Joan Cererols
Encyclopedia
Joan Cererols was a Catalan
musician and Benedictine
monk
. His musical production includes a Requiem
(or Missa pro defunctis) composed in the mid-seventeenth century during the great plague
which ravaged Barcelona
, and a Missa de Batalla (Battle Mass) which celebrates the conquest of the Kingdom of Naples
.
Cererols was born in Martorell
. He entered the choir school Escolania de Montserrat around 1626. Cererols took his first steps in music under the direction of Father Joan March, a famous organist
. After ten years in the escolania, Joan was admitted as a novice at the Monastery of Montserrat on 6 September 1636, at age eighteen. The polychoral dialogue texture with a slight gap between the vocal entries within each choir which lightens his style and contrasts with that of the composers of the earliest generation is supposed to be an influence of March.
In 1648, Cererols received the permission of March to visit Madrid
where he could meet the new generation of musicians. After his return, he was confirmed as a member of the monastic community. After the death of March in 1658, Joan Cererols became choirmaster in his home monastery, a position he held until his death there in 1680. He was 61 years old.
Catalan people
The Catalans or Catalonians are the people from, or with origins in, Catalonia that form a historical nationality in Spain. The inhabitants of the adjacent portion of southern France are sometimes included in this definition...
musician and Benedictine
Benedictine
Benedictine refers to the spirituality and consecrated life in accordance with the Rule of St Benedict, written by Benedict of Nursia in the sixth century for the cenobitic communities he founded in central Italy. The most notable of these is Monte Cassino, the first monastery founded by Benedict...
monk
Monk
A monk is a person who practices religious asceticism, living either alone or with any number of monks, while always maintaining some degree of physical separation from those not sharing the same purpose...
. His musical production includes a Requiem
Requiem
A Requiem or Requiem Mass, also known as Mass for the dead or Mass of the dead , is a Mass celebrated for the repose of the soul or souls of one or more deceased persons, using a particular form of the Roman Missal...
(or Missa pro defunctis) composed in the mid-seventeenth century during the great plague
Bubonic plague
Plague is a deadly infectious disease that is caused by the enterobacteria Yersinia pestis, named after the French-Swiss bacteriologist Alexandre Yersin. Primarily carried by rodents and spread to humans via fleas, the disease is notorious throughout history, due to the unrivaled scale of death...
which ravaged Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
, and a Missa de Batalla (Battle Mass) which celebrates the conquest of the Kingdom of Naples
Kingdom of Naples
The Kingdom of Naples, comprising the southern part of the Italian peninsula, was the remainder of the old Kingdom of Sicily after secession of the island of Sicily as a result of the Sicilian Vespers rebellion of 1282. Known to contemporaries as the Kingdom of Sicily, it is dubbed Kingdom of...
.
Cererols was born in Martorell
Martorell
Martorell is a town near Barcelona, in Catalonia, Spain, primarily known for its medieval Devil's bridge.It has three railway stations - one on the RENFE line from Manresa to Sant Vicenç de Calders called "Martorell", and three on the FGC line from Barcelona to Manresa called "Martorell-Vila",...
. He entered the choir school Escolania de Montserrat around 1626. Cererols took his first steps in music under the direction of Father Joan March, a famous organist
Organ (music)
The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...
. After ten years in the escolania, Joan was admitted as a novice at the Monastery of Montserrat on 6 September 1636, at age eighteen. The polychoral dialogue texture with a slight gap between the vocal entries within each choir which lightens his style and contrasts with that of the composers of the earliest generation is supposed to be an influence of March.
In 1648, Cererols received the permission of March to visit Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
where he could meet the new generation of musicians. After his return, he was confirmed as a member of the monastic community. After the death of March in 1658, Joan Cererols became choirmaster in his home monastery, a position he held until his death there in 1680. He was 61 years old.