Alexander-Sergei Ramirez

The rediscovery of the works of the Peruvian composer Pedro Ximénez de Abrill Tirado (Arequipa, Peru 1780 – Sucre, Bolivia 1856) is one of the most important musicological events in Latin America. The quantity and quality of his sacred and secular music, which surfaced in 2004, is unparalleled. The great diversity of his compositions, ranging from solemn liturgical chants to a large number of symphonies, concertos for solo instruments, and chamber music, places Ximénez de Abrill among the foremost figures in the history of classical music in Latin America. His works for guitar, especially his 100 minuets, are among the most valuable pieces ever written for this instrument. In 2013, the work of Pedro Ximénez de Abrill, which comprises around 1000 (!) works depending on the counting method, was included in the UNESCO "Memory of the World" list. The rediscovery of these works was as surprising as it was curious: the composer, who had fallen into complete oblivion since his death, was long considered a phantom: for many decades, rumors circulated in South America about a Peruvian composer who was called "the Rossini of Latin America" ​​by his contemporaries and who was said to have composed a large number of wonderful pieces of music. Apart from a handful of compositions, however, neither his exact name – Ximénez, Jiménes Tirado,Tirado-Abril, or Abrill Ximénez – nor his precise origins or dates of birth and death were known. It wasn't until 2004 that individual pieces of this mystery could be pieced together. It all started with the American historian William Lofstrom, who has lived in Sucre, Bolivia, for many years. Back then, a poor-looking man knocked on Lofstrom's door and offered him a stack of sheet music for sale. Lofstrom, who is not a musician himself and naturally couldn't immediately assess the value of the handwritten music, bought it out of pure curiosity. In the following days and weeks, this man repeatedly came to Bill Lofstrom's house to offer him, and unfortunately also other interested parties in Sucre, Cochabamba, and La Paz, further bundles of unsorted sheet music. Over time, bundles of original documents piled up in Lofstrom's house, which he eventually handed over to the National Archives in Sucre. As it turned out, the musical manuscripts that suddenly appeared in many places in Bolivia comprised a large part of the compositions by Pedro Ximénez de Abrill Tirado that had been lost for almost 150 years. According to his own account,the seller inherited this astonishing quantity of scores and documents from his four deceased cousins, likely direct descendants of Ximénez de Abrill, in 2000 and was now trying to sell the manuscripts. These cousins ​​had lived in a small house in the town of Valle Grande in the state of Santa Cruz de la Sierra. These important cultural treasures, which had probably been completely forgotten over time, were stored – who knows for how long? – in large boxes in the attic of the unsuspecting women – certainly, this is one reason why most of the scores are fortunately in excellent condition.What an immense treasure had thus come to light: a large part of his compositions, which, according to current knowledge, include 40 symphonies, 48 ​​masses, 226 songs with piano accompaniment, 50 waltzes for piano, as well as sonatas (including for piano, for violin and piano, and flute and piano), hymns, marches, pasodobles, tonadillas, cavatinas and villancicos, as well as handwritten copies of compositions by other European and American composers, and also many guitar works. Among the individual scores was also a very interesting document: a handwritten list, probably written by the composer's son, of original compositions, which he offered for sale after the composer's death—apparently in vain!The surviving works make it clear that Pedro Ximénez de Abrill was not only an exceptionally well-trained and incredibly prolific composer, but also must have been an excellent guitarist. For example, the surviving works for or with guitar include four collections of guitar pieces (approximately 100 compositions per collection!), works for voice with guitar accompaniment, for cello and guitar (unfortunately, the guitar part is missing so far), as well as two divertimenti for guitar and ensemble and one for two guitars and ensemble. Almost all of Ximénez's works have survived only in manuscript form, with two exceptions: "Mis pasatiempos" for guitar, and the collection of "100 Minuets for Guitar," published in 1844 by Ricault, Parent & Cie in Paris in ten volumes of ten minuets each. In these one hundred minuets, mostly only 16 bars long and in A-B form, Ximénez de Abrill unfolds an incredible imagination, turning each miniature into a small masterpiece. In a certain way, Ximénez de Abrill's compositions are reminiscent of the minuets of the Spanish composer Fernando Sor (1778-1839),but also of the short guitar pieces “Ghiribizzi” by the Italian composer Niccolò Paganini (1782-1840) or the Ländler and waltzes of Franz Schubert (1797-1828). In contrast to these purely “classical” compositions, however, Ximénez de Abrill's minuets, with their melancholic tones, harmonic shifts, and ornamentation, cannot and do not want to deny their Peruvian origin. Timidly, Ximénez repeatedly combines classical European compositional forms with folkloric elements from his homeland, much like Agustín Barrios-Mangoré or Antonio Lauro would later do in a more pronounced way in their works. Thus, Ximénez de Abrill can be seen as the missing link between the guitar composers of the classical era, such as Sor, Giuliani, or Carulli, and the South American guitar composers we now enjoy so much, such as Barrios, Villa-Lobos, Lauro, or even Yupanqui. In stark contrast to the size and diversity of the collection, we know very little about the life of the composer Ximénez de Abrill Tirado.He was born in 1780 in the “white city” of Arequipa, Peru, was choirmaster at the cathedral there, and later lived and composed in the Peruvian capital, Lima. There he befriended Andrés de Santa Cruz, who would later become President of Peru and President of Bolivia. A great admirer of the composer, he engaged the 55-year-old Ximénez as choirmaster of the cathedral in Sucre, Bolivia, with a handsome salary of 500 silver pesos per year. In addition to his duties as a church musician, Ximénez de Abrill was a professor of music at the Junín College of Arts and Sciences and also taught at a school for orphaned girls. As Kapellmeister, he was responsible for about a dozen musicians, a small choir, and six choirboys. Some of the young musicians—probably adopted by Ximénez—lived with him and his family in a large house they had bought in 1835, two blocks away from the cathedral.The year 1839 marked a turning point in Ximénez's life: President Santa Cruz was forced to leave Bolivia for political reasons and go into exile in France, and thus the musician lost his most important friend and mentor. The subsequent presidents of Bolivia had no regard for the composer's art and abolished his permanent positions and salaries. Ximénez became destitute virtually overnight and died penniless in Sucre in 1856. His name faded into obscurity, and almost his entire oeuvre disappeared without a trace for nearly 150 years.With the fortunate rediscovery of the compositions of Pedro Ximénez de Abrill Tirado, however, much work still awaits musicology in processing his oeuvre: the discovery of further lost works, the compilation of all known manuscripts, cataloging, analysis, publication and recordings....Meanwhile, more and more musicologists, such as Carlos Seoane or Manuel Izquierdo König, together with Bill Lofstrom and Octavio Santa Cruz, are advocating for Ximénez de Abrill's work, which is unfortunately scattered across very different archives and, in some cases, private collections throughout Bolivia. Thus, it unfortunately happens that many scores are separated, that, for example, some parts of a symphony are in one archive, while other parts of the same work are in another. One can be curious to see what else we will learn about this composer or which works will yet come to light. At the beginning of 2017, for example, a great many scores by Ximénez de Abrill were found in Sucre during the restoration of an old historical mirror; They were located – essentially as insulation material – between the mirror and the back wall. The story of Pedro Ximénez de Abrill thus remains exciting and always full of surprises!