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Digital Sources for Nineteenth Century Music in Argentina: A Case of ‘Magical Realism’

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 February 2025

Clarisa Pedrotti  and
Vera Wolkowicz Open the ORCID record for Vera Wolkowicz [Opens in a new window]
Clarisa Pedrotti*
Affiliation:
National University of Cordoba
Vera Wolkowicz*
Affiliation:
University of Glasgow
*
clarisa.pedrotti@unc.edu.ar
Vera.Wolkowicz@glasgow.ac.uk
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Extract

Musical sources from the nineteenth century in Argentina are very scarce. The first challenge, therefore, is to locate these materials across multiple repositories. In the last 15 years, certain state policies have been introduced to unify access to information in digital and non-digital archives. However, the country's economic instability, successive changes of government and the discontinuity of public policies in reference to cultural and educational programmes continue to impede a consistent systematization of collections and catalogues of these repositories. Additionally, it is also necessary to consult other repositories – both public collections, managed by provinces rather than the national government, and private ones that may offer online resources such as catalogues, transcriptions or digitized materials. Much of the musical production in the first half of the nineteenth century occurred within religious contexts, which means that a large part of these sources is located in ecclesiastical repositories that are very difficult to access. Many lack websites, the extent of their holdings remains unknown, and in cases where catalogues do exist, they are often not digitized.

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Digital Resource Review Article
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Nineteenth-Century Music Review , Volume 22 , Special Issue 3: Sounding (Out) Nineteenth-Century Italy , December 2025 , pp. 490 - 502
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Musical sources from the nineteenth century in Argentina are very scarce. The first challenge, therefore, is to locate these materials across multiple repositories. In the last 15 years, certain state policies have been introduced to unify access to information in digital and non-digital archives.Footnote 1 However, the country's economic instability, successive changes of government and the discontinuity of public policies in reference to cultural and educational programmes continue to impede a consistent systematization of collections and catalogues of these repositories.Footnote 2 Additionally, it is also necessary to consult other repositories – both public collections, managed by provinces rather than the national government, and private ones that may offer online resources such as catalogues, transcriptions or digitized materials. Much of the musical production in the first half of the nineteenth century occurred within religious contexts, which means that a large part of these sources is located in ecclesiastical repositories that are very difficult to access. Many lack websites,Footnote 3 the extent of their holdings remains unknown, and in cases where catalogues do exist, they are often not digitized.

In this article, we will provide a brief overview of the online resources available for accessing nineteenth-century music sources in Argentina, focusing on cases where the materials are available in open access digital format. While most resources are centralized in repositories in Buenos Aires, we will attempt to give an overview of the repositories and sources across the rest of the country. First, however, a brief historical sketch is necessary. The republican nation-state known today as Argentina was not fully established until the late nineteenth century. Thus, understanding both its social and music history, requires consideration of the political and geographical changes that took place in the transition from the colonial viceregal system to the independent republic.

A Brief History of the Formation of the Argentine Nation

The nodal point to start talking about the nineteenth century in Argentina is the independence process, spanning from the May Revolution in 1810 to the Declaration of Independence in 1816.Footnote 4 Moreover, it is helpful to divide nineteenth-century Argentina into three socio-political and geographical periods: from c. 1810 to 1852, from 1853 to c. 1880, and from 1880 to c. 1930.Footnote 5

1810–1852

In the first period, roughly 1810–1852, the government moved away from Spanish rule (the colonial socio-political-economic system) and entered a period of gradual transformation and political instability, characterized by brief administrations of creole (criollo) oligarchies.Footnote 6 During this time, the provinces had not yet formed a unified country, but were ruled by local, interconnected governments. Geographically, this period's boundaries included present-day northwestern Argentina, extending south to Buenos Aires in a strip of land stretching from the Río de la Plata to the Andes Mountains. The southern region, however, was still inhabited by Indigenous communities who had little to no contact with urbanized areas. This era was characterized by the rule of the so-called caudillos, i.e., male leaders who held and disputed local powers.

1853–1880

In 1853, the national constitution was passed, in order to legally establish territorial unity. During this period there was a gradual consolidation of the building of the nation, in imitation of the French Republican model. This era marked the beginning of modernization, characterized by advancements in transportation, communication, public education and immigration policies. It also saw the emergence of regular governments and an orderly succession of political administrations.

