The Historical Collection of the Convent of Arouca: Recovering and Cataloguing

Arouca preserves a group of liturgical manuscripts and ancient printings of great importance for the History of Music and the History of Art, whose inventory has remained incomplete to date. As a result of this project financed by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, carried out in a partnership between the Real Irmandade da Rainha Santa Mafalda, the Center for the Study of Sociology and Musical Aesthetics (CESEM) and the Institute of Ethnomusicology – Center for the Study of Music and Dance ( INET-MD), it was possible to analyze, organize, digitize and catalog this historical collection composed of documents dated between the 13th and 20th centuries, which includes manuscript books, manuscript musical fragments, printed books (including incunabula), and various documents (periodical publications , prints, drawings and postcard albums).

The restoration of the polyphonic choirbook was carried out at the National Library of Portugal (P-AR Museu Regional de Arte Sacra do Mosteiro de Arouca Res. Ms. 32); as well as the extraction and restoration of an 11th century Visigothic fragment that was used to reinforce the binding of the 1494 Braga Breviary; the restoration of the 1494 Braga Breviary; and the purging and sanitisation of all the printed books.

The edition of the polyphonic codex and its English version were prepared.

In addition, recordings were made of chants taken from the Gregorian antiphonals of Arouca and unpublished four-voice pieces from the same convent’s polyphonic choirbook. In the case of the Office, we opted for the monody / polyphony alternation according to ancient monastic custom on the feast of St Bernard, and for the Mass, we chose the cycle of the Ordinary attributed to the composer António de Oliveira, plus an Alleluia, also polyphonic. These recordings were made in Ílhavo, thanks to the collaboration of the Vista Alegre Museum, by the Vozes Bernardinas, directed by Manuel Pedro Ferreira, and the Vocal Ensemble, directed by Vasco Negreiros.

To catalogue this set of documents, a digital platform was built and is available in open access.