THE NOTORIETY AND LEGACY OF VICENTE GARCÍA VELCAIRE IN SPAIN AND THE NEW WORLD

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.22533/at.ed.558592529059

• Palavras-chave: heritage, legacy, chapel Master, baroque music.

• Keywords: heritage, legacy, chapel Master, baroque music.

• Abstract:

  Although there are still many unknowns about the figure of the master García Velcaire (1593-1650), the discovery of his figure and his legacy lead us to affirm that he is one of "the most distinguished masters that there have been and there are in our times", as Andrés Lorente indicated in his book El Porqué de la Música. 
      Regarding the birth of Vicente García Velcaire, we will present the two existing theories. The first, that he was a native and chapel master of the town of Alcoy (Alicante), as described by Dr. Sebastián Jordán in his book Adiciones a los libros de varias y diversas cosas (Additions to the books of various and diverse things) and defended by Higinio Anglés. And the second, collected in his baptismal certificate in the parish of San Miguel of Valencia and that Francisco Asenjo Barbieri proposes. What we do know is that when he was only 16 years old, he presented the bulls as a chapel master in the cathedral of Orihuela (Alicante) and where he obtained the magisterium in 1610, succeeding the deceased Diego Herrera. Theré  remained eight years, where, at the same time of exercising his functions as sochantre, he obtained his bachelor's degree in Theology and also in Arts. Subsequently, and without giving up his place in Orihuela, he became a teacher in the Cathedral of Valencia, succeeding Juan Bautista Comes (1618) where he remained for fourteen years, although during this period he went on to serve in the Royal College of Corpus Christi in Valencia for a time. In 1632 he was named maestro de capilla of the cathedral of Cuenca, succeeding Castro Mallagaray, although he barely lasted two years. García, requesting to go to Madrid for business, went to the competition to cover the vacancy of maestro de capilla in the monastery of the Encarnación, where he won and took possession in 1634. Theré  remained until the middle of 1645 when he traveled to Toledo to take possession of the magisterium in the cathedral and where he remained until his death. 
      The aim of this work is to make his notoriety and legacy known, after carrying out an in-depth study and cataloguing of his works: a unique musical heritage that, in addition to the cathedrals and temples where he taught (Orihuela, Valencia, Cuenca, Madrid and Toledo), has remained in others in Spain, such as Segorbe, Salamanca, Valladolid, Segovia, San Lorenzo de El Escorial, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Zaragoza, Montserrat, Palma de Mallorca and Burgos. In addition, proof of the value of this heritage is that the work of García Velcaire also reached different places in the New World, as we find in the cathedrals of Puebla, Lima or Bogota. 
      The research has been carried out for years gathering information in each of the previously mentioned places, analyzing and/or transcribing each of the manuscripts, examining the different inventories and existing funds, and collecting data in the different books of minutes and protocols as well as other files or useful information. In addition, we will analyze different phenomena that influenced his life, such as the social-political-economic context, the expulsion of the Moors, the situation of the clergy, the currents of immaculism or the artistic manifestations of the time, until his death in Toledo.