Transatlantic Arias: Early Opera in Spain and the New World 9783954872275

Citation preview

Gasta.indd 1

01/07/2014 18:22:31

Dirección de Ignacio Arellano (Universidad de Navarra, Pamplona) con la colaboración de Christoph Strosetzki (Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität, Münster) y Marc Vitse (Université de Toulouse Le Mirail/Toulouse II) Subdirección: Juan M. Escudero (Universidad de Navarra, Pamplona) Consejo asesor: Patrizia Botta Università La Sapienza, Roma José María Díez Borque Universidad Complutense, Madrid Ruth Fine The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Edward Friedman Vanderbilt University, Nashville Aurelio González El Colegio de México Joan Oleza Universidad de Valencia Felipe Pedraza Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Ciudad Real Antonio Sánchez Jiménez Université de Neuchâtel Juan Luis Suárez The University of Western Ontario, London Edwin Williamson University of Oxford

Biblioteca Áurea Hispánica, 89

Gasta.indd 2

01/07/2014 18:22:35

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS Early Opera in Spain and the New World

CHAD M. GASTA

Universidad de Navarra • Iberoamericana • Vervuert • 2013

Gasta.indd 3

01/07/2014 18:22:36

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Gasta, Chad M. (Chad Michael), author. Transatlantic arias : early opera in Spain and the new world / Chad M. Gasta. pages cm. -- (Biblioteca Áurea Hispánica) Includes index. ISBN 978-1-936353-19-4 -- ISBN 978-8484897453 -- ISBN 978-3-86527-794-7 1. Opera--South America--18th century. 2. Opera--Spain--17th century. 3. Opera--Spain--18th century. I. Title. ML1717.A13G37 2013 782.1098--dc23 2013040253

All rights reserved © Iberoamericana, 2013 Amor de Dios, 1 – E-28014 Madrid Tel.: +34 91 429 35 22 Fax: +34 91 429 53 97 [email protected] www.ibero-americana.net © Vervuert, 2013 Elisabethenstr. 3-9 – D-60594 Frankfurt am Main Tel.: +49 69 597 46 17 Fax: +49 69 597 87 43 [email protected] www.ibero-americana.net ISBN 978-84-8489-745-3 (Iberoamericana) ISBN 978-3-86527-794-7 (Vervuert) ISBN 978-1-936353-19-4 (Iberoamericana Vervuert Publishing Corp.) Depósito Legal: M-29342-2013 Cover: Carlos Zamora Printed in Spain

The paper on which this book is printed meets the requirements of ISO 9706

Gasta.indd 4

01/07/2014 18:22:36

For my girls, Sofía and Victoria

Gasta.indd 5

01/07/2014 18:22:36

Gasta.indd 6

01/07/2014 18:22:36

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................

9

INTRODUCTION Manipulating the Masses? Ideology and Early Opera ............................

11

CHAPTER ONE A European Invention: The Genesis of Opera in Europe ...................... The Origins and Development of Opera in Early Modern Europe .. An Italian Revolution: The Expansion of Opera in Europe .............

33 33 43

CHAPTER TWO Opera in Spain and the New World: Transatlantic Opera and Its Origins Opera and Musical Culture in the New World ...............................

59 79

CHAPTER THREE Opera in the City of Kings: Tomás de Torrejón’s La púrpura de la rosa..... Funding the Arts in Lima: The Political and Social Responsibility of Aesthetics ............................................................ Opera and the Ideological Agenda .................................................. Ideology and Persuasion in Torrejón’s Loa to La púrpura de la rosa .... CHAPTER FOUR Sacred Arias: Intercultural Engagement and Musical Culture in the Jesuit Missions of South America................................................ Mission Musical Culture ................................................................ Domenico Zipoli’s San Ignacio de Loyola and Jesuit Strategies of Evangelization ........................................................................... San Francisco Xavier: The Emergence of Indigenous Opera...............

Gasta.indd 7

93 103 115 127

151 158 176 199

01/07/2014 18:22:36

8

Gasta.indd 8

CONCLUSION Past Forward: The Legacy of Early New World Opera ..........................

221

WORKS CITED ................................................................................

235

INDEX ...............................................................................................

249

01/07/2014 18:22:36

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This study would not have been possible without a great deal of assistance and support. Initially, a Faculty Paid Development Assignment from Iowa State University provided time for preliminary research and the writing of the first chapters. A Research Grant from the Center for Excellence in the Arts and Humanities at Iowa State University then provided a release from teaching to complete the book. At Iowa State, funding to publish the study was generously granted by the Department of World Languages and Cultures and by an ISU Publication Subvention Grant. A special word of thanks goes to my colleague, Mark W. Rectanus, for his support and helpful advice while working on the book. I also am grateful to an excellent former student, Michelle Maynes, for her work proofreading the manuscript and for undertaking some minor editing. Minor parts of Chapter 2 appeared earlier as «Early Opera in Spain and the New World» (Hispanic Studies in Honor of Robert L. Fiore. Newark, DE: Juan de la Cuesta Hispanic Monographs, 2009. 227-50) and some ideas advanced in Chapter 4 were first developed in «Opera and Spanish Evangelization in the New World» (Gestos, 44, 2008, pp. 85106). Both have been greatly expanded here. I wish to acknowledge several individuals who contributed to this study in unimaginable ways. I thank George P. Mansour who was the first to bring to my attention the discovery of Zipoli’s only extant opera, San Ignacio. I offer my gratitude to Charles Ganelin who, over dinner one evening, helped me solidify some valuable thoughts for this study and also offered ideas that yielded the book’s title. More than anyone else, however, I am deeply indebted to Robert L. Fiore for leading me to study early opera and for providing both personal and professional insight on the genre over the years. Bob also read early drafts of much of my work, providing invaluable insight and steadfast support for the direction my research was heading.

Gasta.indd 9

01/07/2014 18:22:36

10

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

It is important for me to show my gratefulness to my families in the United States and Spain for taking an interest in my work and selflessly offering to help with numerous things while I worked. A special thanks goes to Juani and Pedro for generously caring for my daughters (and me!) while I researched and wrote some parts of the book. I also wish to thank my wife and colleague, Julia Domínguez-Castellano, for supporting me at every turn. Her professional advice and guidance helped keep me on track over long periods of time, and her patience and love helped see it to completion. Her encouragement and insights have been both valuable and inspirational. There is little doubt that her spirit adorns this project in a number of ways. Finally, I owe the greatest debt of gratitude to my two daughters, Sofía and Victoria. This book was written during different phases while they, as infants, literally played at my feet. I greatly appreciate their unwitting patience with me as I worked on the project; I also thank them for forcing me to take breaks from writing so that we could play together. I devote this study to Sofía and Victoria because they, like the topics in this book, are products of both sides of the Atlantic.

Gasta.indd 10

01/07/2014 18:22:36

INTRODUCTION

MANIPULATING THE MASSES? IDEOLOGY AND EARLY OPERA

The subject of early New World opera is a difficult one, when one considers that there are few critical studies on the topic—and even fewer operas. In fact, even the most renowned specialists of colonial Latin American literature are usually unaware that operas were produced in the New World in the time after Spain’s conquest. What are the reasons for this unawareness? In part, the lack of research—particularly outside of musicology and a few literary circles—is related to a general dismissal of New World opera’s forerunner, Spanish opera, and the accompanying lack of investigation into the genre both in Spain and its colonies. Spanish opera is a product of Italian and French traditions and of course is the most direct precursor of early opera in the Americas. This unfamiliarity with Spanish opera is a long-standing problem related to the fact that non-Hispanist scholars historically ignore Spain’s contributions to world culture, a problem that is especially severe in the field of drama studies where English and French drama enjoy great attention whereas the Spanish theater is rarely studied by anyone except specialists in that area1. A similar unawareness of early opera in Spain and the Americas is partly a result of the genre’s irregular development in the peninsula, and its parallel intermittent emergence in the New World, both shaped by increasingly problematic political and economic times for Spain’s empire. For most of the seventeenth century, opera was embraced in

1

The notable exception here is, of course, specialists on Spanish Golden Age drama in the U.S., Spain, and the United Kingdom who are also teachers of the genre. Spanish drama, like Spanish or New World opera, has never received the widespread popular or scholarly attention that English, French, or American drama has.

Gasta.indd 11

01/07/2014 18:22:36

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

12

Italy, Germany, and England, but it floundered in Spain2. It would not be until the first decades of the eighteenth century that opera finally matured in the peninsula to such an extent that it was regularly staged and could be simultaneously exported to the New World. Other than experiments that featured musical pieces integrated into drama, opera’s sporadic development in the New World—first in Lima, followed a short time later by Mexico City, then into the Jesuit missions in South America—arose soundly within the European lyrical drama tradition as exported from the peninsula. The chief significance of this study is to reassess the role and impact of early opera in Spain and the New World by resituating the genre within its cultural context to elucidate how the dramatic and the musical were combined to offer public entertainment on the one hand, and to impart a particular ideological agenda on the other. In the chapters that follow, I survey the historical and cultural origins of opera in Europe, its intermittent development in Spain, followed by its importation into the American cultural scene. Chapter 1 provides an appraisal of the historical roots of key operas in Europe, particularly in Italy. Chapter 2 discusses how the genre’s early development impacted the dramatic structure and musical configuration of the first productions in Spain and its New World colonies, and how opera played considerable roles in shaping the political and religious landscape. Finally, in Chapters 3 and 4, I take up close analysis of the three first extant operas in the New World, viewing them not only as extraordinarily unique complex lyrical and musical works for their time and place, but critical for illuminating inimitable perspectives on the cohabitation and collaboration of New World inhabitants and Europeans. Taken as a whole, this study demonstrates how early opera in the New World was an ideologically-charged aesthetic tool that is of value to our present-day perspective as much for its dramatic and musical characteristics as for the insight it affords on the role of musical theater in the political and religious panorama of the colonial period in the Americas. As such, American opera was a transatlantic creation that crossed space and time, sometimes bridging cultural differences, sometimes exposing them, but ultimately revealing 2

Rafael Lamas argues that the blame falls on Spanish intellectuals and professionals who, unlike their counterparts in other European countries, opted for earlier lyrical forms such as the zarzuela over refined Italian opera, thus limiting the latter’s evolution to a national Spanish opera (2006, p. 39).

Gasta.indd 12

01/07/2014 18:22:36

INTRODUCTION

13

a reciprocal relationship with Europe. New World opera emerges from the shadow of Spain’s empire to challenge prevailing ideological attitudes about the colonies and their peoples. In nearly all ways this study is original because few scholars survey New World opera, and those who do are occupied with only one or two of opera’s many aesthetic components. As might be expected in their disciplines, specialists stick with what they know. Hence, musicologists study the music (voice, instrumentation, musical notation, etc.) and the culture that gave rise to it. Literary critics tend to examine the dramatic verse, performance, staging, and spectacle. Historians are interested in the chronology of events, biographical data, and other archived materials. Likewise, psychologists or sociologists might analyze the meaning behind the words and the music or the actions that brought them together in one place. All espouse a particularly valid point of departure, but none tend to look beyond their own fields. What I propose is to act as a sort of intermediary between these valued disciplines and offer a multifaceted examination of opera that provides an alternate picture of how the development of opera in Europe led to the genre’s transmission to the New World where it emerged as quite a potent cultural, political, and religious force. What becomes immediately visible is that, despite great obstacles, New World opera has a rightful place in analyses of musical theater not least because of its surprising appearance in locations far removed from the great European centers but because the genre played an active role in shaping New World politics and religion. New World opera emerges as a very ideological art form fraught with oftenhierarchical questions of authority, control, and propaganda. If early opera were to achieve any sort of success in the New World, it had no other choice than to do so within Church and state power structures. The most significant scholar on early opera in Spain and the Americas, the musicologist and historian Louise K. Stein, consistently shows in her work that there was a causal relationship between ideology and music as the latter was used to promote the former. Stein discusses how early opera in Spain and the New World was produced within circumstances that were extraordinarily political. She matches great opera productions to particular historical events to show how operas were produced to honor or promote a crucial political moment. She is quite right both historically and politically. However, a deeper examination of the actual dramatic verses of these same productions moves beyond the contextual to show exactly how and why music and text can have

Gasta.indd 13

01/07/2014 18:22:36

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

14

ideological implications. Indeed, this study looks closely at individualized singing parts to determine what exactly defines these operas as political or ideological. What surfaces is that particular verses, scenes, or characters were introduced because they were extraordinarily ideological, especially when one matches the operas’ content with the religious or political context within which they were produced. Such an examination of ideology in music or theater is certainly not a new one. Critics such as Louis Althusser and Theodor Adorno3, and more recently, Fredric Jameson,4 have similarly suggested that aesthetics and other cultural products are mediums that were deliberately manufactured to uphold and advance state ideology. The Church and state, the ultimate holders of power, were also the ultimate benefactor of artistic trends since without their patronage, artists, musicians, and writers normally had no alternate employment. For these reasons, artists were beholden to these authoritative bodies because, quite simply, they were paid to do so. Theorizing that aesthetics have political or ideological purposes, as Althusser, Adorno, and Jameson have, is especially appropriate in a world where one’s political status and riches were entirely necessary to produce great public opera, such as in Lima or Mexico City. But, if we look beyond the political overtures and economic advantages afforded only a few, there are more explicit ways to match ideology in music to unfolding events. In his now well known study, Noise: The Political Economy of Music, Jacques Attali views music as a cultural form intimately tied up in the mode of production in any given society that has transformed over time due to a change in the relationship between musicians and their patrons as well as to the invention of technologies for producing, recording, and disseminating music5. According to Attali, music is a «channelization of noise»6, which is the control and subjugation of clatter into a harmonious and appealing structured order of sound. Until «noise» has been harnessed and systematized into something akin to music, it is nothing but an interruption, a meaningless construct that represents disorder and disunity. Noise is, in short, noise. In this channelization, Attali adeptly shows how music has passed 3

See Dialectic of Enlightenment, 1972. See The Political Unconscious, 1981. 5 Attali, Noise, 1985. 6 Attali, 1985, p. 26. 4

Gasta.indd 14

01/07/2014 18:22:37

INTRODUCTION

15

through four distinct cultural stages in history: Sacrificing, Representing, Repeating, and Composing. What interests me most in his analysis of music is the economic and social function of music prior to its becoming a commodity, during its sacrificial period. For Attali, this is the period prior to the late eighteenth century, which was dominated by ritualized sacrifice of music to higher powers, generally the monarchy. Drawing on Renee Girard’s theories of ritual and sacrifice, Attali equates the Medieval and Renaissance musician to a minstrel who played when commanded, his art nothing more than a function of the ideological apparatus of his employer. The musician’s music had no material worth since it was rarely copied, distributed, and sold; he and his product had no market value outside the court that employed him. In this position, music was ritualized, and the player became a sacrificial offering: «Tool of the political, his music is its glorification, just as the dedicatory epistle is its explicit glorification. His music is a reminder that, in the personal relation of the musician to power, there subsists a simulacrum of the sacrificial offering, of the gift of the sovereign, to God, of an order imposed on noise»7. Music, then, regardless of its beauty, had a political function in that it represented the will of the patron: The musician, then, was (...) economically bound to a machine of power, political or commercial, which paid him a salary for creating what it needed to affirm its legitimacy. Like the notes of tonal music on the staff, he was cramped, channeled. A domestic, his livelihood depended on the goodwill of the prince. The constraints of the work became imperative, immodest, similar to those a valet or cook was subjected to at the time.8

It would not be until the late eighteenth century that the musician enters the commodity exchange, his music possessing some value and contributing to society’s capital (Representing) only to be consumed, fetishized, and disseminated on a mass scale by new technical means (Repeating) in the twentieth century, before becoming an object of utopian self-expression thereafter (Composing). Up through the late eighteenth century, however, the musician falls victim to the whims of his benefactor and his work is a cog in the ideological machine of the Church and state. 7 8

Gasta.indd 15

Attali, 1985, p. 48. Attali, 1985, p. 17.

