The music archive of the Cathedral will be available to the public

Several scores from the Cathedral's music archive that have been scanned and will be available in the coming months for music lovers, musicians and researchers. / C7

It is about 35,000 scanned pages with musical scores and writings from the end of the 15th century to the beginning of the 20th.

The passion and musical tradition of Gran Canaria and the rest of the archipelago was not born by spontaneous generation. The
musical archive of the Cathedral of the Canary Islands was key to the development of this artistic discipline on the islands and now it has been fully digitized as an essential step so that after the summer it becomes available to those interested in a
website linked to the Museum and the Diocesan Archive.

«The archive of the Cathedral has a
cardinal paper in the history of music in the Canary Islands. It has scores and musical writings from shortly after the conquest, from the end of the 15th century and the beginning of the 16th," he stressed.
Gonzalo Anglewhich from the association Taller Lírico de Canarias has promoted the process of digitizing these collections.

During the presentation ceremony held this Thursday morning at the Diocesan Museum, Angulo recognized that the "transfer of these funds to a
versatile format, durable and easy to access» also allows «saving them from insects, fire and theft». It was launched in 2018, although it was from 2021 when it was definitively promoted until reaching 35,000 documents already digitized.

'on site'

The former Minister of Culture of the Cabildo de Gran Canaria and director of the Taller Lírico de Canarias also valued "the comprehensive and open behavior" of the Cathedral Cabildo, owner of the archive, and the fact that the digitization process could be carried out " on-site" for
avoid the transfer of some musical writings and scores so old and in some cases in a fairly delicate state of preservation.

Iván Rodríguez, director of Margullíathe company that has carried out the tasks of digitizing all the documents, advanced that "after the summer, surely in September", it will define and make public
the internet portal that, "with optimal security"let enjoy this historical musical background.

"This is a very rich historical, musical and cultural heritage and what we have done is guarantee its long-term documentation," he explained about a process that he defined as
"a big challenge" and that had as its starting point the documentation process that Dolores de la Torre carried out at the time of these collections.

To preserve them, Rodríguez explained that a
"zenithal scanning system to avoid damage" documents on paper, while at the same time inviting the authorities present to set up "a more adequate conservation system" for this paper archive.

palimpsests

José Lavandera, dean of the Cathedral, acknowledged that some of the original scores were in poor condition and that is why what has been scanned have been “transcriptions”. “We hope to recover the palimpsests, because parchment was scarce at the time and people scratched and rewritten on it. With
ultraviolet light it is possible to carry out the recovery of some originals”, he stressed while highlighting the support of the Government of the Canary Islands, the Island Council and the City Council of the capital of Gran Canaria so that this project to rescue musical heritage has been possible.

Rubén Pérez, General Director of Culture of the Government of the Canary Islandspointed out that this project conforms to the parameters established by the Cultural Heritage Law and highlighted the documentation project carried out at the time by the musicologist Dolores de la Torre.

For his part, the
President of the Cabildo of Gran Canaria, Antonio Moralessaid that "you can continue to count on us to continue advancing in the entire process that is necessary to complete this work and guarantee the best conservation of this legacy."

A file that, according to
John Joseph Laforetofficial chronicler of the capital of Gran Canaria, «identifies this city and the island by its musical identity from the work of the masters of the Cathedral chapel since the 16th century».