7 April 2009

Interdisciplinary outing

AN AFTERNOON IN THE PARISH CHURCH OF SAN MIGUEL DE OTEIZA

Art, music and literature around Easter.
The integration of the arts

presentation
D. Román Felones Morrás

The secularized society in which we live has turned Holy Week into little more than a holiday period halfway between the end of the year and the summer. For that reason, a good part of the citizenship hardly manages to perceive the importance of a liturgical time full of religious, cultural and artistic resonances.

With the desire to make up for this deficit as far as possible, and encouraged by the good reception received the previous year at the extraordinary baroque framework of the church of Santa María de Los Arcos, the Chair de Patrimonio y Arte Navarro decided to program a similar activity at a more modest framework and in a more familiar atmosphere: the church of San Miguel de Oteiza.

On the afternoon of April 7, liturgical Holy Tuesday, a good issue of Oteiza's neighbors, as well as people from the former archpriesthood of La Solana, together with those arriving expressly from Pamplona, had the opportunity to appreciate that those arts, normally conjugated in singular -music, possessed, art itself-, can be tasted in plural, trying, as the subtitle of the session stated, to integrate them all.

After the kind words of Ángel Mauleón, parish priest of Oteiza, and of José Ángel Bermejo, mayor of the town, Ricardo Fernández Gracia presented the general framework under the degree scroll "The processional step of Holy Week: empathy, devotion and art". partner faithful in how many occasions his presence has been required in other cycles programmed by the parish and the city council, professor Fernández Gracia joined knowledge, didactic game and discipline to underline the essential of a process that, like the baroque itself, lends itself to multiple derivatives. The baroque altarpieces, some processional images, and the strong and well chosen colorful tones of the last intervention carried out in recent years served as an appropriate framework to this general presentation .

A frugal aperitif, offered by the city council in the premises of the town hall, allowed a break and a lively conversation to a good part of the attendees.

The second part of the evening was taken up by organ music and poetry, at framework and in a particularly appropriate context. The romantic organ of the parish, not very conducive to the subtleties of the baroque, gave way to music especially linked to other historical periods: Johannes Brams, Father Donostia, Jean Alain and Eduardo Torres. Maestro Raúl del Toro helped to lift the gaze, calm the mood and transport the spirit to other spaces. The music selected was more subtle than grandiloquent, more intimate than grandiose. And the organ, accustomed to lesser tasks, clearly demonstrated its possibilities.

position The literary selection was made by Dr. Javier Medrano, Full Professor of language and Literature of I.E.S. place de la Cruz, who introduced, in turn, each of the poems. The texts of Santa Teresa, Antonio Machado, Gabriel Miro and Gerardo Diego, were an excellent example of the many and rich Hispanic religious literature. 

An event of these characteristics needed a common thread that would serve as a link to the different parts that made it up. This task was carried out by Dr. Román Felones Morrás, partner occasional Chair and settled in the town for many years.

The evening brought us one last unforeseen surprise: the performance of the parish choir of Oteiza, directed by Ramón Ayerra, who wanted to join the event. A final coda received with gratitude and applause by the audience.
Disseminating heritage is an essential task of the Chair. And to spread it in rural Navarra, where culture does not reach so easily, is doubly important goal . It only remains to hope that the path taken will not only be consolidated but, as far as possible, will be increased.

The event, organized by the Chair of Heritage and Navarrese Art of the University of Navarra, counted with the partnership of the town council of Oteiza and the parishes of Oteiza, Villatuerta, Dicastillo, Arellano, Allo, Aberin and Muniáin.