Soler (Ramos), Antonio (Francisco Javie José)

Soler (Ramos), Antonio (Francisco Javier José), important Catalan composer and organist; b. Olot, Gerona (baptized), Dec. 3, 1729; d. El Escorial, near Madrid, Dec. 20, 1783. He entered the Montserrat monastery choir school in 1736, where his mentors were the maestro Benito Esteve and the organist Beninto Valls. About 1750 he was made maestro de capilla in Lérida; in 1752, was ordained a subdeacon and also became a member of the Jeronymite monks in El Escorial, taking the habit, and then being professed in 1753; was made maestro de capilla in 1757. He also pursued studies with José de Nebra and Domenico Scarlatti. Soler was a prolific composer of both sacred and secular vocal music, as well as instrumental music. Among his works are 9 masses, 5 Requiems, 60 Psalms, 13 Magnificats, 14 litanies, 28 Lamentations, 5 motets, and other sacred works; 132 villancicos (1752–78); 120 keyboard sonatas (100 sonatas and a Fandango ed. by F. Marvin, N.Y., 1958–59); 6 quintets for 2 Violins, Viola, Cello, and Organ (1776; ed. by R. Gerhard, Barcelona, 1933); 6 conciertos de dos organos obligados (ed. in Musica Hispana, series C, 1952–62, and by S. Kastner, Mainz, 1972); liturgical organ pieces. His Writings include Llave de la modulatión, y antigüedades de la música en que se trata del fundamento necessario para saber modular: Theórica, y prática para el más claro conocimiento de qualquier especie de figuras, desde el tiempo de Juan de Muris, hasta hoy, con albunos cánones enigmá;ticos, y sus resoluciones (Madrid, 1762; ed. and tr. by M. Crouch, diss., Univ. of Calif., Santa Barbara, 1978), Satisfactión a los reparos precisos hechos por D. Antonio Roel del Rio, a la Llave de la modulatión (Madrid, 1765), Caria escrita a un amigo en que le da parte de un diálogo ultimamente publicado contra su Llave de la modulatión (Madrid, 1766), and Combination de Monedas y Calculo manifiesto contra el Libro anónimo inititulado: Correspondencia de la Moneda de Cataluña a la de Castilla (Barcelona, 1771).

Bibliography

F. Carroll, An Introduction to A. S.(diss., Univ. of Rochester, 1960); T. Espinosa, Selected Unpublished Villancicos of Padre Fray A. S.(diss., Univ. of Southern Calif., 1969); K. Heimes, A. S.’s Keyboard Sonatas (Pretoria, 1969); P. Capdepón Verdü, El P. A. S. (1729–1783) y el cultivo del villancico en El Escoriai (Madrid, 1993); idem, Die Villancicos des P. A. S. (1729–1783) (Frankfurt am Main, 1994).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire