MUSIC IN MEXICO A Historical Survey n A HISTORICAL SURVEY ROBERT STEVENSON York THOMAS Y. CROWELL COMPANY 195* MM ftoo* to rtfr****** AU rigfa r**r*9d. Ho p** a/ m*y wfA** /^ o fAf u form, *xc*p* by * r^wwr, /niiiait Ma*uf*cturtd in ikt V*it*d St*tn */ UBRARY OF CONCftBSS CATALOG CARD NO. S1-IOJ79 Apollo Edition, 197* PREFACE This book is the first in English devoted to the history of music in Mexico* Several excellent manuals in English dealing with the history of the various other fine arts in Mexico painting, architecture, and sculp- tureare now available. The absence of a historical survey of music in Mexico is therefore a conspicuous example of neglect, especially when it is remembered how important music has always been in the total culture of our southern neighbor. The basic research which was a necessary preliminary to the writing of the present book was made possible by a grant from the Mexican Govern- ment during 1950 under terms of the Buenos Aires Convention for the Promotion of Inter-American Cultural Relations. My cordial thanks are due the many officials in Mexico who made the traversing of the road at- over Mexico's musical past a richly rewarding experience. Without I should like to remember here Dr. Silvio tempting an exhaustive list, ZwaJa, Director of the Chapultepec Museum, Maestro Carlos Ch&vez, Director of the Institute National de Bellas Artes, Luis Sandi, Chief of the Music Section in the Institute, Jesfo Bal y Gay of the Music Section, Bias Galindo, Director of the Conservators Nacional, Dr. Jesfis Romero, Professor of Music History in the Conservators, Dr. Gabriel Soldfvar, eminent music historian, Juli&n Carrillo, veteran composer and former of head of the conservatory, Jes6s Estrada, organist the Mexico City Ger6nimo Cathedral, Juliin Zufiiga, organist of the Guadalupe Basilica, F, Bernal Btqueiro F&ter, music critic, Joe Visquex, composer, Miguel Jimenez, director of the Escuela Superior de Miiaica Sagrada at Morelia, Franklm Mr. George T. Smisor, formerly of the Biblioteca Benjamin Fisher of the American in Mexico City, Mr. Dorsey Gaesaway Embassy, vi PREFACE and of the American mere Miss Dorothy Jester Embassy. A listing of names is, of course, but a token. In the text and footnotes I have indicated more precisely the extent of my indebtednesses, which are everywhere extensive. Among those in this country whose aid has proved invaluable have been Dr. researcher in Mexican music Lota Spell, pioneer history, Dr. Ethelyn in Davis, sociologist and expert Mexican antiquities, Dr. Steven Barwick, author of an authoritative Harvard dissertation on colonial music m Alice in Mexico, Miss Ray, researcher Puebla music history, Eduardo Guerra, formerly of Mexico City Union Seminary, Mrs. Hallett John- El concert with son, Paso, Texas, manager extensive Mexican connections, Mr. Charles Seeger, Music Division Chief of the Pan American Union, Dr. Carleton Sprague Smith, Music Division Chief at the New York Public Library, Dr. Edmund King of Princeton University, Mr. Arthur Cohn of the Philadelphia Free Public Library, and Dr. Thomas E. Cotner of the United States Office of Education at Washington. My thanks are also due staff members of several libraries both in Mexico and in the United States specializing in Mexican imprints: nota- bly the Biblioteca Nacional and Conservatorio National Library at Mex- ico and The City j Huntington and Bancroft Libraries at San Marino and Berkeley respectively in California. CONTENTS 1; EARLY ABORIGINAL MUSIC IN MEXICO "Ancient" Mexican Music at the Museum of Modern Art. Chang- "Aztec ing Attitudes Towards Ancient Aboriginal Music. The Renaissance." Methods Used by Contemporary Scholars in the Used in Study of Pre-Conquest Music. The Musical Instruments Ancient Mexico. Testimony of Early Spanish Historians on the to Character of Aboriginal Music. Contribution of the Missionaries Our Understanding of Indian Culture. Conclusions Concerning Pre-Conquest Music Derived from Early Spanish Testimony. Toribio de Motolinia. Bernardino de Sahagiin, Francisco Lopez de Gomara. Alonso de Molina. Diego de Landa. Diego Duran, Geronimo de Mendieta. Summaries of Sixteenth Century Opinion. Absence of Musical Quotations in the Sixteenth Century Chronicles of Pre-Conquest Life. The Melodic System of the Early Aborigines. Concluding Summary. 2. THE TRANSPLANTING OF EUROPEAN MUSICAL CULTURE 5* Aid in the Process of Conver- Aptitude of the Indians* Music as an and Instrumental- sion. The Resulting Superfluity of Indian Singers Choirs. ists. The Musical Achievement of Early Colonial Indian of Six- Music Printing During the Sixteenth Century. Description teenth Century Mexican Imprints Containing Music. Present-Day Music Sixteenth Cen- Significance of Sixteenth Century Imprints, vii viii CONTENTS tury Background in Spain. Synopsis of Neo-Hispank Polyphonic Development. Neo-Hispanic Polyphony as "Gebrauchsmusik." Mu- sic in Commemorative Acts. Sixteenth Century Developments in Instrumental Music. Secular Music. 