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Prelude #5 – Feb 12, 2022 Papers by: P. Cruells/R. Sunyer, S. Bausch

These were the presentations and topics of the Prelude #5:

Pol Cruells and Ramon Sunyer (Barcelona) Hommage à Chaplin, by Manuel Blancafort: A piano roll that explains it all

Listening Session A selection of notable piano roll recordings will be presented and discussed. This will include a recap of the recent Magic Piano series undertaken at Hochschule der Künste Bern.

Global Piano Roll Meeting, June 17–20, 2022 The program for the upcoming Global Piano Roll Meeting will be previewed.

Topics of this Prelude had been:

Pol Cruells and Ramon Sunyer (Barcelona)

Hommage à Chaplin, by Manuel Blancafort: A piano roll that explains it all

This talk will introduce the Biblioteca de Catalunya’s piano roll collection including the research and preservation efforts currently underway. It will focus on a singular example: Hommage à Chaplin, a piano roll made by its composer, Manuel Blancafort.

At the beginning of the 20th century, two piano manufacturers co-existed in Catalonia: Rollos Victoria from 1905 to 1931 in La Garriga and Rollos Princesa in Barcelona.

About half of the Biblioteca collection consists of Victoria rolls. Other roll companies in the collection include Hupfeld, Aeolian (Themodist), Iberia and Diana. Catalan composers are well represented in the collection, as are famous composer-pianists such as Isaac Albéniz and Enrique Granados (who recorded for Hupfeld and Aeolian, as did the pianist Alexandre Vilalta). The collection also includes a few rare, original works for player piano by Joan Alius.

Some well-known composers who used pseudonyms have been discovered including Cliff Worsley (Pere Astort), Hobby (Manuel Blancafort and Frederic Mompou), and H. Wilson (Antoni Oller). Joan Baptista Blancafort, the entrepreneur who started Rollos Victoria (in addition to a spa business), was succeeded by his son Manuel, who also recorded rolls of his most popular compositions, such as Hommage à Chaplin. The instrument in the Biblioteca de Catalunya is an Apollo Player Piano built by Melville Clark Co., Chicago, 1913. Purchased in 2009, it was given a public premiere in 2011 after having been restored by Parts Piano.

It is regularly played to record piano rolls, and as well for public performances (Sant Jordi’s Day). Relationships with researchers and specialists such as Lourdes Rebollo, Carolina Estrada, Peter Philips and Jordi Roquer have been established since 2011, and contact with donors, including the Blancafort family is also maintained.

The Biblioteca de Catalunya cooperates with public and private archives holding piano rolls in their collections, such as the Museu de la Música in Barcelona and the pianolist Pep Domènec, among others.

Listening Session

A selection of notable piano roll recordings will be presented and discussed. This will include a recap of the recent Magic Piano series undertaken at Hochschule der Künste Bern.

Global Piano Roll Meeting, June 17–20, 2022

The program for the upcoming Global Piano Roll Meeting will be previewed including plans for the working groups and technical meetings of the conference.