Rollos de Pianola

PIANOLA: PORTRAIT OF A MUSICAL WONDER   Its ancestors For centuries; the ability to enjoy music without the effort of learning the associated necessary techniques has been a chief motivation for many inventors, inspiring them to create different forms of music mechanization. The treatise La Tonotechnie ou l'art de noter les cylinders, written in 1775 by the Augustinian monk Domingo Engranelle, shows evidence of this motivation. His work served as a theoretical fundament for several subsequent inventions, including the mechanical instruments that preceded the pianola. Several of t...+ info

Maestros Andaluces en Nueva España

Cappella Mediterranea

Music and Andalusian musicians in New Spain   The musical links between New Spain and Andalusia have existed since the earliest days of the discovery and the conquest. Surely that "maese Pedro, he of the harp ", mentioned by Bernal Diaz del Castillo upon arriving on American soil with Hernán Cortés’ troops, was a member of the first group of Andalusians who came to settle in the newly-conquered America. But the passing of time, particularly after the foundation of new cities and the construction of their cathedrals, brought closer the links with the music of Andalusi...+ info

Olallo Morales (1874-1957)

Javier Perianes

By the beginning of the 20th century, the Swedish music world had matured ­significantly, as can be seen from the work of composers like Natanel Berg, Oscar Lindberg, Kurt Altteberg and another, whose name had a somewhat exotic sound in a country like Sweden: Olallo Morales. Olallo Juan Magnus Morales Wilksman (1874-1957), to give him his full name, was the son of diplomat, astronomer and ­meteorologist Olallo Morales Lupión (1852-1889) and his Swedish wife, Zelma, who was an accomplished pianist. The Morales-Wilksman marriage also produced other musicians: Zelmica who was a ...+ info