Socjeta’ San Pawl Banda Konti Ruggieru
Il-Banda Konti Ruggieru twaqqfet ufficjalment bil-kuntratt notarili li sar ghand in-nutar Guzeppi Maria Buhagiar nhar il-Hadd 25 ta’ Lulju 1869. Dan il-kuntratt sar bejn is-Surmast Rabti Epifanio Agius u sbatax-il bandist Rabti li kienu kollha midhla ta’ l-Arcikonfraternita’ tas-Santissimu Sagrament u l-Proto-Parrocca ta San Pawl. Fil-fatt dakinhar stess tal-kuntratt sar l-ewwel kuncert. Il-hsieb wara dan it-twaqqif tal-Banda kien sabiex dawn il-bandisti jkollhom post fejn ikomplu jitghallmu il-muzika u jistghu jirrikrejaw irwiehhom, kif ukoll sabiex permezz tal-Banda jkomplu jkabbru l-Festi Principali u Titulari tar-Rabat, Corpus Domini a l-Martirju ta’ l-Appostlu Missierna San Pawl.
L-ewwel programm muzikali ta-Banda sar f’Settembru ta’ l-istess sena fi Pjazza Saqqajja u ndaqqu bicciet ta’ Petrella, Mercadante, Verdi u Agius. Min dakinhar il-Banda qatt ma harset lura u bdiet tigi mistiedna ddoqq f’hafna festi ta’ l-irhula fil-qrib fosthom Hal Lija, Naxxar, Birkirkara, Mosta, Zebbug u Siggiewi.
Il-Banda Konti Ruggieru matul l-Istorja Glorjuza taghha kellha seba’ surmastrijiet. Fil-fatt wara Epifanio Agius, fl-1878 lahaq is-Surmast Rabti Frangisku Xuereb li kien bandist u wiehed mill-fundaturi ta’ l-istess Banda. Taht dan is-Surmast il-Banda kompliet taghmel progress kbir u kienu bosta l-programmi li wettqet il-Banda. Insibu s-sehem tal-Banda fil-migja tal-Kardinal Lavigerie fl-Imdina fl-1882, fl-1883 meta giet inawgurata l-ferrovija, u fl-1888 fl-Ingress ta’ l-Isqof Pietru Pace fl-Imdina. Fl-1893 is-Socjeta’ San Pawl Banda Konti Ruggieru bdiet ticcelebra l-Festa Nazzjonali f’gieh il-Konti Ruggieru.
Matul dawn iz-zminijiet il-Banda kellha bhala Presidenti lis-Sur Antonio Lanfranco (1869-1880), lis-Sur Paolo Falzon (1880-1885), lin-Nutar Michele Luigi Casolani (1885-1887), l-Avukat Agostino Naudi (1887-1893) u l-Baruni Germaniz Massimiliano von Tucher (1893-1914).
Fl-1902 il-Banda ghaddiet taht id-direzzjoni tas-Surmast Antonio E. Agius li dam sa l-1920. F’dan iz-zmien il-Banda kienet tkun mistiedna ddoqq fil-Garden Parties li kien jaghti l-Gvernatur Generali Sir Leslie Rundle fil-Gonna ta’ San Anton u l-Palazz Verdala fil-Buskett. Dan l-istess gvernatur bhala apprezzament irregala lill-Banda Konti Ruggieru bandalora bl-arma tieghu. Fl-1917 giet immwaqqfa s-Socjeta’ Mutuo Soccorso Conte Ruggiero bl-ewwel President taghha jkun il-Konti Alfredo Caruana Gatto li dam sa l-1927 President ukoll tal-Banda Konti Ruggieru.
Is-Surmast Taljan Giuseppe Vitaliti ha d-direzzjoni tal-Banda fl-1920 u dam sa l-1927 meta kellu jirtira lejn l-Italja minhabba sahhtu. Ghall-perjodu qasir il-Banda ghaddiet taht is-Surmast Francesco Bellizzi.
