From musician of a viceroy to succentor in the Cathedral of Lima: Cristóbal de León (fl. 1561-1608) and other cleric musicians of his time

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.62230/antec.v6i2.141

Keywords:

Lima, 16th century, 17th century, Cristóbal de León, cleric, musician, cathedral, convents

Abstract

Despite the increase in recent decades in our knowledge of colonial music, significant gaps remain about specific periods and places. Lima is perhaps the most striking of all of them because, despite being a colonial seat, we know relatively little about its musical life. This gap, however, is even more marked before 1612, when the constitutions of the music chapel of Lima Cathedral were promulgated. Since then, there is more information, at least in this institution, but we only have incomplete data for the previous period. Intending to help to remedy, in part, this lack, this paper studies a virtually unknown musician named Cristóbal de León. Through archival sources, we shall see that this subject developed a relevant musical activity in Lima from 1561 to 1608, which included the composition of chanzonetas and other works. In addition, he managed to enter the priesthood largely thanks to his musical profession, just as other cleric musicians did at the time. And he was probably related to the relevant musical activity of the monasteries of nuns in Lima during the 17th century.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biography

  • Alejandro Vera Aguilera, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile

    He works as a professor at the Music Institute of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile. He has a Doctor in History and Sciences of Music from the Autonomous University of Madrid (Spain) and a Bachelor's degree in Education, with a mention in Music from the University of Concepción (Chile).
    He has participated in international conferences in various countries in Europe, North America and Latin America, and published articles in prestigious magazines (Acta Musicológica, Early Music, Latin American Music Review and others). His latest book has been published in Spanish by Casa de las Américas and Ediciones UC, with the title El dulce reato de la música. La vida musical en Santiago de Chile durante el período colonial and in English by Oxford University Press as The Sweet Penance of Music. Musical Life in Colonial Santiago de Chile (2020). Since 2013 he is director of Resonancias, a musical research magazine (www.resonancias.uc.cl).
    Among other distinctions, he has obtained the XV “Emilio Pujol” Musical Research Award from Spain (2002), the “Otto Mayer - Serra” International Award for Musical Research in Mexico (2008), the “Casa de las Américas” Musicology Award from Cuba (2018), the “Lothar Siemens 2020” Musicology Prize from the Spanish Society of Musicology in Spain (2021, in conjunction with David Andrés Fernández), and the “Robert Stevenson” Prize from the American Musicological Society (2022).

References

Andrés Fernández, D. y Vera, A. (2022). Los cantorales de la Catedral de Lima: estudio, reconstrucción y catálogo. Madrid: Sociedad Española de Musicología.

Aróstegui, J. (2001). La investigación histórica: teoría y método. Barcelona: Crítica (edición original de 1995).

Baade, C. R. (2001). Music and Music-Making in Female Monasteries in Seventeenth-Century Castile (Spain) (Tesis doctoral). Duke University.

Baker, G. (2008). Imposing Harmony. Music and Society in Colonial Cuzco. Durham and London: Duke University Press.

Blau, A. (2011). Uncertainty and the History of Ideas. History and Theory, 50, 358-372.

Burke, P. (1993). Obertura: la nueva historia, su pasado y su futuro. En Peter Burke (ed.). Formas de hacer historia (pp. 11-37). Madrid: Alianza Editorial (ed. original en inglés de 1991).

Carr, E. H. (1981). ¿Qué es la historia? Barcelona: Ariel S. A. (edición original en inglés de 1961).

Estenssoro, J. C. (1989). Música y sociedad coloniales. Lima 1680-1830. Lima: Colmillo Blanco.

Estenssoro, J. C. (1990). Música, discurso y poder en el régimen colonial (Tesis de maestría). Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú.

Gembero Ustárroz, M. (2007). Migraciones de músicos entre España y América (siglos XVI-XVIII): estudio preliminar. En M. Gembero Ustárroz y E. Ros-Fábregas (eds.). La música y el Atlántico: relaciones musicales entre España y Latinoamérica (pp. 17-58). Granada: Universidad de Granada.

Gembero Ustárroz, M. (2016). Música en la Catedral de Lima en tiempos del arzobispo Mogrovejo (1581-1606): Gutierre Fernández Hidalgo, la Consueta de 1593, la participación indígena. Resonancias 20 (39), 13-41.

Jambou, L. (1999). Gómez (I). 2. Cristóbal de León. En E. Casares (ed.). Diccionario de la música española e hispanoamericana, vol. 5 (p. 686). Madrid: SGAE.

Knighton, T. (2011). Music and Ritual in Urban Spaces: The Case of Lima, c. 1600. En G. Baker y T. Knighton (eds.). Music and Urban Society in Colonial Latin America (pp. 21- 42). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Levillier, R. (1921). Gobernantes del Perú. Cartas y papeles. Siglo XVI. Documentos del Archivo de Indias. Madrid: Sucesores de Rivadeneyra.

Marín López, J. (2019). The Sonic Construction of a New Capital: Urban Soundscapes and Acoustic Communities in 16th-Century Lima. En Emily A. Engel (ed.). A Companion to Early Modern Lima (pp. 442-469). Leiden y Boston: Brill.

Morales Abril, O. (2005). Villancicos de Tomás de Torrejón y Velasco. Guatemala: Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala, Fundación Tomás Pascual, Centro de Estudios Folklóricos.

Pérez González, J. (2010). Las historias de la música en Hispanoamérica (1876-2000). Bogotá: Universidad Nacional de Colombia.

Pérez Puente, L. (2001). Dos periodos de conflicto en torno a la administración del diezmo en el arzobispado de México: 1653-1663 y 1664-1680. Estudios de Historia Novohispana, 25, 15-57.

Quezada Macchiavello, J. (2004). El legado musical del Cusco barroco. Lima: Congreso del Perú.

Ramos-Kittrell, J. A. (2016). Playing in the Cathedral. Music, Race, and Status in New Spain. Nueva York: Oxford University Press.

Sas, A. (1971). La música en la Catedral de Lima. Primera parte: Historia general. Lima: Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Casa de la Cultura del Perú.

Sas, A. (1972). La música en la Catedral de Lima. Segunda parte: Diccionario biográfico de los músicos que actuaron en su capilla de música. Lima: Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Instituto Nacional de Cultura.

Stevenson, R. (1959). The Music of Peru. Aboriginal and Viceroyal Epochs. Washington: Pan American Union, OEA.

Vera, A. (2020). El dulce reato de la música. La vida musical en Santiago de Chile durante el período colonial. La Habana, Santiago de Chile: Casa de las Américas, Ediciones UC.

Waisman, L. (2019). Una historia de la música colonial hispanoamericana. Buenos Aires: Gourmet Musical.

Downloads

Published

2022-12-29

How to Cite

Vera Aguilera, A. (2022). From musician of a viceroy to succentor in the Cathedral of Lima: Cristóbal de León (fl. 1561-1608) and other cleric musicians of his time. Antec: Revista Peruana De Investigación Musical, 6(2), 12-29. https://doi.org/10.62230/antec.v6i2.141

Similar Articles

1-10 of 141

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.