There's an interesting, and perhaps unexpected story, to be told about
Victoria rolls.  Many of these rolls were arranged by Manuel Blancafort
(1897-1987), son of the owner.  He was a composer in his own right, and
Naxos have issued several CDs of his compositions.  His music is very
much of the avant garde of its time, Catalan style.

The Manuel Blancafort foundation has a nice web site. In the biography
section it says "Manuel's real music school was Solfa, the first
factory of pianola rolls in Spain, which was founded by Joan Baptista
Blancafort in 1905.  There, he learned by transferring the notes from
the stave to the continuous paper rolls of the pianola."

See the biography at http://www.manuelblancafort.org/docs/bio_eng.pdf
It also has a photo of him at a roll-arranger's desk in the Victoria
factory.

And a bit more -- The National Library of Catalonia, in Barcelona,
holds the Manuel Blancafort papers (but not those of the Victoria
company, which apparently were destroyed during the civil war).  An
article at their web site has a larger-size version of the Victoria
roll factory photo with Blancafort arranging a roll.  Strangely, the
roll-arranging took place right in the middle of the factory surrounded
by the master rolls on huge shelves.

http://www.bnc.cat/El-Blog-de-la-BC/Manuel-Blancafort-Vaig-neixer-quan-naixia-la-pianola-i-vaig-veure-la-morir

The library contains some rolls of Blancafort's compositions, including
his "Homage to Chaplin" in a box labelled "Ragtime Hobby".  A recording
of this, and his "organ of the horses" (i.e., a carousel organ), can be
downloaded from their web site.

Incidentally, the Library possesses a player piano, donated to them in
2009, and which can be heard a 9 a.m. Monday through Thursday!  This is
apparently done so they can progressively check the condition of the
rolls in their archive.

Julian Dyer