Ángela Peralta was used as a civilizational instrument, says expert

Angela Peralta (1845-1883) was used in a political framework in the nineteenth century to show Europe and the world that the young nation that was Mexico had a civilized character, says the historian Golden Maya, who from the National Center for Research, Documentation and Musical Information (Cenidim), an instance of the Federal Secretariat of Culture, participates in abounding in the documented knowledge about this outstanding singer, pianist.

Jointly, Russian musicologist Elena Kopylova works on the rescue of Musical album, Published in 1875, which will promote that the pieces written by Peralta in the nineteenth century, interpreted on rare occasions, are incorporated into the repertoire of concerts in our country.

180 years after the birth of the woman in prodigious voice persists myths, false data and lack of appreciation, in addition to the music that she wrote for piano is not known. To commemorate the female figure the tribute will be made The nightingale of Mexico: Ángela Peralta and her music, that will sound again in a concert the music he wrote, and at a specialist conference they will address revealing data. Both activities, with free admission, will be held today at 6 pm in the Aula Magna José Vasconcelos of the National Center of Arts (CENART).

When starting to study Ángela Peralta I have found many surprisesSays Aurea Maya, who currently works in a book that will be published in next months. Perhaps it is one of the characters most beaten by history and musicology. Not only in the nineteenth and twentieth century, but in the XXI, because they still accuse her of many things.

When investigating files and documents, for example, he found that he was not servant, as many claim. There are historians who never took the trouble to corroborate. Of course, she has been the reason for legends, myths, historical novels and plays where her figure is exalted, but also negative features of her personality.

In Polanco, an outdoor theater bears his name. The same happens in San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato. Also in Mazatlan, Sinaloa, the name of the singer is the one that identifies the main theater of the city. Known as The Mexican nightingalewas an international figure, the first Mexican singer to act in the main European theater, La Scala, in Milan. Although there is little documentation in this regard, the historian questions how many professionals of the belly You can say that.

Angela Peralta was born in Mexico City on July 6, 1845. From a young age she met success and went to Europe. He returned during the period in which Maximiliano was in Mexico, who appointed her Empire Chamber Singer. It was precisely in Mazatlan where he died, at 38, because of yellow fever, on August 30, 1883. That epidemic ended 17 percent of the population, says Maya, so Peralta was a symbol of the duel of such a tragedy. One of the myths that accompany her is that at the moments of her last breath she married Julián Montiel Duarte, who many say she was her lover.

Elena Kopylova, a researcher at Cenidim, currently works on a thorough reading of the Musical album, which contains the scores of their pieces, mainly for singing and piano. Waltzes, polkas, romances, fantasies and even a study are included, something very current at the time, with Frederic Chopin as one of the most important representatives.

In the interview with the two music scholars and the director of the Cenidim, Víctor Barrera, show impressions of some of the pages of this collection of pieces, with illegible letters and difficult to read for the musicians. On the cover is a portrait of the author, whose piano works are touched very rarely in concert halls.

This project seeks that Peralta themes are incorporated into the formation of young musicians, for example, in the Higher School of Music, located a few steps from the offices of the Research Center, on top of the Violet Tower of the Cultural Complex.

In this regard, Barrera stressed that the work of study and dissemination of Mexico’s music from Cenidim seeks interdiscipline. The approach with schools and the formation of new musicians is very important in this institution.

It is some of these students who with great enthusiasm agreed to participate in this afternoon’s concert. Despite having little time to prepare the concert and be in final exams, they assumed a challenge of a lot of discipline and effort, they even chose the most difficult pieces, Kopylova advances.

Aurea Maya, historian of art and musicologist, said that opera in the nineteenth century had a complicated, but very interesting cycle in Mexico, because in the nascent country the politicians of that time, especially Lucas Alamán, took this art of song as a civilizational instrument to demonstrate before the eyes of Europe that we were an advanced nation.

When I start working the figure of Ángela Peralta I realize that she enters all that framework, and of course it worked as a civilizational instrument. THE AUTHOR OF THE BOOK Opera and secret expenses He stressed that not only had a privileged voice, but was very intelligent, with business knowledge. He followed the canons of the nineteenth century, with the standards of being a perfect nineteenth -century lady, but at the same time she was a woman with great vision of what the world was, perhaps infused by her father and then by her teachers.

The important Mexican singer will participate in researchers Elena Kopylova, Áurea Maya and Zuly Amir López Ríos, with the moderation of the director of Cenidim, Víctor Barrera. The pianists Isis González, Maximiliano Rosas and Elías Morales, as well as the Sopranos Patricia Mastachi and Isamar Reyes will give life to these scores after a process of careful transcription and analysis.