3. THE CULMINATION AND DECLINE OF NEQ-" HISPANIC MUSIC 100 Sources. The Printing of Part-Music. The Extent of the Repertory. Hernando Franco. The Magnificat*. Nahuatl Hymns. The Puebla School of Composers. Music in Mkhoacan. Music in Other Provin- cial Centers. The Villancico in New Spain. Music at Mexico City Cathedral (Salazar to Aldana). Reasons for the Decline of Neo- Hispanic Music. Secular Music During the Seventeenth and Eight- eenth Centuries. Neo-Hispanic Folk-Music* 4- THE OPERATIC NINETEENTH CENTURY 172 Musk in Mexico (1810) Compared with Music in Other Hispanic Colonies. Mexican Music During the Last Years of the Viceroy- alty. Music at the School of Mines in Mexico City. Instruments and Instrument Tuning. Dance Types Popular at the End of the Vice- regal Period. Jose Mariano EHzaga: A Pioneer During the Revolu- tionary Epoch. Elizaga's Printed Works. Elfeaga's Successor*. The Manuel Garcia Episode. Foreign Opinion on Musk in the Young Republic. Mexican Opera Composers of the Mid-Century, Melesio Morales's One "Mexican" Opera. Angela Peraha: 'The Mexican Nightingale." Other Mexican Opera Composers of the Nineteenth Century. Assessment of Nineteenth Century Mexican Opera. Salon Music. Piano Virtuosi During the Latter Half of the Century. Ricardo Castro: the Most "Europeizante" Nineteenth Century Composer. Religious Musk in Nineteenth Century Mexico. Na- tional and Regional Dances. The Nineteenth Century in Resume*. 5. FULFILLMENT DURING THE TWENTIETH CBN* TURY 2*4 The Last Porfirian Decade. Le Llgmd* d* RwM. Carnpa's In- dictment of the Masses. Juliin Carrfllo. Manuel M. Ponce. Curios CONTENTS ix Chavez. Chavez's Musical Style. Silvcstre Revueltas. Candelario Huizar. Bias Galindo. El Grupo de los Cuatro. Luis Sandi. Miguel Bernal Jimenez. Schola Cantorumi Nuestr* Musica; Mexico en el Arte. Other Composers. Popular Music in Mexico Today. For- eign Contributors to Mexican Musical Life. Outlook for the Future. BIBLIOGRAPHY INDEX 283 MEXICAN CHRONOLOGY Mexican history divides itself into three principal epochs: (i) the Pre- Spanish, ending at 1521, (2) the Colonial, extending from 1521 until the 1810, (3) Independence, lasting from 1810 until the present time. Many present-day Mexican historians add a fourth division to the above the Reform in three, epoch which began 1910 with the revolt against Porfirio Diaz. A table of dates is below this table is an of a supplied j abridgment longer one found in Alfonso Teja Zabre's Historia de Mfxico (Mferico: Imp. de la Secretaria de Relaciones Exteriores, 1935)* All dates are in the Christian era, 200-400 Rise of Southern Maya culture in Guatemala and Hon- duras 500-600 Southern Maya culture reaches its zenith in such cities as Copan, Tikal, and Palenque IOOO-X200 Northern Maya culture flourishes in Yucatan, a princi- pal center being Chichen-Itza 1325 Tenochtitlan, principal city of the Aztecs, founded 1418-72 Nezthutlcoyotl, poet-king of Texcuco 1440-69 Montezuma I ruler in Tenochtitlan 1482 Work begins on the construction of a great new temple t TenochtMin 1487 At consecration ceremonies for new great temple 20,000 captives are sacrificed 1503-20 Montezuma I! succeeds as ruler of the Aztec "em- pire" 1 5 1 9, April 2 1 Cortes arrives tt San Juan de Uloa xi MEXICAN CHRONOLOGY toward Tenochtidan 1519* August 16 He leaves the coast and marches with a force of 400 infantry, 16 horses, 6 cannon, and 1500 Indian allies at Tenochtitlan a week later he seizes the 1519, November 7 He arrives ; person of Montezmna, overthrows idols in the great temple, and sets up a cross in it 1520, June 29 Montezmna, after vainly trying to quiet his people, is slain 1520, June 30 Cortes flees the city in disastrous defeat: "Noche triste" 1521, August 13 Tenochtidan surrenders; Cuauhtemoc, last ruler of the Aztecs, is taken prisoner 1523, August 30 First Franciscan friars land at Veracruz 1525, February Cuauhtemoc executed during CorteVs expedition to Honduras because of his part in a conspiracy 1535 Don Antonio de Mendoza, first viceroy, arrives 1536, January 7 College of Santa Cruz de Tlatelolco for Indians opens with 60 students who are taught reading, writing, Latin grammar, rhetoric, philosophy, and music 1553January 25 Luis de Velasco (I), 2nd viceroy, opens University of Mexico *573 Work begins on Cathedral of Mexico (present struc- ture) 1608 Luis de Velasco (II) inaugurates a large system of drainage works in order to reclaim Mexico City from marshland 1642 Juan de Palafox y Mendoza, Bishop of Puebla, named 1 8th viceroy 1692, June 8 Riot on account of