The Trojan horse: Critical edition of Treinta Cantos Araucanos by Carlos Isamitt Alarcón

Abstract

This work communicates the theoretical and methodological tensions of the critical edition of the manuscript of Treinta Cantos Araucanos by Carlos Isamitt Alarcón, collected in the reductions of the 1930s. The first part describes the object of study and the theoretical basis discussion in the development of the edition –text–. Subsequently, and because of the theoretical positions discussed in the first section, editorial positions are made explicit with examples of song editing, data systematization and achievement of two finished scores. In the second part, and because of the aforementioned reflections, we present documentary evidence that links this ethnographic work with a declared political defense of the communities under study –context–. In the third part, conclusions and discussions, we propose that the critical edition of Treinta Cantos Araucanos by Carlos Isamitt Alarcón projects a methodological approach for objects of study related to the musical compilation and transcription of folk music; extending the theoretical possibilities for its understanding –text-context– and extrapolating the limits of transcription and its subsequent editorial fixation. On the figure of Carlos Isamitt, unpublished aspects developed during the compilation of Araucan songs are exposed, displacing this univocal idea supported by the literature that he only compiled musical material to be used in his musical creation.