1880–1930

This period is primarily characterized by two key elements: the expansion of the territory to the south (contributing to the formation of the current territory)Footnote 7 and the adoption of an agro-exporting economic model that led to Argentina's entry into the world market, mainly as an exporter of raw materials. Although the time frame is long, the development of the nation-state was not a continuous and organic process, but was rather fragmentary and complex. We end this period with the first coup d’état, in 1930, which coincided with the world economic crisis.

Brief Local/National Music History

Argentina's musical periodization closely aligns with its historical-political timeline: notably, musical transformations in Buenos Aires are recorded somewhat earlier than in the provinces, reflecting a dynamic that is common between central urban areas and their more distant counterparts.Footnote 8

The period 1810–1852 is characterized by the coexistence of musical styles and genres according to the environments in which they developed. The pre-eminence of the Catholic Church and the emergence of the first secular spaces facilitated the circulation and reception of styles, mostly influenced by Italian music via the Iberian Peninsula.Footnote 9 During this stage, music thrived in both religious spaces (churches, convents) and secular ones (theatres, public events, halls). Despite the delimitation of these institutions, music and musicians circulated among different spaces without distinction; for instance, the influence of Italian music – especially through the works of Rossini and Mercadante – was evident in both theatres and the liturgical sphere. The written works that circulated during this period initially came from Europe, and then began to be printed locally, allowing for a wider dissemination. An example of this is the scores published in the magazines Boletín Musical (1837) and La Moda (1837–1838).Footnote 10 Within the secular realm, it is also important to highlight music in the military context, which would later flourish in the public sphere during times of peace.

The period 1853–1880 was marked by the popularization of theatre, with the construction of new venues in major cities. While the taste for Italian music continued, there was a greater circulation of Spanish, French and German repertoires, along with the emerging development of chamber and symphonic music. During this time, more musical information became available through the press, printed music, and theatrical records.

In the last decades of the nineteenth century and the early years of the twentieth (1880–1930), Italian opera and Spanish zarzuela experienced great success. However, as the decades passed, they began to compete with the German and French lyric and symphonic genres of written tradition, while folk and/or popular genres gained popularity and their circulation through phonography was massified.

Although this temporal delimitation extends into the early decades of the twentieth century, for the purposes of this article, we will focus on sources that are specifically circumscribed between 1810 and 1899, and we have organized the musical sources into two periods: from 1810 to 1852 (Independence Period – United Provinces of the Río de la Plata) and from 1853 to 1900 (Republican Period – Argentina). The division into these two main periods results from considering the spaces and institutions through which music circulated. Until the first half of the nineteenth century, there was a marked predominance of religious institutions, and from about 1850 onward, there was a growing secularization of practices, evidenced by the construction of public theatres and the programming of concerts and opera evenings, which, as we have already mentioned, increased as the century progressed.

Description of Nineteenth-Century Sources

The types of nineteenth-century musical sources found in Argentine repositories include manuscript and printed scores, although very few have been preserved and are difficult to access. Among the small portion of this material that has been digitized, is, for example, the secular work of the composer Juan Pedro Esnaola (1808–1878).Footnote 11 Most of the data on music can be found in the periodical press and in documents such as concert programmes, concert advertisements, theoretical treatises, and memoirs of travellers or well-known local figures of the time,Footnote 12 as well as some administrative documents (from theatres, religious institutions, etc.).Footnote 13 While not exhaustive, examples of the general press include: La Gaceta de Buenos Aires, El Argos de Buenos Aires, The British Packet, El Diario de la Tarde, El Diario de Avisos, and El Restaurador Federal. Press specializing in the arts and/or music includes La Moda (1837–1838) and El Boletín Musical (1837). Two theoretical treatises have also been preserved: Juan Bautista Alberdi's Teoría y praxis de la música (1832), and Fernando Cruz Cordero's Discurso sobre música (1844).Footnote 14

From the second half of the nineteenth century, we find some manuscript and printed scores; periodical press sources such as La Nación, La Prensa, El Fusionista, La Ilustración Argentina; and specialized magazines, including La Lira Argentina (1856), Gaceta Musical (1874–1887), Mefistófeles (1882), and El Mundo Artístico (1881–1888). Additional sources include opera and zarzuela librettos and programmes, music treatises, private documentation, and theatre regulations, among others.Footnote 15

Digital repositories

We begin by identifying websites and repositories with non-digitized musical materials that are important to consider when conducting musical studies on nineteenth-century Argentina.

