Keyword:

It includes all the documentation that comes from the different organs of the Societat del G. T. del Liceu. In the course of the years, and to adapt to the circumstances of each moment, the shareholders who acquired the shares have been regulated in various ways. The documentation generated responds to the internal organizational changes of the Societat.

Among the documents belonging to the Direction of the Societat there are those that constitute the major axes of the file: the Minutes of the Governing Boards and the General Meetings, and the series of diaries generically called the Llibre del Conserge.

Types of documents

From the point of view of the organization of the entity, a first society was created, from the issuance of 50 shares of 25 duros each, for the construction of the theatre “Liceo Filarmónico de Montesión”. Parallel to the initial bankruptcy in 1845, it was founded a new Sociedad de Construcción, created with shares, that had to deal with the construction of the new theatre. It was built in very short time, and opened on 4 April 1847. The executive management of the shareholders society was delegated to a Governing Board. Their decisions are collected in the Actas de la Junta de Gobierno. From 1844 to 1856 it was designated as “Junta Permanente del Teatro de Isabel II”. With the reestablishment of the entity it adopted the name of the Governing Board.

Once built the theatre, and already in operation, one of the initial sections separated –the Conservatory, from the former Chairs of Music, singing and declamation–. In 1854 the new entity took shape, dedicated only to the lyrical and theatrical performances, and adopted the name “Sociedad del Gran Teatro del Liceo”. From the members meetings there are derived The Actas de las Juntas Generales, collecting meetings from 1854 to the ones available for consultation, from 1967.

The set of diaries called Libro del Conserje include 25 handwritten volumes. Its name changed from Diario de la Mayordomía to Diario de Secretaría. After the fire of 1861, the Societat hired a worker who should live in the same building. Among his duties he had to write down every day all that happened in the theatre, functions, rehearsals, repairs or other more extraordinary events. The writing began on 1 April 1862 to 16 July 1981, when the Consortium was encharged of the management of the theatre. To facilitate the consultation, the volumes are divided on the basis of the calendar year. In total, there were nine employees who writed the volumes: Pius del Castillo, Bartomeu Carcassona, Francesc Carcassona (son), Ricard Carcassona (grandson), Josep Burgas, Manuel Fages, Miquel Alañá, Pere Puértolas and Joan Antich. Their position will be also called administrator or steward.

Other internal documents are the different internal Rules and Regulations modified according to the circumstances of the moment, and the annual Memòries published for the members with the activities of each theatrical season.

Masquerade dances

Carnival dances are another of the episodes present in this series, being first documented in 1848. They achieve a social and artistic importance crucial in the Barcelona of the time, to the point of influencing in a remarkable way the entire second half of the 19th century, and becoming a reference for all the other masquerades in Barcelona. The dances were organized by the Societat itself, generating a documentation of its own: from programs, to specific regulations, invitations, arrangements in the main hall, as well as the hiring of the musicians and the composition of repertoires for specific dances.

During the period of July 1936 to January 1939, the theatre was nationalized, it became the Teatre Nacional de Catalunya. Despite the parenthesis in some of the previous series, the management of the theatre continued to attend to the activity of the coliseum of the Rambles.