This project aims to unearth the legacy of Eugenia Osterberger, an overlooked composer born in Santiago de Compostela, Galicia in 1852. Through my research, I will delve into how Galician and Spanish traditional music (as well as European academic styles) influenced her classical compositions, focusing on creating arrangements for oboe or English horn. My objective is twofold: to shed light on Ostenberger's life and works, often overshadowed in the male-dominated realm of 19th-20th-century composition, and to reconnect with my roots by showcasing her music.

How did I get to know this woman composer in the first place? Two years ago, my godmother mentioned her to me because of an article she had read and asked me if I knew her. I did not so I decided to try to find some recordings of her works. It turned out that I felt deeply touched by her music when I first listened to the only album that existed from her1, and I immediately thought that her music may work played by an oboe and that I would love to be able to perform her music. This first taste of listening to the album raised my curiosity to know more about her and thoughts about creating a performance around it bubbled up. Furthermore, as this happened to me just listening to her music, I started to wonder how people would be able to enjoy it as well, but with a more immersive and deep experience: sharing her story, telling who she was, what the interesting elements in her music and how she left footprints of folklore Galician and Spanish music as well as create her own style strongly influence by classical romantic-post romantic style.

All we know about Eugenia Osterberger is because of one previous research on the figure of this women composer, carried out by three authors in 20132, as well as the album I have mentioned before, recorded by them and containing some of her compositions. This is the only rigorous monograph and research work on the composer. The Galician authors state that the music of Eugenia Ostenberger "forms part of our heritage and is worthy of being known and studied, like that of her male contemporaries"3. That is why I consider it important to be able to perform it on my instrument and to disseminate it so that everyone who hears it can enjoy it and discover its value.

With all the above said, the research question I draw for this project is the following:

• How can I spread the work of a Galician female composer engagingly and through my performance?

To find the answer to this main research question, I will first of all do a thorough research on the composer and her music, because it will help to expand my knowledge of her, to connect more emotionally with her works and to be able to convey to the audience the emotion of my work and what Eugenia Osterberger and her music represent to me – Chapter 1 will focus on this aspect. Secondly, I must adapt or arrange her compositions to disseminate her music through my performance on my main instrument (oboe or English horn), as none of them were originally written for these instruments – Chapter 2 will relate, among other things, the process of making the arrangements. Finally, I seek to disseminate her music, especially in Spain and Galicia, through a concert program that will take place in the future. To make this performance engaging, I intend to escape from the classical concert format and become the protagonist – not only playing with my instrument but with my oral discourse – to tell the story about Eugenia and her music and to present a performance that is closer to the audience, more intimate and personal. This theme will be dealt with in the Chapter 4, and is closely related to my PIA Project and its development.

There were as well other subquestions that came up to my mind, and that I aim to answer within the research:

• What are the traditional Galician and Spanish music elements printed in her works?

Get to know in deep these tradicional elements, linked them to Eugenia’s way of composing is very important to me, and has a lot of value when sharing her music. People already knowing this elements will connect a lot with the music, and it will make a picture for other people that do not know about this musical style's traditions.

• Is her music suitable for oboe? How should I arrange works? What is the best way of doing it?

As it is my first time making arrangements on my own, these questions broaden up, so finding information about this topic is important.

• Is it interesting to link the oboe with singing, and does performing vocal works on the oboe make sense?

This question came up because many of Eugenia’s pieces are composed for voice and piano, especially the ones that had more Galician folklore and literature elements. As far as possible, I want to preserve the essence of the original piece, so the form in which I will possibly share the text in those works had to be thoughtful.

• What can take classical music from Galician traditional music and what does Eugenia Bring to the table?

This final question will lead to the conclusions of this research. It would be answered after all the reflection done and my own experience with all of the process.

The driving forces here are the curiosity to discover new music, the excitement to share the work of this composer, the desire for personal growth as a musician, and the ambition to carve out my own space as an artist in the musical world. Furthermore, I seek to connect with the audience and readers, especially with those whose passion is also to learn more about underrepresented composers, and of course with people concerned with the issue of representation of women in the musical composition field - women composers who have been overlooked throughout history and whose voice we need amplify.

Getting into the field of arrangements has been another of my main motivations. This subject has always caught my attention, but I have never encouraged myself to delve into it, and this is the perfect opportunity to explore this subject. I will gain knowledge on how to arrange a piece properly and learn during the process, expanding my musical skills for my musical background. Arranging is something that I may need to draw on in the future and that widens the range of repertoire and possibilities with your instrument on many types of compositions. Certainly, with this research and the creation of arrangements, I am also making a significant contribution to the oboe/English horn repertoire, introducing new pieces by a woman composer.

All this will be essential for finally being able to play the pieces myself and, as I said before, to spread them around, especially in Galicia, but also in The Netherlands or other parts of the world. I find this very powerful and may open doors for me to organize and create my own concert program, project, performance, and niche as an artist. In relation to the latter, I also consider that it is very important to get a proper historically informed performance of Eugenia Osterberger’s music while spreading the Galician and Spanish folklore music footprints in her compositions. I will connect with my roots and I will make the audience connect too while I share with them the context, ideas, and characteristics in her music. Raising awareness of culture, music, and a forgotten woman composer from my region is important to me, and that is why I share the authors Felipe and Carlos' statement about the value of Ethnographic research on music": “research on music provides possibilities for communities across the world to engage more deeply in the global understandings of humanity that are all too often dominated by the most powerful voices”4

Last but not least, I strongly believe that, as classical musicians, we have so much frame to explore and codes that we can break in order to make our performance more meaningful and personal. The canonical concept of a “classical-music concert”, with the artist “just” playing, with a booklet that only a few read with a bunch of info about the composer…is not something that resonates with the performance I have in mind to share Eugenia’s music. In this sense, attending last year to “Peformance and Communication” elective opened my mind a lot about the importance and impact us, interpreters, players, and our voice can have in a performance and can be used to connect with the audience.

My goal as a classical musician and oboist is to communicate, connect, enjoy, and evoke emotions through music. This project embodies these values, reaffirming and putting them into practice in a way that deeply resonates with my artistic spirit. Ultimately, I aim to provide another insight into Eugenia’s Osterberger life and music, as well as create a cohesive program project that culminates in the performance of Eugenia’s music, sharing with the audience all that I have learned, researched, and brought to life about her work and legacy.

After this introduction, I invite anyone reading this research to continue and join me on my journey of exploring the rediscovery of Eugenia Osterberger.