Joan

Joan Tomàs Parés

Barcelona , 4 d'abril de 1896
Barcelona , 7 de novembre de 1967

In 1907 he began his musical studies at the Escola Municipal de Música de Barcelona under M. Canals, Ll. Millet i Pagès, A. Nicolau and E. Morera. In 1908 he joined the children's section of the Orfeó Català, the institution that appointed him deputy director in 1946. He conducted other choirs, such as the Cor Infantil Mossèn Cinto, l’Escola Coral and the Capella Musical of Sant Pere in Terrassa. He was a renowned folklorist. He harmonized popular songs and collected traditional music for the Obra del Cançoner Popular de Catalunya and for the volumes of Costumari Català by Joan Amades. In 1946 he began a collaboration with the Spanish Institute of Musicology, doing fieldwork and systematizing the research on the musical folklore. In the pedagogical field, he contributed to the introduction of the Dalcroze method in Catalonia and taught at centres such as the Acadèmia de la Música de Barcelona and the Blanquerna school. He composed music for voice and piano, choir, motets, two masses and music for the Christmas drama Pastoral and for Tirso de Molina’s play El colmenero divino.