The Life and Works of Marcelo Adonay

Marcelo Adonay (1848–1928) was a major Philippine composer and church musician. As maestro de capilla of the San Agustin church in Intramuros, Manila, he presided over the musical establishment of a powerful Augustinian Order that required the performance of elaborate instrumental and choral works. This pioneering work includes five major essays on Adonay’s life, his milieu, an inventory of his extant and missing works, and musical and formal analyses of his magnum opus, Pequena Misa Solemne sobre Motivos de la Missa Regia de Canto Gregoriano.

Marcelo Adonay (1848-1928) was a major Philippine composer and church musician whose long and fruitful career stretched from the 1870s to the 1920s. As maestro de capilla of the San Agustin church in Intramuros, Manila, he presided over the musical establishment of the powerful Augustinian Order that required the performance of elaborate instrumental and choral works. The first of two volumes, this pioneering work includes five major essays on Adonay's life, his milieu, an inventory of his extant and missing works, and musical and formal analyses of his magnum opus, Pequena Misa Solemne sobre Motivos de la Missa Regia de Canto Gregoriano. The centerpiece of the book is a modern edition of eleven reconstructed scores of his sacred music for various orchestral, vocal, and choral combinations. It is hoped that this publication will bring about the resurgence of performance of Philippine music from the nineteenth century and usher in a new appreciation of the artistic richness of this period of Philippine national history.