by the Cumaean Sibyl. He titles it "To Pollio." From a Christian perspective, it will be interpreted as an announcement of the birth of Jesus. 



Giovanni Pisano ( ca 1215/1220 - 1284)
Sibyl in the pulpit of Sant Andrew's Church in Pistoia (Tuscany, Italy)


How did pagan figures come to be cited as the origin of prophecies about Jesus Christ?



Lactantius (c. 240 AD - 320 AD) was the first Christian writer to cite the Sibyls. He does so in his work Divine Institutes.

He tells us that all the Sibyls, at one point or another in their prophecies, speak of a single God.

He specifically states that the Erythraean Sibyl is the most famous.

He extracts from the Erythraean Sibyl's prophecies that she says:

"It is not possible that a God could have been born from the union of a man and a woman." She also states that "those who fear God attain true and eternal life, dwelling for the duration of their lives in paradise, a fruitful garden."

Throughout his work, he establishes that the Sibyls bore witness to the existence of a single God, begotten, not created, and born of a virgin.

He makes another reference to the burning of the texts in 83 BC. C. and tells us who had made the proposal to recover them: Gaius Curius (1st century BC).


Sibyl of Cumae
Donato Creti (1671 - 1749)
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Public domain

Why does Christianity look to the Sibylline Books for references to Jesus Christ?

Eusebius (c. 260 AD – c. 339 AD) was bishop of Caesarea. He is considered the father of church history because he wrote "Ecclesiastical History." In his book "Constantini imperatoris oratio ad sanctorum coetum" (The Prayer of Emperor Constantine), Eusebius states that he wishes to bear witness, even using foreign (non-Christian) sources, to the divinity of Christ.


In Chapter XVIII of the book, entitled: Of the Erythraean Sibyl, who pointed to our Lord and His Passion in a prophetic acrostic. The acrostic reads: "Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour, and  Cross".


In another chapter, it says that the Erythraean Sibyl belonged to the sixth generation after the Flood, because she had explained it. This is another element that establishes a reference to the content of the Bible.


Despite using the Sibylline texts as a reference, Eusebius of Caesarea considered the work of the Sibyls indecent. However, he affirmed that their verses were the result of divine inspiration when they prophesied about Jesus. 


We must remember that in 380, Emperor Theodosius issued the Edict of Thessalonica, which declared Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire, as it had emerged from the Council of Nicaea (325).


Saint Augustine (396 AD - 430 AD), bishop of Hippo, draws on the ideas in Eusebius' texts (written in Greek) and writes Civitate Dei ( written in Latin), adding Eclogue IV from Virgil's Bucolics. He also interprets this eclogue as referring to the birth of Jesus. 


At that time, it was already believed that the Sibyl of Cumae had predicted the birth of Jesus, and the Eritrean Sibyl had predicted the Last Judgement. 


Sibyl of Eritrea
Notre Dame du Fort (Étampes - França)


References to the sibyls become established within Christianity


Quodvultdeus (? - 454 AD), bishop of Carthage, wrote a sermon against the Jews using the text of the Eritrean Sibyl. (For a time, it was believed that the sermons written by him had actually been written by Saint Augustine).


And in the 13th century, we find some verses attributed to the Franciscan Tomás de Celano [1] (biographer of Saint Francis of Assisi). These verses are called Dies Irae. In them, the Sibyl is mentioned as a prophet of the end of the world, alongside King David.


[1] Today, it is believed that the author was a Franciscan whose name is unknown, which is why it is usually referred to as anonymous.


The text is:


Dies irae, dies illa,
Solvet saeclum in favilla
Teste David cum Sibylla


On that day, the day of wrath
It will turn the world to ashes
As predicted by David and the Sibyl.


Apparently, this text was part of the Franciscan missal for the Mass for the Dead. 

The Dies Irae was not banned by the Council of Trent (1545–1563). It became part of the liturgy. However, after the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965), it was excluded from the requiem mass. Nevertheless, today we can hear the Dies Irae in compositions such as Mozart's or Verdi's requiems.  The Cantus Sibillinus, however, was banned by the Council of Trent. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. 


The process of assimilation of the sibyls into Christianity must include artistic representations, both inside and outside churches. 

Jan Lyuken (1649 - 1712)
Sibyl of Eritrea
Engraving from 1684
The scene on the right depicts the Annunciation to the shepherds 
Published by Timotheus then Hoorn (Holland)
Rijksmuseum Amsterdam




What is the origin of the image we have of what they were like, how they dressed, and what symbols we use to identify the sibyls?


In the manuscript known as the Virgil Vaticanus, the Sibyl of Cumae appears twice (pages XLVv and XLVIv in the link). The manuscript dates from around 420 AD. The Sibyl is dressed in a tunic and a stole that runs from her shoulder to her waist. Next to her, a text identifies her as Sibilla.


In the 15th century, the Eritrean Sibyl is depicted carrying a sword. 


Some examples:


But it will not always be represented that way.


Michelangelo (1475–1564) depicts him with a book, without a sword.
Lorenzo Pasinelli (1629–1700) paints her writing the text “Humanabitur di vina sib trea”, which can be translated as “human beings will be descendants of the gods” or “human children will be born divine”, depending on whether we interpret “di vino” as being joined or separate. 


Other painters and engravers do not use any specific symbols. 


  • Bernandino di Betto di Biagio ‘Pinturicchio’ (c. 1454 - 1513). In the fresco ‘The Prophet Daniel and the Sibyl of Eritrea,’ he distinguishes them by name. He painted several frescoes, in each one we can see a prophet and a sibyl. He uses the name as a method of identification in all the cases. 
  • Pietro Perugino (1446 - 1523) in the painting ‘The Almighty with Prophets and Sibyls’. He uses the same system. (The painting was later reproduced in an engraving by Francesco Cecchini (1750 - ca. 1811).

Art confirms the integration of the sibyls into Christian narrative in various countries. 


But in the Song of the Sibyl, the sword is important. 




Cover of the book written by Josep Baucells, Doctor of History and Maricaremen Gómez Muntane, Doctor of Philosophy and Letters
Published by the Francesc Valls Association, 
with the collaboration with the Cathedral of Barcelona		  




How did the text of the Sibyl of Eritrea become a musical composition entitled ‘The Song of the Sibyl’?

Sam Barret wrote "Music and writing: on the compilation of Paris  Bibliothèque Nationale. Lat 1154). 
Latin 1154 is the name of a manuscript which, among other songs, contains the verses of the Sibyl Eritrea: ‘Iudici signum’. 


He explains that it is a manuscript copied by various scribes. Regarding musical notation, he believes it predates the 11th century, but cannot pinpoint the date. The musical notation in the manuscript consists of dots and accents (small lines) above syllables, so it could have been written after the date on which the book was written.  


The National Library of France cites Higini Anglès and his work ‘La Música a Catalunya’ (Music in Catalonia) in the book's call number (Anglès was a great scholar of the Song of the Sibyl and located numerous manuscripts containing it).


Regarding the musical notation in the manuscript, the signature indicates that it is apparently Aquitanian. It also considers that the manuscript came from the monastery of Saint Martin [Limoges] and was later transferred to the monastery of Saint Martial de Limoges. 
It also indicates that the manuscript was rebound in the 18th century with blue leather and the royal coat of arms (the three fleurs-de-lis of the Bourbons).


According to this data, the Song of the Sibyl is documented as late as the 11th century. However, there are other manuscripts on the Iberian Peninsula from similar dates, as we shall see later.  

We can anticipate that Song of the Sibyl was a theatrical performance, a religious drama, that had become popular in various parts of Europe and was sung in a wide variety of forms.

 
Council of Trent (session 23, July 15, 1563. Central nave of the Cathedral of Saint Vigilius in Trent)
Unknown artist (previously attributed to Titian and Tintoretto)
Date of creation: Second half of the 15th century
Louvre Museum (Not on display)
(Last update: May 2, 2025)


The Song of the Sibyl is banned!



The Council of Trent (1545–1563) banned the Song of the Sibyl.  The bishops were responsible for enforcing the ban. 

However, in Majorca and Alghero, they were unable to do so. According to some sources, a third city, Braga in Portugal, also continued to sing it. 



Printinh plates, instrument for marking the plates and scores of the Song of the Sibyl of Majorca
Barcelona Music Museum (November 21, 2013)
Photo: Enfo 
CC 3.0 licence



Survival despite prohibition: Mallorca, Alghero and Braga



In Mallorca, there are versions of the Song of the Sibyl without music, such as the Llibre dels bons amonestamentes d'Amselm Turmeda (1398) and the Breviarium Majoricensis Ecclesiae, printed in Venice in 1506. 


The Spanish Ministry of Culture indicates that the oldest reference to the Song of the Sibyl with Music dates back to the 14th century. It is known as the ‘Cantoral de la Concepción’ (Songbook of the Conception). It was discovered in 1908 (information also provided by the Official Gazette of the Balearic Islands).


This Cantoral contains ‘Al jorn del Judici’ (the first words of the Cant de la Sibila) on folios  84v – 86v), with square Gregorian notation on a stave. 

(return 1)
Felip Pedrell
(see biography in the link) 

His 'Cancionero musical español' (1922), volume one, section seven, mentions a manuscript that came from the parish of Manacor. He adds that his friend [Antonio] Noguera had provided him with a version.  


He goes on to explain that he had presented a harmonisation of this version at a concert-lecture he had given on 11 October 1892 to celebrate the Discovery of America. The event took place at the Ateneo Barcelonés. 


He goes on to explain that it was so successful that he published it in the magazine Ilustración 
Moderna, issue no. 29, on 17 December of the same year. (Felip Pedrell was Higini Anglès's professor of musicology). 