  1. 1. Instituto Nacional de Musicología ‘Carlos Vega’ (INM): This institute holds a collection of works by Argentine composers from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, which, though not available online, can be requested by email and digitized.Footnote 16 It also has a digital repository with access to the journal Música e Investigación and some other sources, mainly from the beginning of the twentieth century.Footnote 17

  2. 2. Biblioteca del Congreso de la Nación (BCN): This library contains an extensive collection of periodicals available only for in-person consultation.Footnote 18

  3. 3. Archivo General de la Nación (AGN): This institution holds different types of sources on Argentine history. An online audiovisual consultation section is available with registration. Physical materials include archives of theatres, along with other government administrative documents.Footnote 19

  4. 4. Website Música Clásica Argentina: Created by the Argentinian musicologist Ana María Móndolo, this website includes biographical data and a list of works by Argentinian composers from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.Footnote 20

The following are the Argentine repositories we have identified so far with digitized nineteenth century sources, some of which are accessible online:

  1. 1. Biblioteca Nacional Mariano Moreno (BN)

  2. 2. Archivo Histórico de Revistas Argentinas (AHIRA)

  3. 3. Instituto de Investigación en Etnomusicología (IIET)

  4. 4. Instituto Nacional de Estudios del Teatro (INET)

  5. 5. Museo Histórico Nacional (MHN)

  6. 6. Repository of the Universidad Nacional de La Plata (SEDICI)

  7. 7. Instituto de Investigación Musicológica ‘Carlos Vega’ of the Universidad Católica Argentina (IIMCV)Footnote 21

  8. 8. Boletín Oficial de la República Argentina (BORA)Footnote 22

We will now describe each repository individually. Some of these are easily accessible, but in most cases a more exhaustive search is required. Not all materials can be viewed online; but they may be accessed by registration and/or by email request. Additionally, some servers are only partially operational due to the economic situation in the country, which, as noted earlier, can lead to system overload or difficulty maintaining the server regularly due to payment and maintenance issues. As a result, there may be occasional interruptions in access.

The digital collection of the Biblioteca Nacional (BN) must be accessed via the search engine.Footnote 23 The music materials we have identified in this repository so far include: Amancio Alcorta's collection of songs;Footnote 24 Juan Pedro Esnaola's collection of songs (see Fig. 1);Footnote 25 Marcha del Río de la Plata; La lira argentina o colección de las piezas poéticas, dadas a luz en Buenos Aires durante la guerra de su independencia (1824); Spanish folk songs Spanischen Volksliedern (in German); Fernando Cruz Cordero'sFootnote 26 Discurso sobre música (1844); La crónica teatral (1877); El Mundo Artístico (1881–1888); Mesfistófeles (1882); Gabino Ezeiza'sFootnote 27 Cantares Criollos (1886) (a set of songs that only include the lyrics); the libretto of Arturo Berutti'sFootnote 28 opera Pampa (1897); Angel María Metallo'sFootnote 29 La paz. March for Piano (1897). As there is no direct access to digitized musical materials, it is necessary to search through the catalogue by keyword.

Fig. 1

Screenshot of the BN's digital repository showing Esnaola's songs (consulted 25 October 2024)

There are also digitized periodicals that contain music-related information, such as El Argos de Buenos Aires (1821–1825), The British Packet (1826–1858), and El Diario de la Tarde (1831–1851). Here, we list periodicals we know are digitized and include music-related data (concerts, notices, etc.), omitting others we cannot verify. In general, there is no direct access to these sources and each newspaper must be searched individually. The BN also offers facsimile editions on music topics, such as the music writings of Paul GroussacFootnote 30 and the Spanischen Volksliedern.Footnote 31

AHIRA is a project of the Instituto de Historia Argentina y Americana ‘Dr. Emilio Ravignani’ (Universidad de Buenos Aires), bringing together different researchers studying Argentine magazines published during the twentieth century, although some nineteenth-century publications can also be found (see Fig. 2). The website allows users to browse the digital collection both alphabetically and chronologically.Footnote 32

Fig. 2

Screenshot of AHIRA's website displaying nineteenth-century journals (Consulted 25 October 2024)

From the nineteenth century we find the magazines La Moda: Gacetín semanal, de música, de poesía, de literatura, de costumbres which was published in the city of Buenos Aires for five months, between 18 November 1837 and 21 April 1838, and La Lira Argentina, a music magazine published in Buenos Aires from January to May 1856 under the direction of José Amat, a Spanish musician residing in Argentina. The issues of La Moda include works for piano by Argentine composers active during the first half of the nineteenth century, such as Juan Pedro Esnaola and Juan Bautista Alberdi, as well as piano arrangements in the style of internationally renowned European composers such as Vincenzo Bellini.

