The fonds of the Music Chapel of Santa Maria (MatSM) conserved at the Museum–Archive of Santa Maria of Mataró is made up of the ecclesiastic repertoire written by the chapel masters and organists of the parish church of Mataró, from the era of Jaume Arau († 1778) until the tenure of Josep Molé († 1926).

MatSM contains 23 archival boxes with a total of 334 musical compositions, 127 of which belong to the “authored manuscripts” collection and 207 to “anonymous manuscripts”. It is a fonds with a notable presence of the ecclesiastic repertoire including both genres associated with the liturgy (absoltas, Graduals, hymns, lamentations, litanies, masses, motets, offertories, passions, requiems, responsory songs, psalms, Salve Reginas, sequences, vespers) and the religious repertoire with texts in romance (arias, ballads, canticles, gozos, lyrics, rosaries, trisagions and carols).

Between the 16th and 20th centuries, 26 musicians served as the parish chapel master, from Onofre Ametller (ca. 1590) to Narcís Pagès (1908-2006); however, the timeframe of the repertoire conserved in the fonds spans from the last third of the 18th century to the first third of the 20th century. The "authored manuscripts" collection contains around 40 compositions by chapter masters from Santa Maria working since the last third of the 18th century: Jaume Arau († 1778) (3 works), Miquel Bassols (1743-?) (5), Marià Berga († 1867) (6), Manuel Blanch (1827-1883) (1), Tomàs Collell (1798) (1), Josep Menéndez († 1866) (2), Antoni Mitjans (ca. 1810) (1) and Jaume Roure (1788-1853) (31), the latter being the best known and most represented besides Joan Fargas (1875-1944) and Lluís Viada (1859-1934), whose compositional oeuvres are conserved in their respective fonds in the same Museum-Archive. The repertoire of the masters of Santa Maria of Mataró coexists in the fonds with copies of works by other Catalan authors working between the late 18th and second half of the 19th century, some of whom are prestigious, renowned masters like Francesc Andreví, Raimon Aleix, Josep Cau and Ramon Vilanova. Likewise, the presence of versions of the Stabat Mater by G. B. Pergolesi, F. J. Haydn and S. Neukomm, with copies dated from between the late 18th and first third of the 19th century, attest to the fact that the masters of Santa Maria received the foreign repertoire. The printed edition of the catalogue was issued in April 2010.¹

¹GREGORI I CIFRÉ, Josep Maria – CABOT I SAGRERA, Neus. Inventaris dels fons musicals de Catalunya. Volum 4: Fons del Museu-Arxiu de Santa Maria de Mataró. Barcelona: Generalitat de Catalunya. Departament de Cultura i Mitjans de Comunicació; Bellaterra: Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 2010.- Arxius i documents. Eines de recerca, núm. 7.

Fonds Factsheet

Acronym: MatSM

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

Title: Fonds of the Music Chapel of Santa Maria in Mataró

Archive and location:
Museu-Arxiu de Santa Maria de Mataró (MASMM)
Carrer de Beata Maria, 3
08301 Mataró

Archive and library schedule:
Thursday and friday, from 6:00 p.m. a 8:30 p.m

Contact:
Email: masmm@masmm.org

Date(s): 18th to 19th centuries

Extent and medium: 23 box files

Creators:
Chapel masters from Santa Maria in Mataró

Download the complete fonds factsheet HERE

Room where the musical fonds of Museu-Arxiu de Santa Maria de Mataró are preserved