Victoria

The 213 pages of this book fall into two parts of similar length, respectively covering the life (pp. 11–114) and the works (pp. 115–194). A brief introduction (pp. 1–10), in a lyrical register, establishes the context for the study of “this Spaniard of the sixteenth century who embodied Arab and Celtiberian mysticism, both Muslim and Christian” (pp. 1–2), who “was the friend of Palestrina. But far from being similar to him, our Spanish barbarian differs from the polished Italian as a bitter and harsh accent from a fluid and florid language. Two rivals confront each other with nothing in common besides love of their art and religion.” With much poetry, Collet paints a portrait of Victoria “donning the Castilian mantle” in Rome (pg. 2). He marvels at the indifference of the Spanish towards one of their greatest musicians along with Morales, Guerrero, and Comes: “Why is this book the first one devoted specially to him by a historian, and why is this historian a foreigner?” (pg. 2). At the end of his introduction, Collet thanks the main persons who had helped him during his research and shared documents that he needed for his study: “MM. the professors Martinenche and Mérimée; the librarians of the Conservatoire Tiersot and Expert; the Spanish scholars Pedrell, Otaño, and Mitjana; the curate of Ávila Señor Don Augustín Martín; and, finally, my friends Chavarri of Valencia and Pujol of the Orfeo Catalan [sic]” (pg. 10, fn. 2).

The first part, “The Life”, is divided into five chapters: “I. In Ávila” (pp. 11–40), “II. In Rome” (pp. 40–74), “III. Return to Italy” (pp. 74–101), “IV. Death” (pp. 101–5), and “V. Posthumous Tributes” (pp. 105–14). As for the second part, “The Work”, it is organised around five sections: “I. Victoria’s Style” (pp. 115–125), “II. Victoria’s Mystical Character and Musical Evolution” (pp. 126–164), “III. Victoria and Palestrina” (pp. 165–169), “IV. Coordination of Text and Music” (pp. 169–182), and “V. A Study of Victoria’s Forms” (pp. 182–194). Finally, the conclusion (pp. 195–200) ends the book with a meditation on a certain “human force that has God as its object and wears itself out in the effort to reach him” (pg. 195), followed by three short appendices (pp. 201–4), a “Catalogue of the Works of Victoria and the Early Republications” (pp. 205–8), and a bibliography of “Further Reading” (pp. 209–11).

When publishing his work, Collet had a synopsis article entitled “Victoria, A Great Spanish Musician” run in the weekly paper L’Espagne (vol. 2, no. 47, 16–23 July 1914), while the music critic and man of letters G. Jean-Aubry published an exceedingly laudatory review in the column “Latin America, Spain, and Portugal” in L’Éclair on 23 July 1914, concluding: “Henry [sic] Collet speaks of Victoria, as is fitting, in an eloquent style, moving and moved: his is a fine book which nobly serves Spain and her music”. By contrast, in Spain the book was much criticised, especially by Felipe Pedrell who accused Collet of having stolen most of his ideas (though one should note that the two men had already been on bad terms for some time) and by Rafael Mitjana, who found the book poorly prepared, woefully lacking in seriousness, and closer to a novel about Victoria than a scholarly work.

 

Stéphan ETCHARRY

08/12/2019

Trans. Tadhg Sauvey

 

Further reading

• Collet, Henri, « Un Grand Musicien espagnol. Victoria », L’Espagne, 2^e année, n^o 47, 16 au 23 juillet 1914.

• Etcharry, Stéphan, Henri Collet (1885-1951), compositeur : un itinéraire singulier dans l’hispanisme musical français(dir. Louis Jambou), Université Paris-Sorbonne, 2004 (exemplaire microfiché, Atelier National de Reproduction des Thèses, Université de Lille III, code : 1054.42528/04). 

• Jean-Aubry, Georges, « Le Génie musical de l’Espagne : “Victoria” », L’Éclair (« Journal de Paris, Quotidien, Politique, Littéraire, absolument indépendant ») 27^e année, n^o 9370, jeudi 23 juillet 1914, [p. 4].

• Llano, Samuel, Whose Spain? Negotiating “Spanish Music” in Paris, 1908-1929, Oxford (New York), Oxford University Press, 2013.

• Mitjana, Rafael, « Acerca de algunos libros que tratan de música y músicos españoles », Ensayos de crítica musical, 2^e série, Madrid, Sucesores de Hernando, 1922, p. 156-162.

• Mitjana, Rafael, « Collet, H. Le Mysticisme musical espagnol au xvi^e siècle », Revista de filología española, I, n^o 1, 1914, p. 334-340.

• Pardo Cayuela, Antonio A., Rafael Mitjana (1869-1921) : trayectoria de un musicólogo, compositor y diplomático regeneracionista, thèse de doctorat sous la direction de Emilio Ros-Fábregas, Barcelona, Universitat de Barcelona, 2013 [et tout particulièrement, vol. 1, p. 374-379 et p. 436-438].

• Pedrell, Felipe, Tomás Luis de Victoria, Abulense. Biografía, bibliografía, significado estético de todas sus obras de arte polifónico-religioso, Valencia, M. Villar, 1918.

• Ros-Fábregas, Emilio, « “Foreign” Music and Musicians in Sixteenth-Century Spain », dans Carreras, Juan José et García García, Bernardo (dir.), The Royal Chapel in the Time of the Habsburgs: Music and Court Ceremony in Early Modern Europe, édition anglaise de Tess Knighton, chapitre 7, Woodbridge, The Boydell Press, 2005, p. 65-84.

• Ros-Fábregas, Emilio, « Música y músicos “extranjeros” en la España del siglo XVI », dans Carreras, Juan José et García García, Bernardo (dir.), La Capilla Real de los Austrias: música y ritual de corte en la Europa moderna, Madrid, Fundación Carlos de Amberes, 2001, p. 103-129.

• Ros-Fábregas, Emilio, « Musicological Nationalism or How to Market Spanish Olive Oil », Newsletter of the International Hispanic Music Study Group, vol. 4, n^o 2 (Spring/Fall 1998), p. 6-15.