Parochial or extravagant? The music chapel of Saint Esteban Protomartyr and Saint Vicente Ferrer (Valencia, 1730)

Abstract

This study analyses the typology of the music chapel of Saint Esteban and Saint Vicente Ferrer, founded in Valencia in 1730. Traditionally regarded as one of the parish chapels active in the city from the mid-seventeenth century until the nineteenth-century disentailments, this research proposes its disassociation from any ecclesiastical institution. Based on the legal dispute it maintained between 1727 and 1730 with the parish chapels of San Juan del Mercado and San Martín, it has been possible to establish the functioning of the chapel through its foundational document, which proves key to understanding its true nature. Moreover, the study of the chapel’s statutes reveals a guild-like structure, grounded in mutual collaboration, support among members in cases of illness or death, and internally consensual management. Finally, the identities of the chapel’s members have also been established, although the date and circumstances of its dissolution remain unknown. Overall, this research offers a new perspective on musical associationism in 18th-century Valencia and on the autonomous organizational models that competed with the city’s institutional chapels.