A song for the UAB's 50th anniversary
13/12/2017
Poire Vallvé, who has directed the UAB Choir and the Aula de Música for the past 15 years, has been in charge of composing the commemorative song for the UAB's 50th anniversary. The composition is based on Rafael Simó's poem "Universitas", written especially for this musical piece. Vallvé believes the song could become the university's hymn, given its message and the strength of the piece.
Vallvé's experience as a UAB lecturer has had a large influence on the essence he aims to transmit with the song. The process of learning, both for students and teaching staff, the will to be open to the future and the value of respect are the bases which Vallvé aims always to transmit to his students and to the UAB Choir. The song aims to transmit the value of words, of the time and effort invested, and also the fact of being prepared for new theses, new ideas and new people who will come.
The song represented a challenge for the members of the choir, given that they only had the chance to practice the piece during three sessions. Nevertheless, the collaboration of last year's members of the choir and the composition of an easy and logical music aided in making the piece sound well from the beginning. The song now forms part of the choir's repertoire and is now played regularly at all of the UAB's institutional events.
When creating the song, Vallvé and Simó aimed for it to represent a celebration, an expression of gratitude to the history of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, and to the institution's commitment to knowledge, a knowledge which makes one freer. Ultimately, their goal was to celebrate their creation with each one of the people forming part of this university project. For this reason, composing it for a choir – the voice of the people - to perform represents the very essence of the piece, a chant for the university and for education.
The song was first performed at the opening ceremony of the 2017/18 academic year at the Monastery of Sant Cugat. It was met with great acceptance by the public, despite the difficulties in singing outdoors. At the Christmas concert, Director of the UAB Orchestra Jesús Badia presented a commemorative version of the song, instrumented for orchestra.