Special Collections Department
Ricardo Viñes
Collection of Music Manuscripts
1903 - 1928
Manuscript Collection Number: 213
Accessioned:
Extent: 35 items
Content: Music manuscripts, proofs
Access: The collection is open for research.
Processed: April 1991 by B.
C. Mayes
Special Collections, University of Delaware Library
Newark, Delaware 19717-5267
(302) 831-2229
Table of Contents
Biographical Note
The Catalan pianist Ricardo Viñes, born February 5, 1875 in Lérida, Spain, was well known for his exceptional technique, his large repertoire, and his affinity for the music of his time. After a period of study with pianist Juan B. Pujol in Barcelona, Viñes went to Paris in 1887. With the exception of his several concert tours throughout Europe and South America, Viñes remained in Paris for most of his life.
Viñes enrolled at the Paris Conservatoire, where he studied piano with Charles-Wilfrid de Bériot, as well as composition and harmony with Benjamin Godard and Albert Lavignac. Amongst his classmates was the composer Maurice Ravel, with whom Viñes developed a close social and professional relationship. Viñes also became acquainted with composer Claude Debussy and premiered almost every piano work written by the two composers during the first decade of the twentieth century.
Viñes became known as a champion of new music, particularly that from the French-Spanish school of his contemporaries. In addition to Ravel and Debussy, he premiered works by Manuel de Falla, Isaac Albéniz, Déodat de Séverac and Erik Satie, as well as later composers Darius Milhaud, Oliver Messiaen, Daniel Lesur, and his most famous student, Francis Poulenc. Many new Russian works were also given first French performances by Viñes.
Two Hommages - one to Satie and one to Séverac - are the best known of Viñes's few compositions. He contributed several articles on Spanish music to French and Spanish publications, and kept an informative journal covering performance practices of his day. Viñes died April 29, 1943 in Barcelona.
Sources:
Brody, Elaine. "Viñes, Ricardo," New Groves dictionary of music and musicians. London: Macmillan, 1980, v.19, p. 790.
Demarquez, Suzanne. Manuel de Falla. Philadelphia: Chilton, 1968.
Lockspeiser, Edward. Debussy: his life and mind. London: Cassell, 1965, v.2.
Scope and Content Note
The Ricardo Viñes Collection of Music Manuscripts consists of thirty-six original piano works, piano transcriptions, and cadenzas from the personal music library of Ricardo Viñes, most of which carry some type of inscription to the pianist. Of these, thirty-five are manuscripts -- several bearing the autograph of the composer -- and one is a marked publisher's proof. All but two are imprinted with Viñes' personal stamp which reads, "Bibiothèque Musicale / RICARDO VINÈS." The twenty works which bear dates fall within the twenty-five-year period between 1903 and 1928. The remaining pieces are undated.
During the first three decades of the twentieth century, a movement towards a "new" style of piano composition took place in Paris. At the forefront of this movement, which paralleled the Impressionist movement in painting, were the works of composers Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel. Literally world-renowned, nearly all of their works have become part of the standard concert repertoire. Less well known are the works of their contemporaries, yet these works are certainly valuable to any in-depth study of piano music and compositional practices of this period. As gargantuan as they are historically, Ravel and Debussy were not the sole forces behind this movement towards a "new" music.
The compositions represented in this collection are not universally recognized; a majority of them may be completely unknown. Many of the composers are better known for other non-compositional contributions to music. They were conductors, such as Inghelbrecht; performers, such as Bériot; musicologists, such as Knosp; or critics, such as Manuel. For some, even a brief biography in standard reference sources is unavailable. Nonetheless, these works are representative of all qualities associated with early twentieth-century Parisian style, from non- traditional chord progressions to fanciful, imaginal titles to the strong influence of Spanish music.
Arrangement Note
The manuscripts, including transcriptions, have been organized alphabetically by composer. Where a composer is represented by more than one work, the works are arranged alphabetically by title. For the purposes of this arrangement, a "work" is here defined as any complete movement bound, folded, or otherwise physically grouped together.