Further on, it states:
Later, in 1908, it became known that in a very old book found in the Convent of La Concepción in Palma de Mallorca, and apparently originating from the old convent of Santa Margarita in the same city, there was a Song of the Sibyl, the oldest of all the versions known in Mallorca at that time. 

Antonio Nughes in "El Sínode del Bisbe Bacallar. L'Alguer. Church and society in the 16th century", footnote no. 313 (p. 213, edition Institut d'Estudis Catalans, 1991) states that in Mallorca, Bishop Diego Arnedo banned the Song of the Sibyl in 1572, but that in 1575 Monsignor Joan de Vic authorised it once again; later, in 1666, Bishop Pedro Fernández Majarrés banned it, but in 1692 Bishop Pedro de Alagó y de Cardona authorised it on the condition that it be performed only on Christmas Eve.  


All this shows that it was a deeply rooted tradition that the population did not want to see disappear. 


Regarding Braga, Solange Corgin, in her article ‘Le Cantus Sibyllae: Origine et premiers textes’ published in ‘Revue de Musicologie’ Vol. 34, No. 101/102 (July 1952), affirms the survival of the chant. 


In Alghero, it is called ‘Senyal del Judici’. P. Aebischer, in ‘Le Cant de la Sibil·la en la Cathédrale d'Alghero, la vielle de Noël’ published in ‘Estudis Romànics, II’ (1949 - 1950), says that the song has been sung since 1581. 


Hughes, in the book aforementioned, mentions further references.



Lorenzo Pasinelli (1629 - 1700)
Sibyl Eritrea
National Gallery of Ancient Art in Rome
Public domain




Late 19th century to the present day: rescuing what has been forgotten


Higini Anglès, in ‘Music in Catalonia until the 13th Century’, explains that the Sibyl's Chant was performed in Italy, France, Aragon, Castile and Catalonia [1], the latter being the territory with the most versions, which date from the 10th to the 15th centuries. 

[1] He explains this on page 288. On page 289, he adds that when Mallorca was reconquered, the Song of the Sibyl arrived on the island, and that the melody is Mozarabic, the same as in Catalonia, France, and Italy. (Published by the Library of Catalonia in collaboration with the Autonomous University of Barcelona, Barcelona, 1988)


Higini Anglés proposes the following hypothesis: the chant would have arrived at the monastery of Ripoll from the Mozarabic liturgy, because a 10th-century Mozarabic manuscript contains the song. Subsequently, it would have passed from Ripoll to the French monastery of Limoges. (The Ripoll manuscript is currently held in the Crown of Aragon Archives. A detail of it can be seen in Vetus magazine, p. 315) 


The Mozarabic manuscript that Higini Anglès refers to as the source of the transmission is kept in the Chapter Archive of Córdoba Cathedral. 


The manuscript is dated around 960. It was written in and for the monastery of San Pedro and San Pablo de Valeránica (Burgos). This information was provided by Maricarmen Gómez Muntané [1] (1949), correcting her previous assessment that it belonged to the monastery of San Baudelio de Berlanga in Soria. Florentius is believed to have been the copyist of the manuscript. 


[1] She is the author of El Canto de la Sibila, I: León y Castilla (1996), El Canto de la Sibila II: Cataluá y Baleares (1997), and Llibre Vermell [de Montserrat]: Cantos y danzas de fines del Medioevo (2017), among others. She is cited as a researcher in some of the recordings made by Jordi Savall and Montserrat Figueras. 


Julio Martín Barba (1970) considers that the musical notation is Aquitanian adistematic or ‘campo aperto’ [1]. This notation would have been added after the text was written. The text is believed to have been copied between 953 and 960. In Julio Martín Barba's opinion, musical notation would have been added in the second half of the 11th century.

[1] Example of Aquitanian notation 'campo aperto'.The text is in Spanish.


Aquitanian notation, as mentioned in another paragraph, uses dots and small lines above the text. These signs are called neumes [1]. It does not use lines or staves to indicate the pitch of the note. Given these characteristics, it is possible to write them after the text has been written.

[1] Example of neumes. The text is in Spanish.

 
The manuscript we are referring to is known as Smaragdo, according to Martín Barba [1] in his monograph ‘Identification of a book owned by Isabella the Catholic’. 

[1] He is also the author of ‘El Smaragdo de Córdoba en la almoneda de los bienes de Isabel la Católica: las vicisitudes del códice de Florencio de Valeránica’ (The Smaragdo de Córdoba in the auction of Isabella the Catholic's possessions: the vicissitudes of Florencio de Valeránica's codex) and ‘El texto del canto de la Sibila en el Smargado de Córdoba de Florencio de Valeránica’ (The text of the Song of the Sibyl in Florencio de Valeránica's Smargado de Córdoba), published in "Nasara, extranjeros en su tierra. Studies on Mozarabic culture and exhibition catalogue‘. This same publication also includes the study ’Proposed transcription of the Song of the Sibyl from the Smaragdo de Córdoba. 


Martín Barba also believes that a manuscript preserved in Sigüenza Cathedral, which contains the Song of the Sibyl, also with  Aquitanian notation, could be from the same period. 

On the other hand, Ángel Almazán de Gracia, in an article published on the website of the ‘Festival de Otoño Soriano’, indicates that in the Cantigas de Santa María by Alfonso X the Wise, there is an adaptation into Galician of the sibylline ‘Iudici signum’ in the cantiga ‘De cómo Santa Maria rogue por nos a segu fillo en odia do juicio’ (How Saint Mary prays for us to follow her son in the judgement). Once again, the name of Higini Anglès comes up, as he had already pointed this out in his work Las Cantigas de Santa María del Rey Alfonso el Sabio. 

Juan Soreda (1506 - 1537)
It is believed that he may have been born in Mallorca, Aragon or Valencia.
He worked in Sigüenza (Guadalajara) and Burgo de Osma (Soria).
Detail from ‘Prophets and Sibyls’
San Gil Museum of Religious Art, Atienza (Guadalajara)
Some scholars believe that the model was Luisa de Medrano (1484–1527), who was a professor in Salamanca.
Licence: CC 4.0


The Song of the Sibyl in Catalonia 


Miguel Ángel Pérez Priego published the results of his consultation of the research works of the following authors in Criticón magazine, issue no. 66-67, 1996 (pp. 5–14):

(return 2)

(return 3)

Paul Aebisher (1897–1997), Swiss philologist specialising in medieval Latin lexicology and Romance languages, especially Catalan.

Richard B. Donovan. Author of The Liturgical Drama in Medieval Spain (Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies, Toronto) (1958).
Based on the data he obtained, he stated that ceremonies and chants of the sibyl in Catalan were documented in the towns of Tarragona, Barcelona, Vic, Girona, Seu d'Urgell, Alguer (Cerdanya), and Mallorca, and that they were previously sung in Latin. 


In the same article, he discusses a liturgical drama called the Ordo Prophetorum. It is a procession of prophets who are to bear witness to the coming of Christ. Among them were the Sibyl, as well as Virgil and Nebuchadnezzar. The Sibyl plays a prominent role because she interprets the text "Judicci signum tellus sudore nadescet" (The sign of judgment will not be revealed).

Milà i Fontanals in "The Song of the Sibyl in Occitan" hypothesizes that the different versions of the Song of the Sibyl in Catalan come from a 14th-century Provençal text. In the same work, Milà i Fontanals links the sermon of Quodvultdeus, stating that it contains the testimony of the Erythraean Sibyl.

It also refers to handwritten and printed versions of the text.

Manuscript versions:

  • National Library of Paris, no. 14973. 10th century
  • Chapter Archive of Barcelona Cathedral. Large cabinet, no. 24, early 15th century (A footnote indicates that the chant is archived between a document from 1395 and another from 1415, so the chant must predate the latter. Josep Baucells provides further information about this chant: it is found in a manuscript entitled "Constituciones synodales ecclesiae barchinonensis").
Of the printed versions, he cites:

  • Ordinarium urgellense, printed in León in 1545
  • Ordinadium barcionense, printed in Barcelona (Claudio Bornat) in 1569
  • "Printed version after the Llibre de Fra Anselm Turmeda" (textual reproduction of the text as it appears on page 360 ​​of the magazine "Romania," volume 36 of 1880 (Cervera edition, 1818)
Milà i Fontanals' writing also provides information about the Valencia and Mallorca versions.


Book cover - CD "The Song of the Sibyl in the Cathedral of Barcelona"
(link with the Barcelona Cathedral shop where it can be purchased)



The Song of the Sibyl in Barcelona Cathedral

This is the title of the study by Josep Baucells i Reig published in the Catalan Journal of Theology, no. 6 (1981). In it, he explains that the performance of the Song of the Sibyl ceased in Barcelona in 1575, six years after the publication of the Ordinarium barcionense. Fortunately, the complete text used for the performances was preserved. 

It also mentions that the other five musical settings, three in Latin and two in Catalan, were the versions published by Higini Anglès. The Song of the Sibyl was revived in Barcelona Cathedral in 2009.


Lluís Trullen published an article with the same title in the Revista Musical Catalana on March 17, 2015. It was dedicated to the album released by the Cor de Cambra Francesc Valls (Chamber Choir Francesc  Valls), recorded in 2014 and published by Columna Música. In this article, he cites the musical work of Maricarmen Gómez that accompanies the recording.


In this text, we can read:

...two 14th- and 15th-century codices containing copied versions of the Cant de la Sibil·la, one in Latin and the other in Catalan; there is also a polyphonic version dating from the 16th century. Alongside these works, four composers—Jordi Cervelló (2010), Josep Vila i Casañas (2011), Vic Nees (2012), and Narcís Bonet (2013)—wrote four tornadas on “Al jorn del judici” during the aforementioned years, lending this music a constant air of modernity. The recording includes the oldest Latin version and the 16th-century version, along with the four polyphonic tornadas.