01/07/2014 18:22:37

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

16

It is quite intriguing to transfer Attali’s theory to the New World musical venue. On the one hand, composers like Lima’s Tomás de Torrejón y Velasco who composed the first opera in the New World, La púrpura de la rosa (Chapter 3), was completely beholden to the Viceroy and the Church for material support. Torrejón’s compositions enjoyed regular rotation in the ecclesiastical facilities in the city before being distributed to churches in smaller cities outside Lima. On the other hand, no matter what he created he earned very little for his work and even struggled to pay his own bills. Hence, mounting grand public performances was impossible without the patronage of the Viceroy, as is evidenced by the 1701 production of La púrpura de la rosa, composed in honor of the new King, Philip V. Similarly, in the ecclesiastical missions of South America, the Jesuits composed short tunes and taught the Indians to sing them before allowing indigenous musicians to compose complex operatic works. Their sole purpose was to uphold Church principles and transmit orthodoxy, and both European and Indian composers and musicians did so willingly. Their capital was not money but rather faith in God and the Catholic Church as well as an interest in advancing the order’s mission. The results of these cultural advances were two extant operas under study in Chapter 4, San Ignacio de Loyola by the Jesuit organ master Domenico Zipoli and San Francisco Javier by an unknown Indian composer. Composed separately in different geographical locations of the Americas, and with several years between them, both operas were then copied and circulated among other missions where local Indian musicians, singers, and performers collaborated with their Jesuit masters to present the pieces as part of their glorification of the Church. Their musical pieces were likewise disposable cultural products that could be easily replaced by others, hence the shortage of historical data indicating their popularity. They were, in a word, sacrificial. Such analysis of music as ritual has far-reaching effects. While musicians had no control over the sale or representation of their works until the nineteenth century, opera composers sometimes were exempt from this status and enjoyed a privilege of literary and musical protection that led to a possible source of revenue, at least in Europe. Even Attali admits that royal patronage did not disappear overnight as musicians and composers long continued to find solace and pay by working at the beckon of their patron9. The practice of patronage in the New World 9

Gasta.indd 16

Attali, 1985, p. 49.

01/07/2014 18:22:37

INTRODUCTION

17

likewise endured well into the nineteenth century—much longer than in Europe—suggesting that musicians and composers as well as playwrights, actors, and producers remained under the influence of the state or Church for quite a long time. Much of this prolonged system of patronage for opera has to do with economics and politics. Based on the complex and elaborate nature of staging opera and its associative high cost, opera was a genre for the wealthy, the only class who could afford to employ among their households musicians and composers. This is particularly the case in the Americas where Bourbon viceregal representatives were plagued by financial problems in the everyday operation of colonial cities, and they simply were not willing (or permitted) to expend endless resources on artistic works. Unlike their Habsburg predecessors, Bourbon patrons and patronage abated for a time after France’s Philip V came to the Spanish throne in 1700. Although patronage persisted under the Bourbons, the practice was more focused and strategic. Unless a composer occupied the position of Chapel Master or principal church organist in a major city—and these were coveted positions and infrequently vacated—musicians were regarded as nothing more than lowly servants or craftsmen, not worthy of receiving anything more than an occasional commission for their work10. Even among the self-sustaining Jesuit missions, which were far from the cities, composers were generally priests (or those studying to be priests), and music was one responsibility among many. In these missions, the composer, obviously for different reasons, worked at the behest of a higher calling and wrote and played musical works that advanced His mission. What emerges is the notion that early music was a powerful tool to negotiate identities, conceptualize romantically distant worlds, represent particular belief systems, and neutralize opposing views. Attali’s stages of music’s political economy help describe music’s transformation since the Middle Ages, and how musicians were economically bound to the machine of power11, but there are germane and obvious questions, of course, as to just how, on a more semantic level, opera became an ideological tool. The most recent theories for understanding manipulation and control through music are offered in Steven Brown and Ulrick Volgsten’s Music and Manipulation: On the Social Uses and Social Control of Music. Brown writes that music is intrinsically and implicitly connected 10 11

Gasta.indd 17

Mendoza de Arce, 2001, p. 7. Attali, 1985, p. 17.

01/07/2014 18:22:37

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

18

to propaganda since there is always a willing «sender» whose music propagates group ideology among mostly passive «receivers». He sees music as a functional object that holds a powerful influence over behavior because it reinforces collective actions and isolates heterogeneity, thus demanding group conformity12. Within the same volume, Peter Martin admits that a specifically constructed social context can establish a particular viewpoint or foster social identity, but he cautions against assuming the passivity of any listener since many studies suggest that the receiver interprets very little of the implied message13.This suggests that there is a remarkable gap between any intended message and what is actually internalized by a given audience. It also opposes Theodor Adorno who quite famously insisted that the culture industry inculcates absolute ideological acceptance and compliance to the message being sent while simultaneously concealing the method of delivery14. What seems to be the consensus is that while spectators may not always be aware of an ideological message being imparted by the sender, or they do not care what it is, this does not preclude the sender from trying to convey one15. Music itself has always enjoyed an unusual capability to capture meaning and shape opinion via several specific devices, such as rhythm, harmony, and melody.16 In Steven Brown’s enlightening introductory essay to Music and Manipulation, the cognitive neuroscientist specifically illustrates six ways that music successfully influences behavior. Among other points, Brown shows how music has a homogenizing effect on 12

Brown, 2006, p. 2. Brown, 2006, pp. 66-71. 14 See Adorno’s and Horkheimer’s Dialectic of Enlightenment. 15 In The Sublime Object of Ideology Slavjov Žižek believes that any successful ideology allows for «ideological disidentification», a conscious distance between what is being pursued by the authority and the subject’s knowledge of it. When an individual realizes that a particular ideological message is being imparted but chooses to ignore it, Marx’s classical definition of ideology, «they do not know it, but they are doing it», can be re-written to «they know very well what they are doing, but still, they are doing it». This is because, as Žižek points out, «The cynical subject is quite aware of the distance between the ideological mask and the social reality, but he none the less still insists upon the mask» (1989, p. 29). The paradox that arises between unknowingly being duped by an ideology and knowingly accepting it and still not rejecting it is related to Žižek’s suggestion that ideology is an illusion located in knowledge, and barring access to that knowledge, one cannot be fully aware of any interest hidden behind an ideological universality (1989, p. 31). 16 Strandberg and Tallin, 2006, p. xi. 13

Gasta.indd 18

01/07/2014 18:22:37

INTRODUCTION

19

people, persuades them to conform and comply, provides a context for groups to define or reinforce a specific social identity, inculcates values and beliefs, is useful for conflict resolution, and channels emotional expression at the group level17. In reviewing Wayne Bowman’s analysis of Attali’s sacrificial stage of music, it seems that here Attali and Brown converge. According to Bowman, music’s ritualistic uses of individuality is essentially erased as group cohesion becomes music’s dominant goal: «In musical ritual, participants physically enact the subordination of individuality to the greater whole, events that worked powerfully to crystallize collective social organization»18. These views are not unlike those taken by Malena Kuss who sees music in the Americas as a form of kinetic energy that communicates with ancestors and the supernatural on the one hand and bonds communities and erases social tensions on the other19. Seen through this lens, music elicits social cooperation and cohesion and works against group incongruity as it reaches beyond the here and now as it attempts to force inclusion. Composers and dramatists alike, in their capacity to write at a particular moment in time and for a precise audience, use the stage as a purposeful object to elicit desired audience behavior and participation. In the Early Modern period, composers were «centralized on the level of ideology and decentralized on the economic level»20 because they fell under the direct influence of Church and the state, not least of all because these institutions employed them. It would be these two bodies that provided the ideological impetus and the financial backing to write and perform music for public spectacles.Within this setting, music often was conceived as a communication system with a specific lexicon of acoustic devices shared by a particular culture or subgroup. The sender shapes this lexicon by matching sound with message and attempts to achieve a desired action or reaction from his audience. Few would agree that musicians and composers make music simply for themselves. Instead, they create particular harmonies, melodies, and the like because they believe their works will elicit a response in others. Applied to the operas studied here, the sender, aware of the social, political, religious, and economic situation in which he finds himself, exploits opera as a 17

Brown, 2006, pp. 4-5. Bowman, 1998, p. 339. 19 Kuss, 2004, p. xx. 20 Attali, 1985, p. 31. 18

Gasta.indd 19

01/07/2014 18:22:37

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

20

unique and rare musical device—sometimes in the language of the conquerors, sometimes in that of the conquered—to demand compliance on the group level. Theories of music production, dissemination, and ideology mostly consider the effects of voice and music on listeners. But, it must never be forgotten that opera was originally a dramatic genre, and from its inception it was widely believed that music should aspire to drama, not the reverse. Beginning with the first operas in Europe in the late fifteenth century, the words of an opera—the poetic verse structure that expresses the plot, the characterization, and the climax and denouement—were normally written well before the work was put to music. As the Florentines conceived it, sung poetic verse accompanied by light music was to be the fundamental feature of opera. And up through the middle of the seventeenth century, opera in Europe was generally considered a «tragédie en musique», as the French composer JeanBaptiste Lully called it, emphasizing the primacy of poetry and tragedy, which was then set to music. Here, the dramatic rendering was still central. But, under Claudio Monteverdi’s genius, music’s significance was greatly increased so that music and verse held equal footing. Monteverdi believed that only when sung poetry was integrated carefully into dramatic action, when music articulated both action and song, and when spectacular stage sets and costumery were visually realized, could opera then come to full fruition and achieve unification between the stage and its audience. After Monteverdi, the advance of opera followed a pattern: a librettist created a dramatic poetic text, a composer put it to music to combine word with song, and a stage designer crafted elaborate sets, costumes, special effects, and mechanizations that, together, transformed the stage into a new and exotic world. Nowhere in these early works was there a particular hierarchy elevating voice, music, or poetry. It would take opera’s great expansion in the second half of the seventeenth century, and especially in the eighteenth century, to demarcate the dramatic text in favor of grand orchestras and singers.21 For Attali, this later period corresponds to Representation, the time of the great spectacle when the public opera house or concert hall replace the 21

As Grout and Williams make clear, by the end of the seventeenth century, audiences demanded more music and singing—especially arias—and cared less about the poetry; composers’ interest in drama correspondingly began to wane (2003, p. 99).

Gasta.indd 20

01/07/2014 18:22:37

INTRODUCTION

21

more intimate religious or official court venues and music begins to be printed and sold.22 Today, most would agree that when it comes to opera, music and verse should be examined as a cohesive whole23. It is this fundamental misunderstanding that music or song supersedes the dramatic text, or the opposite, against which Joseph Kerman rails in Opera as Drama: «Of the many current partial attitudes towards opera, two are most stultifying: the one held by musicians, that opera is a low form of music, and the one apparently held by everyone else, that opera is a low form of drama. These attitudes stem from the exclusively musical and the exclusively literary approaches to opera (...)»24. Opera studies by musicologists, philosophers, historians, musicians, designers, and literary critics, among other interested critics, have mostly privileged one aesthetic facet of the genre over another. However, this really should not at all be surprising; after all, opera is an all-encompassing genre as it stretches beyond each of these disciplines to enter many other areas, such that no one critical approach could ever really give it the attention it requires. Any examination of opera from its inception through the eighteenth century makes plain the genre’s multifarious aesthetic groundings. In Early Modern Europe, playwrights understood the effect produced by powerful storylines, interesting characterization, and unique staging devices as well as how captivating themes of honor, love, jealousy, and hatred could transport the audience from Early Modern cities to some other exotic time and place. This is precisely why the theater in Spain, called the comedia nueva, was so triumphant among audiences for the entire seventeenth century and part of the eighteenth. Dramatists were well aware that their success depended upon making an impact on spectators. They were beholden, to some degree, to audience appreciation, and so Spanish plays had a communal relationship with its audience. Constantly overcoming theatrical and dramatic limitations— to stay fresh and relevant—sometimes required great ingenuity on the part of playwrights. The strategic placement of popular instrumental pieces or brief songs into theatrical works promised to be one inventive resource that would draw in spectators. At first, these short musical pieces were derived directly from the traditional romances and were 22

Attali, Noise, 1985. Estenssoro, 1989, pp. 29-31. 24 Kerman, 1988, p. 16. 23

Gasta.indd 21

01/07/2014 18:22:37

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

22

already known to many spectators, sometimes by heart. Little by little, however, these simple and catchy tunes became ever more complex as playwrights began to experiment with longer musical numbers until some dramas, such as the zarzuela, were nearly entirely sung (but falling just short of full-blown opera). For Spanish playwrights, totally sung musical drama provided an innovation the stage had not known, and stories took on dramatic new life. Hence, music was linked to drama early on and would remain so in Spain and the Americas during the colonial period25. It would take the daring and ingenious Lope de Vega and Calderón de la Barca to initiate opera in Spain, the first by writing a Florentine style opera, the latter by initiating a Spanish genre based upon an amalgamation of previous Italian and Spanish models. Both attempts were not without their detractors or their defects, and Spanish opera would not reach its maturity until the first decades of the eighteenth century. At that time, thanks to royal patronage, several Italian schools of opera emerged in Madrid which developed out of coalesced forms from Naples, where it would then be transported to Spain’s colonies in the New World. In the Americas, musicians and composers were almost always working in cathedral music. These composers had to fight for notoriety and pay by working within the realm of the sacred musical themes imposed by the Catholic Church, which was for a time the only benefactor of musical life. And no matter what they wrote or played for public consumption, the popular comedia routinely overshadowed the composers’ pieces. As in Spain, New World opera was rarely funded and therefore not easily installed into the artistic scene. But, there were exceptions. Chapter 3 describes how available patronage in Lima, easily the most accommodating location for both music and theater in the Americas during the period, secured a place for the genre in the early eighteenth century where a few secular operas were produced to celebrate the king and the monarchy. There, in the City of Kings, Tomás de Torrejón re-staged the first opera in the Americas, La púrpura de la rosa, a work originally written by the great Spanish playwright Calderón de la Barca and staged in Madrid in 1660. Torrejón was Chapel Master of Lima’s Cathedral and, by 1700, the New World’s greatest musician and composer. His refashioned opera—complete with a new libretto—exalted the new King Philip V, a French Bourbon, and championed the Peru25

Gasta.indd 22

Estenssoro, 1989, p. 41.

