The piece of the month of 2014

MEDAL OF THE ASSOCIATION EUSKARA DE NAVARRA, AWARDED TO PABLO SARASATE 

Eduardo Morales Solchaga
Chair of Navarrese Heritage and Art

In the Sarasate Museum, dependent on the file Municipal of Pamplona, is preserved the medal that the association Euskara de Navarra, cultural corporation of certain route during the last quarter of the XIX century, offered to the distinguished violinist. Its main goal, according to its foundational certificate of 1877, was "to conserve and propagate the Basque-Navarre language, literature and history, to study its legislation and to procure all that tends to the moral and material well-being of the Country". A good part of the Navarrese intelligentsia of the time participated in it, although the lack of funds and the internal dissensions between fueristas and liberals made it disappear in the internship in 1885, although it maintained some activity until 1897.

Minted in silver (4.6 cm.), both sides are decorated. According to the description of the time: "On the obverse is engraved the oak of Guernica, crowned by the Cross or Lau-buru, holding on the trunk the coat of arms of Navarre, with royal crown, and seven mountains can be seen in the background, representing the seven Basque provinces on both sides of the Bidasoa river. The legends that it shows are the following: NAFARROKO EUSKARAZKO ELKARGOA [association EUSKARA DE NAVARRA] - JAUNGOIKOA ETA FUEROAK [GOD AND FORCES] On the back appears an empty circle intended for engraving the name of the awardee or the dedication, surrounded by oak leaves intertwined with chain links. The legend is as follows: association EUSKARA DE NAVARRA, date and name of locality". In the case of the one under study here, the name of the winner and the date of award, July 14, 1882, were engraved on it.

Medal. Obverse
 

The origin is to be found in a agreement of the mentioned institution in 1880, in order to offer them to the winners of the floral games, intellectual competition of periodic character organized by the mentioned institution - in Vera de Bidasoa in August of that year -. The design of the same one was carried out by Juan Iturralde y Suit, "one of the intelligent partners of the Euskara, who handles with so much skill the pen as the brush". Its execution was entrusted to D. J. Kummer, a German engraver established in the Villa y Corte, where the cases were also made. According to the preserved documentation, they were minted in gold, silver, bronze and copper. Iturralde's design , disseminated by a lithograph of Francisco Cortés, crossed the Spanish borders, being used even by the Galician Center of Buenos Aires to award its own floral games of 1881.

Anyway, the medals of the association Euskara did not remain restricted only to the mentioned contests, but also they were offered to his associates and collaborators, and even to the own City council of Pamplona - from 1884 -, which in turn offered them as award in his contests of San Fermín, in which the own Sarasate acted as juror from 1882 to 1886.

From the registration of the medal it is known that it was given to him at the end of the Pamplona festivities of 1882, which that year counted on the joint performance of several illustrious virtuosos, in whose honor the association of Commerce and Industry erected a triumphal arch of ephemeral character, in the confluence of the Chapitela Street and the place del Castillo. Among the performers, the Gayarre - Sarasate pairing stood out, although Manuel Pérez, director of the orchestra of the Teatro Real; Ruperto Chapí, eminent composer, and the Navarrese maestros Emilio Arrieta, Dámaso Zabalza and Guelbenzu also took part. Of these memorable performances, which lasted until the 13th, the press of the time gives a retail account, as well as the memoirs of the two distinguished Navarrese, which were published by Julio Enciso and Julio Altadill, respectively.

Medal. Reverse
 

After this unparalleled triumph, the association Euskara must have given the medal to Pablo Sarasate, In this sense it is necessary to remember the Basque character - enhanced by Arturo Campión in the prologue of his memoirs - as well as the national character of the violinist himself, who, without going any further, on the 11th had executed a piece that responded to the degree scroll of "Capricho vascongado", something very typical of a "fascinating Basque bard", in Altadill's words. On Gayarre's death, like much of his memorabilia, it was given to the City Council of Pamplona, which has conveniently kept it in the Municipal file of Pamplona, and later in the Sarasate Museum.

To finish, it is necessary to emphasize that the Queen Maria Cristina was also graced with the same distinction during her visit to Pamplona on September 26, 1887. She received a representation of the society, headed by Nicasio Landa, who explained to her its origins and purpose, while thanking her enormously for having pronounced some words in Basque, something that a Spanish monarch had not done since Carlos V. For this reason, he was presented with a bronze medal, with its corresponding ivory box, on the back of which a dedication in Basque was engraved in gold: "B. M. Erregiñ Erondari María Kristinari".
 

bibliography
-ALTADILL, J., Memoirs of Sarasate, Pamplona, Aramendía y Onsalo, 1909.
-ENCISO, J., Memoirs of Julián Gayarre, Madrid, Imprenta de Enrique Rubiños, 1891.
-MANTEROLA, J., "Medals and Basque stamps. Medal of the association Euskara de Navarra" in Euskal-erría: revista bascongada de San Sebastián, t. 9 (1883), p. 441.
-MANTEROLA, J., "Miscelánea" in Euskal-erría: revista bascongada de San Sebastián, t. 1 (1880), p. 30.
-MANTEROLA, J., "Miscelánea" in Euskal-erría: revista bascongada de San Sebastián, t. 5-7 (1882), p. 127.
-MORALES SOLCHAGA, E., "La colección de medallas del Ayuntamiento de Pamplona" in programs of study de Platería: San Eloy 2013, Murcia, Universidad de Murcia, 2013, pp. 379 - 397.