The IIET has a digital collection of scores from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries edited by members of the institute.Footnote 33 In the left margin of their website (see Fig. 3), there is detailed information of the works and periods covered: ‘Colección de música argentina para canto y piano de principios del siglo XIX’ (Collection of Argentine music for piano of the nineteenth century), ‘Colección de música argentina para canto y piano de principios del siglo XIX’ (Collection of Argentine music for song and piano of the early nineteenth century), ‘Himno Nacional Argentino’ (Argentine National Anthem), music for the theatre, and orchestral scores featuring composers from both centuries.

Fig. 3

Screenshot of the IIET's website showing their Argentine art music collection (Consulted 25 October 2024)

In addition to the digital work, the institute has a section that includes the inventories of the library, archives and media library, which are currently being updated; however, some data can be consulted online.Footnote 34

The INET holds records of Argentine musical theatre works from the late nineteenth century. Although this material has not been fully digitized, part of it is available for consultation as part of a research project on the subject.Footnote 35

The MHN is entirely dedicated to the history of Argentina and holds collections of paintings and objects related to major milestones in the country's history. Among its main collections is the collection of musical instruments, for which the museum published an illustrated analytical catalogue that can be useful for the study of organology.Footnote 36 This catalogue includes, among other musical objects, the pianos belonging to the family of Juan Pedro Esnaola. Although this is the only existing digital material, the museum also holds important collections of materials that help contextualize the country's musical scene, especially during the first half of the nineteenth century, such as Blas Parera's manuscript of the Marcha Patriótica (National Anthem), Manuelita Rosas's study notebooks,Footnote 37 opera librettos, and the pianos of Mariquita Sánchez de Thompson.Footnote 38

The IIMCV belongs to the Universidad Católica Argentina (UCA) and holds collections of popular, folk, colonial and art music by local composers from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. On their website, this can be found through the ARCHIVOS tab. There is another section called MÚSICA ACADÉMICA ARGENTINA (Argentine Art Music), which presents an alphabetical catalogue of Argentine composers and their works included in its repository.Footnote 39 Among the nineteenth-century composers we highlight Juan Pedro Esnaola, Julián Aguirre (see Fig. 4), and the brothers Pablo and Arturo Berutti. Access to documents requires a username and password specific to the institution, so we understand that requests must be made via email.Footnote 40

Fig. 4

Screenshot of the IIMCV's Argentine Art Music section, showing the biography of composer Julián Aguirre (Consulted 25 October 2024)

The SEDICI is the institutional repository of the Universidad Nacional de La Plata (UNLP), which stores the productions of its affiliated researchers. The two most significant music-related documents are the facsimile version of the Boletín Musical (1837) with a preliminary study by Melanie Plesch; and the facsimile version of the Cuaderno de Música de Juan Pedro Esnaola (1844), with an analytical study by Bernardo Illari, material that was digitized in a joint project with the Archivo Histórico de la Provincia de Buenos Aires. Both documents are available for download.Footnote 41

The website of the Boletín Oficial de la República Argentina (BORA) provides digital access to all official bulletins issued by the Argentine Republic from 1893 to the present day.Footnote 42 An advanced search function is available, enabling the user to locate specific items, for example, decrees appointing music teachers or scholarships from the final decade of the nineteenth century.

It is also relevant to mention certain databases and digital repositories situated outside of Argentina, which include information on nineteenth-century Argentine music:

  1. 1. Biblioteca Digital del Patrimonio Iberoamericano (BDPI)

  2. 2. Biblioteca Nacional de España (BNE)

  3. 3. Ibero-Amerikanisches Institut (IAI)

  4. 4. International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP) / Petrucci Music Library

  5. 5. Répertoire International des Sources Musicales (RISM)

The BDPI is a database that links the search to the national libraries of Ibero-America. It can be searched by keyword, with the results directing the user to digital sources in country-specific repositories.Footnote 43

The BNE holds a digital collection of newspapers and magazines from Argentina from different periods.Footnote 44 A comparable digital repository is that of the IAI, which holds a digital collection of Ibero-American magazines.Footnote 45 Regarding Argentina, it is possible to find some cultural magazines from the late nineteenth century.