01/07/2014 18:22:37

INTRODUCTION

23

vian Viceroy’s decision to support the new monarchy over the competing Austrian Habsburgs as a War of Succession raged. Passed down to us today, the opera exudes propaganda, not just for its blatant praise of the monarchy, but because Torrejón sought to use it in order to secure additional patronage at a particularly difficult economic time in the colonies. It was therefore a magnificent public display of music and aesthetics that was a significant development in the history of opera. La púrpura de la rosa and subsequent operas in Lima from the period were inspired by previous Spanish models and dependent upon Italian and French lyrical-dramatic trends. As was the case with Torrejón’s work, opera in Lima often featured secular themes. In the areas outside of Lima, however, opera was unquestionably more sacrosanct. In the Jesuit missions of South America, another significant area to cultivate an opera tradition, missionaries believed the religious themes dramatized and brought to life through music were an excellent method to Christianize and educate the Indians.The Jesuits produced several short operas (or brief musical dramas), most of which were either written in one of the principle cities and distributed to the mission towns, or composed by European missionaries installed in the jungle villages of South America. Chapter 4 examines two operas from these Jesuit missions. The first was San Ignacio de Loyola, written by the grand Roman organist and composer Domenico Zipoli who was studying the priesthood in Córdoba, Argentina and writing pieces for distribution to the missions. The second was a mission opera titled San Francisco Xavier, by an unknown Indian composer and written in the local native language. The two operas are extremely important to our understanding of cross-cultural collaboration since through the intercession of music and dance Europeans and the indigenous worked together to introduce spectacular musical pieces extolling the virtues of the faith. Therefore, New World opera developed along two branches: one that reflected secular European palatial and court tastes in the metropolitan centers such as Lima; and a sacred style in the Jesuit missions in the Andean region of South America where indigenous musicians, singers, and composers played active roles in sacred music making. Regardless of where, why, or how early American opera came about, the genre was, from its initiation, an ideologically-driven medium that glorified the state or the Church, primarily because composers were beholden to these two authoritative bodies.

Gasta.indd 23

01/07/2014 18:22:37

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

24

One aspect that both traditions had in common was their European derivation. Early opera in the New World has no specific pre-Colombian precursor as the genre had in Medieval and Renaissance Europe. Instead, New World opera was an adaptation of both secular and sacred European opera as well as a receptor of a few theatrical and musical traditions drawn from pre-Colombian drama. For example, it has been well documented that prior to the Spaniards’ arrival, the Indians had a strong theatrical and musical tradition but nothing that was entirely sung. The anonymous Rabinal Achi (Guatemala), Apu Ollantay (pre-Colombian Peru or reconstructed in the seventeenth century), Diún-Diún (Ecuador), Güegüence or Macho Ratón (Nicaragua) are a few of the extant indigenous plays of the New World which survive today. Several of these plays—Rabinal Achi and Diún-Diún, for example—were set to music and danced,26 suggesting a pre-Colombian tradition of matching music and song to drama, at least in isolated cases. Song and dance, whether in traditional indigenous styles or fashioned from European modes, were important indigenous cultural rituals that eventually were incorporated into European-styled works. In his Natural and Moral History of the Indies (1590), the Jesuit priest and historian José de Acosta describes the Indians’ attraction to music and song while dancing, making it apparent that European styles could be adapted to their cultures: They play different instruments for these dances. Some are like flutes or pipes, others like drums, others like conch shells; the usual thing is for them to use their voices, all singing, with one or two reciting their poetry and the others coming in with the refrain. Some of these ballads of theirs were very ingenious and told a story; others were full of superstition, and still others were pure nonsense. The members of our society who work among them have tried to put things of our Holy Faith into their way of singing, and this has been found to be extremely useful, for they enjoy singing and chanting so much that they can spend whole days listening and repeating, never getting tired. They have also translated compositions and tunes of ours into their language, such as octaves and ballads and roundelays, and it is wonderful how well the Indians accept them and how much they enjoy them. Truly, this is a great way, and a very necessary one, to teach these people27.

26 27

Gasta.indd 24

De Paris, 2005, pp. 18-23. Acosta, 2002, p. 375.

01/07/2014 18:22:38

INTRODUCTION

25

The great interest in musical genres paved the way for the Jesuits and other missionaries to assimilate doctrinal lessons into traditional cultural spectacles. In fact, in his Royal Commentaries (1609), the famous chronicler of the Incan people, El Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, states that the Indians also had a long tradition of pre-Colombian theater such that dramatic productions were a frequent part of everyday life and easily adapted to European styles: «Some ingenious religious men, of various orders but especially Jesuits, have composed comedies for the Indians to perform so as to give the Indians a feeling for the mysteries of our redemption. They realized that the Indians performed plays in the time of the Inca Kings and saw that they had great natural ability (...)»28. Early historians like Garcilaso consistently provided narratives about the long musical tradition among many Indian groups in the Americas. Once exported, these accounts fueled the belief and wonder of a curious European readership, and European courts took note of the Indians’ musical abilities. European missionaries wrote vivid descriptions of a variety of celebrations that included singing, dancing, and music as well as details regarding the advanced ability of several Indian musicians and singers to rise to a level on par with their counterparts in Europe. Indians in Jesuit schools in Potosí, Cuzco, and Lima learned to sing musical dramas with such skill that the Spaniards took note that «la gracia y habilidad y buen ingenio trocaron en contra la opinión que hasta entonces tenían, de que los Indios eran torpes, rudos e inhábiles» («Their grace and ability and ingeniousness conflicted with the opinion held until then that the Indians were simple, uncouth, and inept»)29. There was no doubt, then, of the Indians’ strong musical abilities or of their interest in dramatic performance. The foundation and population of cities and towns by Spaniards spelled the end of indigenous theater. It was supplanted by Spanish drama, which quickly rose to prominence as the principal form of both court spectacle and popular entertainment30. Early on, stage perfor28

Garcilaso, Royal Commentaries, p. 132. Lohmann Villena, 1945, p. 278. 30 Jáuregui and Friedman provide a good introduction (2006) to colonial theater and their edited collection of essays in the Bulletin of the Comediantes provides several enlightening essays on transatlantic drama. Dramas written in Nahuatl, possibly by Indians, include El sacrificio de Isaac (The Sacrifice of Isaac, 1539), La conversión de San Pablo (The Conversion of St. Paul, sixteenth century), La destrucción de Jerusalén (The Destruction of Jerusalem, 1587), El Mercader (The Merchant, sixteenth century), 29

Gasta.indd 25

01/07/2014 18:22:38

26

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

mances included comedias, short satirical or burlesque works, masquerades, and the auto sacramental, followed later by the zarzuela and, eventually, opera. Nearly all of these included music, singing, and dancing to some degree. In Lima, the most important center of theatrical activity during the Early Modern period where many corrales and casas de comedias were constructed, works by Spanish playwrights such as Lope de Vega,Tirso de Molina, and especially Calderón were regularly staged up through the first half of the eighteenth century31. The success enjoyed by Spanish drama in the colonies was not surprising. For regular spectators, the variety and frequency of dramatic performances provided a never-ending flow of popular entertainment, normally sanctioned by the local government, the Viceroy, the Church, and sometimes by all three. From a state or Church standpoint, drama had long been viewed as an excellent means to provide diversion and to communicate ideology, and theatrical productions were therefore closely controlled. In Lima, plays with music were staged in public plazas, churches, and on the street whereas lyrical theater was cultivated behind closed doors, in palaces, and estates32. Limeños as well as citizens in the rural Indian villages exhibited strong inclinations toward Spanish dramas that included music, especially when song was integrated into comedias.The first documented attempts at mixing music and drama include a restaging of Calderón’s original auto sacramental called El gran teatro del mundo (The Great Theater of the World), which was set to music in 1670 by José

Las ánimas y los albaceas (Souls and Executioners, sixteenth century), and La educación de los hijos (The Education of the Children, sixteenth century). There is also a Nahuatl drama written by a Spanish priest, Andrés de Olmos, called El juicio final (Final Judgment, 1571). Among several dramas written in Quechua are the auto sacramental, El hijo pródigo (The Prodigious Son, seventeenth century), Tragedia del fin de Atahualpa (Tragedy of the End of Atahualpa, sixteenth century), Usca Puacar (sixteenth century), and Sauri Tito Inca: el pobre más rico (Inca Sauri Tito, the Richest Poor Man, sixteenth century). 31 Hesse, 1955, p. 12. According to Hesse, no less than 25 works by Calderón had been staged by 1701 in Lima alone, and another 76 within the next decade, for a total of at least 190 performances of Calderón’s autos, zarzuelas, and comedias by 1793, easily making him the most popular Spanish playwright there (1955, pp. 13-15). Tirso even traveled to the New World, living in Santo Domingo (16161618) where he was a professor of theology. At least a few of his later dramas, such as Amazonas en las Indias (Amazons in the Indies, 1635), drew on this experience. 32 Mendoza de Arce, 2001, p. 29.

Gasta.indd 26

01/07/2014 18:22:38

INTRODUCTION

27

Díaz, a Lima-born musician and composer33. The originality and success of the production set off others. In 1672 the Jesuits organized and presented a «breve coloquio en recitativo musical» («brief colloquium in musical recitative») by seven boys in honor of the transfer of the Holy Cross from one church to another34. The citation is significant since it mentions recitative, or sung dialogue that mimicked natural speech, which was a principle component in early opera. And in 1672, a fullysung musical drama, El arca de Noé (Noah’s Arc), written by Antonio Martínez de Meneses, Pedro Rosete Niño, and Jerónimo de Cáncer, was performed nine times in the palace of the Count of Lemos, the Peruvian Viceroy—the only one who could financially support such a spectacle35.The Count of Lemos was a strong advocate of lyrical theater since his arrival in Peru in 1667, and he believed that public musical drama was a good means to instill religious values while consolidating viceregal authority36. What makes his sponsorship of El arca de Noé important is not so much its elaborate use of artificial lighting, grand costumes, stage machinery, and other special affects—many extraordinarily complex comedias and autos sacramentales put to use these production devices—but rather that it was presented in «música recitativa» («recitative music»), denoting (one of) the first totally recitative work(s) in the New World37. There is disagreement as to who the composer of the music was, but Guillermo Lohmann Villena, Gerard Béhague, and Daniel Mendoza de Arce hypothesize it to be either the famous Tomás de Torrejón or another lesser known composer, Lucas Ruis de Ribayaz, both of whom came to Lima in 1667 with the new Viceroy.38 Robert L. Stevenson also suggests José Díaz39.Torrejón’s success with La púrpura de la rosa makes him a logical choice as composer of El arca de Noé. Besides, the Chapel Master occupied several other important political or church positions, and he earlier provided music for the sung zarzuela, También se 33

Mendoza de Arce, 2001, p. 193. Lohmann Villena, 1945, p. 276. 35 Lohmann Villena, 1945, p. 278. 36 Lohmann Villena, 1946, pp. 294-297 and Rodríguez Garrido, 2003, pp. 32-34. 37 For a full contextualization of the work and its significance to Lima’s theatrical development, see Chapter 1 of Rodríguez-Garrido’s unpublished dissertation (2003). 38 Lohmann Villena, 1945, pp. 276-277; Béhague, 1979, p. 63; and Mendoza de Arce, 2001, p. 194. 39 Stevenson, 1976, p. 102. 34

Gasta.indd 27

01/07/2014 18:22:38

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

28

vengan los dioses (Even the Gods Seek Vengeance) (1689) based on a comedia written by Lorenzo de la Llamosas40. As these early successes demonstrate, from the beginning music was matched to theater, just as it had been in the peninsula. But, musical pieces were European in nature, despite the fact that the Indians were by far the largest cohesive group in the major cities (Lima, Bogotá, Córdoba, La Paz, and Santiago) as well as the smaller outlying urban villages and towns dependent upon these metropolises. Almost immediately after the Spaniards arrived, Indian music, like other indigenous cultural production, fell victim to the same ethnocentric attitudes that relegated their religion and politics to secondary status. Europeans generally rejected native music and imposed Old World religious musical styles with the intention of controlling and indoctrinating the masses. European styles did not dominate everywhere, however. An important exception was the remote rural areas under Jesuit control, which included a large swatch of South America. There, short musical pieces were regularly composed on the spot, and the missionaries made a point to integrate local indigenous customs in an effort to be inclusive. These faraway mission villages were mostly cut off from the urban centers, and indigenous music and theater there often surpassed its urban counterpart, although it was much simpler, less ostentatious, and less frequent. In such places as Chiquitos and Moxos in present-day Bolivia, for example, the Jesuit mendicant orders ministered to the Indians by developing a rich musical and theatrical practice that arose based on what was in fashion when they left Europe, or on what they learned about upon arriving in Spanish centers in the New World. They then took these models and incorporated local costumes and traditions, including the native languages, and located European themes within native contexts. When new missionaries arrived, they brought news of changing trends in Europe, which was also integrated into local musical culture equating in a virtual non-stop renewal of music in the missions. A cultural history of the Jesuits, and of their Indian counterparts, tells us that it should not surprise us that two operas were composed and staged there since the collaborative environment of the two groups produced an incredible array of musical pieces that have been passed down for centuries and which are still actively performed today. From its inception in Europe, the Company of Jesus routinely used plays and music 40

Gasta.indd 28

Mendoza de Arce, 2001, p. 194; Stevenson, 1976, p. 112.

