Finding the lost composer

In the back of the church of Concepción, a town in the Eastern part of Bolivia, a group of people work everyday restoring musical scores copied by Jesuit priests some 300 years ago, that are part of a precious archive. And it was among those pieces of old documents, saved by chance, that a lost Italian composer, Domenico Zípoli, was to be found again. And even if he was born in the Tuscan city of Prato, far away from here, and in reality he never was here, his name is now closely linked to the sound of music in this tropical forests.
Most of the scores were found by Swiss architect Hans Roth (1934-1999), who fought against reality to restore or rebuild the Jesuit churches. Many of those musical scores were burned, or used as toilette paper, after the Jesuits were sent back to Europe in 1767. Some were found in Santiago, some in San Miguel, some in Santa Ana (see previous posts). There are more than 3,000 musical scores.
And the creation of a real musical archive was also hard work, but now it is the base for an internationally known Baroque Music Festival of the Chiquitos Missions that will be held again this month of May in the restored churches. Musical groups coming from several parts of the world have been requested to include in their concerts at least one piece taken from this archive.
"Most of what we are doing now is from anonymous composers", said Anton, a specialist from Spain whom I met this morning in Concepción, who is now working in the restoration of the scores. It is really impressive to see those very old documents, the leather covers. Now they are stick to special paper free of acid and catalogued and carefully placed in folders.
The Archive is now in the church, and it is taken care of as the most important musical legacy from the Jesuit missions in America.
Well, that's a lot of improvement. In 1988, the first time I visited Concepción, Roth showed me a very basic metallic filing cabinet, with the musical scores in manila folders. He mentioned then that he was trying to collect money so the scores could be saved, and the resources eventually came, many specialists have been involved in the rescue and the promotion of the catalogue. Then, Roth told me about Zipoli.
About how music researchers were wondering of his travel to the 'new world', and if he had composed here. Or if the Italian composer was the same Jesuit priest to be found in some old lists of people making the trip to America. Some data came up, here and there. A Zípoli had died in the Argentine city of Córdoba, around the middle of the 18 century. But then Roth found the name in the sores he had been saving in Bolivia, and eventually shared this with Francisco Curt Lange, a well known specialist, who confirmed that the lost composer had been found.
Zípoli was born in Prato en 1688, and played the organ. He studied music with some celebrities of those baroque times in Italy, some even mention A. Scarlatti. And he composed a fantastic music for organ, the Sonata de Intavolatura. But suddenly he disappeared from the musical scene of Rome and became a Jesuit, and went all the way to Córdoba.
Why? Nobody knows, altough some are playing with the thesis that he went away from a hopeless love. And they mention princess Strozzi, since he dedicated to her his famous sonata.
Well, the discovery of the musical scores in the missions of Bolivia was relevant. This is the only Italian baroque composer whit a musical work in America.
And a few years after his death, the musical scores were copied in Córdoba by Jesuits who were in the middle of a very long trip to the missions of Bolivia.
The Archive has a lot more, of course. There are quite a few scores by Corelli (copied by the priests), a Vivaldi and some Locatelli, among some other Italians. But it is also very important to consider the anonymous scores, and others signed by the priests, specially one named Martin Schmidt. Baroque music, simple, adapted, but still composed in the middle of tropical forests where even today is kind of hard to go.
Now in the 'missional' towns of Chiquitos, as this Bolivian region is known, there are orchestras, instruments are being made by local artisans. That way, the music is back. And quite often, they play Zípoli.