Scope and Content Note
The Lauro Ayestarán Collection reveals the life-time dedication of a distinguished musicologist and avid researcher who collected the core of the Uruguayan music plus music of foreign origin performed in Uruguay, in both holograph and scores through a systematic, tireless and continuous search throughout Uruguay, including the Montevideo's flea market and dusty-old-used-book stores. He also must be remembered as a dedicated teacher with a profound understanding of pedagogy and a vast knowledge of the western hemisphere history of music, and the mind of a scholar interested in any topic related to culture. In addition of publishing a considerable number of books he collaborated as contributor to many dictionaries, encyclopedias and musical and folkloric books. A third aspect of his personality encompasses the systematic recollection of the Uruguayan folklore in situ, with a total of 4.000 wire-recordings, hold actually in the Musicological Section of the Museum of National History in Montevideo.
His collection consists primarily of scores and holographs written by Uruguayan composers where both, the art and the popular music are represented, with a comprehensive sample of the best composers in each group.
In addition, there are a representative number of works written by European composers who settled in Montevideo during the 19th century, mainly from Spain and Italy. The total collection can be divided into two major categories: A) art music, B) popular and folk music; and encompasses a period from c1830 to 1966, year of Ayestarán's death.
A) Art Music. This category encloses a period from the Spanish colonialism until contemporary times; and can be divided in several sub-categories, such as:
- 1.- Major Uruguayan composers works. Includes compositions from the pioneer generation, such as Francisco José Debali, Luis Preti, Oscar Pfeiffer, Dalmiro Costa, etc. It follows the first opera-and-symphony composers (1850-1900), represented by Luis Sambucetti, Tomás Giribaldi and León Ribeiro; the Nationalistic period (1900-1930s) represented by the three major nationalist composers: Alfonso Broqua, Eduardo Fabini, and Luis Cluzeau-Mortet, plus works by Ramón Rodríguez-Socas, Vicente Ascone and Carlos Giucci. The contemporaries of the Nationalism are represented by their finest composers: César Cortinas, Carmen Barradas, Tomás Mujica, and later on Carlos Estrada and Guido Santórsola; and finally, the living composers active during the last fifty years, lead by Héctor Tosar.
- 2.- Historical works. Includes the Uruguayan National Anthem's holograph plus pieces written since the early 1830s to celebrate national events such as epic victories, battles, end of sieges, revolutions, peace treaties, etc. and to honor Presidents, prestigious citizens and famous heroes of Uruguay. This category lists few important holographs and scores (ex.: Debali's Uruguayan National Anthem and La batalla de Cagancha; Goyeneche's El sitio de Paysandú, Metallo's Marcha Tres árboles, Ascone's Obertura para Santos Vega, etc.)
- 3.- Salon music of the 19th century. Includes social dances practiced in Uruguay, principally European and Spanish dances and songs: couplet, cuadrille, galop, gavotte, lanceros, maxixa, mazurka, minuet, pas-de-quatre, polka, polka-militar, polka-saltada, schottisch, tarantella, vals-Boston, waltz, etc. This category lists a considerable amount of scores and few holographs, with a total of 1270 works.
- 4.- Collections of significant Latin American Composers (piano and chamber works scores)
- 5.- Didactic collections (children songs, games) written for pedagogic purposes, to be used in elementary schools.
- 6.- A considerable amount of military and school marches.
- 7.- Collection of Latin American and some principal European countries National Anthems.
B) Popular and Folk Music. This category holds a significant amount of scores, almost half part of the entire collection; and can be divided in several sub-categories, such as:
- 1.- Popular music from the River Plate area, primarily from the capital cities of Montevideo and Buenos Aires, birthplace of the tango, the milonga and some of their derivations. Among them the collection contains the finest and more famous pieces of the 1890-1950 period, with an number of almost 1.000 pieces between tangos and milongas such as the famous Gerardo Matos-Rodríguez's La cumparsita and Ché papusa oí!, Pintín Castellanos's La puñalada, Angel Villoldo's El choclo, Juan de Dios Filiberto's Quejas de bandoneón, Carlos Gardel's El día que me quieras and Melodía de arrabal, and Francisco Canaro's Madreselva and Tiempos viejos.
- 2. - Dance music. a) In addition of all the salon music of the 19th century listed under Art Music category, this collection holds a substantial sample of Latin-American and European folk dances, songs and song-dances, with a total of around 300 scores of about fifty different dances and songs such as: Neapolitan canzonetta, chacarera, chotis, cifra, conga, couplet, corrido mexicano, cueca, diabolette, estilo, fado, fandango, guaracha, habanera, jaleo de Jerez, jota, minué-montonero, minuet, modinha, pasacalle, paso-doble, pericón, peteneras, ranchera, raspa, samba, sardana, Spanish tango, tonada, triste, vidala, vidalita, zamacueca, zamba, just to name the most common in the collection. b) There are also a good amount of scores of blues, camel-steps, charlestons, fox-trots, one-steps and shimmies.
Besides all the mentioned above the collection comprises about 90 works of unidentified composers. Inside this small category there are several old holographs of guitar pieces that were originally part of the Gerolamo Folle Collection, later acquired by Ayestarán in Montevideo's flea market.
He published more than one hundred articles and essays in musical and musicological magazines; and gave hundreds of lectures in universities, musical and cultural institutions. In addition he was member of the following institutions: Academia Brasileira de Musica, Rio de Janeiro; Academia Argentina de Bellas Artes, Buenos Aires; Instituto Histórico y Geográfico del Uruguay, Montevideo; International Folk Music Council, London; Asociación Española de Etnología y Folklore, Madrid; Sociedad Mexicana de Folklore, Mexico City; Instituto Panamericano de Historia y Geografía; Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, Madrid; International Musicological Society, Basel, Switzerland; Sociedad Folklórica del Perú, Lima; Folklore Americas; Sociedad Folklórica Argentina, Buenos Aires.
It is recommended, as a valuable aid to the researcher, to refer to all the Ayestarán's books, particularly La Música en el Uruguay, Volume I, for information and comments since the colonial times until 1870; also Breve historia de la música culta en el Uruguay by Susana Salgado, from the colonial times until 1980. Both books are in the Music Division collection.
Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to Mary Edsall, Rodney T. Todd and Michael A. Ferrando who assisted and advice me in the processing of this collection.
Susana Salgado, 1996