Four masses and two offices for the dead by the composer Gonzalo Vidal (1863-1946)

Abstract

This article is the product of a research project carried out at EAFIT (Cultural Studies Group, Musical Studies Cell) in 2006, which started from the manuscripts of voices, organ, violins 1 and 2, flutes 1 and 2 and bass, of the four Masses for the Dead and Two Offices by Gonzalo Vidal (composed between 1889 and 1913), a project that aimed to obtain, for editing, appropriately commented and supported scores that would allow the survival, accessibility and dissemination of these works for national appreciation and judgment. and universal in the future. A panoramic view of the life and artistic work of the composer in the city of Medellín, Colombia, and of the customs of that time around religious music and, particularly, Catholic liturgical music in terms of funeral ceremonies is presented. Likewise, it gives an account of the investigative work carried out for the reconstruction of these general scores, of certain non-substantial corrections and the replacement of very few missing parts in the instrumental roles