Art Music

There is scant evidence of musical life in Argentina during this period. As in most Latin American countries, the earliest efforts to establish a regular musical life in the European sense were made by missionaries, especially the Jesuits whose missions covered the Paraná river area and the La Plata region (Paraguay and Argentina). Music was important in the catechization of the indigenous Amerindian population, but the absence of conventual historians and the disappearance of the music archives of the Jesuits (see Lange) restrict any assessment of music-making during the 16th and 17th centuries. The first missionaries were Father Alonso Barzana, a Jesuit, and Francisco Solano, a Franciscan who was eventually canonized.

The first reference to an organ in the church of Santiago del Estero dates from 1585; the first school of music was founded by Father Pedro Comental (1595–1665). The music taught was mainly plainchant and polyphonic song, and Amerindians and African slaves soon became skilful musicians and instrument makers: there is documentary evidence of locally made European instruments before ...

Until 1776 Bolivia formed part of the Viceroyalty of Peru, as ‘Audiencia de Charcas’ or ‘Alto Peru’; the early history of art music in Bolivia is therefore related to that of Peru. During the colonial period the capital, La Plata (or Chuquisaca, and since 1839 Sucre), was one of the important intellectual and artistic centres of Spanish America, particularly because of its S Francisco Xavier University and its cathedral. Founded in 1538 it became a bishopric in 1552 and as early as 1569 its first music school was established by the musicians Juan de la Peña Madrid and Hernán García, to teach the Indians singing and instrumental performance. The wealth and consequent musical development of La Plata Cathedral (whose liturgy was closely linked to that of Seville) during the 17th and 18th centuries is attested to by the substantial historical and musical archives at the cathedral, whose holdings dating from the Baroque period make it one of the richest South American archival centres. Manuscript copies of works by such European composers as Galuppi, Hidalgo, Durón and Michael Haydn have been little explored. Throughout this period the cathedral library expanded considerably, receiving works from Spain and the colonies, especially Mexico. At the same time works of composers active at the cathedral were copied locally: the manuscript copy made in Potosí in ...

Bulgarian musical culture began to take shape when the Bulgarian state was founded in 681, and its character was initially determined by the interaction of three fundamental ethnic groups: the Slavs (who were in the majority), the Proto-Bulgarians, and the remnants of the assimilated ancient Thracian population. After the introduction of Christianity in 865 the starobălgarskiyat napev (old Bulgarian church chant) came into being, at first influenced by Byzantine chant. Kliment, Naum, and several other followers of SS Cyril and Methodius restored the Slav chantbooks which had been destroyed in Moravia, and created new ones. The musical traditions were handed down from generation to generation and the old Bulgarian chant was gradually formed: it took on certain distinctive characteristics, primarily because of the discrepancy between the number of syllables and the differences of stress in the Greek and Bulgarian languages, and also because of the influence of folk music. Among the few musical works to have survived are the 9th-century ...

References to music in chronicles and histories dealing with the 16th century are scarce. Opportunities for the Spanish soldiers to sing villancicos, to play the vihuela, flute or trumpet, were limited at a time when the settlers lived under the constant menace of Indian attacks. Yet by the end of the century the officials of the Spanish Church, who had observed the power that music had over the indigenous peoples, began using it as a missionary tool. The singing of the Mass with the participation of Spaniards and indigenous peoples became customary, and Amerindians were trained to make and play European instruments.

More peaceful and prosperous conditions in the 17th century favoured the development of music. In churches the use of plainsong alternated with hymns honouring the Virgin and with villancicos sung in unison, in two, three or four parts, or by a vocal soloist accompanied by guitar or harp. Pontifical Masses were complemented with ‘fanfares of trumpets, cornets and drums’. The death of Charles II in ...

See also Chorus (i)

During the last years of his life Handel’s oratorios were increasingly performed in the English provinces, generally in conformity with practices familiar in London. His death turned what had already become a cult almost into a religion. In 1759 there were many commemorative Handel performances, not only in London but also in Oxford, Cambridge and other large towns and in the small village of Church Langton, near Leicester, where there was a two-day festival. In the same year, at the Three Choirs Festival at Hereford, Messiah, which like the other oratorios had been previously performed only in secular buildings, was for the first time sung in a cathedral. Almost from the beginning of Handel’s career as an oratorio composer, the profits on performances of his works had helped sustain charities, and as the need for investment in hospitals became more urgent, so the cult of Handel, assisted by the editions of Randall and Arnold, grew even stronger during the remainder of the 18th century....

