Discovery of unpublished works by Frederic Mompou and Manuel Blancafort on pianola rolls

02/12/2015

Researchers at the Department of Art and Musicology of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) have discovered several unpublished works by Frederic Mompou and Manuel Blancafort on pianola rolls.

Some of the compositions discovered are surprisingly different to these composers' usual language, such as the foxtrots and ragtime included in dance music that both signed jointly under the pseudonym "Hobby". Of this series, three have been found in pianola rolls and fourteen more have been identified on catalogue.

Other findings are the first recording of Frederic Mompou's Preludes Nos. 1 and 2, played by the composer himself, and two previously unknown works by Manuel Blancafort: Humoresque and Deuxième Humoresque. The two Blancafort compositions were written before 1914, while the Mompou recording was made before 1929, which makes it his first surviving recording.

These works by Mompou and Blancafort have been identified by the musicologist Jordi Roquer, from the UAB's Research Group on Musics in Contemporary Societies (MUSC) and a lecturer in the Department of Art and Musicology.

The discoveries were made during the development of a system to digitize pianola rolls created by the UAB and the Computer Vision Centre (CVC), in collaboration with the Barcelona Music Museum and the Robert Gerhard Centre for the promotion of the Catalan musical heritage (Generalitat de Catalunya).

Dr Roquer was studying the activity of the company Rotlles Victòria, a major manufacturer and exporter of pianola rolls in La Garriga (Barcelona), which was owned by the Blancafort family but of which hardly a trace remains: no machinery, patents, or technical specifications for its rolls.

He searched in the Blancafort family's documentary collection, and in the correspondence between the two composers he found clear signs that this material existed. Following the thread, he came across several documents certifying this, and after contacting the descendants of Manuel Blancafort he found the latter's two unpublished pieces and the Mompou recording. Shortly afterwards an examination of the Victòria company's catalogues in the Library of Catalonia led to him discovering three more rolls of dance music signed by both composers under the pseudonym "Hobby".

In Dr Roquer's words, “no doubt both composers wrote these works under a pseudonym for financial gain, but that does not make them lesser works. We mustn't confuse genre with quality. Some of these pieces have a structural complexity and design that in terms of the language of jazz are in no way of lesser value. They knew exactly what they were doing, they had absolute control of the language, which comes as a pleasant surprise to musicologists and further enriches Catalan musical culture. Mompou made the piano yell out like the wildest of ragtime composers”.

A key system for preserving and studying pianola rolls

The Pianola Roll Digitizer is the first digitizer of pianola rolls made on the Iberian peninsula and the first in the world born out of collaboration between different institutions. In fact, Barcelona Music Museum is the first institution in the world to begin the digitization of the 3,000 pianola rolls in its collection. Previous devices were created by individuals and only digitize an image of the roll, almost manually.

It is also the first system produced by engineers and musicologists working together, which adds even more importance to the digitizer, as it means having not only a digital image of each roll but also an automatically generated MIDI file of each piece of music, allowing the musicological information it contains to be interpreted.

The digitizer built by the UAB and the CVC is a very significant step forward because for the first time it allows pianola rolls to be preserved rapidly, permanently and on a massive scale, large collections (in museums, libraries etc.) to be digitized, and a start to be made on revealing a hitherto practically unknown part of the musical heritage.

“The pianola roll is a complex sound-recording medium that was very important during the first three decades of the 20th century. Each manufacturer used different systems to produce their rolls, creating a need for specialist musicological research in this area, in which we are at the forefront here at the UAB", explains Francesc Cortés, a lecturer in Musicology at the UAB and head of the MUSC research group.

A great step forward for research in musicology

Having a system like this is also a great step forward for research into pianola rolls all over the world.

“Pianolas were the most commonly used music-playing devices for 30 years around the world. In Spain there are practically none left because during the Civil War and the postwar they were removed from pianos and sold abroad. Now this digitization system gives us a privileged vantage point from which to study how music was played and received in the first three decades of the 20th century", point out the researchers. “This is a huge amount of information on performances that has been overlooked. Now the only thing needed is financial resources to be able to continue this important research work", they conclude.

Having worked on this project since 2009, the UAB and the CVC can now make their knowledge available to institutions wishing to study their collections and, according to the researchers, make exciting new discoveries.

Great composers like Rachmaninov, Stravinsky, Granados and Grieg recorded their own works on pianola rolls.

List of works discovered and further information on the Pianola Roll Digitizer

Images (Credits: UAB-CVC):

http://www.uab.cat/uabdivulga/img/UAB-RotllesdePianola_1.jpg

http://www.uab.cat/uabdivulga/img/UAB-RotllesdePianola_2.jpg

The Pianola Roll Digitizer is the result of collaboration between the UAB, the CVC, Barcelona Music Museum and the Robert Gerhard Centre.

http://www.uab.cat/uabdivulga/img/UAB-RotllesdePianola_3.jpg

Detail of the detection of notes and other interpretative elements once the roll has been scanned.


Images: (Credits: Jordi Pareto, UAB)

http://www.uab.cat/uabdivulga/img/UAB-RotllesdePianola_8.jpg

From left to right: Francesc Cortès, UAB lecturer and Head of the MUSC research group, Jaume Ayats, Director of the Barcelona Music Museum and the Robert Gerhard Centre, and Jordi Roquer, UAB lecturer and head of the project.

http://www.uab.cat/uabdivulga/img/UAB-RotllesdePianola_7.jpg

Image of the recording of Frederic Mompou's Preludes Nos. 1 and 2 on pianola roll.

http://www.uab.cat/uabdivulga/img/UAB-RotllesdePianola_6.jpg

Detail of the Pianola Roll Digitizer

Images: (Credits: Library of Catalonia: Manuel Blancafort Collection)

http://www.uab.cat/uabdivulga/img/UAB-RotllesdePianola_4.jpg

http://www.uab.cat/uabdivulga/img/UAB-RotllesdePianola_5.jpg

Catalogue of Rotlles Victòria. Cover and inside cover, with the pseudonym "Hobby" in the list of authors.


Video explaining the functioning of the Digitizer (Credits: UAB-CVC-Barcelona Music Museum-Robert Gerhard Centre)
http://www.uab.cat/uabdivulga/img/UAB-CVC-PIANOLES-SUBTITOLAT.mp4