Precedents

Catalonia is extremely rich in terms of its musical heritage, both with regard to the compositional repertoire of its kapellmeisters, organists and musicians that is conserved in numerous archives and libraries, as well as the huge variety of its iconographic repertoire with musical representations preserved in the main museums of Catalonia, and also in terms of the musical repertoire of the oral tradition, which was the subject of numerous folkloric missions in the first half of the 20^th century and which is conserved in various documentary repositories.

The first programmes aimed at restoring the musical history and legacy of Catalonia focused on identifying and studying folk songs by researching materials from oral tradition, and on the publication of the first studies and editions of the musical repertoire acquired and conserved by the country’s main archives and libraries. The first decade of the 20^th century sparked a new awareness of the importance of heritage that inspired the first endeavours to identify, preserve and study the historical, documentary and artistic heritage of Catalonia. Three leading institutions were founded in order to contribute to this conservation and study of heritage: the Board of Museums of Catalonia (Junta de Museus de Barcelona, 1907), the Institute for Catalan Studies (Institut d’Estudis Catalans, 1907) and the Library of Catalonia (Biblioteca de Catalunya, 1911), which were empowered by the Commonwealth of Catalonia (1914-1923), and which received support from such major figures as Enric Prat de la Riba, Josep Pijoan i Soteras and Josep Puig i Cadafalch.

Musical collecion of Canet de Mar (CMar, Arxiu parroquial de l’església de Sant Pere i Sant Pau de Canet de Mar).