JOSEP CERVERA - BRET
Peralada 1883 - 1969 Roses
Musician, composer and performer for double bass
the cobla
ANTIGA PEP
of Figueres
Directors of the Cobla from 1875 to 1952
Benet Ventura Llandrich
Director from 1875 to 1890
Figueres, December 8, 1858 - Figueres, September, 1890.
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He was a composer and coral conductor, the son of Pep Ventura. He was one of the components of the cobla-orchestra founded by his father, Pep Ventura, where he played the flute, the piano and the flabiol. When his father passed, he succeeded him at the head of the cobl-orchestra, becoming the tenora instrumentalist of the group, and renamed as "Antiga Pep". He was also director of the choir of the Erato Choral Society in the two periods between 1885 -1888 and 1889-1890. His works mainly consists of dances, choral works and sardanas. He was the winner of the first prize for sardanas in La Bisbal, in 1887, with the sardanístic composition titled "l'Empordà".
On the 5th of August, of 1890 he fainted while he was playing in the town of Selva de Mar, precisely when he was performing the tenora solo of the famous "Per tu ploro", composed by his father. Five weeks later he died in Figueres victim of hereditary tuberculosis
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Sources: Wikipedia,Musicspercobla.cat
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With the information available, we have not determined or established who was in charge of the management of the cobla ifrom 1890, when Benet Ventura i Llandrich left the position, and the replacement in 1898 by Antoni Juncà i Soler
Antoni Juncà Soler
Director from 1898 to 1900
Figueres, May 17, 1875 - Zaragoza, February 19, 1952.
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He was a military musician, music teacher and composer, focused in sardanas.
He was born into a large and modest family, deeply rooted in Empordà. At early ages, Juncà was educated in a republican and liberal ideology. He started in music from a very young age, learning music theory, piano, harmony and counterpoint with Isidre Lleys, organist and chapel teacher at the Figueres parish church. He expanded his training by studying the clarinet with Emili Ferrer and also with the prestigious instrumentalist Fèlix Sans; Shortly after, he entered as tible and clarinet in the cobla-orchestra of Pere Sans, brother of the former. He completed his military service as a clarinetist in various military bands (Logroño, Olot) until his discharge in 1898.
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He was a tible and clarinet instrumentalist (in the Orquesta Moderna Catalana of Granollers), and director of cobla (such as Antiga Pep, from Figueres), choirs (with the Claverian choir Amigos de la Unión de Granollers or the choir of the Societat Coral Erato de Figueres), and also orchestras (he directed the Societat Gironina de Concerts in the two concerts offered in 1916).
When his personal situation allowed, he got married with Maria Casadevall (Biure d'Empordà), with whom he had five children. He worked as a music teacher, and had some students -among others- Josep Baró Güell and Josep Maria Cervera Berta.
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Agustí Cervera Marquès
Director from 1900 to 1908
Castelló d'Empúries, January 15, 1870 - Barcelona, December 16, 1947.
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He was a musician and sardana composer. He was one of the members of the Cervera saga and the third son of Josep Cervera Rocalba.
Like his brothers, Jaume and Felip, he studies music at the music school that his father ran in Peralada, although he can also be considered self-taught. He had a great mastery of all the cobla instruments, but not as much as his brother Felip. In the cobla he usually played the first tible and in the orchestra formation then he played the violin. He also mastered the flabiol and the piano quite well.
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He played with the Cobla de Peralada and with the cobla Antiga Pep de Figueres, of which he was director for ten years. He was the one who significantly raised the level of the cobla, making the first trips to Paris under his direction. In 1910 he left the cobla to dedicate himself on teaching music and the violin. A few years later he joined the Art Gironí cobla and also director of the choir of the Societat Coral Erato.
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Sources: www.JosepCervera.net, Musicians for Cobla, Sonabe.cat, Manel Pedreira i Font, Girona newspaper
Joan Juanola
Director from 1908 to 1909
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There is missing any information about Joan Juanola , records, locations or dates in this regard, nor any biographical notes to date.
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There is an entry in the website "portalsardanista.cat" in which there is no further data beyond the name.
It could have some kind of link with the town of Sant Feliu de Guixols, as recorded in the municipal archives of this town included in the music collection de Josep i Arseni Roig, músics 1845-1961. The piece "Il Signor Caprani" it is mentioned as. - Fuga de diablos. Music by Juan Juanola. Val and mazurca, page 12.
It remains to be verified that it is the same person and that its authorship is also attributable.
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It can be consulted at the following link.
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https://arxiumunicipal.guixols.cat/attachments/article/6310/arxiu_guixols_josep_i_arseni_roig.pdf
Bonaventura Daró Olivet
Director from 1909 to 1911
Vilajuïga, December 13, 1878 - Olot 1940 (probably)
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He got married on January 6, of1920 with Carolina Julià Olivet, from Olot, the town where she died (probably) on February 10, 1951.
