For wind orchestra, field recordings and electronics, 2025
A Sound Journey Through Dorothé Schubarth’s Galicia via Her Archives
(Duration 10′)
Picc., Fl., Ob., E.H., 2 Bns./Eb Cl., Bb Cl. I, Bb Cl. II, Bb Cl. III, Bb Bass Cl./Bb S. Sax., Eb A. Sax., 2 Bb T. Saxes, Eb Bar. Sax./4 Hns. F, 3 Tpts. Bb, 2 Flghns. Bb, 2 Ten. Tbns., Bass Tbn., 2 Euphs. C, 2 Tubas/Timp., 4 Perc. (Crotales [bow and mallet], triangle, Chinese snare, snare drum, crash cymbals, glockenspiel, tenor drum, tam-tam, vibraphone, tubular bell in D-flat, suspended cymbal, sizzle cymbal, bass drum)/Double bass
Premiered by Bilbao Wind Orchestra on March 2nd 2025.
As marxes is a work that traces a sound journey through the collections gathered by ethnomusicologist Dorothé Schubarth in Galicia. Born in Basel in 1944, she traveled across the Galician territory between 1978 and 1983, and the result of her work was published in the Cancioneiro Popular Galego, with the collaboration of Antón Santamarina.
The generosity of this woman made it possible for us, even today, to access a way of singing, playing, and understanding the world that was fading away at the time.
In March 1980, Schubarth visited Vila da Igrexa in Cerceda, as well as the village of Mens in Malpica. Barely 45 kilometers separate one location from the other, but in the recordings, it becomes evident that these were vibrant and ever-changing musical traditions. The same melody might have a completely different set of lyrics, variations in ornamentation, melodic lines, rhythm, or accompaniment. The way Adolfina and Rosa Casás sang and played in Cerceda differs from how Asunción Garrido, Manuela, and Teresa Lema did in Malpica.
This essence, this authenticity and flexibility of the music, is what the name As marxes refers to: the boundaries of musical interpretation that cannot be fully captured in a classical Western musical score but are alive in the tradition. The title also points to musical traditions and worldviews that were sidelined as rural populations moved to urban centers. As marxes seeks to highlight the intangible heritage of the periphery of Europe’s periphery—music created far from the axes of high culture.
In the work, we hear the voices and pandeiretas of these five women (born between 1912 and 1924) thanks to the use of archival recordings. The imperfections of the recordings are also audible, with their noises, bumps, tape clicks, and even the sounds of the kitchen and the surroundings where they were made. Additionally, we hear conversations between the informants and Dorothé: repeating and clarifying lyrics or simply laughing and enjoying themselves. It is a sonic recreation of what the Swiss researcher experienced in homes across Galicia, sharing moments with hundreds of anonymous people who preserved this intangible heritage.
45 years separate the recordings chosen for this piece from the date of its premiere: from March 1980 in Vila da Igrexa and Mens to March 2025 at the Palacio Euskalduna in Bilbao, performed by the Bilbao Municipal Band. This premiere coincides with the homage that the Real Academia Galega is dedicating to the cantareiras and oral folk poetry for the Día das Letras Galegas 2025. Adolfina and Rosa Casás, Eva Castiñeira, Prudencia, Asunción Garrido, and Manuela Lema are the visible faces of this tribute to a collective patrimonial treasure: music.
The choice of the ensemble accompanying this piece is not accidental. Popular music bands are also part of Galician tradition and society, always present at our festivals and celebrations. As marxes thus connects two key elements of our popular culture: the cantareiras and the music bands.
With the support of Secretaría Xeral de Política Lingüística, Xunta de Galicia.
The sound materials included in this work are published courtesy of the Oral Heritage Archive of Identity (Institute of Identity Studies of the Museum of the Galician People), which houses the Schubarth-Santamarina collection to which the recordings belong.
A Sound Journey Through Dorothé Schubarth’s Galicia via Her Archives
(Duration 10′)
Picc., Fl., Ob., E.H., 2 Bns./Eb Cl., Bb Cl. I, Bb Cl. II, Bb Cl. III, Bb Bass Cl./Bb S. Sax., Eb A. Sax., 2 Bb T. Saxes, Eb Bar. Sax./4 Hns. F, 3 Tpts. Bb, 2 Flghns. Bb, 2 Ten. Tbns., Bass Tbn., 2 Euphs. C, 2 Tubas/Timp., 4 Perc. (Crotales [bow and mallet], triangle, Chinese snare, snare drum, crash cymbals, glockenspiel, tenor drum, tam-tam, vibraphone, tubular bell in D-flat, suspended cymbal, sizzle cymbal, bass drum)/Double bass
Premiered by Bilbao Wind Orchestra on March 2nd 2025.
As marxes is a work that traces a sound journey through the collections gathered by ethnomusicologist Dorothé Schubarth in Galicia. Born in Basel in 1944, she traveled across the Galician territory between 1978 and 1983, and the result of her work was published in the Cancioneiro Popular Galego, with the collaboration of Antón Santamarina.
The generosity of this woman made it possible for us, even today, to access a way of singing, playing, and understanding the world that was fading away at the time.
In March 1980, Schubarth visited Vila da Igrexa in Cerceda, as well as the village of Mens in Malpica. Barely 45 kilometers separate one location from the other, but in the recordings, it becomes evident that these were vibrant and ever-changing musical traditions. The same melody might have a completely different set of lyrics, variations in ornamentation, melodic lines, rhythm, or accompaniment. The way Adolfina and Rosa Casás sang and played in Cerceda differs from how Asunción Garrido, Manuela, and Teresa Lema did in Malpica.
This essence, this authenticity and flexibility of the music, is what the name As marxes refers to: the boundaries of musical interpretation that cannot be fully captured in a classical Western musical score but are alive in the tradition. The title also points to musical traditions and worldviews that were sidelined as rural populations moved to urban centers. As marxes seeks to highlight the intangible heritage of the periphery of Europe’s periphery—music created far from the axes of high culture.
In the work, we hear the voices and pandeiretas of these five women (born between 1912 and 1924) thanks to the use of archival recordings. The imperfections of the recordings are also audible, with their noises, bumps, tape clicks, and even the sounds of the kitchen and the surroundings where they were made. Additionally, we hear conversations between the informants and Dorothé: repeating and clarifying lyrics or simply laughing and enjoying themselves. It is a sonic recreation of what the Swiss researcher experienced in homes across Galicia, sharing moments with hundreds of anonymous people who preserved this intangible heritage.
45 years separate the recordings chosen for this piece from the date of its premiere: from March 1980 in Vila da Igrexa and Mens to March 2025 at the Palacio Euskalduna in Bilbao, performed by the Bilbao Municipal Band. This premiere coincides with the homage that the Real Academia Galega is dedicating to the cantareiras and oral folk poetry for the Día das Letras Galegas 2025. Adolfina and Rosa Casás, Eva Castiñeira, Prudencia, Asunción Garrido, and Manuela Lema are the visible faces of this tribute to a collective patrimonial treasure: music.
The choice of the ensemble accompanying this piece is not accidental. Popular music bands are also part of Galician tradition and society, always present at our festivals and celebrations. As marxes thus connects two key elements of our popular culture: the cantareiras and the music bands.
With the support of Secretaría Xeral de Política Lingüística, Xunta de Galicia.
The sound materials included in this work are published courtesy of the Oral Heritage Archive of Identity (Institute of Identity Studies of the Museum of the Galician People), which houses the Schubarth-Santamarina collection to which the recordings belong.