CD cover recorded in 1988



The necessary recognition to Montserrat Figueras and Jordi Savall, and to their recordings of the Song of the Sibyl.


Montserrat Figueras, soprano (1942–2011), Jordi Savall (1941), and the Capella Reial* made the first recording of the Cant de la Sibila in 1988.

[*] That was its name at the time.

The recording included the Latin Sibyl, the Provençal Sibyl, and the Catalan Sibyl.


New editions of the same chants were published in 1996 and 2002. Constant provides further details: the Latin Sibyl corresponds to Barcelona, ​​10th-11th centuries; the Provençal Sibyl to Montpellier, Lectionarium, 12th-13th centuries; and the Catalan Sibyl to La Seu d'Urgell, 15th century. They also report that there are numerous versions of the chant, from which they have selected these three. The first is sober and profound, the second has the aesthetic of the troubadours, and the third, the solemn splendor of popular mystery plays.


In 2010, they were reissued, under a different label, and with the support of the Generalitat of Catalonia and the Ramon Llull Institute. That same year, UNESCO recognized Mallorca, and Alghero's Song of the Sibyl as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.


The CD booklet reproduces the music written on a tetragram (four lines) and corresponds to square Gregorian notation:




The heading reads:

“Judici i signum in nona lectione matutinarum natalis domini sequenti modo in sede Urgellensi a pucro cantatur”.

More or less it means:

 “The sign of the Judge is sung by a priest, in the ninth reading of Matins on the Lord's birthday in the manner of the Seu of Urgell.”


In 2013, they would make a new edition with the same versions of the Song of the Sibyl.



CD cover, recorded and edited in 1996


In 1996, they recorded the Galician version, from the 12th century, of the Cantigas de Santa María by Alfonso X the Wise, and the Castilian version, from the Monastery of Silos, Cantoral of Cuenca, 16th century.

The CD booklet includes a summary of the origin of the Sibylline text, its incorporation into Christianity, and its evolution into chant, written by Maricarmen Gómez.

CD cover, released in 1999, recorded in 1998



In 1999, they recorded the Cant de la Sibila de Mallorca (from the Monastery of the Conception) and the one from Valencia (from the cathedral).


Album cover. Recordings made between 1999 and 2006, released in 2006.

This disc contains the Valencian Sibyl from the Cathedral of Valencia from the 15th or 16th centuries. 
The album is titled Metamorphoses Fidei and is divided into two parts. 
  • "Old Christians: Mythology and Mysticism", this part includes the Song of the Sibyl and other works by Josquin des Prez, Cristóbal de Morales and Luys de Narvaez.
  • "New Christians: Mestizaje and Fervor" With works by Mateo Flecha, Joan Cabanilles (version J. C. Kerll), Juan Gutiérrez de Padilla, Juan García de Zéspedes, in addition to an anonymous piece from Andalusia and "El Cant dels Aucells" (The Song of the Birds), a traditional Catalan piece, in the version by Jordi Savall.



In 2010, the "Cant de la Sibil·la" of Majorca and the "Senyal del Judici" of Alghero were recognized as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity

UNESCO recognized that in Mallorca there is a great vitality associated with the Song of the Sibyl, that its transmission had not only been maintained but that it was a reason for the creation of new types of artistic and creative expression.

And to close this post: The sword of the Sibyl and the "neules".

The following information, which comes from the Notary M. Simó, from the year 1593, is collected in "Notes for the History of Music in Mallorca" by Ramon Rosselló and Joan Parets

“The Sibyl, according to custom, and that on the thread that will come out from the place where said Sibyl will sing, pieces of nougat, sugar wafers (neules) and apples be placed”

That is, the sibyl, after finishing her song, would cut the thread from which the sweets hung with her sword. The attendees would then gather them with their hands.

But one had to know how to position oneself correctly to obtain these sweets. So much so that there is an expression in the Alcover dictionary that explains that in Mallorca there is an expression: "Afinar es fil de ses neules," which means to pinpoint the exact detail upon which the solution to a problem depends.

They explain another tradition to us. The person who sang the Sibyl song was rewarded with a coca (made with basic ingredients and no filling).

There's a quatrain by Gaspar Alemany that says:

Sibil·la alerta a sa coca,
Que no te caic de les mans
perquè hi ha dos escolans 
que baden un pam de boca

Which can be roughly translated as:

Sibyl, watch your cake 
don't let them slip through your fingers
because there are two altar boys
whose mouths are already wide open



Data Expansion



Source of the following biographies: Royal Academy of History
Automatic translation of the Spanish text

Felip Pedrell Sabaté.

Felip Pedrell
before 1902
Photo: Pau Audouard Deglaire (1856 - 1918)
Public domain




(Tortosa, Tarragona February 19, 1841 - Barcelona, August 20, 1922). 
Member of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando
Composer
Musicologist
Music critic
Automatic translation of the text published by the Royal Academy of History

Born in the city of Tortosa in the province of Tarragona, Felipe Pedrell is one of the essential composers of 19th-century Spain. His outstanding work as a composer was complemented by his contributions as a musicologist and pedagogue.

His influence was felt by such important composers as Granados, Albéniz, and Falla, which is why he is considered one of the fathers of musical nationalism.

He received his initial musical training at the choir school of Tortosa Cathedral, where he entered as a second treble under the direction of Joan Antoni Nin i Serra. His instruction focused on the study of solfège, piano, harmony, counterpoint, instrumentation, and composition. In 1856, he composed his first work, a Stabat Mater, which premiered for the Good Friday procession that same year. He later broadened his musical repertoire by studying the violin and trombone, instruments he also played in the Tortosa band-orchestra.

In 1859 he traveled to Barcelona for the first time, where he was able to attend performances of the operas Lucia di Lammermoor and I Puritani at the Liceu Theatre and the Principal Theatre. The following years were devoted to composing short salon pieces for piano, liturgical music, and operatic fantasies. In September 1873, he settled permanently in Barcelona, ​​where he found work as second director of an operetta company during 1873 and 1874, an activity he combined with musicological and pedagogical research. A year later, he premiered his first opera, L'ultimo Abenzeraggio (composed in 1868), at the Liceu in Barcelona, ​​where it was favorably received. The following year he premiered his second opera, Quasimodo, which earned him a grant from the Provincial Councils of Tarragona and Girona to further his studies abroad. Thus, in April 1876, he traveled to France and Italy, the latter being the country where he composed the songs Pantoum and Clair de lune, belonging to the cycle Orientales, with text by Victor Hugo. He returned to Spain on June 28 of that year, and after the summer (during which he wrote the cycle of twelve lieder Consolations), he returned to Italy, deepening his study of the Humanities in general, as well as the History and Aesthetics of Music in Rome. The second phase of his study trip began in July 1877 and lasted until October of the following year. This time, he took up residence in Paris, dedicating himself to study and composition. From his time in Paris emerged the symphonic poem *La veu de les muntanyes* (later titled *Lo cant de les muntanyes*), the *Cançó llatina*, the *Marche du couronnement*, and the version for voice and piano of the lyric poem *Mazeppa*.

He returned to Spain in early October 1878, settling in the studio of the painter Jaime Morera in Lleida, where he composed the String Quartet and the opera *Cléopatre*, as well as lieder and piano works.

He moved back to Paris on October 11, 1879, and remained there until the end of February 1880.

The most important works composed in 1880 were La primavera (Spring), the two symphonic poems Excelsior and I trionfi, and the dramatic symphony Lenore. In 1882, he settled once again in Barcelona, ​​where he began publishing Salterio Sacro-Hispano (Hispanic Sacred Psalter) and the weekly journal Notas Musicales y Literarias (Musical and Literary Notes). He also briefly served as choirmaster at the Collegiate Church of Santa Anna in Barcelona during this period.

From 1884 to 1887, Pedrell experienced a crisis, but despite this, he was able to complete significant works in his essay writing and musical repertoire, such as the two lieder Avui farà un any (Today Is One Year Old) and Mai més, Mignon (May I Never Again, My Love), the “Funeral March” for the tragedy Otger, and two comic operas, Eda and Little Carmen. Also belonging to this period are the preliminary works for the essay on ancient and modern Spanish musicians, which he would publish two years later, and his collaboration on the biographies of Spanish musicians for the renowned work Musical Celebrities (1886). However, from 1888 onward, Pedrell's artistic identity began to solidify, as evidenced by the publication of the first issue of the magazine La Ilustración Musical Hispano-Americana, a bi-weekly publication edited by the composer that would continue for nine years. In addition, his works Bibliographical Essay, Technical Dictionary of Music, and Biographical-Bibliographical Dictionary were published as supplements to the magazine, although the first and third were never completed.

On October 6, 1889, the definitive version of his first opera, L'ultimo Abenzeraggio, premiered successfully at the Teatre Líric in Barcelona. From that same period date the comic opera Mara, the zarzuela Los secuestradores and the two song cycles entitled Aires andaluces and Aires de la tierra by the singer Silverio.


He subsequently embarked on the composition of the trilogy Els Pirineus, while simultaneously jotting down a series of reflections that, in the opinion of Francesc Bonastre, formed “a body of doctrine that was both a methodological exposition and the true manifesto of Spanish musical nationalism” (from these reflections would emerge his work Por nuestra música, published on September 1, 1891). Public recognition soon followed: in 1892, he was awarded first prize for composition by the Societat Catalana de Concerts of Barcelona for the symphonic poem Lo cant de la muntanya, written fourteen years earlier, and whose complete version premiered on October 19, 1892, at the Teatre Líric.

His activity as a lecturer during this period was incessant and contributed decisively to a better understanding of our historical music: part of the appeal of his lectures lay in the musical illustrations provided by various performers.

