{"id":6026,"date":"2026-03-11T17:12:59","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T16:12:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.sagradafamilia.org\/?p=6026"},"modified":"2026-03-12T10:49:37","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T09:49:37","slug":"gaudi-connection-orfeo-catala","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.sagradafamilia.org\/en\/gaudi-connection-orfeo-catala\/","title":{"rendered":"What was Gaud\u00ed\u2019s connection to Orfe\u00f3 Catal\u00e0?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Singing was always a big part of Antoni Gaud\u00ed\u2019s project for the Sagrada Fam\u00edlia. In the previous post, we saw how the architect imagined and laid out the choirs <\/a>(the spaces for the singers) and studied the acoustics for the interior of the Basilica. This time we\u2019re going to look at his musical tastes and connections to Llu\u00eds Millet and Orfe\u00f3 Catal\u00e0.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Gaud\u00ed\u2019s musical references: a return to the origins<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

One of Gaud\u00ed\u2019s goals for the Sagrada Fam\u00edlia was to bring religious music to the faithful, in line with the trend Pope Pius X (1835-1914) promulgated in his motu proprio Tra Le Sollecitudini<\/em>. To do so, the architect wanted to return to the origins, to Gregorian chants, the traditional music of the Catholic Church from medieval times, and popular Catalan music. He shared these two musical influences with his friend Llu\u00eds Millet i Pag\u00e8s, founder and director of Orfe\u00f3 Catal\u00e0. Their relationship probably began as a result of the architect\u2019s visits to Sant Felip Neri church, where Millet was the chapel master. The two friends also met at the Sagrada Fam\u00edlia, as these photos show:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Llu\u00eds Millet i Pag\u00e8s and Antoni Gaud\u00ed in front of the Sagrada Fam\u00edlia. Source: Orfe\u00f3 Catal\u00e0 documentation centre<\/sup><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Llu\u00eds Millet i Pag\u00e8s and Antoni Gaud\u00ed in front of the Sagrada Fam\u00edlia. Source: Orfe\u00f3 Catal\u00e0 documentation centre<\/sup><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

The musical affinity between Gaud\u00ed and Millet became clear in 1916, when they attended the first course on Gregorian chants at the Palau de la M\u00fasica Catalana. \u201cThis was when the architect learned about the traditional Church songs and the Liturgy of the Hours, knowledge that he later wanted to share through the Sagrada Fam\u00edlia,\u201d explains Narc\u00eds Laguarda, Junta Constructora de la Sagrada Fam\u00edlia architect. There is a class photo from the course, taught by Gregori Maria Sunyol, a monk from Montserrat:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Students in the course on Gregorian chants at the Palau de la M\u00fasica Catalana in 1916, including Llu\u00eds Millet and Antoni Gaud\u00ed. Source: Orfe\u00f3 Catal\u00e0 documentation centre<\/sub><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Antoni Gaud\u00ed also felt a connection to Orfe\u00f3 Catal\u00e0 de Barcelona, a choir group founded in 1891 by his friend and Amadeu Vives to share the universal and Catalan choral repertoire. On 29 June 1922, during a visit to the Palau de la M\u00fasica Catalana on the feast of Saint Peter, he showed his appreciation for this group when they asked him to sign their book of honour. The architect, who loved to draw, improvised an allegory of Orpheus (hero of ancient Greece) playing the lyre, surrounded by animals. Below the drawing, which is still in the group\u2019s archives, he wrote the following dedication: \u201cIn Heaven, we will all be orpheonists.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Antoni Gaud\u00ed\u2019s dedication to Orfe\u00f3 Catal\u00e0 in the book of honour. Source: Orfe\u00f3 Catal\u00e0 documentation centre<\/sup> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Orfe\u00f3 Catal\u00e0 and its director took part in various concerts, celebrations and other important events at the Temple, as explained in articles from the time published in El Propagador de la Devoci\u00f3n a San Jos\u00e9<\/em> and newspapers as La Veu de Catalunya<\/em>. The closing concert for Saint Joseph Jubilee Year in December 1921 drew quite the crowd, featuring several choirs and choral groups from Catalonia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Llu\u00eds Millet conducting Handel\u2019s Hallelujah<\/em> at the closing concert for Saint Joseph Jubilee Year at the Temple in December 1921. Source: El Propagador de la Devoci\u00f3n a San Jos\u00e9<\/em><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another curious story about the two friends can be found in the book Gaud\u00ed i la m\u00fasica<\/em> by architect and Gaud\u00ed collaborator Joan Baptista Serra de Mart\u00ednez. For one of the visits to Barcelona Llu\u00eds Millet organised for musicians from all over Europe, Bach\u2019s St. Matthew Passion<\/em> was performed at the Palau de la M\u00fasica Catalana. Soon after the event, while visiting the Sagrada Fam\u00edlia, Alsatian musician Albert Schweitzer asked Antoni Gaud\u00ed for his opinion, as he had also attended the concert. The architect, who wasn\u2019t a big fan of German composers, ever present in the Modernisme era, expressed his admiration for the work and added, \u201cI think I liked it so much because you, my friend Millet, changed the arrangement a bit.\u201d (Gaud\u00ed i la m\u00fasica. <\/em>Joan Baptista Serra de Mart\u00ednez, page 33)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gaud\u00ed and Millet remained friends until the architect\u2019s death on 10 June 1926, three days after being hit by a tram. The composer was one of many to accompany his coffin in the funeral procession through the streets of Barcelona from Hospital de la Santa Creu to the Sagrada Fam\u00edlia, walking by his side as he had done so many times before. Once at the Basilica, Millet paid tribute to his friend by conducting the Orfe\u00f3 Catal\u00e0 men and boys choir in Requiem <\/em> by Tom\u00e1s Luis de Victoria, one of the most well-known composers of the Spanish Renaissance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Antoni Gaud\u00ed\u2019s funeral procession moving up Portal de l\u2019\u00c0ngel on 12 June 1926. Source:
El Propagador<\/em><\/sup><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
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Part of this melody will be heard inside the Basilica again on 19 March, the feast of Saint Joseph, this year marking the hundredth anniversary of Antoni Gaud\u00ed\u2019s death. It will be part of the Orfe\u00f3 Catal\u00e0 Lent concert that the Sagrada Fam\u00edlia is hosting to commemorate the laying of the cornerstone, reinforcing the choral spirit and historical ties between the two institutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of Gaud\u00ed\u2019s goals for the Sagrada Fam\u00edlia was to bring religious music to the faithful. To do so, the architect wanted to return to the origins, to Gregorian chants, the traditional music of the Catholic Church from medieval times, and popular Catalan music. He shared these two musical influences with his friend Llu\u00eds Millet i Pag\u00e8s, founder and director of Orfe\u00f3 Catal\u00e0.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":6066,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,20],"tags":[16,44,135],"class_list":["post-6026","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gaudi","category-local","tag-gaudi","tag-local","tag-orfeo"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.sagradafamilia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6026","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.sagradafamilia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.sagradafamilia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.sagradafamilia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.sagradafamilia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6026"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.sagradafamilia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6026\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.sagradafamilia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6066"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.sagradafamilia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.sagradafamilia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.sagradafamilia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}