IMSLP contains scores by Argentine composers from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.Footnote 46 As this database is built on external collaborations, it contains a variety of scores for which the provenance is, in some cases, uncertain. It is therefore important to corroborate and contrast the sources with other repositories and/or documentary sources. In many cases, we find contemporary transcriptions of works by nineteenth century composers, or alternatively, some form of reproduction (facsimile, photocopy).

RISM is an open access repository that hosts the cataloguing of musical sources, (manuscripts and printed scores), as well as librettos and writings on music from across the globe in both private and public archives.Footnote 47 Regarding Argentina (RA), the repositories represented are those belonging to the following sites: The ‘Pablo Cabrera’ Documentary Collection of the ‘Elma Kohlmeyer de Strabou’ Library of the Faculty of Philosophy and Humanities (Universidad Nacional de Córdoba); the Historical Archive of the Convent of San Jorge (OFM) of the city of Cordoba (Argentina; see Fig. 5); the Convent of Santa Catalina de Sena of the city of Cordoba (Argentina); the collection of the ‘Manuel de Falla’ Museum (Alta Gracia, Córdoba, Argentina); the Biblioteca Nacional Mariano Moreno (BN, Buenos Aires); the Archive of the Teatro Colón (Buenos Aires); the Archive of the Instituto de Musicología ‘Carlos Vega’ (INM); the Archive of the Faculty of Arts and Design of the Universidad Nacional de Cuyo (Mendoza, Argentina); and the personal archive of the Argentine researcher Carlos Campos.Footnote 48 In all cases, the available resources are catalogue cards and the location of the musical documents within the repository; however the documents are not fully available online and are not necessarily digitized. Regarding the timeframe of this article, the only repository containing nineteenth-century music is that of the Archivo del Convento San Jorge (OFM) in Córdoba.

Fig. 5

Screenshot of the RISM catalogue showing information from a work located at the Archivo del Convento San Jorge in Córdoba (Argentina) (Consulted 25 October 2024)

The aim of this review article has been to provide an overview of the situation with regard to the preservation of nineteenth-century music sources in Argentina and their treatment in terms of digitization and public access. Argentina has never had unified criteria for the valorization, safeguarding and dissemination of its documentary sources for the study of history, and even less so for the history of music. To a significant extent, the work that has been carried out thus far has been reliant on the artisanal care of those responsible for the repositories, and on occasions, on the goodwill of those in charge. The lack of consistency in the organization and methodology required to preserve and make sources accessible can be attributed to two main factors: political and economic. The ideology and party structure of the governments in power have historically prevailed over the sustainability of long-term policies. Furthermore, from the perspective of those in power (most strongly within the current government), studies of culture are not perceived as having a direct and quantifiable impact on the country's economy, and are thus are not typically considered as a viable investment.

Despite these challenges, the work of Argentine researchers represents a significant achievement in the field of social and human sciences, even if many of these findings and advances could only be perceived as extraordinary events only understandable in a context of ‘magical realism’.

References

1 https://bibliopatrimonio.cultura.gob.ar/. This website, which brings together bibliographic collections from museums and national institutes, was previously under the auspices of the National Ministry of Culture. In the current government, the ministry has been reduced to a Secretariat, and we do not know if it will be maintained in the future.

2 The websites referenced in this review were consulted between January and October 2024. As we will discuss later, these websites are not consistently operational. They may be accessible on one occasion, but subsequently inaccessible or displaying an error message.

3 The cataloguing work being conducted in religious institutions is being systematzed in RISM and will be discussed in greater detail later in this article.

4 Regarding Argentina's history during the nineteenth century, see Chiaramonte, José Carlos, Ciudades, provincias, Estados: Orígenes de la Nación Argentina (1800–1846) (Buenos Aires: Emecé, 2007)Google Scholar; Ternavasio, Marcela, Historia de la Argentina (1806–1852) (Buenos Aires: Siglo XXI, 2013)Google Scholar; and Meglio, Gabriel Di, Historia de las clases populares en la Argentina: Desde 1516 hasta 1880 (Buenos Aires: Sudamericana, 2012)Google Scholar.

5 This time frame is somewhat longer than the conventional boundaries of nineteenth-century European history, and the last of the three periods could be divided approximately around 1910. See Caimari, Lila, La vida en el archivo (Buenos Aires: Siglo XXI, 2017): 113Google Scholar.