Fit-3 ta’ Mejju 1928, waqt Programm Strumentali fil-Gonna ta’ San Anton, il-Banda ghaddiet taht idejn is-Surmast maghruf Vincenzo Ciappara. Huwa dam jidderigi lil din il-Banda sa l-1978. Fil-25 ta’ Jannar 1930 waqt Programm Strumentali fi Pjazza Saqqajja il-Banda zanznet strumentatura gdida. Fl-1944 gie mfakkar il-75 anniversarju mit-twaqqif ufficjali tal-Banda. Taht Ciappara il-Banda Konti Ruggieru hadet sehem attiv fil-Festi Nazzjonali li saru sabiex jitfakkar gheluq id-19 il-Centinarju tan-Nawfragju ta’ San Pawl f’Malta u fl-1967 sabiex jitfakkar id-19 il-Centinarju tal-Martirju ta’ l-Appostli San Pietru u San Pawl. Fl-1969 gie mfakkar gheluq il-100 sena tal-Banda.
F’Dicembru ta’ l-1974 is-Surmast, illum Professur Joseph Vella inhatar successur ta’ Vincenzo Ciappara, u ghadu s-Surmast Direttur tal-Banda sal-lum. Fl-1990 il-Banda Konti Ruggieru laqghet lill-Q.T. il-Papa Gwanni Pawlu II fil-Pjazza tal-Proto-Parrocca fir-Rabat u fil-Pjazza tal-Katidral fl-Imdina. Fl-1995 esegwiet Programmi Muzikali gewwa Polverigi, Ancona u Fermigniano fl’Italia filwaqt li fl-1996 laqghet f’Malta lill-Banda ta’ Polverigi. Fl-1999 il-Banda Konti Ruggieru daqqet gewwa Taormina, Altofonte u Palazzolo Acreide fi Sqallija. F’Dicembru ta’ l-istess sena ccelebrat gheluq il-25 sena minn meta il-Professur Joseph Vella inhatar Surmast Direttur tal-Banda billi tellghet Programm Strumentali b’xogholijiet tieghu stess.
Fl’2001 il-Banda Konti Ruggieru wettqet zjara memorabbli fl-Istati Uniti ta’ l-Amerika u l-Kanada fejn barra li daqqet diversi programmi muzikali fost l-emigranti Maltin kienet ukoll mistiedna sabiex tippartecipa fl-‘Michigan State Fair’. Is-sena ta’ wara il-Banda regghet halliet xtutna fejn hadet sehem fil-festi f’gieh l-Appostlu Missierna San Pawl f’Palazzolo Acereide fi Sqallija. Fl-2004 il-Banda giet mistiedna sabiex tesegwixxi programmi muzikali fil-Bavarja.
Matul dan iz-zmien is-Socjeta’ San Pawl kellha bhala Presidenti lill-Konti Edward Sant Fournier (1927-1948), lis-Sur Lewis Ebejer (1948-1954), lill-Avukat Carmelo Vassallo (1954-1964), lis-Sur Publius Farrugia (1964-1982), u lill-Kommendatur Henry Paul Fenech (1982-1999). Il-President prezenti huwa l-Konti Paul Tonna.
Ghalkemm il-Banda Konti Ruggieru tghodd mal-136 sena ta’ hajja, hija ghada attiva u popolari fil-Gzejjer Maltin. L-iskop ewlieni tal-fundaturi ghadu f’mohh id-dirigenti u l-bandisti tal-llum, filwaqt li l-hidma sfieqa ta’ dawn l-individwi jawgura tajjeb hafna ghall-gejjieni.
F’din is-sezzjoni li qed tigi ppreparata dwar is-Socjeta’ San Pawl Banda Konti Ruggieru ser jigu pprezentati f’aktar dettall l-istorja tas-Socjeta’ San Pawl Banda Konti Ruggieru, u s-sehem taghha fil-hajja socjali tar-Rabat.
LINKS
- Sehem il-Banda fil-Festi organizzati mill-Arcikonfraternita’ tas-Sagrament tar-Rabat.
- Is-Surmastrijiet tal-Banda Konti Ruggieru
- L-Arkivju Muzikali
- Is-Socjeta Mutuo Soccorso ‘Konti Ruggieru’
- ‘Patrijottika’ – Titolu moghti lil Banda Konti Ruggieru
St Paul’s Club – Count Roger Band
A.D. 1869
Count Roger’s Band Club was officially founded on Sunday 25th July, 1869 with the notarial acts presided by Notary Guzeppi Maria Buhagiar. The contracting parties were the Rabat Musical Director Epifanio Agius and seventeen band musicians from Rabat too. They formed part of the Archconfraternity of the Most Holy Sacrament and of the Protoparish of St. Paul. A concert was held on the same day the contract was signed. The objectives behind the band’s foundation were multiple. It was the effort to find the right location for a band club where all musical tutoring would progress, and to act as a leisure place. This band would in turn provide the musical accompaniment during the principal and titular feasts of Corpus Domini and the Martyrdom of the Apostle St. Paul held in Rabat.