There are two minor deviations from this definition. The Leone Massino Suite pour le piano consists of three movements folded separately. Because the movement entitled "Preludio" also bears the Suite title, and the three movements follow a standard "fast-slow-fast" form, it can be reasonably concluded that the three works are parts of the same, larger whole. Thus, they are filed as one.
Conversely, three of the Lucien L. Bernheim works -- Complainte de "Feu-Follet," Danse slave, and Prelude: hommage a C. Franck -- are bound together yet bear no collective title. Neither the titles and characters of the pieces nor the dates and locations inscribed thereon give any conclusive evidence that their collective binding is anything more than circumstantial. This trio of works has been assigned the generic title Piano selections, and is filed accordingly.
Contents List
Folder -- Contents
Anthier, Marcel
F1 Miniatures (1908) [2 pages of music]
Bach, Johann Sebastian (1685-1750)
F2 Andante de la 4 sonata pour orgue; arr. by J.
Marmow [5 pages of music]
Bartholoni, Jean (1880-1937)
F3 Jeux de faunes [7 pages of music]
F4 Prélude en do# [8 pages of music]
Bèrard, Carol
F5 " ... d'une vie antèrieure" [15 pages of music]
La promenade des bonzes
Pagode dans le matin
Chauves-souris
Bériot, Charles-Wilfrid de (1833-1914)
F6 3ème ballade, ou, Fantasia, op. 80 (1904) [11
pages of music]
Bernheim, Lucien L.
F7 Burlesque (1927) [2 pages of music]
F8 Grotesques (1924) [3 pages of music]
F9 [Piano selections] [5 pages of music]
Complainte de "Feu-Follet" (1927)
Danse slave (1925)
Prelude: hommage à C. Franck (1925)
F10 tu Maître Ricardo Viñes (1918) [2 pages of music]
Brayer, Jules de
F11 Légende (1908) [3 pages of music]
Canteloube, Joseph (1879-1957)
F12 Le Mas. Introductions symphoniques des Prologue et
1er acte; transcription pour piano 2 mains par l'auteur
[21 pages of music]
Cliquet-Pleyel, Henri (1894-1963)
F13 [Unidentified work]. Cadence pour le premiere
mouvement; Cadence pour le troisième mouvement (1928)
[8 pages of music]
Combes, Marcelle
F14 Aurore [3 pages of music]
F15 Aurore (revised version) [3 pages of music]
Fontaine, Max
F16 Invention [10 pages of music]
F17 Invention (revised version) [10 pages of music]
Friboulet, Georges
F18 Prélude [2 pages of music]
F19 Rondo [4 pages of music]
Inghelbrecht, D.E. (Désiré-Émile) (1880-1965)
F20 Menuet sarabande [8 pages of music]
Jacob, Maxime (1906-1977)
F21 Trois romances sans paroles (1925-26) [8
pages of music]
Knosp, Gaston (1874-1942)
F22 Deux piéces pour piano (1912). Scherzare,
scherzare... (1912) [4 pages of music]
Malipiero, Gian Francesco (1882-1973)
F23 Barlumi (1917) [publisher's proof; 13 pages of music]
Manuel, Roland (Roland-Manuel, Alexis) (1891-1966)
F24 Clarisse, ou, l'Hommage indiscret [5 pages of music]
F25 Hommage à Ravel, ou, La soirée de Viroflay (1916)
[5 pages of music]
F26 Hommage funébre (1914) [3 pages of music]
Massimo, Leone (1896-1979)
F27 Suite pour le piano [12 pages of music]
Preludio
Notturno
Fuga espagnola
Patonare, Derek
F28 Rêves de Chine (1925) [6 pages of music]
F29 Sea iris [7 pages of music]
F30 Venetian glass (1925) [5 pages of music]
Piriou, Adolphe (1878-1964)
F31 Reflets, op. 6 (1910) [15 pages of music]
Porte, Jacques (b. 1910)
F32 Fulgurante [5 pages of music + 1 leaf]
Roussel, Albert (1869-1937)
F33 Rustiques, op. 5. Retour de féte [14 pages of music]
Stenger, Ch[arles?]
F34 Jour de fête: poem d'orchestre (1930)
(transcription by the composer) [14 pages of music]
Trépard, Emile (b. 1870)
F35 Suite pour piano [22 pages of music]
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