01/07/2014 18:22:38

INTRODUCTION

29

in all of their teachings, believing that the melodic rehearsal of poetic verses helped improve memory and physical presence, taught about rhetoric, and, most significantly, helped instill Catholic virtues41. The culture of the Jesuit mission towns yielded a remarkable collection of psalms, hymns, carols, lyrical dramas, keyboard pieces, and other sacred musical pieces, not to mention the two operas in question, all of which point to a strong record of friendly cooperation between the Indians and their European brothers. This collaborative production was willful since both Europeans and the indigenous peoples embraced the other willingly. Nonetheless, it can be said that the Europeans, although generally peaceful and benevolent toward their Indian understudies, were absolutely the dominating group. After all, the aesthetic creations that emerged from this collaboration were decidedly Catholic.The high degree of artistic glorification of God demonstrates an intent to control music production and consumption42. Opera composers throughout history worked under and responded to state and Church power, receiving overall support or patronage from these two authoritative entities, and therefore were required to operate completely within the parameters of accepted ideology. Early operas were ideologically-motivated, aesthetic acts founded on concepts of public control and manipulation as they set out to imagine drama as a way to face real-life problems for which no tangible solution existed. In The Political Unconscious, Fredric Jameson writes that cultural artifacts are representative of their moment of production and are conceived as a means to alter, inhibit, and convert concrete social contradictions through the construction of aesthetic form. New World opera, as an aesthetic creation, is here believed to offer «imaginary or formal solution(s) to unresolvable social contradictions»43 related to specific quandaries faced by the monarchy and the Church. For example, the two Jesuit mission operas from South America, San Ignacio de Loyola and San Francisco Xavier, were new and exciting ways for the Jesuits to fulfill their obligation to Christianize the Indians and teach doctrinal lessons and, in the process, introduce previously unknown musical genres. Moreover, indigenous musicians and singers played overarching roles in these productions, which raises the specter of their being complicit 41

Oldani and Yanitelli, 1999, pp. 18-20. Mendoza de Arce, 2001, pp. 3-4. 43 James, 1981, p. 79. 42

Gasta.indd 29

01/07/2014 18:22:38

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

30

in their own evangelization. Similarly, Torrejón’s La púrpura de la rosa was funded and staged specifically to garner support for the Bourbon monarchy in the midst of a war of succession, symbolically reaching out to the Crown’s new citizens to persuade them of the state’s legitimacy. The opera, in this light, is an aesthetically formulated response to political problems associated with the reception of a new Bourbon king after two centuries of Habsburg control. Taken as a whole, the visible «unresolvable social contradictions» (political issues in La púrpura de la rosa and religious anxieties in San Ignacio and San Xavier) are resolved by constituting themselves as symbolic acts that «find a purely formal resolution in the aesthetic realm»44. Seen through this lens, these operas operate within a process of socialization and coercion as they offer authoritative and formulated responses to perceived religious, social, and political problems. In what follows I make evident that as senders of a particular message, dominant political and economic bodies influenced composers. Compositions matched content with form, and musical pieces took advantage of persuasive strategies to shape group behavior and elicit a desired response. By emphasizing the role of the composer-as-sender, the use and control of the musical devices (instruments, singers, and staging mechanisms, etc.) at his disposal, as well as the codification of his music, it becomes readily apparent that early operas in the New World were generally political and philosophical discourses laden with semantic meaning. These operas were, in short, extraordinarily entertaining and amazingly political: The arts had two primary functions: when financed by the court they could proclaim the power and grandeur of the monarchy, while for the educated commoner and the nobility they were a forum for social criticism and a mirror of society. The visual arts were especially important for their representational potential and their immediate impact. Music, however, did develop its own propagandistic and nationalistic function, towards political or religious ends, especially certain forms of vernacular sacred and theatrical music45.

44 45

Gasta.indd 30

James, 1981, p. 79. Stein, 1990, p. 327.

01/07/2014 18:22:38

INTRODUCTION

31

The captivating effects of music and dance configure and reinforce group identity and ritualize aesthetic practices, marking a point of audience convergence. Although not all music is deceptive or explicitly attempts to be manipulative, we must approach each piece one by one and examine the sender, the reactions of the receiver, and the social and economic impetus propelling the composition in the first place. To do so will provide unique perspective on how these opera composers, confronted with a set of seemingly insurmountable problems, instilled a desired ideological belief as they created unique works that not only mystify and astound, but also relate intensely political points of view. At the same time, this book describes how Spaniards and other Europeans, working within the shadow of the Old World and taking inspiration from it, expanded opera beyond the political locus of Lima to the Andean region where it became a component of the Jesuits’ evangelical strategy. From there, the genre was taken up by adept Indian composers, only to be exported back to Europe in chronicle accounts, eyewitness testimony, and missives, suggesting that opera was a transatlantic venture, an oscillating force that moved back and forth across the Atlantic, and one laden with the political undertones marking the cooperation and conflict of the imperial center with its periphery.

Gasta.indd 31

01/07/2014 18:22:38

Gasta.indd 32

01/07/2014 18:22:38

CHAPTER ONE

A EUROPEAN INVENTION: THE GENESIS OF OPERA IN EUROPE

THE ORIGINS AND DEVELOPMENT OF OPERA IN EARLY MODERN EUROPE With its emphasis on music, song, dance, dramatic action, innovative stage devices, and elaborate costumes and scenery, opera is one of the greatest mediums ever devised to successfully entertain on a mass scale. Although born in Renaissance Italy, opera spread to major European capitals and would eventually infiltrate such seemingly unlikely locations as colonial Lima or the seventeenth-century Jesuit missions in South America. As one can imagine, New World opera exacted much of its development from its most direct precursors and models, Spanish and French opera. However, because of the geographical separation of the colonies from Spain, the predominant influence of the Catholic Church, and the colonies’ very different demographic and ethnic makeup, New World opera possesses traits that are decidedly non-European. This chapter briefly examines the origins and development of opera in Italy and France—including key technical terms, primary aesthetic traditions, and dominant models—in order to reveal the characteristics that eventually became a part of Spanish opera and its New World counterpart. Subsequent chapters will describe the context for opera production in Spain’s colonies that both drew from the European opera tradition and integrated musical and cultural traits from the New World. What becomes clear is that American opera was a distinctly hybrid genre integrating aspects of the Old World but quite obviously infected with the happenings of the New. The basis for early music in Spain came from polyphonic ecclesiastical music and liturgical drama in Medieval Europe. European polypho-

Gasta.indd 33

01/07/2014 18:22:38

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

34

ny was a musical device where several people sing together to create a strong collective harmony. One of the earliest and most successful forms of polyphony was sacred—that which was promoted by the Church— and was a purely Western European invention, having no institutional equivalent in cultures outside of Europe. Eventually, polyphony was adapted over time to become one of the first significant ingredients of early opera. We can trace polyphony’s historical development to the twelfth century where it was the chief component of musical court entertainment. Audiences were dazzled by the aural effect created by the combination of several melodies at once (individual melodies would not become prominent until several centuries later). Polyphony grew along with musical instrumentation, but it was the voice that retained centrality. Eventually, it became customary in popular song and dance to use vocal polyphony in harmonic fashion to tell noteworthy stories. In many ways, the success of polyphony in England and Paris (especially thanks to its expansion in the Cathedral of Notre-Dame) led away from the sacred forms imposed by the Church, and into profane music. Florentine archival documents from the early thirteenth century discuss the wide singing of both sacred and profane polyphony, although these early forms were not nearly as sophisticated as in France and England1. In Spain, cantigas (songs of praise to the Virgin), villancicos (carols), romances (narrative songs), and cantares de gesta (heroic ballads) were all popular polyphonic musical pieces derived from the Middle Ages and sung by troubadours. These singers as well as religious groups were known to have sung polyphony in Santiago de Compostela in the twelfth century, and in locations in Aragón, Navarra, and Castile in the fourteenth century2. The Cancionero de Palacio (or Cancionero de Barbieri), a songbook compiled by Francisco Asenjo Barbieri, featured 458 profane polyphonic musical pieces between 1474 and 1516, often with instrumental accompaniment3. The Cancionero is the most emblematic collection of Spanish music from the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance since it contains works representing every major Spanish composer of the time—and even a few well known foreign songwriters. Its impact on subsequent generations was substantial.The songbook 1

Rebatet, 1979, p. 67. Rebatet, 1979, p. 120. 3 See Stevenson’s Spanish Music in the Age of Columbus (1960) for an examination of the Cancionero and other musical forms in the sixteenth century. 2

Gasta.indd 34

01/07/2014 18:22:38

A EUROPEAN INVENTION

35

included the poetry that went along with the music, making it one of the primary compilations of important works by the period’s most famous writers such as Juan de Mena, the Marqués de Santillana, and Jorge Manrique. Such a clear connection between music/musicians and poems/poets certainly was not by accident and suggests that even early poets and musicians recognized this intrinsic collaboration. The Cancionero is dominated artistically and stylistically by 68 works by Juan del Encina (1468-1529), a notable composer and student of Antonio de Nebrija. The latter was the grammarian largely responsible for establishing the rules of Castilian Spanish. Encina, his pupil, was a humanist poet and writer, a prominent troubadour, and a musician. Having written at least fourteen dramatic pieces, he is often credited with being the founder of Spanish drama. In fact, eight of his theatrical works appear at the end of Encina’s own monumental 1496 Cancionero4, indicating that he viewed music and drama associatively. Encina’s extant works display an important transition from ecclesiastical to secular drama. And he was likewise the most noteworthy author up to his time to fuse drama and music since most of his short works—villancicos, romances, canciones, cantatas, and intermedios—were fully dramatized and sung. Other great Spanish Renaissance musicians and composers such as Tomás Luis de Victoria (1548-1611) traveled to Rome, became the Chapel Master of the Jesuit College there, and returned to Spain with new ways of integrating Italian polyphony into ecclesiastical compositions. On the other hand, as the range of songs in the Cancionero de Palacio or Encina’s dramatic contributions demonstrate, secular forms of polyphony developed together with ecclesiastical polyphony despite the hard stance the Catholic Church took during the Counter Reformation against any musical form that it considered blasphemous. Indeed, according to the range of compositions contained in the Cancionero de Palacio, vocal performances of profane themes set to music were pivotal musical developments throughout the sixteenth century that would help prepare the terrain for fully or partly sung secular lyrical dramas5. 4

He was a member of the choir at the Cathedral of Salamanca and a favorite of Popes Alexander VI and Julius II, both of whom bestowed favor upon Encina: he was named Prebend, or beneficiary of revenue, of the Salamanca diocese (Alexander VI) and the archdeaconate of Málaga Cathedral (Julius II). Later, he was prior of León’s Cathedral. 5 For an exploration of Renaissance Spanish music, see Stevenson (1960) and Chase (1959).

Gasta.indd 35

01/07/2014 18:22:39

36

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

Renaissance Spain enjoyed a rich musical tradition that eventually gave way to the insertion of popular secular songs in dramas, the invention of the zarzuela, and ultimately, the development of opera, although the overall quality of some of these innovations and adaptations were not as high as in Italy or France. Despite a degree of success of profane musical pieces, the Church in Spain maintained its preeminence in music-making; and this meant that polyphony in liturgical pieces was considered to be distracting to the doctrinal message, and so the device grew along accepted paths based on what the Church believed was appropriate6. Secular stories sung in polyphony made greater strides in Italy where the nobility frequently celebrated courtly festivities with dances and plays featuring music, such as the interlude (intermedio), the ballet, and masques (balletto, masquerade). The interludes tended to be placed at the beginning or end of different acts of a play so that they appeared as intermediate musical numbers, hence the term intermedio.They narrated amorous mythological or pastoral stories and provided light relief from the drama, keeping the stage and the audience occupied between acts. They were always set to music in some way, although often decorously, and the singing was not really song at all, but rather spoken dialogue. The intermedio can be considered one forerunner of opera because music and drama coalesced closely in them—although they fell short of full integration—and because, visually, the audience saw scenery, stage effects, and dance numbers7. One of the most popular spectacles to feature interludes was the trionfi, which were organized parties honoring the arrival of a particularly important military or noble personage. The trionfi later gave way to festivities dedicated to important anniversaries and other court celebrations in which the theme of the central work to be presented derived from the classical tradition, always with music and sometimes featuring interludes. In many other European court festivities beginning in the fourteenth century, especially in Italy, the madrigal was the most popular polyphonic performance work. The early madrigal was a short strophic poem of two or three verses sung with a single repeated melody and 6 The Council of Trent, for example, accepted polyphony within certain limits, and it even went so far as to discuss the prohibition of all instruments, except the organ, in Church services. Philip II prohibited villancicos and other vernacular songs in churches (Mendoza de Arce, 2001, p. 39). 7 Grout and Williams, 2003, p. 27.

Gasta.indd 36

01/07/2014 18:22:39

A EUROPEAN INVENTION

37

featuring a refrain. It could be compared to putting a Petrarchan sonnet to music so that singing brings out the poem’s images and emotions. By providing aural stimuli, audiences could visualize what the poet was trying to narrate. By the fourteenth century, the madrigal evolved to a free poetic composition without strophic repetition or a refrain and was instead sung collectively by three to five courtesans, thus producing a certain auditory polyphonic combination. The only requirement for this latter version was to adapt the musical rhythms to the poems being sung. For their part, the poems were of much greater literary value and were flexible enough for singers to adorn them with their individual vocal talents, giving some independence to the singer to make it his own. In fact, to increase or improve one’s repertoire, madrigal singers went beyond established singing practices to include notes or harmonies that were not, at first, permitted by the Church. Moreover, the madrigals adapted plots, characters, and the use of Italian dialect from the commedia dell’arte. The commedia was a popular dramatic piece that featured actors’ improvisation of such topics as mistaken identities, love intrigues, or risqué situations, often interrupted by comic scenes (lazzi) of juggling, acrobatics, or brawling. The structure and content of the madrigal made it an excellent piece to perform theatrically, instead of only singing them in an amorous or satirical dialogue. Drama in Italy was already believed to be high art and music was to aspire to it. The Jesuit order was one group considered responsible for the advancement of lyrical theater in Italy. The Jesuits viewed sung theater as advantageous to their instruction of Catholic principles. As Odani and Yanitelli point out, the Jesuit melodrama—drama set to music—rose in prominence in Jesuit colleges and could be considered one precursor to opera. Students performed these melodramas during required public philosophical and theological disputations where they often employed choruses, oratorios, and cantate as intermezzis8. But, Jesuit theater was almost always serious while the drama developing outside of Jesuit enclaves in Italy around 1570 was frequently comedic. Italian composers, sometimes taking inspiration from the Jesuits, began to create «dramatic madrigals», also known as «madrigal comedies». As before, the dramatic madrigals were comedic or burlesque parodies of existing works from the commedia dell’arte. Some were repeated with such regularity that they eventually evolved 8

Gasta.indd 37

Odani and Yanitelli, 1999, p. 24.

01/07/2014 18:22:39

38

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

into a clearer theatrical and musical genre. Madrigal comedies were normally performed in polyphony, but it was also common that one individual accompanied by one instrument would sing a single part. Up through the Renaissance, however, individualized singing parts were simply not of interest to spectators who instead insisted on the beauty achieved through collective song.Writers and singers/actors also complained that polyphony was not an especially good means for theater since a central dramatic action represented by so many vocal combinations was confusing and lacked force. Therefore, more and more dramatic madrigals began to feature individual singing parts, but these by no means emerged as the central musical aspect. With the success of both the madrigal and the intermedio, along with more sophisticated ballets, the stage was set for fully integrated music and song with drama. It would take the ingenuity and originality of Renaissance thought to make it happen. Italian Renaissance writers and musicians insisted that the unrivaled power of classical music to imitate and draw out emotions could be recreated. Between 1577 and 1582 in Florence, a group of Renaissance humanists—musicians, poets, singers, and intellectuals—imitating the classical academies of Greece met regularly to discuss topics related to literature and art of the Greco-Roman world. They became intrigued by how classical drama was represented, and to what extent it might be sung. The renowned «Camerata Fiorentina» was one such group. It was led by the Count of Vernio, Giovanni de’ Bardi (1534-1612), who was charged with organizing courtly festivities for the Medici family. Among the Camerata was the poet Ottavio Rinuccini (1562-1621), composers Jacopo Peri (1561-1633), Jacobo Corsi (1561-1602), Giulio Caccini (1551-1618), the latter’s eldest daughter, the singer Francesca Caccini (1587-1640)9, and intellectuals such as Vincenzo Galilei (15251591), who was an amateur performer and composer as well as the father of the astronomer, Galileo. At first, the Camerata believed Greek theater was completely sung, and they immediately matched Medieval polyphony to classical theater. However, through conversations with the eminent Girolamo Mei (1519-1594), a Greek philologist and historian based in Rome, Galilei came to realize that classical theater was not performed in polyphony but rather monodic style (a single singing 9 Francesca Caccini was a singer who is often credited with being the first woman composer, though none of her operas are extant.

