Anselm Viola i Valentí

It was as a novice of the monastery in 1756 where he took the name of Anselm, and once he had done the monastic profession in Montserrat, he moved to Madrid where he apprenticed to José de Nebra, composer of the court. Later he returned to Montserrat where he dedicated himself to musical education at the School (among his students there was Fernando Sor). His musical output consists of numerous sonatas for harpsichord, of clear pedagogical orientation, and of several religious works. Also worth mentioning are the 18 studies for bassoon solo and, above all, his concerto for bassoon and orchestra, one of the most important of the time for the instrument. He was the author of several sacred works.

In 1738, at the age of ten, Pere Viola entered the Escolania de Montserrat. Torroella de Montgrí had an important musical tradition and it is likely his earliest musical inclinations developed there. In addition, some of his close relatives also were musicians. Upon entering Escolania, Viola was a pupil of Benet Esteve, although the true teacher of the boy was the monk Josep Martí. Martí was the composer who led the change of style in that period in Montserrat: he could be considered the progenitor of the Italian style in Montserratine music. This "new style" and pedagogical notes were decisive in the musical formation of Viola. Viola went to Escolania for seven years (up to the age of seventeen or eighteen). There, as with all the students, he received an excellent musical education that was geared towards participation in certain ceremonies of the monastery and sanctuary. One of the main tasks was to take part in the religious functions of the music chapel with the interpretation of the polyphonic works of Montserrat or other renowned composers such as, for example, Joseph Haydn, who had a great influence on Montserratin music during the last third of the eighteenth century. Pere Violà left Escolania in 1756.

After more than seven years in Escolania, he entered as monk in the monastery and took the Benedictine habit on 20 March, 1756. He was called by the name of Anselm. A year later, when he finished the mandatory novitiate, he professed for monastic life on 25 March, 1757. That same year, Narciso Casanovas, who later became a famous composer, joined the choir. The abbot at the time, Maur Salcedo, seeing the musical predisposition of Viola, sent him to Madrid to continue the ecclesiastical studies and to finish his musical education.

In 1758, just a year after his profession, Anselm Viola arrived at the monastery of Nuestra Señora de Monserrate in Madrid, known as El Monserratico. During the approximately ten years of his stay in Madrid he finished the ecclesiastical studies and most probably was ordained a priest. He continued musical studies and was greatly influenced by the musical atmosphere that unfolded in the circles of the court of Charles III of Spain during the beginnings of the reign of that Bourbon monarch. Viola was influenced by the nucleus of musicians at the Royal Chapel. Through them he internalized the Italian style of the music he had first learned in Montserrat from his teacher Josep Martí. In the Madrid court, the Italian style had replaced the French style since the arrival of Elisabeth Farnese, second wife of Philip V of Spain.

In 1793 he suffered an apoplectic attack that ended his ability to teach the students. He retained, however, the title of master of the music chapel. He died at the nursing home of the monastery on 25 January, 1798.

His most important student was guitarist and composer Ferran Sor. It seems that Viola did not react very positively to Sor's enthusiasm for guitar, an instrument for which Viola had little appreciation. Another likely student was the monk Carles Masferrer, for which the Eighteen Studies for Bassoon and the Concert per baix i orquestra must have been written. Another important students were Jacint Boada, Antoni Ràfols, Felip Rodríguez, and Josep Vinyals.

His facilities as a composer has been little known until recently, when some of his works have been published and some recordings made. His work represents a conjunction between the Montserratin music tradition - in the line of his predecessors Joan Cererols and Miquel López - and the Italian influence introduced in Montserrat in the mid-18th century and fully assimilated during his stay in Madrid. His musical production was extensive, but little survives to the destruction of the monastery and the music archive in 1811 and 1812 during the Peninsular War. The general catalog of works of Viola that have survived shows a variety of different forms: sonatas of binary structure, written with pedagogical functionality, a fugue, masses for choir and orchestra, Eighteen Studies for Bassoon, and a Concerto for bass and orchestra of with a baroque structure, the only example of strictly instrumental music from the School of Montserrat.

Masses: • Alma Redemptoris Mater • Scala aretina • Mass for Five and Nine Voices Villancico: • Benaurats aquells qui viuen Other works in Latin: • Magnificat for 6 voices • Magnificat for 7 voices • Quomodo obscuratum est • Beatus Vir • Laetatus Sum Instrumental works: • Concerto per baix i orquestra • Eighteen Exercises for Bassoon • at least three Sonatas for keyboard