Presencia musical en la Catedral de La Seu d'Urgell en la primera mitad del siglo XVIII a través de sus actas capitulares

Abstract

With this essay we wish to contribute to the historical recuperation of our musical and cultural heritage with particular reference to one specific case. It will, therefore, describe the musical activity from 1700 to 1750 of the Cathedral Musical Chapel of La Seu d'Urgell which had been a particularly relevant centre ever since the Middle Ages for its importance as a frontier pass on the Pyrenees between France and Spain. There do exist certain historical studies of the Medieval and Renaissance periods that led to publications by Higini Anglés analyzing the figure of Joan Brudieu. But, on the other hand, very little is known about the musical life of that "Episcopal" town during the XVIII to XX centuries (recently being the bishop of La Seu also the prince of Andorra, all together with the President of the French Republic). Taking up where the work of Pedrell-Anglés had left off, this essay initiates the systematic compilation of whatever information concerning music is contained in the Cathedral Archives. Though it is our intention to continue our line of study, on this occasion we are only going to publish the Chapter Acts from the period 1700-1750, which will permit us to form a general idea about the activities and the repercussions of one of the principal Musical Chapel in Catalonia, and also of one of the centres in the Hispanic sphere of influence that Musicology has least studied until recently.