The TEch Fonds is the personal fonds of the composer and organist from Navarra Teodoro Echegoyen Visiers (1875-1905), who was born in Peralta and died while serving as the organist of the cathedral of Tarragona. His fonds is conserved in the La Garrotxa County Archive (ACGAX). The descriptors of the original titles of his works conserved in the fonds enable us to trace this composer’s life course, revealed by the presence of works dating from 1891 to 1896, which allude to the theological seminary in Pamplona, an institution where he got his initial musical training. In 1897, when he was 22 years old, he was appointed chapel master of the cathedral of Calahorra. Several works dating from 1897 to 1902 are conserved from his time at that centre as proof of his tenure there. While he worked in the magisterium in Calahorra a, in June 1901 he sat for the exams to be chapel master of Pamplona, albeit unsuccessfully. From Calahorra he went to Tarragona, where he was appointed the organist of its cathedral on 4 March 1903. Five works written during his time in Tarragona are conserved in the Olot fonds, four of them dated from 1903. Echegoyen was in charge of the organ in Tarragona until his premature death on 10 November 1905, when he was just 30 years old.

Today, the reason why his fonds of compositions are in Sant Esteve of Olot is a mystery. Despite the lack of proof, everything seems to indicate that his fonds was part of the personal music archive of the Olot native Pere Guillamet, the former canon of the cathedral of Tarragona, who donated his archive to Sant Esteve parish church before the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936-1939. The entire fonds of Teodoro Echegoyen has 218 handwritten authored works, 3 anonymous works and 7 printed items, and it is the most important fonds of this composer in terms of not only the volume of works conserved but also the quality of its content, with a considerable number of signed works. This leads us to believe that it was probably his personal fonds. The fonds was catalogued between 2008 and 2011, when his documents were organised. The printed edition of the catalogue was issued in September 2012, along with the catalogue of Sant Esteve parish church of Olot under the sponsorship of the Institute of Culture of the City of Olot, the ACGAX and UAB.¹

¹GREGORI I CIFRÉ, Josep Maria – MONELLS I LAQUÉ, Carme. Inventaris del fons musicals de Catalunya. Volum 6: Fons de l’església parroquial de Sant Esteve d’Olot i Fons Teodoro Echegoyen de l’Arxiu Comarcal de la Garrotxa. Barcelona: Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 2012.

Fonds Factsheet

Acronym: TEch

IFMuC Link: https://ifmuc.uab.cat/collection/TEch?ln=en

Title: Teodoro Echegoyen Fonds

Archive and location:
Arxiu Comarcal de la Garrotxa (ACGAX)
Plaça del Puig del Roser, 1
17800 Olot

Contact:
Tel: 972 279 131
Email: acgarrotxa.cultura@gencat.cat

Date(s): 19th to 20th century

Extent and medium: 13 box files

Creators:
Teodoro Echegoyen

Download the complete fonds factsheet HERE

Cataloguing process of TEch Fonds at the “sagrera”, room at the previous location of the ACGAX in Hospici d’Olot's building