Gasta.indd 38

01/07/2014 18:22:39

A EUROPEAN INVENTION

39

voice)10. Indeed, neither the Greeks nor the Romans developed polyphony; it was, as Galilei learned, a European ecclesiastical invention from the Middle Ages. The Camerata also understood that it was nearly impossible to make a true re-creation of the classical works since no musical texts from the era were known to exist, and thus no model was available. They instead decided to fashion a dramatic work inspired by classical theater but which featured monodic vocal parts and instrumental music, «opere in musica», later known simply as «opera». Based on Mei’s research, Galilei and the others came to believe that the perfect union of words to melody, in which the verse dominates and controls the melody, was the key to matching Greek drama with music11. Hence, the original hierarchy of poetic text over music and instrumentation was conceived. According to Donald Grout and Hermine Weigel Williams, on the basis of a reading of Plato, the Camerata forged three corollaries to integrate music, song, and dramatic text: First, the text must be clearly understood. Therefore, the performance must be by a solo voice with the simplest possible accompaniment (...).The second corollary was that the words must be sung with correct and natural declamation, as they would be spoken (...).The third and final corollary had to do with relation between music and words: the melody must not depict mere graphic details in the text but must interpret the feeling of the whole passage, by imitating and intensifying the intonations and accents proper to the voice of a person who is speaking the words under the influence of the emotion that gives rise to them12.

What becomes clear from this summary was the role and dominance of a single singing voice over the music. Such an arrangement coincides well with Renaissance humanistic philosophy that esteemed individual feats over collective achievements, as Robert Donington states: «[O]pera could not arise except through the monody, the single song, of individuals in personal conflict and development. The claims of personal individuality took over from those of collective author10 It appears that Galilei appreciated the madrigal but was not a great fan of polyphony. He wrote two monodic madrigals, Il Conte Ugolino (Count Ugolino) and Lamentazione di Jeremiah (Lamentations of Jeremiah), neither of which is extant (Rebatet, 1979, p. 140). 11 Grout and Williams, 2003, p. 35. 12 Grout and Williams, 2003, pp. 35-39.

Gasta.indd 39

01/07/2014 18:22:39

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

40

ity more conspicuously in Renaissance humanism than at any other period since antiquity»13. Perhaps more than anything else, the Camerata were responsible for moving away from polyphony and formally introducing monody, a move that, following Fredric Jameson, signals the death of one genuine activity «when it has served its purpose and when the social need which it once answered has ceased to exist»14. In 1598, 1599, and 1600, the Camerata presented what is considered the first opera, a pastoral work titled Dafne (Daphne) (no longer extant) with music by Jacopo Peri and poetry by Ottavio Rinuccini. The Camerata involved in this experiment knew it was innovative and, to their knowledge, never before attempted15. Euridice (Eurydice), another pastoral opera, was performed in October 1600 in Florence’s Pitti Palace in honor of the proxy wedding celebrations of Maria of Medici to King Henry IV of France. Rinuccini wrote the poetic text, or libretto, for Euridice, Peri composed the music, and Giulio Caccini also collaborated. The subject matter for these first operas, typical of Renaissance works, was the mythological story of Apollo (Dafne) and Orpheus (Euridice), both of whom were known for being musicians among the gods. By choosing these figures and putting verse to music (as opposed to speech to prose), the Camerata were almost certainly suggesting the centrality of music within literature and implying that Orpheus himself could be brought back to life16. A minor rivalry between Peri and Caccini led the latter to compose a second musical piece based on the same Rinuccini libretto. Peri’s version of Euridice was performed first, followed by Caccini’s rather unsuccessful version in 1602, although Caccini published his first. Both were similar in that solo voice parts in the new Florentine monodic style abounded. Peri’s work was extremely well received by audiences at the Medici wedding celebrations. The grand Florentine family, anxious to reassert themselves as major patrons of the arts, also wished to move away from Spain’s sphere of influence (hence the Florentine-French nuptials). As a result, they had the opera printed and widely circulated throughout Italy. Requests to re-stage the work

13

Donnington, 1981, p. 41. Jameson, 1971, p. 13. 15 See Donington for a summary of correspondence between the Camerata describing their appreciation of the new genre (1981, pp. 103-114) as well as a description of the opera itself (1991, pp. 117-119). 16 Carter, 1994, p. 9. 14

Gasta.indd 40

01/07/2014 18:22:39

A EUROPEAN INVENTION

41

even came from as far north as Milan, but since Euridice was originally a private affair, it is unclear to what extent it made any impact outside Florence. Vincenzo Gonzaga, the Grand Duke of Mantua, attended the Medici opera and brought along as part of his retinue a poet who was also his secretary, Alessandro Striggio the Younger (1573-1630). Both men marveled at the musical advancements made in Euridice and decided to commission an opera based on a Striggio text. Gonzaga also had in his service Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643), considered to be one of Europe’s foremost singers and composers of madrigals and religious polyphony. It is unclear if Monteverdi attended the 1600 Florence opera by the Camerata with the Gonzaga family, but there is no doubt that Monteverdi accepted the Duke’s invitation to work with Striggio and write a lyrical work similar to Euridice, though the pair surpassed it in nearly every way. Striggio wrote the libretto based on Rinuccini’s Euridice, but he changed the dramatic action and gave the work a new title, La favola d’Orfeo (The Fable of Orpheus, 1607), «favola in musica» («a fable in music»). For his part, Monteverdi did not care for several attributes of the Florentine opera, but he did not discard the genre. However, to compose the opera’s music, Monteverdi needed to reorient himself away from polyphony (as in his well known madrigals) toward the new style that incorporated monodic lyrical music called «stilo recitativo» («recitative style»). Recitative is a semi-sung passage in a single voice placed between pieces of music. It emphasizes the rhythms and accents of natural speech, but it is set against music to imitate monologue or dialogue to provide plot information in a comprehensible way. Recitative in song, in other words, is used to help «describe» the plot and move the action along. Historians generally agree that La favola d’Orfeo is the first opera that incorporated complex recitative with dramatic action throughout, and it was one of Monteverdi’s greatest technical innovations: «Orfeo represents the first attempt to apply the full resources of the art of music to drama, unhampered by artificial limitations»17. Since its invention, recitative was meant to be naturally persuasive because it was often employed to explain details of a story, since sung arias or polyphonic combinations were sometimes unintelligible. With light musical accompaniment such as a harpsichord or stringed instruments, it was called recitativo semplice (simple recitative) and later, recitativo secco 17

Gasta.indd 41

Grout and Williams, 2003, p. 51.

01/07/2014 18:22:39

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

42

(dry recitative). This type of recitative, which possessed more emotion and dramatic effect in performance than what can be gleaned from manuscript notation, was the staple of early opera18. Later, when recitative was sung with strong orchestral accompaniment and placed at the two or three most dramatic moments of the work, it was called recitativo accompagnato (accompanying recitative). On the other hand, arias expressed sentiments and emotions and were considered more beautiful. They were magnificent voice solos, but often difficult to follow because they were fully sung melodies. The Florentine production of Euridice that served as Monteverdi’s model utilized recitative for action, dialogue, and soliloquies with varying or irregular rhyme schemes and different line lengths. When standard rhyme schemes and verse lengths were employed, arias were featured. Monteverdi’s skill in dramatic music is perhaps best seen in his innate ability to cultivate recitative with great imagination and ingenuity, and at the proper times. But, it can be said that to today’s opera spectator, recitative would be considered a stodgy, outdated form of song whose sole purpose is to link the arias. In Monteverdi’s time and up through the latter part of the eighteenth century, however, recitative was the chief means to demonstrate emotion; music simply did not yet fulfill the promise of relaying sentiment or the power of song and music as it later did under Mozart or Verdi. As a composer, it would have been natural for Monteverdi to give primacy to the music. He distributed the orchestral instruments in such a way as to allow them to «tell» the story. Nonetheless, it similarly could be said that the dramatic text maintained its importance but was joined by a stronger musical force. The composer’s choice of particular instruments at particular times gave strength to the dramatic presentation and contributed to characterization. In Orfeo, for example, Monteverdi composed music for more than forty instruments, but they were not meant to be played together as in a large orchestral piece. Instead, he wanted to use instruments in gradual fashion, or when he needed one or more for certain dramatic effects. Hence, in the bucolic scenes of the first two acts, which featured nymphs and shepherds celebrating the wedding of Orpheus, the composer engaged instruments that reflected the pastoral, such as the flute. In the third and fourth acts, which took place in the sinister underworld, organs and metal-based instruments such as trombones and trumpets were played. Monteverdi always remained faithful 18

Gasta.indd 42

Grout and Williams, 2003, p. 223.

01/07/2014 18:22:39

A EUROPEAN INVENTION

43

to polyphony and featured a few collective songs when several characters were together on stage, thus combining polyphonic and monodic singing. In fact, he was particularly successful in the use of new kinds of arias and duets. In other words, the world’s first great opera seemed to have it all: masterful singing and complex but beautiful instrumentation set against a wonderfully dramatic story. During his lifetime, especially after his move in 1613 to Venice to become Chapel Master of Saint Mark’s Cathedral, Monteverdi increasingly gave weight to the dramatic action by incorporating greater degrees of recitative singing, and by being very precise in his choice of musical instruments. The composer even transformed the types of dramatic plots, moving away from strictly sacred themes to more profane arguments such as those in his Venetian historical opera, L’incoronazione di Poppea (The Coronization of Poppea, 1643, libretto by Giacomo Badoaro and Giovanni Francesco Busenello), considered his greatest surviving masterpiece. This opera perhaps was the first to incorporate human figures from history (it deals with the Roman Emperor Nero’s love for Poppea, the wife of his general Ottone), which added verisimilitude to the dramatic work and overcame the limitations of mythological personages.

AN ITALIAN REVOLUTION: THE EXPANSION OF OPERA IN EUROPE It should not be surprising that Mantuan opera was similar to Florentine opera, given that both areas were political and cultural leaders as well as rivals. Nevertheless, the genre saw its fulfillment under the genius of Monteverdi, who learned to express sentiment in song and generate a fresh and innovative harmonious vocal language. The early philosophy behind the first operas was to provide musical relief for the dramatic parts, but without displacing or minimizing the importance of the literary text. After all, it was believed that musicians and singers should aspire to drama. In 1605 the Florentine composer Marco da Gagliano (1582-1643) wrote in a Preface to a new version of Dafne (1607) what could be considered a prophetic description of what opera was to become: A truly princely spectacle, and delighted beyond all others, being one in which are combined all the most noble oblectations, such as contrivance and interest of plot, diction, style, mellifluous rhyme, musical art, the con-

Gasta.indd 43

01/07/2014 18:22:39

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

44

cert of voices and instruments, excellence in singing, grace in dancing and gesture; and it may also be said that painting plays therein no unimportant part, in the matters of scenery and costume; so that the intellect and every noblest sentiment are fascinated at one and the same moment by the most delectable arts ever devised by human genius19.

Opera, as a musical revolution, occurred around the same time as instrumental music in Italy was changing, marked by the first monodic sonatas in 161020. Whereas Florence was the birthplace of opera, it had little impact there beyond its first pieces. Instead, courtly festivities continued to include traditional madrigals, pastoral plays, ballets, and the commedia dell’arte. That is why there were few operas composed before 1625. It would take expansion of the genre to other leading Italian cities where opera in musica would become the center of musical and theatrical life, thus altering the musical landscape across Europe. After Monteverdi, opera evolves marked mainly by the artistic and musical tendencies and preferences of the composers and librettists, and the available patronage. Nearly all developments occurred chronologically in Rome,Venice, and Naples with several points of overlap among them. Rome saw its zenith between 1619 and 1650, due to the appreciation by the French Barberini family of Pope Urban VIII (1623-1644). The Barberini were interested in augmenting the family’s prestige and consolidating its power within the public sphere. The family provided generous support for the development of the genre for several Roman composers such as Stefano Landi (1587-1639) who introduced monodic recitative through his opera La morte d’Orfeo (The Death of Orpheus, 1619). Landi’s Sant’Alessio (Saint Alex, 1632) even included a libretto by the Cardinal Giulio Rospligliosi (1600-1669). Rospligliosi, who would later become Pope Clemente IX (1667-1669), was an ardent advocate of dramatic theater, and attended numerous performances as the Pontifical Legate in Madrid between 1646 and 1653. There, he befriended 19

Quoted in Apthorp, 1935, p. 2. Gagliano’s Dafne was performed in 1608. Much to Monteverdi’s annoyance, Gagliano and Rinuccini were brought to Mantua to provide entertainment for the festivities in honor of the marriage of Francesco Gonzaga and Margherita of Savoy, and Dafne was staged in advance of the actual nuptials. 20 In general, a sonata is a played piece (as opposed to a «cantata», or semidramatic sung piece with arias and recitative). Until the nineteenth century sonatas were normally works for a solo instrument such as the keyboard or the violin.

