¡Presente!

Marxa fúnebre
composerXamena Sastre, Joan
publisherLa Federació Balear de Bandes de Música i Associacions Musicals
genreMarch
instrumentationModern instrumentation; New edition
notesCol·lecció Passacarrers, No. 2. Edited by Miquel Barceló Oliver and Joan Antoni Ballester Coll.
also availableMarch card-sized parts
change date2025-01-26 New

The Passacarrers collection

Bands from all over the island of Mallorca have accompanied, and continue to accompany, the most significant moments in the lives of their people. In many cases, they parade with original music that has become an integral part of the celebration itself.

The Passacarrers collection was created to contribute to the preservation of this music which was made to be played while walking. At the same time, it aims to expand its reach beyond its traditional niche and make it accessible to a wider audience.

This music, which can range from funeral or processional marches to pasodobles and fast marches, is highly local. Many of these compositions are the work of musicians or directors from the bands themselves. Naturally, these are handwritten works that have been copied numerous times, with modifications made by different directors to adapt to the specific circumstances of each moment in the band’s history.

An exclusively digital edition has been prepared, including a complete score for the director and parts in march card format for the instruments.

With the publication of this new collection, the Balearic Federation of Music Bands and Music Associations seeks to disseminate the music of our bands beyond the boundaries of the individual towns where they are performed. By sharing these works, we aim to make them more widely known and to contribute to the preservation of the musical legacy of Mallorca.

Joan Xamena Sastre and ¡Presente!

In Llucmajor, a funeral march has become an Easter hymn.

In the 1930s, Llucmajor was a hub of musical and concert activity. One of the most renowned musicians of the time was Joan Xamena (1904-1964), a trumpet player who, according to some documents, also directed the Lira Lluchmayorense alongside Damià Font Monserrat, affectionately known as “Peixet.” Xamena owned a party room and composed a few works.

Among his compositions are three marches, each suited for a specific occasion. They are Desfile Azul, a double-step march published as the first issue of this collection; Rosa de Mayo, a regular march for processions; and ¡Presente!, a funeral march that we are discussing here.

However, popular tradition does not preserve a single version of the story behind this march. The musicians of the 1950s, with whom we still have contact, claimed that Joan Xamena composed this funeral march in the 1950s to accompany the coffin of the director Damià Font ‘Peixet’ during his burial. Later, the same march was used to bid farewell to various deceased musicians, and it is commonly played during Holy Week.

At the dawn of the 20th century, Mestre Damià Font held the esteemed position of director of the Liberal Band, La Forca. Additionally, he was one of the esteemed directors who took turns leading the Municipal Band of Llucmajor, a band that emerged from the partial unification of existing bands in the 1920s.

Upon the arrival of the Second Republic in 1931, following the division of the Municipal Band of Llucmajor, Font seems to have assumed the role of director of the band La Lira Lluchmayorense, alongside Xamena. However, after the Francoist coup d’état in 1936, the military commander of Llucmajor, Captain Jesús Jiménez Momediano, issued an order to Font, instructing him to form a militia band that would perform during the performances of the militias and the Falange. Font continued to lead the band, albeit relegated to street performances, until 1956, when he sought relief.

However, there exists a different version of events that has been shared with us by individuals residing in the village. This alternative account suggests that the march was composed much earlier, in September 1936, in memory of Miguel Rubí Catany, a young man from Llucmajor who tragically lost his life at the age of 18. Catany succumbed to his injuries sustained during the Battle of Mallorca, where he valiantly fought to prevent the democratic republican forces from disembarking and conquering the island.

This version aligns with the title of the work, “¡Presente!” with exclamation marks, which symbolized military honor during the Franco era. At the conclusion of speeches and other events, among other slogans, the name of José Antonio Primo de Rivera was proclaimed, and the audience responded with the cry “¡Presente!” This phrase was repeated whenever the recollection of “fallen for God and for Spain” was made, which, of course, referred exclusively to the coup side.

A possible explanation for this version of the story lies in the fact that the Llucmajor newspaper, under the complete control of the Phalangists since the Francoist coup d’état, dedicated its 37th issue of September 19, 1936, to the death of this young man. The issue featured a photo of him at the top and the motto: “Miguel Rubí Catany. ¡Presente!”

However, reading this publication one will not find any mention of Joan Xamena’s composition. Instead, it states that the militia band accompanied the coffin to the cemetery, playing “España llora” (Spain is crying). Furthermore, in the cemetery, the name of the young militiaman was proclaimed three times, to which the cry “¡Presente!” was responded.

About this edition

This edition is based solely on handwritten material found in the archives of the Societat Cultural Musical i Recreativa Sa Música (Llucmajor). The majority of the material consists of scores in various handwriting and parts from different eras. Additionally, a more recent revised copy was also available, created by one of the band’s archivists.

First, the parts have been transposed for today’s standard instruments. This change involves replacing the tuba or euphonium parts in B flat or horn parts in E flat with those in C or F respectively. Unlike other compositions from that era, we haven’t found parts for soprano saxophone or bass clarinet. However, a bass clarinet part has been prepared, which is essentially a copy of the tuba part. Furthermore, the 2nd euphonium part has been removed from this edition, as the only difference between it and the original euphonium part was in bars 41 and 47, where the tuba part was doubled.