Rendering into music the whole liturgy of the hours of Saint Augustine’s feast is, doubtless, of singular import for the Augustinian Recollect family, as it has always cultivated musical beauty in liturgy. Moreover, the composer has used the new texts of the Augustinian Liturgy of the Hours, recently approved by the Roman Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.
All the antiphons and hymns are permeated by Gregorian music. The psalms and canticles breathe polyphony, which originates from Gregorian chant. The masterful harmonization of all the elements show us the richness of Gregorian modes and the composer’s ability in using and combining them. What Saint Hildegarde of Bingen said of the Rule of Saint Benedict – that nothing was lacking or in excess – could be applied to Gambarte’s work: there is no lacking or extra note.
Recollect formation
Formation in music has been traditionally cultivated in Augustinian Recollect seminaries, which have produced not only knowledgeable music interpreters but also noteworthy composers, like Marcos Vega, present director of “Orfeón Madrid”, and Isidro Gambarte.
Gambarte, a native of San Martín de Unx town in Navarra, recalls his joining the seminary that the Augustinian Recollects had in Lodosa (Navarra): “In September 1944 I entered the Lodosa seminary. Father Alejandro Osés was able to inculcate the love for music in us.
In later stages of formation, Gambarte, like many other musicians, were given the opportunity by the Order to finish their musical formation. While he was a young student of theology in Marcilla (Navarra), “the Order sent us to study Gregorian chant, first in Santo Domingo de Silos (Burgos), then in El Escorial (Madrid) and later in Salamanca”.
When he was transferred to Madrid he had the chance to study counterpoint and fugue under professor Francisco O. Calés and composition under Cristóbal Halfter. When he was transferred to Madrid he had the chance to study counterpoint and fugue under professor Francisco O. Calés and composition under Cristóbal Halfter. His professor in sacred polyphony was the Augustinian priest Samuel Rubio. At this stage he won the special award for counterpoint and fugue and composition. Later, he went to Munich, Germany, to study under professor Günther Bialas. Shortly after, he left the Order of Augustinian Recollects, got married and obtained the post of «Kirchenmusiker» (church musician) in Grafing, near Munich. “I got the job, and we would live hence on music. My last job placement was in the parish of Sankt Oswald in Traunstein, where we lived. In that church the Ratzinger brothers, Georg, the elder, and Joseph, the present Pope, said their «Primiz» (first solemn thanksgiving mass)”.
Gambarte feels a profound gratitude to the Augustinian Recollects, to whom he owes his formation. “Everything I know I owe to the Order. It is therefore my obligation to pay back with some hours of my work. I wish you much joy in singing these antiphons and psalms in honor of Saint Augustine. May God grant you a good voice”.
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