6 The term criollo is used to refer to Spanish descendants born in the American territory. See Guerberof, Alberto, Izquierda colonial y socialismo criollo (Buenos Aires: Ediciones Mar Dulce, 1985)Google Scholar; and Botana, Natalio, El Orden conservador (Buenos Aires: Hyspamérica, 1986)Google Scholar.

7 This expansion was encouraged by the so-called ‘Desert Campaign or Conquest of the Desert’ which was led by Julio Argentino Roca, Nicolás Avellaneda's Minister of War between 1878 and 1885, and then President of the Argentine Nation between 1898 and 1904. The ‘conquest of the desert’ involved the indiscriminate annihilation of the indigenous populations who inhabited the region. See Delrio, Walter, Lenton, Diana, Musante, Marcelo, Nagy, Mariano, Papazian, Alexis, and Pérez, Pilar, ‘Discussing Indigenous Genocide in Argentina: Past, Present, and Consequences of Argentinean State Policies Toward Native Peoples’, Genocide Studies and Prevention 5/2 (2010): 138–59CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

8 For more on the application of the centre–periphery dyad see Miguel Angel Marín, Music on The Margins: Urban Musical Life in Eighteenth-Century Jaca (Spain) (Kassel: Reichenberger, 2002).

9 Javier Marín López, ‘Presentación: Italia Global’, Italia Global de la Península Ibérica al Nuevo Mundo, XXIII Festival de Música Antigua Úbeda y Baeza. Diputación Provincial de Jaén, 2019. See also Restiffo, Marisa and Wolkowicz, Vera, eds., ‘Historias Conectadas: el italianismo musical en Latinoamérica en el siglo XIX’, Resonancias 28/54 (2024): 11–166CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

10 These two publications are publicly available and will be presented later in this article.

11 Most of the religious works by composers from Buenos Aires are not accessible in digital format and require consultation and authorization, as is the case with the Archive of the Instituto de Investigaciones Musicológicas ‘Carlos Vega’ (Universidad Católica Argentina).

12 For example, Mariano Bosch, Historia de la ópera en Buenos Aires: Origen del canto i la música (Buenos Aires: Imprenta El Comercio, 1905); Santiago Calzadilla, Las beldades de mi tiempo (Buenos Aires: Administración General, 1919); José Antonio Wilde, Buenos Aires desde setenta años atrás (Buenos Aires: Imprenta y Librería de Mayo, 1881). All these books are available online.

13 The administrative documentation of the theatres has not been digitized. In some cases, they can be consulted in person, contingent upon the institution housing them.

14 Some of these sources have already been the subject of research by Argentine scholars. We suggest consulting the following: Héctor Goyena, ‘Lírica a la luz de las velas: la ópera en Buenos Aires entre 1821 y 1830’, Música e Investigación 12–13 (2003): 15–164; Guillermina Guillamón, Música, política y gusto: Una historia de la cultura musical en Buenos Aires, 1817–1838 (Rosario: Prohistoria, 2018); Nicolás Ojeda, ‘La Lira y El Mundo Artístico: Apuestas editoriales para la modernización de la crítica musical en Buenos Aires (1869–1887)’ Anuario del Instituto de Historia Argentina 23 (2023): 1–14; Bernardo Illari, ‘Ética, estética y nación: las canciones de Juan Pedro Esnaola’, Cuadernos de Música Iberoamericana. 10 (2005): 137–223; Illari, ‘Carta de Esnaola: música, discurso, y redes interpersonales en el Buenos Aires de 1837’, Revista del Instituto de Investigación Musicológica “Carlos Vega” 23 (2009): 101–27; Illari, ‘Releves d'apprenti: Esnaola, Rosquellas y la Misa a 3 (1824)’, Música e Investigación 17 (2009): 17–68; Illari, ‘Esnaola contra Rosas’, Revista Argentina de Musicología 11 (2010): 33–73; Melanie Plesch, El Discurso Sobre Música de Fernando Cruz Cordero (Buenos Aires: Secretaría de Cultura de la Nación, 2006); Clarisa Pedrotti, ‘Música desconocida de un porteño en Córdoba’, Revista Nuevo Mundo 8 (2021): 27–50; Pedrotti, ‘Los “Salmos de Vísperas” de Esnaola: Presencia del italianismo en su estilo temprano (1822–1828)’, Resonancias 28/54 (2024): 91–111; Vera Wolkowicz, ‘La recepción de la ópera italiana en Buenos Aires a fines del período rosista: una polémica entre el Diario de la Tarde y el Diario de Avisos (1848–1851)’, in Dar la nota: el rol de la prensa en la historia musical argentina (1848–1943), ed. Silvina Mansilla (Buenos Aires: Gourmet Musical, 2012): 21–60; Pola Suárez Urtubey, Antecedentes de la musicología en la Argentina: Documentación y exégesis (Buenos Aires: Educa, 2009); Manuel Massone and Mario Celentano, Generaciones Olvidadas (Buenos Aires: EDaMus, UNA, 2016); Silvia Glocer, ‘La Lira Argentina, de José Amat’, www.ahira.com.ar/revistas/la-lira-argentina/, 2019.