Somewhat frustrated by the refusal of the Liceu Theatre to perform Els Pirineus, but encouraged by the prize he won in the competition at the Royal Theatre of Madrid in 1891, he decided to move to the capital of Spain, where a series of successes would follow: for example, in 1895 he was appointed full member of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando as well as professor of Vocal Ensemble at the Royal Conservatory of Madrid; Five years later, he held the chair of Music History at the Conservatory, a position he also held at the School of Higher Studies, a new institution founded in 1896. His teaching career led to a greater dedication to musical research, as evidenced by the publications of the anthology Hispaniae Schola Musica Sacra (1894-1896), Teatro lírico español ante al siglo XIX (1897-1898), the Diccionario biográfico y bibliográfico (1897), the Emporio científica e histórico de organografía musical antigua española (1901), Prácticas preparaciones de instrumentación (1902), and numerous research articles from this period of his life.

Furthermore, he founded and directed the journal La Música Religiosa en España for three years (1897-1899).

From 1902 onwards, he undertook the complete works of Tomás Luis de Victoria, commissioned by the prestigious German publishing house Breitkopf und Härtel of Leipzig. His compositional output was less pronounced, as only the opera La Celestina (1902) came from his pen. Despite hopes for the possible premiere of Els Pirineus at the Teatro Real, this opera was never performed in Madrid, although the Prologue to the trilogy was performed at the Liceu Benedetto Marcello in Venice. The world premiere of this work finally took place on January 4, 1902, at the Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, ​​where it was well received by the public.

At the end of December 1904, he decided to leave Madrid and settle again in Barcelona, ​​taking with him a new opera, El comte Arnau, written during his last months in Madrid. In the Catalan capital, in addition to writing criticism for La Vanguardia (since 1902), he began to collaborate with the Revista Musical Catalana, the publication of the Orfeó Catalán, for which he prepared the series “Músichs vells de la terra”; he also composed the scenic cantata La Matinada, the poem Visió de Randa, the psalm Super flumina Babylonis, the Glossa or jubilee symphony for the inauguration of the Palau de la Música Catalana in 1908, Canciones arabescas, Glosa a lo divino and the Coplas “del alma que pena por ver a Dios”. In the field of musicology, he published the two volumes of the Catalech of the Barcelona Provincial Council's Musical Library, the miscellany Escritos heortásticos, Antología de organistas clásicos españoles, Cancionero musical popular español, P. Antonio Eximeno, and his last work, in collaboration with his student Higinio Anglés, Els Madrigals i la Missa de difunts d’En Brudieu.

Felipe Pedrell died in Barcelona on August 20, 1922.

As for his musical output, his catalog comprises a total of two hundred and thirty-one works of varying styles. It is true that a decrease in his dedication to composing new works can be observed over the years, due to the increasing importance of musical research in Pedrell's priorities and interests. He cultivated most of the known genres: symphonic, stage, chamber, piano, lieder, religious, choral works, etc. According to Professor Bonastre, a specialist in Pedrell's work, Pedrell's musical production can be divided into three periods: learning (1856-1876), consolidation (1876-1891) and maturity (1891-1908).

In the first stage (1856-1876), piano works predominate over the rest of his compositions (symphonic, liturgical, stage, voice and piano, operatic arrangements and fantasies, etc., all of which are the fruit of his apprenticeship).

A greater stylistic mastery is particularly evident in his piano works. Bonastre highlights the Orientalism of this first phase, which would remain throughout his compositional career: one cannot forget the influence of the folk songs in Tortosa, which have preserved the essence of Arabic sound, on his musical development; however, the growing influence of Wagner's music, so perceptible in other Spanish composers of the time, was not as crucial in this initial stage of Pedrell's career.

The second period (1876-1891) encompasses forty-eight original compositions, divided among twelve lieder works, eleven symphonies, ten stage works, five chamber pieces, five for voices and instrumental ensemble, three for piano, eight liturgical compositions, and one choral work. The most striking feature is the disappearance of the piano from a compositional standpoint, as well as the prominence of religious, lieder, symphonic, and operatic pieces. This confirms a notable shift in the composer's interests, a shift undoubtedly influenced by his travels to Italy and France between 1877 and 1878, which not only allowed him to gain a deeper understanding of the prevailing musical styles in Europe but also solidified his musicological vocation. Bonastre highlights the distinctive elements of this second period as “the tendency toward thematic work in his lieder cycles, the consolidation of his symphonic writing, and the subtlety of his chamber music; Wagnerism, moreover, makes a frequent appearance, as does the cultivation of popular song, sometimes filtered through irony and imagined folklore.”

The most outstanding works of this second phase of consolidation are: Sixteen Lieder (1879), Lais (1879), La primavera and Aires de la tierra del cantaor Silverio (1889), the symphonic poems La veu de les muntanyes (1877), Excelsior (1880), and I trionfi (1880), chamber works such as the String Quartet (1878), La festa de Tibulus (1879), Himne a Venus and Jesús als pecadors (1880), and the operas Cléopatre (1878) and Els Pirineus (1891).

The third and final stage (1891–1908) comprises only thirteen works: three of them are reductions for piano or voice and piano of other compositions, four works for chorus and orchestra, two operas, two for voice and piano, one symphonic work, one choral work, and one adaptation of earlier works. The less intense focus on composition, in contrast to his greater dedication to musicological research, has already been mentioned.

As the most defining features of this later phase, according to Francesc Bonastre, one can observe “a greater degree of abstraction and stylization in his nationalist work, especially in the operas La Celestina (1902) and El comte Arnau (1904), as well as a growing weariness due to work, disappointments, age, and the misfortunes of his family life, tragically cut short after the death of his daughter Carmen in 1912.” The two operas mentioned above, along with the symphonic-choral poems La matinada (1905), Visió de Randa (1905), and Glossa o Sinfonia jubilar (1906), and the song cycle Canciones arabescas (1906), constitute Pedrell's most significant creative output from his final period.

Pedrell's musicological output, for its part, comprises eighty-two titles. A self-taught man with few resources at his disposal, the level of the Catalan author's research is surprising. In his opinion, musicology is a scientific discipline that must move away from the mere narration or exposition of facts, a tendency that prevailed during the second half of the 19th century. While his early works focused more on essays, biographies, and pedagogy, his time in Rome was decisive in consolidating his musicological vocation, resulting in the publication in 1882 of *El Salterio Sacro Hispano* and *Notas Musicales y Literarias*, both short-lived. The *Ilustración Musical Hispano-Americana* had a greater reach and impact years later. The journal was accompanied by a series of musical supplements: two incomplete ones (Los músicos españoles antiguos y modernos en sus libros o escritos sobre música in 1888 and the Diccionario biográfico y bibliográfico de músicos y escritores de música españoles in 1897) and one that he did manage to complete, the Diccionario técnico de la música (1892-1895). Between 1894 and 1896, the eight volumes of the Hispaniae Schola Musica Sacra collection were published, through which Pedrell brought to light the most important milestones of the Golden Age of Spanish polyphony, including not only the transcription of musical works but also an in-depth historical-musical study. This work contributed to the remarkable prestige that Pedrell achieved throughout Europe.

Pedrell's next major musicological undertaking was the publication, between 1897 and 1898, of the five volumes of Teatro lírico español ante al siglo XIX. Alongside the Hispaniae Schola Musica Sacra, Tomás Luis de Victoria's Opera omnia, beginning in 1902, brought Pedrell his greatest scholarly recognition, demonstrating his mastery of paleographic techniques as well as his profound historical and musical knowledge of 16th-century Spain. Between 1904 and 1910, Pedrell wrote the series “Músichs vells de la terra” for the Revista Musical Catalana, a collection of monographs on Catalan composers of the 16th and 18th centuries. During the early years of the 20th century, Pedrell's work became increasingly frequent in international journals such as the Sammelbände der Internationalen Musik-Gesellschaft in Leipzig. He contributed to the fifth edition of H. Riemann's Musik-Lexikon (1903) and to the Riemann-Festchrift (1909), and collaborated with Catalan journals such as the Anuari de l’Institut d’Estudis Catalans and Estudis Universitaris Catalans. Following the lead of Pius X's Motu Proprio (1903), he published The Spanish Liturgical Organist (1905) and the two volumes of the Anthology of Classical Spanish Organists (1908). In the field of cataloging musical sources, he published the Catalech of the Musical Library of the Diputació de Barcelona in 1909. On the other hand, the theme of musical nationalism in relation to popular song aroused the interest of Pedrell, resulting in the publication in 1906 of “La cançó popular catalana, la lírica nacionalisada i l’obra de l’Orfeó Catala” and Lírica nacionalizada, estudios sobre el folklore musical, published in Paris in 1909. From his last years date his works Tomás Luis de Victoria abulense (1918), the four volumes of the Cancionero musical popular español (1917-1922), the essay P. Antonio Eximeno (1920) and Els Madrigals i La Missa de Difunts d’En Brudieu (1921).