Gasta.indd 44

01/07/2014 18:22:39

A EUROPEAN INVENTION

45

the playwright Calderón de la Barca and the composer Juan Hidalgo21. Even before his Madrid appointment, Rospligliosi is known to have written several opera texts, many of them comic or buffa22. Sant’Alessio narrated the life of a young libertine man who embraced Christianity in the fifth century and became St. Alex, a popular saint. The opera was a breakout success, given that its subject matter returned to the Church’s preferred sacred themes instead of the classical or mythological topics that opera embraced elsewhere. The work also was interestingly comedic and featured humorous scenes of farcical stock characters (servants, pages, and nurses, etc.) modeled after the commedia dell’arte. Such compositions would become a staple of Roman opera in general, and Rospligliosi in particular. The Barberini could not have been more pleased. Re-positioning themselves as supreme artistic patrons, the family even built within their own palace an immense theater with a capacity for 3,000 spectators (1639). With a new venue, they began to host a regular series of operas. They utilized their palace and opera stage to marvel allies and supporters in the hopes of securing its position within the Papacy, a strategy already in vogue in European capitals where the wealthy and the noble used the arts to embellish their status. Their success was short-lived. The 1644 death of their brethren, Urban VIII, forced the family into exile in Paris.With their departure, the Roman school of opera mostly subsided, but their modifications impacted opera throughout Italy. As a whole, Roman opera differed from other styles by focusing more on religious subjects than on Greek mythology, employing polyphonic choruses at the end of each act, including several comedic or burlesque scenes featuring stock characters (maids or servants, the silly subordinate, etc.), significantly expanding the musical 21

Stroud, 1981, p. 13. Rospligliosi provided the librettos for Erminia sul Giordano (The River Jordan [1633]), music by Michelangelo Rossi), El palazzo incantato (The Enchanted Palace [1642], music by Luigi Rossi), Chi soffre speri (He Who Suffers Waits [1639], music by Virgilio Mazzochi and Marco Marazzoli) and Dal male il bene (From Bad to Good [1653], music by Marazzoli and Antonio Maria Abbatini). According to Stevenson, Dal male il bene was an adaptation of Calderón’s No siempre lo peor es cierto (The Worst is Not Always Certain) (1976, p. 82). Grout and Williams maintain, however, that its source was La dama duende (The Phantom Lady, 1629) (Grout and Williams, 2003, p. 77). Either way, the influence of Spanish drama is apparent in Dal male il bene based on the abandonment of the three classical unities of time, space, and action, as well as a structure of three acts (versus five), and the mixing of comic and serious elements (Carter, 1994, p. 19). 22

Gasta.indd 45

01/07/2014 18:22:40

46

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

ensembles and choruses, and putting to greater use monodic style and recitativo secco. Audiences in Rome, however, thought recitative was very tedious and dull. They instead preferred full-fledged arias, surely a sign of things to come. In fact, the inheritance of opera traditions in Spain included a great deal more recitativo secco than its counterpart in the New World. By the time opera made an impression in the Americas, arias were easily the preferred form of song. By the middle of the seventeenth century, opera had made extraordinary progress. In terms of dramatic text and characterization, the pastoral and mythological themes of the Florentine and Mantuan traditions were being discarded in favor of both Christian and secular themes, often mixing the comic and the serious. With respect to music, orchestras started to feature many different instruments, and the overture emerged. In terms of structure, operas separated monodic recitative and arias, although there emerged a greater appreciation for the latter and a growing disregard of the former. These transformations were the basis for further adaptations of the genre in other areas of Italy. Because of the exclusivity of the great Italian families—the Barberini, the Medici, and the Gonzaga—up to the 1650s, opera was almost entirely a court spectacle; operas were extravagant musical theatrical events for the nobility, political contacts and supporters, and ecclesiastical dignitaries. A noble or some other interested party who wished to project an image of power and prestige financially supported such productions. When opera arrived in Madrid, as described below, it too was a project supported by the only party capable of mustering such public and financial support, the Crown. And this custom continued mostly unfettered throughout the seventeenth century in Spain. In Italy, however, with the death or relocation of a patron, there was little hope for continued support. Faced with the pressure to finance productions, librettists sought alternate arrangements. In 1637 one solution emerged when Francesco Manelli (1595-1667) and his wife, the virtuoso singer Maddalena Manelli, arrived in Venice from Rome. Along with composer Benedetto Ferrari (1604-1681), Manelli presented his operas Andromeda (Andromeda, 1637) and La maga fulminata (The Raging Sorceress, 1638) in the newly inaugurated Teatro di San Cassiano. He did so mostly through his own financial means and with some assistance from the city of Venice. Manelli also arranged for other composers such as Cavalli to

Gasta.indd 46

01/07/2014 18:22:40

A EUROPEAN INVENTION

47

present their own works23. The great innovation introduced by Manelli and his partner Benedetto Ferrari was a new financial model for opera. They decided to charge a general admission to spectators, changing the economic face of opera by financing the production through a combination of private and public funds (private individuals purchased theater boxes and the city offered financial support) as well as through a paying audience. The model was not without its shortcomings, however, since Manelli and other impresarios tended to lose money on most performances even while the wealthier patrons remained in the black due to the rental proceeds from the private balcony boxes they owned. But, a new model was started; Manelli was, in short, one of the first opera entrepreneurs whose success gave him with the right to intervene in the work under production and influence not only its development but also its thematic content and performance. This sort of organization of opera for public consumption by entrepreneurs seeking artistic and economic legitimacy is, for Attali, a clear indication of the transition of music from the «sacrificial» to the «representational» period whereby «music was literally confined within the walls of commerce»24. For Attali, public performances, financed by those not directly associated with the monarchies and the Church, meant that art would no longer back feudal power, that music «ceased to be written solely for the pleasure of the idle and became an element in a new code of power, that of the solvent consumer, the bourgeoisie»25. In fact, in Venice, librettists made little or no money from the production itself, but rather from the sale of their texts to collectors and other interested parties outside Venice. Patronage was still important in Venice, but much less so than in nearly every other location where opera was being performed. Despite some of the disadvantages, the model was at least partially successful: about a dozen theaters opened in Venice during the seventeenth century, and at least four of them staged productions simultaneously for most of the century, counting over 350 performances in total26. Now, however, since the audience paid an entry fee, their opin-

23

Grout and Williams, 2003, p. 87. Attali, 1985, p. 50. 25 Attali, 1985, pp. 49-50. 26 Donington, 1981, p. 216; Grout and Williams, 2003, p. 93. Along with the Teatro San Cassiano, the other three are the Teatro SS Giovanni e Paolo (1639), the Teatro San Moisè (1640) and the Teatro Novissimo (1641). 24

Gasta.indd 47

01/07/2014 18:22:40

48

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

ion mattered more than ever. Therefore, Venetian opera felt compelled to heed audience expectations. In short, the opera producer needed not only to keep in mind the audience’s reactions, their theatrical tastes, and their willingness to attend his productions, but also to work to make ends meet—the second subservient to the first. This scheme worked, in part, because unlike other Italian city-states, Venice was not as deeply under the influence of political or religious powers, which may have required producers to project a particular ideology. Although open public opera performance was the norm in Venice, extremely lavish and expensive productions for private individuals in which virtuoso singers and stage designers were paid handsomely still existed until the latter part of the eighteenth century. In this sense, Venice was an anomaly. In other areas, royal or ecclesiastical patronage was totally necessary. But, the Venetian model brought about certain changes in opera outside of Venice. Beyond funding models, Venetian opera was the first to respond directly to audience expectation, a trait that was then carried to other national schools of opera. As such, Venetian opera placed greater emphasis on early special effects. Although officially librettists were called «poets», the literary quality of their texts was less appreciated than the visual and aural advances they brought about. On the one hand, audiences were amazed by the grandiosity of theatrical scenery that would become typical in later Baroque productions in Spain: shipwrecks, battles, miracles, chases, swordplay, falls, murder and mayhem, fires and explosions, flying chariots, and so on were dramatized through complex theatrical automation and machines that transformed the stage from one setting to another (such as from an ocean to a castle). In particular, stage mechanizations set up a visual spectacle that might also feature inventive lighting or pyrotechnics that captured audience attention. This, however, helped displace both the plot of the libretto and the corresponding need for so many instrumentalists or characters, the number of which were eventually reduced to save money, or, in the case of choruses, eliminated outright. Instead, the number and frequency of evermore difficult arias intrigued Venetian audiences. Eventually, the «bel canto» style, featuring the voice’s perfect evenness throughout and an elevated vocal elegance, would take precedence over dramatic expression. Such monumental changes virtually put an end to the pervasive use of polyphony in Italian opera. Structurally,Venetian opera also was responsible for the gradual reduction of the number of acts from five to three, probably as a result of the influence of

Gasta.indd 48

01/07/2014 18:22:40

A EUROPEAN INVENTION

49

the Spanish comedia which dictated an abandonment of the Aristotelian unities of time, space, and action27. Finally, melodies and harmonies were sharpened and better defined, and rhythms became easily identifiable. These modifications meant that opera, an expensive and elaborate art form to recreate, could be done on a smaller scale—with a few singers and instrumentalists, a shorter libretto and, at the least, minimal stage sets. These transformations were fully absorbed in other Italian cities, but made little or no impact on opera in seventeenth-century Spain. It would not be until the opening decades of the eighteenth century when these modifications would affect opera in Spain and, by relation, the New World. Well before that time, however, opera already had quickly spread throughout Europe, especially into Germany and France. Like Spain, France’s interest in opera was somewhat sporadic and uneven.The first composer in France, Pier Francesco Cavalli (1602-1676), was actually a successful Venetian singer and ecclesiastical organist under Monteverdi. Cavalli became one of the most talented and ingenious composers in Venice where he was the organist of St. Mark’s Cathedral. While in Venice, between 1639 and 1669, he staged over thirty operas. Like his Venetian operas, for French audiences Cavalli reduced the members of the orchestra in order to emphasize the preeminence to the vocal parts. He specifically focused on frequent alternations between recitative parts and arias. In fact, his popularity was in part derived from the great female arias that accentuated moments of pain and suffering. Due to their abstract nature and the universal application of such feelings as grief, happiness, sadness, suffering, joy, etc., these arias effectively could be lifted from one opera and transported to another where they fit without straying much from the main theme of the work. By this time in opera history, the aria was a regular and featured part of the production whose frequency and number continued to increase. In fact, the composer began to take successful arias from one opera and use them in another without concern for the opera’s overall unity. And the audience did not notice any rupture in the thematic unity, either. The success of Cavalli and other renowned Venetian composers resulted in their occupation of coveted positions in the courts, concert halls, and theaters throughout Europe. In Cavalli’s case, from 1660-1662 he worked in the court of France’s Louis XIV, under the protection of Cardinal Giulio Mazzarino (1602-1667). In Paris, Mazzarino, a Nea27

Gasta.indd 49

Carter, 1994, p. 18.

01/07/2014 18:22:40

50

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

politan, was a spectator at a 1639 performance in Rome of Chi soffre, speri (He Who Suffers Shall Hope), a comic opera written by the aforementioned future Pope Clemente IX, Giulio Rospligliosi. Mazzarino wanted to introduce opera to France and had his opportunity when France celebrated the 1659 Treaty of the Pyrenees with Spain that also called for the marriage of Louis XIV to Spanish Princess María Teresa. For the occasion, Mazzarino requested that Cavalli compose an opera, L’Ercole Amante (The Herculean Lover), whose title was meant to suggest that Louis XIV was a powerful lover who was very much enamored with his future wife (both of which were very much false). Cavalli, along with librettist Francesco Buti (1604-1682), took up the task, but the production was delayed several times, followed by Mazzarino’s death. It was not until 1662 that the opera was staged in Paris’ newly constructed opera house, a gorgeous modern theater but with terrible acoustics. Giovanni Battista Lulli, an Italian by birth who, upon gaining French nationality in 1661, was baptized Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632-1687), wrote a few ballets for the work but there was a general public disapproval of the opera (with the main exception being the theatrical machinery that could carry 100 performers through the air at one time).The problem, clearly visible in Ercole Amante, was that French audiences did not care for Italian opera style—they were quite reactionary to foreign advents.The first issue was the language barrier: there was a general belief that French was not a particularly good language for recitative, the foundation of musical drama. But, when they turned to Italian, audiences had a hard time understanding, especially since some parts were in Italian dialects. In fact, the public could not tell if the work was a tragedy or a comedy. Second, the French did not like the castrati voices that by now were so characteristic of Italian opera. Castrati were male singers who were castrated between nine and thirteen years of age in order to conserve their adolescent voice from the biological changes of puberty. The castrati were very skillful singers who could sing across a three-octave range with great power and beauty. Ironically, the youthful, sharp, and light voices of the castrati were not a logical match for the bravura of the characters they sometimes played.This later led many Enlightenment critics to question the verisimilitude of opera. On the other hand, since women were banned from playing dramatic roles in many cities, the castrati were the only ones able to reach high registers expected of female singers. Regardless, French audiences did not like them. Nor did they care for the great number of instruments used in

Gasta.indd 50

01/07/2014 18:22:40

A EUROPEAN INVENTION

51

opera, believing music in theater had only a decorous use. Finally, the French were accustomed to and fascinated by courtly dance and ballet, which Italian opera did not offer. These obstacles were too much for Cavalli to overcome, even with his best intentions. Despite great efforts by Cardinal Mazzarino and Cavalli, opera would not be fully introduced to France until in 1669 when Louis XIV decided to provide royal favor and funding to the composer Robert Cambert (1627-1677) and the librettist Pierre Perrin (1620-1675) to create the Académie Royale de Musique (Royal Academy of Music), which today is considered the creation of the Opera de Paris.28 Cambert and Perrin collaborated on Pomone (Pomone, 1671), the first public opera offered in Paris. It was generally applauded by the public, but was poorly funded and resulted in the incarceration of its authors for the debts associated with the production. Around this time, Lully paid the two authors’ debts and ascended to the directorship of the Royal Academy. Lully, a collaborator with Moliere, was from an early age a favorite of King Louis XIV. From his post at the Académie, Lully worked to adapt Italian opera for French society, and he was quite aware of the changes he needed to make. First, he cut the length of the arias and separated each one making them more decorative than integral to the overall musical piece. Instead, recitatives and ariosos were clearly the central structure of Lulli’s opera, and he composed them more in line with French tastes and language. Ariosos were a cross between an aria and recitative accompanied by a full orchestra that advanced the plot by clearly pronouncing the words being sung (the arioso would similarly mark Spanish opera). Lulli also incorporated orchestral passages, choruses, and great choreography, thus dividing the structure into five shorter acts. He then integrated prologues with extensive repeated praises to Louis XIV. Finally, he used a more varied and dense orchestra and a chorus without taking away from the costumes, beautiful stage sets, and complex choreography so customary in ballet. As a result of these change, Lully’s first offering in Versailles, Les Noces de Cadmus et Hermione (The Marriage of Cadmus and Hermione, 1673), was a great success and solidified a French adaptation of Italian opera. From then on, Lully offered an opera each year, working always with the librettist, Philippe Quinault (1635-1688). Lully’s 28

Louis XIV was also an actor of sorts. He appeared frequently as Apollo in several dances and was highly regarded as an excellent dancer, greatly contributing to the popularity of the court ballet.

