Reliving the Filipino classical music heritage: Preservation and restoration of Philippine art music manuscripts of the University of the Philippines-Diliman College of Music

Abstract

This paper presents an overview of the classical era of music in the Philippines and the pre-war art music manuscript collection of the University of the Philippines (UP) College of Music that needs immediate preservation and restoration. The music scores included in this collection were created by renowned Filipino composers and National Artists for Music. It also discusses the initiatives done by the university and concerned faculty members and students to prolong the life and usability of these music scores, as they are still always being played in concert halls. This kind of archival music manuscripts restoration project is the first in the university since the UP College of Music Library does not have its own conservation facility. A simple laboratory was set up by the project proponents and the restoration process involves digital imaging of the originals, evaluation and documentation, deacidification, cleaning, mending, encapsulation and boxing/binding.这篇文章呈现了菲律宾古典时期的音乐概况以及菲律宾音乐学院收集的一些急需保存和修复的战前艺术音乐手稿。这些所收集的乐谱都是由菲律宾著名作曲家和国际艺术家创作的。同时，这篇文章也讨论了由学校老师和学生倡导的关于延长这些曲谱的寿命和使用期限，使其依然能够在音乐厅被拿来演奏的研究修复项目。由于菲律宾大学音乐学院图书馆并没有属于自己的修复设备和仪器，因此这些档案类音乐手稿修复项目在此大学是首次开展。由项目支持者赞助并建立了一个简单的工作实验室，整个修复过程包括了原谱数字成像、评估和文件编制、脱氧、清洁、修补、封装和装订