(according to Francesc Bonastre's compilation). Operas: The Last Abencerraje, 1868

Quasimodo, 1875

Le Roi Léar, 1877

Cleopatre, 1878

Little Carmen, 1888

The Pyrenees, 1891

La Celestina, 1902

Count Arnau, 1904



Operettas and comic operas: Les aventures de Cocardy, 1873

Eda, 1887

Mary, 1889



Zarzuelas (all lost): Ells i elles, 1873

The Groga Ghost, 1873

The guardiola, 1873

The truth and the lie, 1873

Lluch-Llach, 1873

I calmed him down, 1873

The kidnappers, 1889



Orchestra: Havana Dance-Mazurca-Schotisch-Waltz-Waltz, 1856

Scherzo fantastique, 1872

Symphony in D minor, 1872

Elegy to Romea, 1875

Funeral meditation, 1875

Mila, 1876

La veu de les muntanyes or Lo cant de les muntanyes, 1877

Hymne-Marche, 1878

Marche du couronnement, 1878

Gavotte in C major, 1879

Excelsior, 1880 (Madrid, Complutense Institute of Musical Sciences, 1992)

Gavotte in A minor, 1880

I triumph, 1880

“Sardana” for the drama Gerona by B. Pérez Galdós, 1893

Voice and orchestra: Contradanza coreada-vals coreado-polka coreada, 1859

Cançó llatina, 1878

Hymn for the Floral Games of Madrid, 1878

Il Tasso a Ferrara, 1878

Mazeppa, 1878

Serenata coreada, 1878

Lénore, 1880

La matinada, 1905

Visió de Randa, 1905

Glossa, 1906

Band: Marcha fúnebre, 1859

Pasodoble, 1860

Ofertorio, 1867

Dertusa, 1880

Los tres amores, 1880

Otger, 1885

Voice and instrumental ensemble: Gaillarde, 1879

La festa de Tibulus, 1879

Himne a Venus, 1880

Voice and piano: Julia, 1857

Despedida, 1858

Horas de recreo, 1861

Amores en el desierto, 1862 (Noches de España, 1871)

La ermita, 1862

La serenata, 1862

Un pensiero, 1862

Cuando me miro en tus ojos, 1863

Eres niña, 1863

La pescadorcita, 1863

Siete melodías, 1863

Despedida, 1864

Ecos de Italia, 1864

Melodies, 1864

Six Songs, 1864

The Nightingale, 1865

Songs of Childhood, 1866

Two Melodies, 1866

Intoxication, 1867

Response to Teresa's Song, 1867

Spanish Nights, 1871 (Andrés Vidal Roger)

Three Songs, 1871

Ballad, 1875

Tears, 1875 (Andrés Vidal Roger)

Consolations, 1876

Orientale, 1876

Orientales, 1876 (Réverie, Milan, Lucca, 1876)

Sixteen Songs, 1879 (Ildefonso Alier)

Lais, 14 Songs, 1879

Ballad, 1880 (Ildefonso Alier)

Five lieder, 1880

Children's scenes, 1880

Preghiera dell'orfanello, 1880

Six lieder, 1880

Sirventés, 1880

Avuy farà un any, 1884 (Musical encyclopedia, Rius i Julia)

May més, 1884 (Musical encyclopedia, Rius i Julia)

Mignon, 1884 (Vidal Llimona, 1905)

Andalusian Aires or Couplets of Smugglers, 1889 (Ildefonso Alier)

Aires de la tierra by singer Silverio, 1889 (Ildefonso Alier)

Arabesque songs, 1906 (Andrés Vidal Roger)



Chamber music: Collection of pieces Dance, 1861

Twelve Compositions, 1872

Two Nocturnes-Trio, 1872

Evening Song, Morning Song, 1875

Elegy to Fortuny, 1875

String Quartet, 1878

Piano: Galop, 1858

Waltz, 1860

Pianist's Album, 1861

The Round Song, 1862

The Fisherman's Song, 1862

The Troubadour's Song, 1862

Grand Waltz, Original Romance, 1862

Characteristic Melodies, 1862

Nocturne, 1862

A Thought, Varied Melody, 1862

Concerto, 1863

Four Mazurkas, 1863

Habanera Dance, 1863

Two Grand Waltzes, 1863

Varied Melody on a Theme from the Opera Rigoletto, 1863

Six Waltzes, 1863

Impromptu, 1864 (Andrés Vidal Roger)

Jeannies, 1864

Krakoviana, 1864

Six Compositions, 1864

Six Mazurkas, 1864

Sonata, 1864

Three Transcriptions on Themes from the Operas Il Profeta, Rigoletto, and Il Trovatore, 1864

Eight Mazurkas, 1865

Recuerdos del País (Memories of the Country), 1865

Varied Theme and Allegro Scherzando on Themes from Faust, 1865

Three Mazurkas, 1865

Dolora, 1866 (Ildefonso Alier)

Estela, 1866

Melodic Studies (1st Series), 1866

Lian-lian, 1866

Individual Pieces, 1866

Rigodons on “Miréio”, 1866

Scenes, 1866

Scherzo-Waltz, 1866 (Andrés Vidal Roger)

The Art of Time Signatures, 1867

Fantasies on Opera Themes, 1867

Nocturne, 1869

Fantasy on Themes from E’ultimo Abenzeraggio, 1870

Elegy, 1871

Two Nocturnes, 1872 (Andrés Vidal Roger)

Two Easy Waltzes (Lullaby, Enrique), 1872 (Vidal Llimona)

Children's scenes, 1880 (Casa Dotesio)

Three sets of waltzes, 1881 (Ildefonso Alier)

Rhapsodies on opera motifs, 1885

The song of the muntanya, 1893 (Casa Dotesio)



Religious music in Latin: Stabat Mater, 1856

Missa, 1857

Missa, 1858

Stabat Mater, 1858

Hail Regina, 1860

Missa, 1861

Missa, 1861

2 Benedictus, 1862

Benedictus, 1862

Dixit Dominus, 1862

Magnificat, 1862

Miserere, 1862

Benedictus, 1863

Cibavit eos, 1863

Ave Maria, 1864

Missa, 1864

Missa, 1865

Dixit Dominus, 1866

This confessor, 1866

Kyrie, 1866

Laudate Dominum, 1866

Magnificat, 1866

Or sacrum convivium, 1866

Stabat Mater, 1866

Tantum ergo, 1866

Tantum ergo and Genitori, 1866

Te Deum, 1866

Vexilla Regis, 1866

Christus natus, 1867

Hodie Christus, 1867

requiem mass, 1868

Aleph. Ego vir videns, 1869

Aleph. Quomodo sedet, 1869

Christus factus est, 1869 (The Lira of the Sanctuary, 1876; Hispanic Sacred Psalter, 1882)

Lamed. Matribus suis dixerunt, 1869

Mass, 1869

Mass, 1869

Senza speme, Ave Maria, 1870

Filiae Jerusalem, 1875 (Hispanic Sacred Psalter)

Short Mass, 1875

Salve Regina, 1875 (Hispanic Sacred Psalter)

Bone Pastor, 1876 (Hispanic Sacred Psalter)

Requiem Missa, 1876 (Hispanic Sacred Psalter)

Solemn Mass of Glory, 1876 (Milan, Lucca)

Te Deum, 1876

Alma Redemptoris Mater, 1882 (Hispanic Sacred Psalter)

Ave Maria and Regina caeli laetare, 1882 (Hispanic Sacred Psalter)

Ave Maria and Santa Maria, 1882 (Hispanic Sacred Psalter)

Ave Regina caelorum, 1882 (Hispanic Sacred Psalter)

O Gloriosa Virginum, 1882 (Hispanic Sacred Psalter)

O salutaris Hostia, 1882 (Hispanic Sacred Psalter)

Tantum ergo and Genitori, 1882 (Hispanic Sacred Psalter)

Super flumina Babylonis, 1906 (Hispanic Sacred Psalter)



Religious music in Spanish: Letrilla, 1861

Rosary, 1861

Three Hail Marys, 1861

Aria to the Blessed Sacrament, 1862

Farewell and Joys to the Blessed Sacrament, 1862

Joys to Santa Monica, 1864

Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Patri, 1864

Alleluia, 1865

Three Hymns to Various Saints, 1865

Three Our Fathers and Hail Marys, 1865

Hymns and Joys to Blessed John Berchmans, 1866

Hymn to the Blessed Sacrament, 1866

Hymns to the Infant Jesus, 1867

Hymn to St. Thomas, 1867

Hymn to the Virgin, 1872

Sorrowful Song, Sorrows and Salve Dolorosa, 1875

Hymn to St. Teresa, 1875 (Faustino Bernareggi)

Hymn and Song to the Virgin, 1875

Prayer to the Virgin, 1875 (Faustino Bernareggi)

To St. Teresa of Jesus, 1876 (Faustino Bernareggi)

Jesus to Sinners, 1880

Live God, 1880

Gloss on the Divine and Couplets of the Soul that Sorrows to See God, 1908

Other Works: Hymn, 1860

Chorus of Slaves for the opera Cleopatre, 1880

Scenario for the oratorio La Samaritaine, 1880

Don Ramon and Don Joan, 1902

Writings: “Notes and Observations on Musical Aesthetics,” in La España Musical (1866)

“Opera,” in La España Musical (1866)

“D. Juan Antonio Nin (Obituary),” in El País, Tortosa, August 29, 1867

“The Music of the Future,” in La España Musical (1868)

“Musical Magazines” [collection of humorous articles (pseudonym Aben-Ciram)], in La España Musical (1869)

“Letters to a Friend on the Music of Wagner,” in La España Musical, 295, 300, 302, 303, 306, and 309 (1872)

Musical Grammar or Expository Manual of the Theory of Solfège, in the form of a dialogue, Barcelona, ​​L. Domenech, 1872

The Pianist's Poems. I. Beethoven's Sonatas, Barcelona, ​​VR, 1873

“Artistic-Humorous-Musical Travels through Italy, by a certain Dr. Sambuca,” in Gaceta de Catalana (1877)

“Music and Musicians,” manuscript, 1879 (unpublished)

The Opera Lohengrin in Madrid: Four Words Before Its Performance, Madrid, Editorial José María Ducazcal, 1881

Hispanic Sacred Psalter, Barcelona, ​​1882

Musical and Literary Notes, bi-weekly magazine, July 2, 1882–June 15, 1883

Musical Grammar, Barcelona, ​​Tipografía Hispano Americana, 1883

“Musicians in Shirtcoats,” in La España Musical (1885)

On the Founding of a Higher School of Music in Barcelona. Open letter to Mr. Víctor Gerhardt, Barcelona, ​​1885

