How “Walang Sugat” Was Revived? By Joji Felix Velarde

When Prof. Fulgencio Tolentino was still alive, he used to recount to his young grandson the stories of the zarzuela whose music he had composed. It was in the thirties, just before the outbreak of World War II. The zarzuela had seen its golden age and it was now just a historical relic. The old maestro soon passed away, but his grandson, now ophthalmologist, Dr. H. Velarde, Jr., could not forget his impressions about the zarzuela. It had become his obsession to revive it during his lifetime.

The task of reconstructing the libretto and the musical score of the zarzuela presented seemingly insurmountable problems. The playwright, Severino Reyes, and the composer, Fulgencio Tolentino was long gone. The music manuscripts left by the composer to his widow, Catalina Alonzo de Tolentino, were all burned in the battle for the liberation of Manila in 1945.

Undaunted by the loss of the original manuscripts, Dr. Velarde made the first step in reviving the zarzuela some seven years ago, when he and his mother paid a visit to Pedrito Reyes, a son of the playwright, who later was to find a copy of the libretto. However, no musical scores were recovered among the old manuscripts.

Finding his efforts thwarted in this direction, Dr. Velarde proceeded to look for living zarzuela participants or others who could still remember the songs in order to undertake the musical reconstruction work. Teodoro F. Valencia, the noted columnist, was requested to announce in his column in the Manila Times the search for such people.

Since the zarzuela was popular during the early part of this century, finding any living participant today was like the proverbial search for the needle in the haystack. It was a complete surprise, therefore, to receive calls for several people who either participated in the zarzuela or know the songs.

With this new source of information, the reconstruction of the music of Walang Sugat took on a faster tempo. A series of Sunday workshop meetings started in May of last year at the residence of Dr. Velarde. The people mainly responsible for this task were the son of the playwright, Pedrito Reyes, who was assisted by his son Johnny, and the children of the composer—Mrs. Consuelo T. Velarde, Mrs. Araceli T. Keiner, Mrs. Maria T. Vallarta, Mrs. Pilar T. Rodriguez and Dr. Augusto Tolentino. The music and lyrics were recounted and sung from snatches of memory and recorded by Constancio de Guzman with the help of singers Grace Turla Melendres and Johnny Benasa whose voices were taped.

Among the materials that proved invaluable to their work were an old manuscript of a song given by the composer to Johnny Benasa, an original record of the song “Dalawang Brazo” and an original record of “Julia Niyaring Dibdib”, pressed fifty years ago, through the courtesy of Susie Nanagas Abadilla.

The work of reconstruction proved to be costly, so Doroy Valencia was asked to help finance it. As a result of the initiative and leadership of Doroy Valencia and the efforts of Dr. Herminio Velarde, Jr., and R.R. de la Cruz, the Zarzuela Foundation of the Philippines was conceived and organized.

When the reconstruction of the original songs was finished after seven months, the production of the zarzuela became a certainty. Again, Dr. Herminio Velarde pursued the realization of his dream by organizing the Pacifica Cultural Productions, Inc., which was commissioned by the Zarzuela Foundation to produce Walang Sugat.

The Zarzuela Foundation announced the revival project at a press conference at the M.O.P.C. The fund- raising campaign had its kick- off at Malacanang with the presence of President and Mrs. Marcos. On this occasion ₱532, 000.00 was raised.