Gasta.indd 51

01/07/2014 18:22:40

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

52

changes made opera more acceptable to French audiences and helped develop an autonomous style («tragédie-lyrique» or «lyrical tragedy») that would continue to take inspiration from others, but propagate in its own direction. In fact,Tim Carter points out that Lully’s solutions to earlier problems of establishing opera were so good and so powerful, that he essentially established an «operatic canon» by «fixing a tradition, and specific techniques, that were to dictate the course of opera in France for the next half-century and more»29. But, these modifications also set in motion a general distaste for French opera outside of France. Foreign visitors and dignitaries to Paris who attended opera performances noted that French singers, for example, were generally not as strong as Italian singers. Moreover, the shortened arias and long orchestral pieces were simply viewed as inferior adaptations of Italian opera. In chronological terms, Naples was the second greatest Italian city of opera after Venice. However, during the first half of the seventeenth century Naples did not experience the same musical revolution as in other parts of Italy. Its Viceroy, appointed by Madrid, was not always able to assemble enough money to offer great performances in the viceregal palace. This suggests that opera was only as successful in palatial environments as the Viceroys wanted them to be. And many were not that enthused with the new genre (the future Carlos III of Spain, Viceroy of Naples, in no way enjoyed opera, for example). So, it was a matter of necessity that opera became both a private celebration financed by, and performed for, the Viceroy and the Court in addition to being a public theatrical spectacle supported by general admission tickets. What was exceptional about Neapolitan opera was that it integrated the various styles of opera created since 1600. After consolidating those advances and innovations, Neapolitan opera infiltrated other European capitals such as Madrid, Lisbon, London, St. Petersburg, and Paris. It was galvanized as a «school» under the Palermo-born Alessandro Scarlatti (1660-1732). Scarlatti was a prolific composer; during his lifetime he may have composed as many as 115 operas (over 80 can be traced and 41 are extant). Nonetheless, in Naples he was poorly paid (partly due to the 1700 War of Succession which led to political instability in the Neapolitan court), and he was forced to seek contracts in other cities: Fernando de Medici contracted Scarlatti in Florence, and the composer successfully staged many operas in Rome. Some of his works were even 29

Gasta.indd 52

Carter, 1994, p. 38.

01/07/2014 18:22:40

A EUROPEAN INVENTION

53

exported to Madrid where, by the end of the seventeenth century, the musical scene had begun a phase of renewal30. In Naples, Scarlatti managed to produce one of his greatest works, Il Pompeo (Pompeii, 1683), which had been previously presented in Rome. Its success gave Scarlatti nearly universal recognition and probably helped solidify his position in Naples to the extent that he was named Chapel Master in the viceregal court in 1684-1702, and again in 1707. With this position and fame, Scarlatti went on to write a series of operas that were presented in Italy, and then in other European centers. They include Il Mitridite Eupatore (Mithridates Eupator, 1707), Il Tigrane (General Tigrane, 1715), the comedic opera Il trionfo dell’onore (The Triumph of Honor, 1718), and La Griselda (Griselda, 1721), the latter being his most famous. Scarlatti was known for simple orchestras, sometimes composed of just a small stringed group and a couple of wind instruments. His ensembles were different from the enormous orchestras employed both a century earlier and a century later. In 1709, Domenico Zipoli, composer of San Ignacio, the subject of Chapter Three, was Scarlatti’s star pupil for a time during Scarlatti’s tenure as Chapel Master in Naples. In 1710 Zipoli and Scarlatti had some sort of disagreement, and Zipoli departed for Bologna to study with Lavinio Felice Vannucci (1710)31 followed by his education in Rome under Bernardo Pasquini (1710)32. Through his travels and studies in Florence, Naples, and Rome, Zipoli would have bore witness to the great strides opera took and subsequently would have been knowledgeable about each of the trends then being perfected. Just as Scarlatti was enjoying his fame as one of Europe’s greatest composers, around 1690 librettists throughout Italy complained of the lack of thematic unity and literary value of opera. They prided themselves on literary quality and began to reject the comedic buffa interpolations made famous in Venice. As a result, several began to write librettos 30 José María Domínguez reports that over twenty musical works by the Italian master have been located in Madrid’s National Library making Scarlatti the author of some of the earliest Italian secular music to be performed in Spain (2009, pp. 205-06 and p. 210). 31 Vannuci was a monk and well known author of a 1709 theoretical book for beginners, Regole per suonare, cantare e comporre per principianti (Rules for Playing, Singing and Composing for Beginners). 32 Pasquini was a composer of fourteen operas and over fifty cantatas, and a keyboard player who was well known as an exceptional teacher. Among his pupils was Alessandro Scarlatti’s son, Domenico, an exceptional teacher in his own right.

Gasta.indd 53

01/07/2014 18:22:40

54

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

that struck to the «rules» of what they considered to be «good taste» and which faithfully followed classical histories or fables. This ushered in the reign of the famed opera seria (serious opera)33. Changes included brief prologues in the printed libretto in which they explained why they decided to interpret a particular historical moment in a specific fashion. Librettists also tried to justify their use of characters and to explain why certain personages held unambiguous attitudes. At the same time, many writers believed that opera should provide a moral lesson and their characters, especially nobles, heroes, and princesses, etc., should reflect the ideals of the enlightened despotism coming into vogue. Among these ideals was the notion that the nobility possessed superior moral character and enjoyed a heroic origin («heroic» also to be understood as «divine»). As a result of this new philosophic outlook, in opera librettos comic characters such as servants, amusing military personnel, maids—any role that had become associated with comedy—began to disappear or were relegated to secondary status. Moreover, the original classical ideal of the three unities began to reign once again. Opera seria eventually would become nearly synonymous with Neapolitan opera or «Metastasian opera», named for the composer Pietro Metastasio (1689-1782) who, after 1720, would perfect the genre. For his part, 33 During the first decades of the eighteenth century, opera in Italy could be divided between opera seria and opera buffa. Opera seria had three acts; the main themes were often based on classical historical themes, it held a rigid tone by placing emphasis on the exceptional quality of the dramatic theme and vocal arrangements, and was generally reserved for official court festivities such as weddings, official celebrations, state anniversaries, and political or military victories. On the other hand, the comedic opera buffa has antecedents in operas from Provenzale and in Venice, the latter where professional opera producers kept in mind the interests of the «popolino», spectators of modest means who enjoyed opera but who were not interested in its mythological themes or classical histories. Opera buffa featured everyday stock characters like any one would find on the street, normally with some sort of character trait that lent itself to comedic interactions: greed, maniacal behavior, stupidity, etc. The singing parts included short arias in duos, trios, and in chorus with voices corresponding closely to the roles they were playing: older people played by baritones and base, younger characters by castrati or tenors; couples by tenors and sopranos. At the beginning of the eighteenth century, it became customary to divide seria and buffa based on the fact that librettists who considered their works of high quality refused to include comedic characters in their operas or to break with the classical three unities of time, space, and action. Over time, most writers tried their hand at the other genre: opera seria writers wrote buffa and opera buffa writers composed seria.

Gasta.indd 54

01/07/2014 18:22:40

A EUROPEAN INVENTION

55

Scarlatti, who regularly included comedic characters in his operas and even integrated comedic intermezzos between acts, also began to write in this new style and quickly became its advocate. Structurally, duos or trio vocal combinations were sacrificed to give priority to the arias. And although the overall number of arias in opera tended to be reduced, a greater amount of time was dedicated to each one.The number of singers also diminished so that by 1695 it was rare to see more than six or seven—allowing for opera companies to be formed more economically and quickly. Moreover, since the arias were usually the focal point of singing talent, the writers began to distribute them based on the importance of the singers and their voices. The most important arias were reserved for the most famous castrati in the company as well as the most prestigious prime donne (first ladies). Ego dictated that the arias were to be equally distributed among the most important singers to ensure equal treatment. Thanks, in part, to the consolidation of various opera styles in Naples, by the opening decades of the eighteenth century, structurally, operas were reduced to a series of arias each separated by recitatives that routinely incorporated three-movement sinfonias, or overtures, which soon became standard for all Italian operas.These overtures, customary under Scarlatti, featured a quick opening movement, short slow interlude, and another quick closing movement that would later become the basis for classical symphonies. In these operas, there was rarely a series of arias interrupted by a duo or some other atypical singing part.When each character sang his or her aria along with the required divisory short recitativo secco parts—now the norm—the first act ended; in the second act, the structure was repeated, but with secondary characters singing their arias as well. In the third act, the secondary characters (who normally did not have the physical ability to sing more than one or two arias) were displaced, and focus was placed on the great arias of the main protagonists. Hence, the third act of Baroque opera was normally much shorter than the first two. Many of the greatest aria singers also were given the option, or even had the opportunity written into their contracts, to insert their own aria creation, which they had prepared beforehand. Since these were «at the ready», they were named «arie di baule» (trunk aria), as if the singer had traveled with them in a trunk.The only requirement was that the aria they inserted had to conform to the theme of the work already in progress—not usually a problem since singers had a series of

Gasta.indd 55

01/07/2014 18:22:40

56

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

arias that expressed the salient sentiments and emotions in all operas. Singers could easily insert any given aria into most works. The changes brought about by the merging of different schools of opera had one thing in common: they placed the greatest emphasis on the voice and music and less attention was paid to acting or the dramatic text. Early on there was a preference for sharp, flexible voices that could sustain notes for a long duration without the need to take a breath (called fiato in Italian). The most sought-after voices could reach the highest notes, sing complicated arias and scales easily, and change from one extreme to the other more or less effortlessly. For these reasons, the best parts were reserved for the sopranos and castrati, and a rivalry often flared up between them. At first, the castrati performed all male roles. Little by little, however, a second class of male singers, the primero tenore (first tenors), began to sing authoritarian roles such as father, brother, monarch, or god-like characters. After the tenors, many works included roles for basses and baritones whose low-sounding, deep voices distinguished them from the tenors, castrati, or sopranos. Bases and baritones were not differentiated from one another until the late eighteenth century. Many of these transformations took place in Naples and soon took hold in Venice, Florence, and Rome, and became the standard for Baroque opera in Europe after 1720, in part thanks to the efforts of Scarlatti, then Metastasio. As opera gained in popularity in major European centers, open public performances were available daily and often became the center of the city’s social life. This was the time of the first public opera houses in Venice which were brought about mostly by necessity, as demonstrated by Manelli’s need to charge public admission or rent spectator boxes. The public opera theaters therefore gave access to all social classes irrespective of whether they were from the nobility, the upper or lower bourgeoisie, the office holders, or the professional classes of doctors, lawyers, notaries, or priests. Each of these possessed the means and the time to attend the theater, but the social classes remained differentiated via their seating location. The earliest theaters were constructed around a public plaza by utilizing the adjoining buildings. Eventually, theaters were constructed. In these, the theater floor was an area free of seating where people walked about with little regard for the performance underway. Later, moveable benches were placed near the stage in case one might like to sit and watch for a bit. Fixed seating was not added to the theater floor until into the nineteenth

Gasta.indd 56

01/07/2014 18:22:41

A EUROPEAN INVENTION

57

century. Along the sides of the theater was boxed seating: the lower balconies reserved for the nobility, the higher ones for the bourgeoisie classes and their families, and above it all ample space was available for the lower classes. The lower classes could also pay for a standing room only position within the theater. In this way, opera was a public social event in which spectators moved about talking to friends, colleagues, and family members or, in some of the balconies, business deals were struck. In many instances, spectators received important visitors in their box, snacked or ate dinner, and held political or business meetings. The audience quieted down only when the prima donna or primer castrato began to sing their featured aria. Since operas were routinely repeated and audiences sometimes attended the same production again and again, spectators knew the opportune moment to listen, including when certain improvisations were performed. Over time, the theatrical ambiance that started in Venice was consolidated in Naples and carried to other European centers, becoming the foremost model for public opera. One such theatrical hub, Madrid, shared many of these traits, although they developed separately. The Spanish stage featured a never-ending flow of grand spectacles consumed by insatiable audiences expecting new performances weekly that incorporated the most innovative staging devices, intriguing plots, the best actors, and glamorous costumes. However, whereas Spain’s magnificent theatrical scene was reminiscent of the social space of opera in Venice, the success of the genre was not. In Spain, as in France, opera was at first a private affair, limited to performance in palaces up through the nineteenth century, such as in Philip IV’s Zarzuela hunting lodge outside Madrid or in Louis XIV’s Palace of Versailles near Paris. Eventually, as we shall see in the next chapter, opera went public, but with uneven results.

Gasta.indd 57

01/07/2014 18:22:41

Gasta.indd 58

01/07/2014 18:22:41

CHAPTER TWO

OPERA IN SPAIN AND THE NEW WORLD: TRANSATLANTIC OPERA AND ITS ORIGINS

«For I would have thee know, Sancho, that all or most of the knights-errant in days long ago were great troubadours and musicians, for both of these accomplishments, or more properly speaking, gifts, are the peculiar property of lovers-errant». —Don Quixote, Part I, Chapter 231

In Miguel de Cervantes’ Spain, music was one of the foremost arts, and cultural elites aspired to learn and master it. Music enjoyed special status in the period, so much so that the two major universities, Salamanca and Alcalá, both had chairs of music. In Don Quixote, the knight points out that most of his chivalric heroes, Amadís de Gaula and Belianís de Grecia, for example, were notable musicians and singers2. Imitating them, he sings a romance (heroic ballad) to a high lady, Altisidora (accompanied by a lute), a madrigal to his own Dulcinea, and Sancho even tells the Duchess «where there’s music there can’t be mischief» (II: 34).3 As depicted time and again in Don Quixote, music was a central feature of everyday life but not just among the educated elite. Nearly everyone the knight meets in his adventures takes pleasure in their own musical background, regardless of their social status. For example, among the upper classes we find Sansón Carrasco, the student 1

Cervantes, [1605] 1964, p. 137. Belianis de Grecia (Belianis of Greece) was a chivalric tale written by Jerónimo de Fernández (1545) and Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo’s Amadís de Gaula (Amadís of Wales), one of the most notable chivalric romances, was originally published in Portuguese in 1508. 3 Cervantes, [1615] 1964, p. 562. 2

Gasta.indd 59

01/07/2014 18:22:41

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

60

musician from Salamanca, and Cardenio, the companion and servant of Don Fernando, both of whom sing sonnets and compose other musical forms. Among the lower classes, Don Quixote meets the shepherd Antonio and several farmers who recite romances and a mule driver who sings a canzone. Even his imaginary rival, the Knight of the Mirrors, sings a sonnet accompanied by a lute. All are examples of early musical styles cultivated in Cervantes’ Spain, and all tell us that music was an art form that bonded people, regardless of their socio-economic background. Throughout the pages of Don Quixote we are also witness to a great number of singers, dancers, musicians of over thirty instruments, musical plays such as puppet shows, and many other musical forms.4 Moreover, if Cervantes had been born just two decades later, his own life adventures, which took him to Florence, Naples, Rome, and Sicily, among other Italian locales, might have also acquainted him with another musical style—early opera from central Italy5. Although we cannot say if the great novelist knew opera first hand, references in Don Quixote suggest he must have known something of the genre prior to his death in 1616. In Maese Pedro’s Puppet Show (the 1615 Part II, Chapter 26), Cervantes demonstrates his awareness of polyphonic counterpoint (various independent melodies sung simultaneously) when Don Quixote interrupts the young narrator of the story of Don Gaiferos and Doña Melisendra and implores the boy to not stray from the history.The puppeteer, Maese Pedro, echoes the point and tells the boy to «stick to your text and do as the gentleman bids you; it’s the best plan; keep to your plain song, and don’t attempt harmonies [contrapunto], for they are apt to break down from being over fine».6 This is followed two chapters later when Sancho, braying like an ass, receives a beating from one of the two town mayors who believes he is mocking them. Don Quixote warns his squire: «to the music of brays what other harmonies [contrapunto] could you expect to get but cudgels?».7 Keenly aware of the cultural importance of music as expressed within literary 4

For a fuller analysis of music in Don Quixote, see my essay ««Señora, donde hay música no puede haber cosa mala»: Music, Poetry and Orality in Don Quijote» and «Writing to be Heard: Performing Music in Don Quixote». 5 Cervantes was in Rome in 1569-1570 in the service of Cardinal Acquaviva, in Sicily in 1571 preparing for the Battle of Lepanto, and in 1574 he spent time again in Sicily, followed by Naples (1574-1575). 6 Cervantes, [1615] 1964, p. 517. 7 Cervantes, [1615] 1964, p. 526.

