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Michael Said:
Il-Perit Pietru Attard (1835-1916).
La Stella Band, 2016
Il-Perit Pietru Attard is a short but original monograph consisting in a biographical sketch of the founding father of the La Stella Vincitrice Band of Victoria, Gozo, whose life spanned the second half of the 19th century and the first 16 years of the 20th century.
It is the product of many years of research that Michael Said – one of the bandsmen of the aforementioned musical society – carried out of his own initiative. Said, who is a dedicated member of the band, has been interested in Attard for decades. The love with which he cherishes La Stella Band was the motivation that urged him to delve deep into the existing documents in order to come out with a historical sketch of the Gozitan patriot.
Attard was not merely the founder of a band; he was also a member of the Società Gozitana d’Incoraggimento and a member of the Industrial Club for Gozo, as well as a keen genealogist, a good hunter, an amateur archaeologist, a legal architect and the founder of the Calypso Theatre, the first theatre ever on the island of Gozo.
Attard was also a renowned numismatic and was the owner of a unique collection of coins, the whereabouts of which has not yet come out into the light.
Attard was so immersed into Gozo’s social and cultural life that he made a name for himself.
An easy-to-read historical monograph
Besides being respected by the authorities, he was also known among the local folk for his intellectual abilities and artistic talent.
Said’s monograph provides the public with a detailed sketch of the various projects Attard managed to involve himself in. He was a contemporary of pater patria Fortunato Mizzi, whose father hailed from Gozo; the author refers to Mizzi and his connection with La Stella Band in his monograph.
A great amount of musical pieces once owned by Attard are now the property of the La Stella Musical Society and today they form part of the society’s archive. Said mentions all of them in the monograph.
The book also contains photos and other pictures connected with the life and death of Attard.
A statue of the pater familias – as he is referred to by the author – stands at the door of the upper hall of the Astra Theatre in Victoria.
Said’s Il-Perit Pietru Attard is an easy-to-read historical monograph containing a lot of information in a small publication and brings to life this late 19th-century Gozitan gentleman who made a name for himself, for his native town of Victoria and for the island of Gozo, which he loved above all else.