Musical Heritage

The musical heritage of the University may be somewhat limited when compared to our other collections. The highlight is the organ placed in iglesia de la Anunciación. We do not know the author, but it appears to be made in the Baroque style, so problably dated in the 17th century. It is a single manual keyboard with forty-nine notes.

In the Rectorate building there is also a Bechstein grand piano dated in the first third of the 20th century. It contains a stamp with a rampant lion and the initials C.B. inside.

It is also interesting the set of 20th century Hispanic American musical instruments, maracas, flutes, drums, marimbas … whose value is much more anthropological and ethnological. Some of them are signed by Remberto Escobar Quiñones, a sort of luthier from the Ecuadorian city of Esmeraldas known because of the creation of guitars and marimbas.

In the Historical Library Collection there is a work from 1772, Gabinetto armonico: pieno d’istromenti sonori by the Jesuit Filippo Bonanni where he describes the musical instruments of his time. It contains 148 pictures of traditional instruments, some of the rarest ones, as well as others from Turkey, India or Africa… It contains recommendations about the most suitable music to play in certain events such as celebrations, funerals, war fighting… In addition, it contains three lessons dedicated to wind and percussion instruments.