There is substantial documentary evidence of relatively important musical activity in colonial Ecuador, but no polyphonic work by musicians active in Quito, Cuenca and Guayaquil has yet been found. In view of the splendid development of colonial architecture, painting and sculpture related to the church, it is likely that there were similar accomplishments in music.

The transplanting of European music to Ecuador began with the establishment in Quito in 1535 of a Flemish Franciscan order (by the monks Josse de Rycke of Mechelen and Pierre Gosseal of Leuven) in which the teaching of music was important. Amerindians were taught plainchant, mensural notation and performance on the main families of European instruments, particularly at their Colegio de S Andrés (founded 1555), where the standard was such that by 1570 even Francisco Guerrero’s difficult four- and five-part motets could be performed. The mestizo Diego Lobato (c1538–c 1610), was appointed ...

During the 16th century Edinburgh’s musical life revolved around the court. King James IV patronized the composer Robert Carvor, whose masses and motets were probably mostly written for the Scottish Chapel Royal. A native school of partsong and instrumental composition grew up, modelled on the French and English schools but with its own passion and delicacy. An important partsong is the anonymous Departe, departe, a lament for the Master of Erskine, who was killed at the battle of Pinkie on the outskirts of Edinburgh in 1547. The Reformation of 1560 brought art music into disrepute. Church music was immediately reduced to unharmonized psalm tunes. Royal music-making continued at Holyrood Palace with Mary, Queen of Scots (1560s) and James VI (1580s, 1590s), but against a background of public disapproval. When James VI removed to London in 1603, art music in Edinburgh was left without a focus. A nominal Chapel Royal was retained for some decades into the 17th century, but James brought English musicians with him for his one return visit to the city (...

This article discusses trends in organizing the production of European instruments from the 15th century to the mid-19th.

During the 15th century European instrument making entered a new phase with the rise of polyphonic instrumental music. Previously, folk and minstrel instruments had been made mostly by the players themselves. The intricacies of polyphonic music and the social context in which sophisticated instruments such as clavichords, trombones, lutes, and viols were played demanded craft refinement and specialization. The professional traditions of organ building and bell founding provided precedents upon which the new branches of trade could build. While the production of folk instruments continued as it had previously, the new, commercial approach to instrument making gradually evolved into two major forms, which were first observable in the processes of both bell founding and organ building. These forms were small craft-workshops and entrepreneurial businesses. These two forms sometimes intersected; small workshops would sometimes grow and develop into entrepreneurial businesses....

In 1147 Afonso Henriques regained Lisbon from the Moors and made it his capital. Gilbert of Hastings (Bishop of Lisbon 1147–66) introduced features of Sarum Use, which prevailed locally until 1536, and started the building of Lisbon Cathedral in 1149. Diniz, who ruled from 1261 to 1325, founded the royal chapel in the Alcáçova Palace in 1299. Afonso IV (1325–57) increased to ten the number of chaplains obliged to sing Mass daily in the royal chapel. In his Leal Conselheiro, a collection of moral essays finished about 1438, King Duarte records that three-part singing was then normal in the royal chapel (alto, tenor and contratenor), and classifies the music sung as either composed (canto feito) or improvised (descanto); six was the minimum number of singing boys, and it was the duty of the mestre de capela to rehearse the vocal music, choosing music appropriate to the church year. Duarte’s ...

With the reforms of Peter the Great secular music came to have a much more prominent place in Russian life. The founding of St Petersburg, to which the court moved, also had an effect on the musical culture of Moscow, which changed radically during the 18th century. At the beginning of the century Russian music was represented by its rich heritage of folksong, by ecclesiastical chants and by the simplest domestic genres; by the end of the century Russian opera was taking shape, symphonic and chamber music were being written by Russian composers, and early examples of the Russian song were beginning to appear. The musical needs of Russian society were growing, its tastes were changing and the circle of educated music lovers was expanding. In spite of the fact that St Petersburg drew great artistic forces to the court, Moscow formed its own professional musical circles. Of particular importance were the serf musicians, who performed as soloists and in the many large serf orchestras....