15 Regarding music research on the second half of the nineteenth century see Massone, Manuel and Olmello, Oscar, ‘El Conservatorio Nacional de 1888. La Primera Fundación’ 4′ 33″: Revista on line de Investigación Musical 7/1 (2015): 14–28Google Scholar; Lea Geler, ‘Afrodescendencia y mundo urbano popular en Buenos Aires (1895–1916): El caso de Zenón Rolón y Chin Yonk’, in La articulación del Estado en América Latina, ed. by Pilar García Jordán (Barcelona: PiUB, 2013): 207–26; César Dillon, El teatro de la Gran Aldea. Antiguo Teatro Colón: historia y cronología. vol. 1 (1857–1872) and vol. 2 (1873–1888) (Buenos Aires: Sinopsis, 2019); Melanie Plesch, ‘La lógica sonora de la generación del 80: Una aproximación a la retórica del nacionalismo musical argentino’, in Los caminos de la música (Europa-Argentina) (Jujuy: Editorial de la Universidad Nacional de Jujuy, 2008): 55–111; Weber, José Ignacio, ‘La “cultura estética” de Miguel Cané, Alberto Williams y el Ateneo: Discurso y argumentación esteticista en torno al Festival Wagner (1894)’, Revista Argentina de Musicología 12–13 (2012): 315–41Google Scholar; Cirio, Norberto Pablo, ‘Black Skin, White Music: Afroporteño Musicians and Composers in Europe in the Second Half of the Nineteenth Century’, Black Music Research Journal 35/1 (2015): 23–40CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

16 https://coleccion.inmcv.gob.ar/.

17 https://inmcv.cultura.gob.ar/info/repositorio-digital/.

18 https://bcn.gob.ar/la-biblioteca

19 www.argentina.gob.ar/interior/archivo-general-de-la-nacion.

20 www.musicaclasicaargentina.com/.

21 There are two musicological institutions named after Carlos Vega with similar names, which often leads to confusion among musicologists. One is a national institution (Instituto Nacional de Musicología ‘Carlos Vega’), and the other is private (Instituto de Investigación Musicológica ‘Carlos Vega’) and is affiliated with the Universidad Católica Argentina. The reason for this dual dedication is that Carlos Vega worked both for the state and for this private university, donating parts of his work to each institution, which subsequently named them after him.

22 These are the main pages of each institution's website: BN: www.bn.gov.ar/; AHIRA: https://ahira.com.ar/; IIET: http://buenosaires.gob.ar/cultura/ensenanza-artistica/instituto-de-investigacion-en-etnomusicologia; INET: https://inet.cultura.gob.ar/; MHN: https://museohistoriconacional.cultura.gob.ar/; SEDICI: https://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/; IIMCV: https://iimcv.net.ar/ BORA: www.boletinoficial.gob.ar/.

23 www.bn.gov.ar/colecciones-digitales/publicaciones.

24 Amancio Alcorta (1805–1862) was an Argentine musician, composer and politician who, together with Juan Pedro Esnaola and Juan Bautista Alberdi, are considered the first generation of Argentine composers. His work includes pieces of secular music, especially chamber music, as well as religious music.

25 Juan Pedro Esnaola (1808–1878) was one of the most important musicians of the first generation of Argentine composers. In his production he has a first period dedicated to religious music, which has a striking circulation in some cities of the interior of the Argentine territory, and a second period in which the composition of chamber music, secular music for piano and for song and piano, stands out. This composer is known for having made an arrangement of the Argentine National Anthem in 1860.

26 Fernando Cruz Cordero (1822–1861) was a lawyer and music lover who developed his activities between Uruguay and Argentina. He composed some works for guitar.

