“El libro que contiene onze partidos del M. Dn Joseph de Torres”. ¿Torres y Martínez Bravo, o Torres y Vergara? Aproximaciones a una interpretación filológica del manuscrito de la colección Sánchez Garza

Abstract

The Torres Book from the Sanchez Garza collection is one of the most polemic issues in the study of Hispanic music. This controversy has been the result of two main factors. On the one hand, the authorship problems and on the other, the apparent disorder of the musical content in this manuscript due to the ineffi cient work done by the copiers who gave it form. The latter has lead to conclude, as a generalized opinion, that it is a highly corrupted copy of the organ works that could have been composed by the famous Spanish composer, organist, musical theorist and printer, Joseph de Torres y Martinez Bravo (*1670c; †1738); in which case the copier would be the one to blame for the demerit of such a renowned musician of the Royal Chapel of Madrid. If to this we add the transcription offered by the CENIDIM in 1993 which multiplies the confusion, we are facing pieces of music full of questions and a musical text which is neither effective nor convincing.