Cathedrals, Colonization, and Conversion: Mapping the Music of New Spain

The cathedrals of New Spain were where the people of Spanish origin and indigenous converts went to church and practiced Catholicism, which entailed a great deal of music making. Cathedrals were the primary performance venue for Western European classical music, and at each cathedral a chapel master – the musical director – played a large role in dictating what was performed. Chapel masters also composed some of the music that was performed. Moreover, there were a lot of resources poured into the music making at these cathedrals; after the Council of Trent (1545-1563), every cathedral had an organ. The cathedrals were well supplied with instruments and at one point, there were over one thousand documented choirs in New Spain that sang regularly in the cathedrals.

The Spanish colonizers were smart with their utilization of music in colonizing and converting the indigenous people. For many groups of natives, music was a part of their daily routines and rituals before the Spanish colonizers came to the Americas. Our group paid especially close attention to the music of the Aztec empire. Music was interwoven into the lives of the Aztecs long before the colonizers arrived. The Aztecs utilized music in their everyday lives and especially during worship, sacrifice, and ritual. Therefore, the colonizers using music to convert and colonize the Aztecs was very intentional. In order to establish power ove these indigenous groups in the Americas  the Spanish used the mission systems. Essentially, the Spaniards sent over priests to establish missions where the indigenous people lived. These missions were meant to convert and utilize the labor of the indigenous people. They were meant to be self-sustaining and act as communities. A large part of life in the missions was music. As aforementioned, the Spanish did this intentionally, and in the mission communities Indigenous people sang, played, and composed, danced to Christian religious music. Often the music would be in Latin, but it was also translated to Indigenous languages, and this happened most with the Aztec people. Their songs were often a contrafact of Spanish music in the Nahua language. There were also composers among the Aztecs in particular that wrote music in Nahua.

In addition, the missions served as schools for adults and children alike that were meant to westernize the native people. One of the main subjects was music and music literacy. The Spanish were indoctrinating the indigenous people from a young age using music, which was already part of their culture. 

N.B. Although we did not include villancicos on our map, they are nontheless an important aspect of New Spanish music and culture, and should be treated with equal importance as chapel masters, cathedrals, and missions. Also note that the villancico is a style of music, rather than a place music happened.

Of the many genres of music performed in New Spain, none were as popular as the villancico. Originating in Spain, the villancico was a unique style akin to a madrigal, traditionally composed of alternating coplas and estribillos, or stanzas and refrains. The text usually came from folk songs or parables and was not necessarily sacred, although the large majority of villancicos performed in New Spain were sponsored by the church. Villancicos were most often associated with Christmas, but were performed for many important feast days like Corpus Christi and the Feast of Immaculate Conception. Instrumentation varied wildly: one might be composed for two trebles and continuo while another for eight voice choir, horns, clarinets, violins, and continuo.