Transcriptions of early religious music, recorded for an unpublished second series of the Hispanic Sacred Psalter, manuscript 1886 (unpublished)

La Ilustración Musical Hispanoamericana, a bi-weekly magazine edited by F. Pedrelli (1888-1896)

Spanish musicians, both ancient and modern, in their books or writings on music, an essay on a Spanish musical bibliography. Vol. 1. General Studies, Barcelona, ​​Torres y Seguí, 1888

For Our Music. Some considerations on the great question of a national lyrical school [...], Barcelona, ​​Imprenta Henrich y Cía., 1891

Diario de Barcelona, ​​43 articles of musical criticism (1891-1892)

Grammar or Expository Manual of the Theory of Solfeggio [...], Barcelona, ​​Andrés Vidal Roger, 1892

“The anonymous musicians”, in Pro Patria (1892); Our music in the 15th century, Ateneu, 1893

Hispaniae Schola Musica Sacra, I. Christophorus Morales, 1894, II. Franciscus Guerrero, 1894, III and IV. Antonius to Cabezon, 1895, V. Johannes Ginesius Perez, 1895, VI. Psalmodia modulata a diversis auctoribus, 1895, VII and VIII. Antonius a Cabezon, Barcelona, ​​Editorial Juan Bautista Pujol, 1896

Technical Dictionary of Music, installments in La Ilustración Musical Hispanoamericana, Barcelona, ​​Víctor Berdós, 1894

Feeling in Spanish, inaugural address to the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando in Madrid (March 10, 1895), Barcelona, ​​Víctor Berdós, 1895

Religious Music in Spain, 48 issues (1896-1899)

“Manuscript Notes to the Bio-Bibliographical Study Intended to Prepare a Complete Edition of the Works of the Illustrious Maestro from Ávila, Tomás Luis de Victoria,” in Religious Music in Spain, no. 12 (1896) to no. 27 (1898)

Spanish Lyric Theater Before the 19th Century, A Coruña, C. Berea y Cía., 1897-1898, 5 vols.

Biographical and Bibliographical Dictionary of Spanish, Portuguese, and Latin American Musicians and Music Writers, both Ancient and Modern, Barcelona, ​​Víctor Berdós, 1897

Transcriptions of Historical Spanish Music for the Velázquez Centenary, Royal Academy of San Fernando (July 8, 1899) and for the Royal Palace, Madrid, 1899

“Castilian Musical Folklore of the 16th Century,” in Sammelbände der Internationalen Musikgesellschaft (Leipzig, Breitkopf & Härtel), Vol. IV–VI (1900), pp. 372-400

Scientific and Historical Emporium of Early Spanish Musical Organography, Barcelona, ​​Gili, 1901

“La Festa d’Elche ou le drame lyrique La Mort et l’Assomption de la Vierge,” in Sammelbände der Internationalen Musikgesellschaft (Leipzig, Breitkopf & Härtel), II. I-III (1901), pp. 203-252

Musical Fortnights, a series of articles on music criticism, in La Vanguardia, Barcelona (1902-1922)

Preparatory Practices for Instrumentation, Aimed at Properly Preparing and Writing Voices and Instruments, Barcelona, ​​Gili, 1902

Thomae Ludovici Victoria Abulensis. Opera omnia, Leipzig, Breitkopf & Härtel, Vol. 1: Motecta, 1902, Vol. II: Missarum Liber primus, 1903, Vol. III: Cantica BMV vulgo Magnificat, et Canticum Simeonis, 1904, Vol. IV: Missarum Liber secunndus, 1905, Vol. Officium Hebdomadae Sanctae, 1908, Vol. VI: Missarum Liber tertius, 1909, Vol. VII: Psalmi, Antiphonae Marianae. Asperges et vidi aquam, etc., 1911, Vol. VIII: Documenta biographica et bibliographica. Appendices. Cantiones sacrae ex collectionibus non impressis et al. Index, 1913

“Data on ancient and modern Spanish musicians”, in Riemann-Lexikon, 1903

“Indigénis me musical espagnol du théâtre du XVIIe siècle”, in Sammelbände der Internationalen Musikgesellschaft (Leipzig, Breitkopf & Härtel), III (1903)

“Músichs vells de la terra”, in Catalan Musical Magazine (1904-1910)

“Speech at the First Catalan Music Festival,” in Revista Musical Catalana, 161 (1904)

Hispanic Sacred Psalter, 3rd Series, transcriptions of early music (Verses from psalms and interludes from hymns, by Friar Juan Bermudo

Spiritual Villancico, by Francisco Guerrero

Ave Maris Stella, by Tomás Luis de Victoria

Sancta Maria, by Francisco de Peñalosa

Nisi Dominus and Laudate Dominum, by Juan Navarro

Salve Regina, by Rivafrecha), Ildefonso Alier (1905)

“Speech at the Second Catalan Music Festival,” in Revista Musical Catalana, 113 (1905)

E. Granados, Scarlatti's Sonatinas, prologue. from ~ Madrid, Ildefonso Alier, 1905

The Spanish liturgical organist, anthology preceded by some “Notices and practices for the use and employment of the liturgical organ”, Madrid, Ildefonso Alier, 1905

“The popular Catalan cancó, the nationalized lyric and the work of I’Orfeó Catala”, illustrations and brief notes from the concert in honor of those attending the International Congress of the Catalan Language, directed by Lluis Millet (October 16, 1906), Barcelona, ​​Neotipia, 1906

Music shops, musical criticism articles, Valencia, Sempere y Cía., 1906

“La Festa d’Elche ou le drame lyrique espagnol Le Trépas et l’Assomption de la Vierge”, in Bureau de la Schola Cantorum, Paris, 1906

"Two cinchcentistes catalan musicians (Vila, Brudieu), cantors d’Ausias March”, in Anuari de l’Institut d’Estudis Catalans (1907), pp. 408-413

“Of nationalized music”, in XXV Lectures donated to the Wagnerian Association (1902-1906), 1908, pp. 1-15

Anthology of classical Spanish organists (16th-18th centuries), Madrid, Ildefonso Alier, 1908, 2 vols.

Catalech of the Musical Library of the Provincial Council of Barcelona, ​​Vilanova, Oliva Imprenta, 1909, 2 vols.

“Francesc Alió, intimitats”, lecture read at the obituary session, Ateneu de Barcelona, ​​1-1909

“Joan I d’Aragó, composer”, in Estudis Universitaris Catalans, III (1909), pp. 21-30

“L’Eglogue La Forét sans amour de Lope de Vega, et la musique et les musiciens du théâtre de Calderon”, in Sammelbände der Internationalen Musikgesellschaft, Leipzig, Breitkopf & Härtel, X-XII (1909), pp. 55-104

“Comments on an unpublished letter from Victoria”, in Musical Magazine, 1 (1909), pp. 84-88

“Sardana” for the drama Gerona by B. Pérez Galdós, 1893. Voice and orchestra: Contradanza coreada-vals coreado-polka coreada, 1859

“Musical and Ethnic History of Popular Song,” in Estudis Universitaris Catalans, III (1909), pp. 233-239, 319-325, and 523-530

Nationalized Lyrics, Studies on Musical Folklore, Paris, P. Ollendorf, 1909

Contemporary Musicians and Musicians of Other Times, Paris, P. Ollendorf, 1910

“Jacopone da Todi, the Stabat Mater, and Music,” in Revista de Estudios Franciscanos, IV-V (1910), pp. 129-147

“The Pyrenees,” a dramatic trilogy in Castilian verse and rhythm for performance at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Editorial La Victoria, 1910

Journeys of Art, autobiography [1841-1891], Paris, P. Ollendorf, 1911

Orientations (1892-1902), autobiography, Paris, P. Ollendorf, 1911

“The Gregorian School of Solesmes in Spain,” in Revue Grégorienne, II (1912), pp. 4-10

Pianistic Forms: Origins and Transformations of Musical Forms, Valencia, Manuel Villar, 1918, 2 vols.

Spanish Popular Songbook, Barcelona, ​​E. Castells Valls, 1917-1922, 4 vols.

Tomás Luis de Victoria, from Ávila [...] Biography, bibliography, and aesthetic significance of all his works of religious polyphonic art, Valencia, Manuel Villar, 1918

Fr. Antonio Eximeno. Glossary of the great upheaval of ideas brought about by the illustrious Valencian Jesuit for the improvement of the technique and aesthetics of musical art, Madrid, Unión Musical Española, 1920

Els Madrigals i la Missa de difunts d’En Brudieu, Barcelona, ​​Institut d’Estudis Catalans, 1921

Jornadas postreras (1903-1912), autobiography, ed. E. Castells Valls, 1922


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Manuel Milà i Fontanals 

Manuel Milà i Fontanals
Author unknown
Barcelona Photo Archive
Public domain




Vilafranca del Penedès (Barcelona) May 4, 1818 - July 16, 1884 
Literary critic
Scholar
Writer
Philologist
Historian