27 Gabino Ezeiza (1858–1916), also known as ‘Negro Ezeiza’ was an Afrodescendant Argentine musician and ‘payador’ (a person who sings and play the guitar in a kind of competition with others musicians).

28 Arturo Berutti (1862–1938) was an Argentine composer related to the 1880s composers’ generation along with Alberto Williams and Julián Aguirre. He is considered the initiator of national Argentine opera. During his life he was a member of several musical societies. Among his most renowned operas are Pampa, Taras Bulba, Gli Eroi.

29 Angel María Metallo (1863–1914) was an Italian composer related to the field of tango in Argentina. Unfortunately, we do not have more information about this author.

30 Paul Groussac (1848–1929) was a French writer and historian who resided in Buenos Aires and became the director of the Biblioteca Nacional (BN).

31 www.bn.gov.ar/micrositios/libros/musica. This website is somewhat unstable, and at times cannot be accessed,

32 https://ahira.com.ar/revistas/?filter_by=abc.

33 The link to the complete list can be found here: https://buenosaires.gob.ar/cultura/ensenanza-artistica/instituto-de-investigacion-en-etnomusicologia/espacio-de-ediciones/musica-academica-argentina-y-latinoamericana.

34 https://buenosaires.gob.ar/cultura/ensenanza-artistica/instituto-de-investigacion-en-etnomusicologia/biblioteca-archivo-y-mediateca.

35 See https://sonidoescenico.com/musicas-escenicas-en-el-archivo-inet/.

36 https://museohistoriconacional.cultura.gob.ar/media/uploads/site-6/Catalogos/mhn_catalogo_2_final-web.pdf.

37 Manuela or Manuelita Rosas (1817–1898) was an Argentine political activist and novelist, daughter of Juan Manuel de Rosas, Argentine politician and two-time governor of the province of Buenos Aires. Manuelita fostered the creation of a cultural and artistic environment within her Palermo residence, which served as the domicile of the Rosas family in Buenos Aires, and where she hosted musical and literary gatherings.

38 María Josefa Petrona de Todos los Santos Sánchez de Velasco y Trillo, better known as Mariquita Sánchez de Thompson (1786–1868), was an important figure in Argentine politics and culture. Mariquita is remembered for the gatherings that took place in her own house, where it is thought that the Argentine National Anthem may have been sung for the first time in 1813. Mariquita Sánchez engaged with the ‘Generation of the “37”, a literary group that marked the origins of literary Romanticism in the River Plate cultural scene. In 1837, for political reasons, she went into exile in Uruguay.

39 https://iimcv.net.ar/archivo_academica.php.

40 The email address that appears online is: .

41 https://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/handle/10915/27271; and https://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/handle/10915/27286.

42 www.boletinoficial.gob.ar/busquedaAvanzada/all.

43 www.iberoamericadigital.net/BDPI/Inicio.do.

44 https://hemerotecadigital.bne.es/hd/es/advanced.

45 https://digital.iai.spk-berlin.de/.

46 https://imslp.org/wiki/Category:Argentinian_people.

47 https://rism.info/.

48 The Argentine RISM repositories are unified with the acronym RA (República Argentina) and each has its own identification: RA – AGmmf (Museo Manuel de Falla); RA-BAc (Teatro Colón); RA-BAinm (Instituto Nacional de Musicología ‘Carlos Vega’); RA-BAn (Biblioteca Nacional Mariano Moreno); RA-Ccsc (Convento de Santa Catalina, Archivo); RA-Ccsj (Archivo Histórico Convento San Jorge); RA-Cff (UNC, FFyH, Biblioteca); RA-Mfad (Universidad Nacional de Cuyo, Facultad de Artes y Diseño); RA-Rcampos (Private Collection of Carlos Fabián Campos).

Figure 0

Fig. 1 Screenshot of the BN's digital repository showing Esnaola's songs (consulted 25 October 2024)

Figure 1

Fig. 2 Screenshot of AHIRA's website displaying nineteenth-century journals (Consulted 25 October 2024)

Figure 2

Fig. 3 Screenshot of the IIET's website showing their Argentine art music collection (Consulted 25 October 2024)

Figure 3

Fig. 4 Screenshot of the IIMCV's Argentine Art Music section, showing the biography of composer Julián Aguirre (Consulted 25 October 2024)

Figure 4

Fig. 5 Screenshot of the RISM catalogue showing information from a work located at the Archivo del Convento San Jorge in Córdoba (Argentina) (Consulted 25 October 2024)