Carolina Julià Olivet was the daughter of Isidre Julià Casellas (from Palau-Saverdera) and Francesca Olivet Iglesias (from Vilajuïga), married in October 1895, possibly in Vilajuïga, they settled in Olot no later than 1913, when Isidre Julià was the newsstand in the capital of the La Garrotxa area (Olot) region.
Bonaventura Daró and Carolina Julià had two children: Joan Daró Julià [Béziers, October 7, 1921- Olot, August 4, 2008] and Josep Mª Daró Julià [Vilajuïga, 1925 - Sant Feliu de Guíxols, July 27, 2016]
Bonaventura Daró was a prestigious violinist in his time, and was the director of the ANTIGA PEP Cobla-orchestra, from Figueres (1909-1911), the SENDRAS Cobla-orquestra, from Granollers (1912-1915) and the Cobla-orchestra NOVA HARMONIA, from La Bisbal d'Empordà (1915-1918). On an undetermined date he settled in Béziers (France), a town where in 1921 his son Joan Daró Julià was born. He returned to settle in his birthplace, Vilajuïga, until the civil war, during which he had the misfortune of being stripped of all his belongings, and settling with his family in Olot from 1940, where he taught violin. He never again practiced as a professional musician.
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Enric Sans Salelthe
Director from 1911 to 1914
Figueres, September 10, 1890 - Figueres, February 11, 1953
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He was a recognized composer of sardanas. Initiated by his father, he always lived immersed in the world of music, and at the age of seven he began to play the violin. Subsequently, he continued his musical studies with teachers like Domènec Sánchez Deyá from Barcelona and Alphonse Lefort from the Paris Music Conservatory. Very soon he joined musical groups such as Art Gironí and, between the years 1911 and 1914 directed the cobla Antiga Pep from Figueres, for which he composed several sardanas, some of which were recorded in Paris in a journey with the cobla
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Together with Ramon Bassagañas Basil (jazz-band), Enric Castello (banjo), Emily Pallisera (saxophone), Antoni Vidal (trumpet), Amat Blanch Reynalt, Andreu Gea (double bass) and, Camila Lloret Altafulla (piano), formed the musical group "The King Jazz".
He gave classes to many students from Figueres and neighboring towns in the study of music and in particular the violin, to students like Joan Saliner Duran, Josep Pagès Quer, Josep Nunez Soler oEnric Cullell Sagols.
Popularity came to him with the sardana "La infantona" dedicated to his eldest daughter. He wrote a hundred titles, most of them are peasant themes, fresh and melodic.
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Sources: Wikipedia,Musicians for Cobla, Sonabe.cat,
Jaume Turias Canadell
Manager since 1914 to 1944
??- Figueres November 17 1963
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No information found, just the fact that he lived in Figueres. There is the evidence he is buried in the Figueres cemetery. He was part of the Cobla Antiga Pep from Figueres, which was the director for 30 years, from 1914 to 1944.
A quote about him appears in 1916 by J. Grahit Grau. That year he was director of the cobla Antiga Pep, from Figueres.
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It is clear that he was part of the club "Cercle Sport Figuerenc" as documented in the work of Èrika Serna and Pep Vila Medinyà
"L'estada del jove Salvador Dalí a la presó (1924)", on page 346, the quote is describedas a representative of this social club
https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/39086899.pdf
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Sources: Music for Cobla, Wikipedia,
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1952
1944
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Florenci Maune Marimont
Director from 1944 to 1952
Figueres, July 18, 1925 - July 13, 1995
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He was a musician, instrumentalist, composer of sardanas and orchestra director.
He was born in Figueres on July 18, 1925, son of Carles Maune Alay (musician and composer) and Teresa Marimont. He got married with Isabel Roca with whom he had a daughter, Montserrat.
At the age of 8 he took his first steps in music at the music school of the Casino Menestral de Figueres .
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Once a week, he ran his bicycle to travel to the town of Castelló d'Empúries, to receive the first lessons in harmony, counterpoint and fugue, essential knowledge for every good composer.
He wrote his first sardana in 1944, at the age of 19 years old and he named as "Nostra Dansa", the name of the "Colla Sardanista" of which he was a part.
When he was 16 years old he founded the Orchestra Moyambos along with a few students, high school friends and also some other musicians.
Very soon, at the age of 18, his father incorporated him into la Cobla-Orchestra Antiga Pep, where he remained for nine years. From 1944 to 1952, period in which he was the director.
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When he was 24 years old, Pere Teixidor Elias appointed him conductor of his "Agrupació Lírica Tàlia", with which he directed the zarzuelas "Los claveles", "La Dolorosa", "La del Manojo de Rosas", etc., performing along various cities, endowing it with a certain prestige among the Empordà orchestras.
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Sources :Friends of Florence Maune, Wikipedia,Musicians for Cobla, Sonabe.cat,
