The Echeverría binder’s volume contains a significant number of musical scores and musical magazines published in Venezuela. This room provides information about the origins of the Echeverría family and addresses the impact that the Venezuelan migration to Colombia had on the musical practices and cultural life in Colombian urban spaces during the second half of the nineteenth century.
The
owners
From Caracas to Bogotá
“Mr. [León] Echeverría was a member of a distinguished Venezuelan family. His maternal grandfather was Guillermo Pelgrón and his parents were José Echeverría and Rosa Pelgrón. [Several] members of the Echeverría and the Pelgrón families were enlisted in Simón Bolivar’s army. When he was a child, León went to school in Caracas and later worked in several presses. Mr. Echeverría became so renowned in this labor that the Colombian government invited him to come to Colombia and work as a printer in 1848. Porras, Demetrio. 1889. “D. León Echeverría,” El Taller (January 30), sp.
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Printers and Freemasons
The Echeverría brothers settled in Bogotá on January 12, 1848. There, they worked as printers in the Neo-Granadino, the press that Ancízar founded in this city. This press transformed Colombian publishing and printing industries, introducing lithograph printing techniques and the steam-powered press to the country. These two new techniques made it possible to publish more documents at a lower cost. In 1853, Ancízar closed the Neo-Granadino, and the brothers opened a new press under the name of the “Imprenta Hermanos Echeverría.” Both establishments were more than businesses, as they became workshops where the Echeverría brothers trained local printers in these new technologies and other printing techniques.
Cover of La Peregrinación de Alpha, published by the Echeverría brothers' printing company in 1853. This is a collection of travel memoirs, written by Manuel Ancízar between 1850 and 1851 during his participation in the first year of the Chorographic Commission. It was initially published in the section "varieties" of the Neo-Granada between May 21, 1850 and on December 21, 1851. Courtesy of the Documentary Heritage Room, Luis Echavarría Villegas Cultural Center Library, Eafit University, Medellín.
“[León Echeverría] settled in Bogotá when he was young. Here he founded a praiseworthy establishment [The Echeverría Hermanos Press] that fostered the powerful impulse that raised the typographic arts in Colombia to unprecedented refinement and perfection. Mr. Echeverría lived for 40 years in Colombia, developing a civilizing labor that gave longevity, resonance, and ubiquity[...] to the human word.” Álvarez, Francisco E. 1889. “Duelo,” León Echeverría: conceptos de la prensa. Bogotá: Imprenta Echeverría, p. 8-9.
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Álvarez, Francisco E. 1889. “Duelo”, en León Echeverría: conceptos de la prensa. Bogotá: Imprenta Echeverría, p. 8-9.
Voz: Natalia Bohórquez. Grabación y mezcla: Natalia Bohórquez
León Echeverría had a more active public life than his brothers. He served as the Venezuelan consul in Bogotá for several years and became Seal Keeper and Grand Master of the “Star of the Tequendama No. 11 Lodge,” the principal freemason lodge in Bogotá. His brother Cecilio, father of Ana and Cristina, was also a member of this lodge.
León Echeverría's certificate as a freemason master, grade 3, 1849. Image taken from the book “Historia de la Masonería colombiana” by Américo Carnicelli (1975).
The Colombian freemason order is grateful to Mr. Echeverría. For 40 years, he offered a dedicated and uninterested service that never diminished [its quality] despite difficulties and obstacles. In recognition of Echeverría's loyalty and dedication, he served as Great Master for two consecutive periods, working for the ideals of charity and fraternity.
Haz click aquí para escuchar el fragmento
Álvarez, Francisco E. 1889. “Duelo”, en León Echeverría: conceptos de la prensa. Bogotá: Imprenta Echeverría, p. 10.
Voz: Natalia Bohórquez. Grabación y mezcla: Natalia Bohórquez
The Echeverría Sisters
There is a significant surplus of information about León and Cecilio Echeverría. In contrast, the information about Ana and Cristina is sparse. Such a difference in the documentary trail evinces the construction of a heteropatriarchal public sphere in 19th-century Colombia. Meanwhile, the prominent role of women in music-making remained largely restricted to the private and semi-private spheres.
This binder’s volume offers a glimpse of the prominent role that women had in Colombian music-making practices. The binder’s volume suggests that women like the Echeverría sisters significantly contributed to local musical practices by playing different roles. In a first instance, they were performers and consumers. These women not only played the music collected in binder’s volumes on their pianos but also bought musical scores and encouraged other family members and friends to do so as well. Therefore, women were crucial actors that supported a local market for printed music. In a second instance, women also contributed to the creation of new works. For example, the Echeverría’s music album contains several pieces dedicated to the sisters or girlfriends, like “Me Llega al Alma” a pasillo by Enrique López Osorio that León Echeverría commissioned and dedicated to Clementina Herrera, a close friend and member of the freemason lodge. Finally, women also composed music for these private and semi-private venues. The Echeverría binder’s volume contains several pieces by Rosa Echeverría, a cousin of Ana and Cristina born in the Caribbean city of Santa Marta. Rosa studied piano with Gabriel Angulo, who taught for several years at the Academia Nacional de Música in Bogotá.
Enrique López Osorio. Me Llega al Alma (detail). Manuscript by the composer (ca. 1881). A note in this music score reads: “Dedicated to Ms. Clementina Herrera, as requested by my dear friend, Mr. León Echeverría”.