In 1826, at the age of eight, he moved to Barcelona, ​​where he completed his secondary and higher education, with the exception of part of the 1834-1835 academic year, which he earned at the University of Cervera. In 1841, he graduated with a law degree from the University of Barcelona, ​​and in 1846, he obtained his bachelor's and doctoral degrees in Philosophy and Letters from the same university. From 1836 onwards, he participated as a militant critic and poet in the defense and promotion of a radically liberal Romanticism, through publications such as El Vapor, El Propagador de la Libertad, and the Sociedad Filodramática. Around 1840, after an ideological, political, and religious crisis that inclined him towards militant Catholicism and purist and historicist idealism, he moved to other publications of a more conservative nature (La Verdad, El Imparcial, La Discusión, and, from 1854, Diario de Barcelona, ​​where he published notable critical articles and works popularizing literary history). In 1844, he joined the faculty of the Barcelona Institute as a professor of History and Literature, and in 1847 he won the chair of General and Spanish Literature at the University. From there, as well as from the Academy of Belles Lettres, the Floral Games of Barcelona, ​​and other institutions, he developed studies of aesthetics as the philosophical foundation of poetics or literary theory, and laid the groundwork for a fruitful historical school of literary studies, continued by Antoni Rubió i Lluch and his disciples, dedicated primarily to medieval Castilian, Catalan, and Provençal literature, as well as popular literature. For these studies, he advocated dispassionate research, subject to methodological rigor based on a solid understanding of the subject matter. On the other hand, Milá considered himself implicitly already part of a school of historical studies that, after the Premonstratensians Caresmar, Pascual and Puig, from the monastery of Bellpuig de les Avellanes, had culminated in Capmany, Masdeu, Villanueva, Flórez, Ripoll, Olzinelles, Próspero de Bofarull and, among the younger ones who have already died, Piferrer. He provided evidence for this, beyond a few articles, such as the one dedicated to Capmany in 1854, in the obituary of Próspero de Bofarull (1860), and in fact justified it with some historical-archaeological studies, such as those dedicated to Olèrdola, or with the one that prefaced the Àlbum pintoresch-monumental de Catalunya (1880), which, moreover, contributed to the conservationist impulse of the Renaixença movement, in which he also participated as a poet and literary historian, and especially with some reflections on the evolution of the literary movement towards Catalanism.

Of particular note among his studies of literary history are those dedicated to popular poetry (Observations on Popular Poetry, 1853), medieval and popular theater (“On Some Ancient and Vulgar Catalan Performances”, 1862), and medieval epic, in which he examines the relationship between the Castilian epic song and the ballad tradition, as well as the question of the origin of Romance epic in general (On Castilian Heroic-Popular Poetry, 1874). On the Troubadours in Spain (1861) is the result of his dedication to the presence and influence of the language and poetry of the troubadours; a dedication that continues in his studies devoted to the survival and abandonment of the troubadour tradition in Catalan poetry (among other titles, Historical and Critical Review of the Ancient Catalan Poets, 1865). Milá, who considered it premature to undertake ambitious syntheses of both Castilian and Catalan literature history, summarized the history of Spanish literature, which included references to Catalan literature, with originality and for school purposes, in Principles of General and Spanish Literature (1874 and 1877).

Works

Some Literary Studies, Barcelona, ​​Joaquín Verdaguer Printing Press, 1838


Compendium of the Art of Poetry, Barcelona, ​​D. J. M. de Grau Printing Press, 1844 (partial edition and preliminary study by P. Aullón de Haro, Aesthetics and Literary Theory, Madrid, Verbum Publishers, 2002)


Manual of Declamation, Barcelona, ​​1848


Manual of Aesthetics, Pons & Co. Printing and Foundry, Barcelona, ​​1848


Manual of Rhetoric and Poetics, Barcelona, ​​Pons & Co. Printing and Foundry, 1848


Manual of Ancient History, Barcelona, ​​Pons & Co. Printing and Foundry, 1849


Manual of Medieval History, Barcelona, ​​Pons & Co. Printing and Foundry, 1849


Observations on Popular Poetry, with Examples of Ballads Unpublished Catalan Works, Barcelona, ​​Narciso Ramírez Press, 1853


Principles of Aesthetics, Barcelona, ​​Barcelona Daily Press, 1857 (facsimile edition and preliminary study by P. Aullón de Haro, Principles of Aesthetics or Theory of Beauty, Madrid, Verbum Publishers, 2013)


On the Troubadours in Spain, Barcelona, ​​Joaquín Verdaguer Bookstore, 1861 (ed. by C. Martínez and F. Rico Manrique, Barcelona, ​​Spanish National Research Council, Menéndez Pelayo Foundation-Miguel de Cervantes Institute, Romance Literature Section, 1966)


“On Some Ancient and Vulgar Catalan Representations,” in Revista de Cataluña, II (1862), pp. 19-31, 69-77, 119-128 and 263-284


“Historical and critical review of the ancient Catalan poets”, in Jochs Florals de Barcelona in 1865, Barcelona, ​​Estampa de Lluís Tasso, 1865, pp. 113-200


Inaugural Address delivered by Dr. Manuel Milá y Fontanals before the University of Barcelona at the solemn opening of the 1865-1866 academic year, Barcelona, ​​Tomás Gorchs Printing and Bookstore, 1865 (published under the title "Inaugural Address on the General Character of Spanish Literature," in *On Castilian Heroic-Popular Poetry*, Barcelona, ​​1874, pp. I-XLV)


Principles of Aesthetic and Literary Theory, Barcelona, ​​Barcelona, ​​Diario de Barcelona Printing Press, 1869 (partial edition by P. Aullón de Haro in op. cit., 2002)


Principles of General and Spanish Literature, Barcelona, ​​Diario de Barcelona Printing Press, 1873-1874


On Castilian Heroic-Popular Poetry, op. cit. (ed. by M. de Riquer and J. Molas, Barcelona, ​​Spanish National Research Council, Menéndez Pelayo Foundation-Miguel de Cervantes Institute, Romance Literatures Section, 1959)


Principles of General and Spanish Literature, Barcelona, ​​Barcelona Press, 1877


Catalan Ballads. Traditional Songs, ed. recast and increased, Barcelona, ​​Librería de D. Álvaro Verdaguer, 1882 (ed. facs. Barcelona, ​​Editorial Alta Fulla, 1999)


Principles of general literature (Aesthetic and literary theory), Barcelona, ​​Imprenta Barcelonesa, 1884


Select ballads by the Cid with a prologue by D. Manuel Milá y Fontanals, Barcelona, ​​Biblioteca Arte y Letras, 1884


Complete works, Barcelona, ​​1888-1896, 8 vols.


Catalan works by Manuel Milà and Fontanals, Barcelona, ​​Gustau Gili, 1908


Epistolari d'En M. Milà i Fontanals. Correspondence collected and annotated by L. Nicolau D'olwer, Barcelona, ​​Institut d'Estudis Catalans, 1922, 1932 and 1995, 3 vols. [YO. Anys 1840-1874


II. Anys 1875-1880


III. Anys 1881-1884].


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Higini Anglés Pamiés


Cover of a publication dedicated to the life and work of Higini Anglès

Maspujols (Tarragona) January 1, 1888 - Rome (Italy) December 8, 1969
Priest
Musicologist


He was born into a modest, Christian family dedicated to agriculture. His early years were spent in the rural environment of a small village in the Camp de Tarragona region, located southeast of Montsant. Its inhabitants, around five hundred at that time, were primarily engaged in the cultivation of olives, almonds, and grapes. Later in life, he would acknowledge that his travels through the villages of inland Catalonia during his childhood and youth decisively influenced the formation of his ideas about early Spanish music, undeniably influenced, according to him, by folk traditions (The Music of the Cantigas, vol. II, p. 5).


In 1899, at the age of eleven, Higinio Anglés's parents took their son to the Seminary of Tarragona to study for the priesthood as a boarding student, as was customary at the time. The Tarragona seminary had lost its university status in 1717, as had all the Catalan conciliar seminaries, which were absorbed by the University of Cervera, founded by King Philip V.


The Tarragona seminary, however, continued to teach the same subjects under the title of Literary Studies, without the authority to grant degrees. In 1886, the old residence that housed the seminarians was replaced by a modern, larger, and more functional building on San Pablo Street. The renovation that the move from one building to the other represented encouraged the idea of ​​regaining its university status.


By Decree of July 2, 1897, Pope Leo XIII granted the Tarragona Seminary the authority to award the corresponding degrees. Higinio Anglés entered the seminary just as its leaders had realized a long-held dream and were striving to raise the academic standards and enhance the prestige of the students' formation for the priesthood. Thus, after six years of humanities studies, three of philosophy, and four of theology, seminarian Higinio Anglés was ordained a priest in 1912. While pursuing his ecclesiastical studies, he was able to dedicate time to his musical training. By time immemorial tradition, the study of music was not only compatible with the priesthood but also complementary and, to a certain extent, necessary, given its essential role in daily and solemn liturgy. Those who showed an interest in and possessed sufficient talent for music received every possible support from the institution and its leaders to further their musical studies. Seminarian Higinio Anglés took advantage of this opportunity to pursue music as a second profession.


Barely had he received holy orders when the new priest obtained permission to move to Barcelona and complete his musical training there, combining it with his priestly duties. In Barcelona, ​​he founded the Schola Cantorum of the parish of Santa Madrona (1916). There, he greatly benefited from the teachings of distinguished masters. With the organist Vicente María de Gibert Serra (1879-1939), he perfected his studies in harmony, counterpoint, fugue, and organ. From José Barberá Humbert (1877-1947), he received instruction in music theory and learned a method for approaching folk music technically. The Benedictine monk of Montserrat, Gregorio Suñol (1879-1946), would be his teacher in paleography and Gregorian chant. Finally, the person who would exert the greatest influence on his definitive dedication to musicology would be the composer, essayist, and editor of early music, Felipe Pedrell (1841-1922). In 1917, Anglés joined the Library of Catalonia as head of the Music Department. This department was created as a result of Pedrell's donation of his books and manuscripts.


Anglés recounts (La música de las Cantigas, III: XV) that, as a condition of bequeathing his legacy to the Library of Catalonia, the renowned musician stipulated the creation of a music section within the library, to be headed by the young priest. Higinio Anglés's first task in this department was to catalog Pedrell's musical legacy, which, along with the edition of Brudieu's madrigals, would become his first published work (Barcelona 1921).