The band organised its first programme on September 1869 in the Saqqajja Square where compositions of Petrella, Mercadante, Verdi and Agius were delivered. The band never looked back and it was invited to play in many feasts celebrated in the surrounding towns and villages such as Hal Lija, Naxxar, Birkirkara, Mosta, Haz-Zebbug and Siggiewi.
Seven musical directors have lead Count Roger’s Band in its glorious history. In 1878, the Rabat Musical Director Frangisku Xuereb took over from Maestro Epifanio Agius. Xuereb was a band musician and one of the founders of the band. The band increased in popularity under Maestro Xuereb and several programmes were organized under his direction. The band participated on the arrival of Cardinal Lavigerie in Mdina in 1882, when the railway service was introduced in 1883, and in 1888 when Bishop Pietru Pace made his entry in Mdina. From 1893, the Society of St. Paul and Count Roger’s Band Club began to celebrate the National Feast in honour of Count Roger.
During this period, the band was presided over by Mr. Antonio Lanfranco (1869 – 1880), Mr. Paolo Falzon (1880 – 1885), Notary Michele Luigi Casolani (1885 – 1887), Dr Agostino Naudi (1887 – 1893) and German Baron Massimiliano von Tucher (1893 – 1914).
From 1902 till 1920, Maestro Antonio E. Agius directed the band where it was invited to play in the garden parties organized by Governor General Sir Leslie Rundle at San Anton Gardens and at Palazzo Verdala in Buskett. This governor showed his appreciation when he presented an ornamental flag with his coat of arms stamped on it. In 1917, the Society Mutuo Soccorso Conte Ruggiero was established under the presidency of Count Alfredo Caruana Gatto. He presided until 1927 where he assumed the presidency of the band club too.
The Italian musical director Giuseppe Vitaliti assumed the band’s direction in 1920 until 1927 when he had to retire in his home country owing to health reasons. For a brief period of time, Maestro Francesco Bellizzi assumed the role of band director.
The well-known Maestro Vincenzo Ciappara conducted his first programme with the band at San Anton Gardens on the 3rd May, 1928. He remained with the band for fifty years when he retired in 1978. The band presented its new set of instruments on the 25th January, 1930 during a programme at Saqqajja Square. The band’s 75th anniversary was celebrated in 1944. Under Ciappara’s leadership the band participated actively in the National Feasts held to celebrate the 19th centenary of St. Paul’s Shipwreck in Malta. The band’s 100th anniversary was celebrated in 1969.
In December 1974, Maestro (now Professor) Joseph Vella was appointed Ciappara’s successor. Vella remains the band’s director. In 1990 Count Roger’s Band welcomed Pope John Paul II in the Rabat Main Square and in the square in front of the Mdina Cathedral. In 1995, the band played in Italy in the towns of Polverigi, Ancona and Fermignano. In 1996 the band welcomed the arrival of the Polverigi band. In 1999 the band played again in Taorima, Altofonte and Palazzolo Acreide in Sicily. In December of that same year the band celebrated Prof. Vella’s 25th anniversary as musical director and a programme with his own musical compositions was played.
In 2001, Count Roger’s Band visited the US and Canada where it performed for the Maltese emigrants and it was also invited to play in the Michigan State Fair. The following year the band flew again to Sicily to play at Palazzo Acireide for the feast of the Apostle St. Paul and in 2004 it was invited to perform in the German state of Bavaria.
During this period, the Society of St. Paul was presided by the following: Count Edward Sant Fournier (1927 – 1948), Mr. Lewis Ebejer (1948 – 1954), Dr. Carmelo Vassallo (1954 – 1964), Mr. Publius Farrugia (1964 – 1982), and Commendatore Henry Paul Fenech (1982 – 1999). Presently, the president of the Society is Count Paul Tonna.
Although Count Roger’s Band is 137 years old, it remains an active band and very popular throughout the Maltese Islands. The present administration holds dearly the principles of the band’s founders and works hard to achieve the set objectives. This augurates well for the future.