The Library of Catalonia awarded him a scholarship to study Musicology in Germany (1923-1924) at the University of Freiburg im Breisgau, where he established a close relationship with Willibald Gurlitt (1889-1963), a young and active musicologist, a pioneer in the research and performance of early music on original instruments, and editor of Praetorius's work. This first stay in Germany was decisive in shaping his dedication to Musicology, a discipline born as a historical science within the framework of 19th-century German positivism. Upon returning to Barcelona, ​​he resumed his position at the Library of Catalonia. There, he was able to combine his role as curator with that of researcher of the rich musical collections held by his library and other Spanish archives, notably from the medieval and Renaissance periods. While preparing a scholarly study on music in Catalonia up to the 13th century, which would be published in Barcelona in 1935 by the Institute of Catalan Studies, he edited the polyphonic codex of Las Huelgas de Burgos in 1932. Anglés realized that it was a unique codex, both for its repertoire and its script, among all those containing polyphonic music from the so-called Notre Dame School of Paris, whose splendor reached its zenith during the 13th century. With the publication of this book, Anglés established himself as an internationally renowned musicologist. To edit the music of this manuscript, whose existence he had learned of from the Benedictines of Santo Domingo de Silos, the Catalan priest had the invaluable assistance of the leading expert on medieval polyphony, Friedrich Ludwig (1872-1930), professor at the University of Göttingen, where he had temporarily moved in 1928.


In 1927, the administration of the Liceu Conservatory of Music in Barcelona invited Higinio Anglés to take up the chair of Music History. Likewise, in 1933, he was invited to teach this subject at the Central University of the same city.


When the Spanish Civil War broke out (1936-1939), Higinio Anglés moved to Munich, where the vicar of the diocese, Ferdinand Buchwieser, secured for him—as he would later confess—"a happy refuge at the Institut der Englischen Fräulein der Nymphenburg" (The Music of the Cantigas, II: 10). During the war, Anglés dedicated all his time to the study of the Cantigas de Santa María of King Alfonso X the Wise, thanks to his librarian friend Jorge Rubió, who provided him with a photographic copy of manuscript B.I.2 from the Library of El Escorial. During his time in Munich, he associated with eminent German professors, including the musicologists Rudolf von Ficker (1886-1954), a scholar of Gothic music; Otto Ursprung (1879-1960), a priest specializing in Renaissance polyphony; Friedrich Gennrich (1883-1967), author of important works on troubadours and trouvères; and the philologist Hans Spanke (1884-1944), who provided invaluable assistance in the study of the meter of the Cantigas de Santa María.


After the Civil War ended, Anglés returned to his Library of Catalonia, which had been relocated from its previous location to the former Hospital of Sant Pau i de la Santa Creu. In the new building, opened to the public on February 20, 1940, he reviewed the archives, verified the missing materials, and dedicated himself to acquiring primary and secondary sources to equip the Music Department with the best resources for research on Spanish music.


Higinio Anglés's tireless work in the research, defense, and dissemination of Spanish musical heritage earned him his election as a full member of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando.


In his response to Anglés's inaugural address on June 28, 1943, the Jesuit and composer Nemesio Otaño (1880-1956) advocated for the creation, funded by the state budget, of a school or institution capable of "perpetuating the teachings of such a wise master." Otaño's remarks, delivered in the Academy's auditorium, had an almost immediate effect on the realization of a project that had been encouraged shortly after the founding of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) in November 1939 to "train a faculty to guide Hispanic thought." Thus, three months after the aforementioned response to the speech, on September 27, 1943, the decree establishing the Higher Institute of Musicology within the CSIC was signed. In January 1944, it began operating under the direction of Higinio Anglés with two locations: one in Madrid, with a secretariat headed by José Subirá (1882-1980), and the other in Barcelona, ​​headed by Miguel Querol (1912-2002).

Higinio Anglés' professional life was inextricably linked to that of the Higher Institute of Musicology and the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music in Rome, of which he was the driving force and which he elevated to levels of great prestige. On October 21, 1947, he was appointed president of the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music in Rome, succeeding his former teacher, Gregorio Suñol. This Institute, created to train the church musicians who would implement the reform promoted by Pope Pius X in a motu proprio of 1903, functioned as a university faculty and granted degrees in the various specialties of sacred music: Gregorian chant, polyphony, and organ. Anglés added musicology to the curriculum, endowing it with a select faculty and an excellent library. His research, always conducted within the Spanish Institute of Musicology, culminated in remarkable publications, some carried out by him personally, others with the quiet assistance of notable collaborators and students, particularly Miguel Querol and José María Lloréns. Within the Institute, he created a department of Hispanic folklore, where he compiled the work he had done in Catalonia during his youth and many other projects commissioned by him. But his most intensive work focused on the recovery of early Spanish music. He conceived a vast project to catalog Spanish music libraries and archives. Some of the resulting catalogs were published, such as that of the Madrid Music Library in collaboration with José Subirá, while others remained in the respective libraries and at the Institute of Musicology itself.


The activity that achieved the greatest international renown was the publication of early music by the great Spanish masters in editions notable for their typographic quality, the authenticity of the versions, and the depth of the accompanying studies. His most important publications appeared in a specially created collection entitled Monuments of Spanish Music. To compile monographs on Spanish music, he founded the scholarly journal Anuario Musical (1946).


Higinio Anglés worked at the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music as an organizer, professor, and advisor to the Pope on matters of church music. In this capacity, he founded the International Congresses of Sacred Music, the Federation of Cecilian Associations—which, since the 19th century, had proliferated to defend the quality and religious significance of music in Catholic churches—and finally the Consociatio Internationalis Musicae Sacrae, dedicated to defending the traditional values ​​of Latin, polyphonic, Gregorian, and organ music at a time when liturgical reforms undertaken after the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965) threatened its existence.


Among the decorations received, the following stand out: Order of Isabella the Catholic (1949), Silver Medal of the President of the Italian Republic (1949), Silver Medal of the Austrian Republic (1956), Silver Medal of the Mozarteum Foundation (1956), Grand Silver Medal of the City of Paris (1957), Gold Medal of the City of Barcelona (1957), Grand Cross of Isabella the Catholic (1958) and the Grand Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (1960). His most important academic titles were the following: Vice-President of the International Musicological Society (1933-1958) and Honorary Member for Life; Full Member of the Royal Academy of Belles Lettres of Barcelona (1940), Full Member of the Institute of Catalan Studies (1941), Full Member of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando (1943), Honorary Member of the Royal Music Association of London (1945), and Member of the Academy of Music and Performing Arts of Vienna (1960). He was also a corresponding member of the following: Academy of Sciences Göttingen (1939); the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences of Copenhagen (1946); the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of Brussels (1949); the Academy of Sciences of Munich (1950); and the Petrarch Academy of Arezzo. (1951), The Hispanic Society of America (1957).

In 1947 he was appointed Domestic Prelate of His Holiness.


Works:

Catalog of the musical manuscripts of the Pedrell Collection, Barcelona, ​​Institut d'Estudis Catalans, 1920



(ed.), Els madrigals i la missa de difunts d'en Brudieu, Barcelona, ​​Institut d'Estudis Catalans, 1921


Popular songs of the Camp de Tarragona, Reus, Reading Center, 1924


(ed.), Johannis Pujol (1573-1626). Opera Omnia, Barcelona, ​​Calaluña Library, 1926-1932, 2 vols.


(ed.), Johannis Cabanilles (1644-1712.) Opera Omnia, Barcelona, ​​Library of Catalonia, 1927-1936, 4 vols.


(ed.), The musical codex of the Huelgas, Barcelona, ​​Institut d'Estudis Catalans, 1931


(ed.), Antonio Soler (1729-1783). Sis quintets per a instruments d'arc i orgue o clave obligat, Barcelona, ​​Institut d'Estudis Catalans, Biblioteca de Catalunya, 1933


History of Spanish music. Appendix to the History of Music by Johannes Wolf, Barcelona, ​​1935


Music in Catalonia at the end of the 13th century, Barcelona, ​​1935


(ed.), Music in the Court of the Catholic Monarchs, Barcelona, ​​CSIC, 1941, 3 vols.


(ed.), The music of the Cantigas de Santa María of King Alfonso X the Wise, Barcelona, ​​Provincial Council, 1943, 3 vols.


Music in the Spain of Ferdinand the Saint and Alfonso the Wise, Madrid, Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando, 1943


(ed.), Music at the Court of Charles V, Madrid, CSIC-Spanish Institute of Musicology, 1944


(ed.), Juan Vásquez. Collection of Sonnets and Villancicos for Four and Five Voices (Seville 1560), Barcelona, ​​1946


with J. Subirá, Musical Catalogue of the National Library of Madrid, Barcelona, ​​Spanish Institute of Musicology, 1946-1951, 3 vols.


Spain's Glorious Contribution to the History of Universal Music, Madrid [S. Aguirre], 1948


(ed.), Cristóbal de Morales (†1553). Complete Works, Rome, CSIC, 1952, 8 vols.


Dictionary of Music, Labor, Barcelona, ​​Labor, 1954, 2 vols.


(ed.), Mateo Flecha (†1553). The Salads (Prague 1581), Barcelona, ​​Provincial Council, 1954


(ed.), Anthology of Spanish Organists of the 17th Century, Barcelona, ​​Provincial Council, 1965, 4 vols.


(ed.), Tomás Luis de Victoria. Complete Works, Rome, CSIC, 1965, 4 vols.


(ed.), Antonio de Cabezón. Works of Music for Keyboard, Harp, Vihuela [...], Madrid, 1966, 3 vols.


History of Medieval Music in Navarre, Pamplona, ​​Provincial Council of Navarre, Prince of Viana Institution, 1970


Musical Scripts, ed. and study. by J. López-Calo, Rome, Edizioni di Storia e Letteratura, 1975, 3 vols.

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