Gasta.indd 60

01/07/2014 18:22:41

OPERA IN SPAIN AND THE NEW WORLD

61

forms, Cervantes went to great lengths to integrate all sorts of Early Modern musical genres into most of his literary works, perhaps even some opera techniques. We will never know to what extent Cervantes was personally familiar with opera. What is clear, however, is that facets of the genre had made their way to Spain from Renaissance Italy where authors like Cervantes may have been knowledgeable of its development. As we know it today, opera’s primary development took place during the transition from the Renaissance to the Baroque. This was followed by its dispersion in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, a period that also saw a proliferation of national and regional schools of opera. The Renaissance was a time when humanistic traditions and belief in man’s innate artistic and rational abilities provided a basis in polyphonic song, profane music, and secular dramatic themes. Subsequently, the transition to the Baroque signaled the height of the theatrical spectacle and the maturation of orchestral pieces. Opera, as both drama and music, was an ideal art form to incorporate these advancements in such a way as to fascinate and entertain all social classes, irrespective of their social or economic background, or their seating in the theater. Nowhere was the theatrical spectacle as important as in Spain, the heart of dramatic ingenuity and innovation. Nonetheless, musical successes in Spain, despite their great weight, complexity, and resourcefulness, did not automatically lead to fully sung theater, as was the case in Italy. Instead, in Spain short songs, catchy tunes, and typical vocal pieces from the period were widely included in specific dramatic scenes in popular plays. Indeed, the history and development of opera in Spain is inseparable from the advance and success of its national theater. Eventually, completely sung musical dramas such as the zarzuela or opera emerged, but their number was not as copious or the performances as frequent as in other European countries. Notwithstanding such irregularity, Spanish opera did enjoy a degree of early success that laid the foundation for the genre’s eventual emergence in Spain and its colonies. Unfortunately, critics tend to dismiss those advancements and ignore the role of Spanish opera in the European history of opera. This chapter seeks to re-evaluate Spain’s early lyrical-dramatic accomplishments in an effort to reveal their significance to the history of opera in Europe. I then examine the European impact on the first operas in the New World. I also wish to address key issues of reciprocity among these «schools»—a point I return to in subsequent chapters—to propose

Gasta.indd 61

01/07/2014 18:22:41

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

62

that native musical culture drove the development of New World opera just as much as European influences did.This point of departure cannot be disregarded, as it must be recognized that early American operas are works conceived, written, and produced under Spain’s sphere of influence, but marked by decidedly New World preferences and styles. As an empire, Spain, like Rome before it, considered Europe the focal point of its imperial strength and from there it looked outward toward its various world possessions. As Spain privileged its lands in Europe such as the Netherlands or Italy, it considered the New World to be basically subjugated territories that were a part of the numerous kingdoms under its control or, as Mendoza de Arce puts it, «a cultural province of Europe»8. Cultural elites in places such as Lima or Mexico City—the two major metropolitan centers in the New World—adapted Spanish aesthetics to match local tastes and did little to step from Spain’s long shadow. Hence, Mendoza de Arce states that although distinctive American musical styles eventually emerged—and nourished one another—it was Old Europe that provided the pronounced impetus for musical inspiration, especially the Italian and French styles inherited from Spain: Even if the imitation of the European ways was a powerful force in the Ibero-American arts, even the largest cities in the colonies could not boast the variety of resources that characterized cultural life in the great European capitals. The culture of the small Indian villages, in turn, was far removed from that of the main centers. Lying in between those two worlds were poor colonies in which the white European element predominated but was a pale reflection of the cosmopolitan cities. (2001, p. 2)

There was, then, a cultural gap between the European models imported from Spain and passing through New World metropolitan centers and the rural adaptation of these trends in the various villages and mission towns a great distance away. These cultural ruptures—due to time, distance, and geography—could not be overcome immediately, and different musical styles that sprung up in far-away rural areas maintained distinctively independent traits and did not usually bleed into one another. Both the Church and the state realized that a loss of control of these outlying areas constituted a danger to their influence. Hence, both authoritative entities went to great lengths to ship ideologically 8

Gasta.indd 62

Mendoza de Arce, 2001, p. 1.

01/07/2014 18:22:41

OPERA IN SPAIN AND THE NEW WORLD

63

favorable musical works from the urban cathedrals to the outlying areas. Catholic missionaries who worked to integrate European styled music into their evangelical teachings often exploited these ecclesiastical pieces. The reciprocity of music between cities and settlements, then, was one key method for dispersing a small number of European musical forms slowly across the continent. At the same time, musical advances made in rural areas, such as the Jesuit missions, made their way back to the metropolitan centers and from there back to Europe. For example, the notoriety of musicians, singers, and instrument makers among the Indians was very well known among the European elites. This all suggests an aesthetic and ideological reciprocity between the European cultural center and the American periphery. None of this is accounted for in well known opera histories. Indeed, even Spanish opera is generally ignored in nearly all anthologies and histories. Spain was Europe’s foremost theatrical innovator where the world’s greatest playwrights routinely integrated music into drama prior to 1700. With control over such an expanse of territory, Spanish theatrical traditions were then widely exported to areas under its control. However, Spanish contributions to opera history have been as overlooked as much of the rest of its literature9. Opera in Spain certainly did not enjoy the success it did in Italy or Germany, but it was easily on par with the genre’s development in France and England, and its emergence and development even outpaced those countries in many instances. It is particularly troublesome that several of these coveted histories even point out that French opera, for example, was not a continuous institution until after 1671, forty-two years later than the first Italian-style opera in Spain, and twelve years after two other significant Spanish operas helped transform the theatrical scene in Madrid. That has not 9

The most highly acclaimed and widely read histories of opera rarely mention Spanish opera except to highlight the impact of Spanish drama on Italian opera, as the locale of the action of a particular opera, or in reference to Spain’s role as military and political power of pre-1700 Europe. These include Oxford’s Illustrated History of Opera (2001), Piero Weiss’ Opera: A History in Documents (2002), Joe Staines’ (editor) The Rough Guide to Opera (2007), and Donald Grout and Hermine Weigel Williams’ A Short History of Opera (2003), among others. Matthew Stroud reminded me that even today editions for Spanish operas are catalogued according to the Library of Congress system under ML instead of PQ, underscoring under appreciation or ignorance of the significance of literary or cultural analyses of the genre (E-mail to the author, 2007).

Gasta.indd 63

01/07/2014 18:22:41

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

64

stopped those volumes from spending chapters on seventeenth-century French opera, however. Are those three early Spanish operas not sufficient to demonstrate the significance of the genre? Does Spanish opera not deserve at least passing reference based on its historical roots in the long lyrical-dramatic tradition beginning in the Middle Ages, maturing in the Renaissance, and finding full fruition in the Baroque? The emergence of strictly defined opera in Spain did have its problems, and it is perhaps those obstacles that have fueled a lack of critical inquiry into Spanish opera. Whereas opera was impacting culture and society across Europe, its entrance into Spain was blocked by a lack of funding, a lack of interest, and a lack of understanding of the genre. It would seem that with early experiments by Lope and further development under Calderón, opera would find its place in the multifarious art scene and flourish. Even though Spain controlled several Italian areas such as Naples and Milan where opera was in vogue, and the genre was widely entrenched in the Holy See in Rome, these close contacts were not enough for the genre to find sure footing back in Spain. Indeed, Spain’s perceived role as leader and defender of Catholicism led to constant warfare in defense of its colonies and drained resources from the troubled empire. These economic and political realities meant that the Crown’s interest in controlling the dissemination of ideology through arts required it to spurn opera, which was already identified as a particularly political art form. Instead, it chose to further ally itself with the popular comedia nueva and, later, the zarzuela. Moreover, the comedia had already proven itself as a powerful aesthetic force, and no genre would have upended its reputation or popularity through the seventeenth century. This in no way reflects stunted growth of the opera nor does it suggest that, artistically, Spain lagged behind other European countries. It instead implies that because writers did not consider the achievement of totally sung lyrical theater a goal, the development of opera simply was not important10. In short, opera came about in Spain in very abrupt bursts propelled principally by available patronage and the wherewithal of Spanish playwrights to match existing musical-dramatic traditions to some facets of Italian opera. The result was a brand of opera that successfully drew on other models but one that was wholly Spanish. Such a combination also made it quite different from other trends across Europe. In turn, the «Spanish

10

Gasta.indd 64

Stein, 1991, pp. 125-126.

01/07/2014 18:22:41

OPERA IN SPAIN AND THE NEW WORLD

65

model» was exported to the New World where opera’s development mirrored its Spanish counterpart in many of these same ways. The evolution of fully sung lyrical drama in Spain was due mostly to Lope de Vega’s interest in adapting romances, bailes, and other oral poetic devices into the comedia nueva. In Lope’s time, the romances, passed down from the Medieval period, were a part of daily life and most people knew particular verses by heart. For singers and actors, most of whom were uneducated, these catchy songs were easy to learn, remember, and sing. Even before Lope, musicians playing a harp, guitar, or vihuela often provided background music during theatrical performances in order to offer an additional level of sophistication and verisimilitude to popular dramatic performances.When Lope wrote his famous Arte nuevo de hacer comedias en este tiempo (The New Art of Writing Plays at this Time), a sort of treatise on how drama should be devised, he specifically mentions the significance and necessity of music in theater: «el baile le es tanto en la comedia / que le aprueba Aristóteles» («dance is so important in plays / that Aristotle approved of it») and «cualquiera imitación poética / se hace de tres cosas, que son, plática, / verso dulce, armonía y la música» («any poetic imitation / is comprised of three things which are dialogue, / sweet and harmonious poetry, and music»)11. Drawing on Aristotelian philosophy, Lope instinctively began to feature several different types of musical pieces in his comedias. He combined his own verses with song texts from which he borrowed existing words, phrases, popular sayings, and refrains12. None of this was especially difficult since nearly all theater companies employed musicians, and actors were accustomed to performing the singing roles. When productions were directed at the nobility and staged within palace walls, playwrights like Lope worked hard to integrate other musical forms during the intermissions such as 11

Lope de Vega, El arte nuevo de hacer comedias en este tiempo, vv. 225-226 and vv. 54-56. 12 Stein, 1993, pp. 27-28. A great number of Lope de Vega’s song texts were taken word for word from the existing romance viejo or the romance nuevo (Stein, 1993, pp. 28-29). Stein provides two tables that list Lopean and Cervantine stage directions that call for vocal and instrumental music (1993, pp. 334-345). With respect to instruments common to Lope’s plays, Stein lists: trumpets, shawms, flutes, shepherd’s pipes, bagpipes, guitars, harps, drums, tambourines, and bells (1993, p. 20). Some instruments had particular roles for courtly scenes (flutes, harps, guitars), or battle scenes (drums, trumpets), while others were employed to hide the off-stage noise of spectators or stage machinery.

Gasta.indd 65

01/07/2014 18:22:41

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

66

entremeses cantados, jácaras, mojigangas, and bailes. Some of these were only peripherally connected to the main plot and instead were a source of shared entertainment13.These brief segments were usually known to the audience already, but featured moral or social themes. No matter what, however, the comedia text maintained primacy while music, dance, and song became additional tools for the playwright to advance characterization, theme, or plot. The evolution of singing and songs during the seventeenth century seemed to follow the same pattern as in Italy by moving from polyphonic style in the first half to monodic in the second. During the first years of the seventeenth century in Spain, while popular songs and dances became a standard part of any comedia production, fully sung lyrical theater was still many years away. As early as 1620 Claudio Monteverdi had composed several operas that were extraordinarily important in revolutionizing the genre. Besides his move away from polyphony, Monteverdi began to fully incorporate recitative into his operas, which incited other Italian composers to do the same. At the same time, Italian opera houses, especially in Venice, began to charge spectators for both seating and standing room only attendance. Private balconies were likewise constructed and the wealthiest patrons spent lavishly to show off their affluence. Indeed, it was in Venice where private boxes were purposefully designed and placed in such a way as to look out over the general audience, demonstrating not only individual wealth and prestige, but also setting up a hierarchy whereby the rich faded into their own world simply by closing the curtain to their box and ignoring the production and its spectators. None of this was subsequently exported to Spain where lyrical theater, and later opera, was reserved almost exclusively for the nobility—the only ones wealthy enough to financially support it. Although Philip III and Philip IV brought Italians to the court in Madrid, these visitors were rarely opera performers. Even if Italian opera troupes wanted to make the journey to Spain, only 13

The «entremés», was generally performed between the first and second acts of a comedia and featured satirical, burlesque, comic, or grotesque themes, sometimes with a short lyrical part taken from the masque tradition called the «mojiganga». The «jácara» was a brief lyrical dramatic piece performed after the second act of a comedia. Over time, the jácara evolved from simple storytelling to take on burlesque or satirical qualities treating the street life of pimps, prostitutes, and thugs. «Bailes» were rhymed poetry (in a monologue or dialogue) sung with accompanying music, and featuring a dance.

Gasta.indd 66

01/07/2014 18:22:42

OPERA IN SPAIN AND THE NEW WORLD

67

Madrid and, to a lesser extent, Barcelona, had sufficient financial means or audience interest to support productions there14. This involved an enormous cost structure for one or two performances in the capital, a sum of money even the wealthiest patrons simply would not pay during the difficult financial period under Philip III and Philip IV. Some of this would be solved during the latter part of the eighteenth century when theaters that were once reserved for the nobility and the wealthy such as the Coliseo de los Caños del Peral or the Coliseo del Buen Retiro began opening their doors to the public15. Another issue would have been opera’s language. Performed in Italian and sometimes in Italian dialect, audiences would have been unable to follow the storylines, not to mention they were not entirely accustomed to anything completely sung. These obstacles made it even easier to proliferate the comedia, whose frequent plot turns, swordplay, comedic interludes, and lofty questions of love and honor continued more or less unabated. Such impediments also meant that only a truly Spanish form of opera would have any hope of success. The high costs associated with staging opera included the number and variety of instrumentalists and singers coupled with the overwhelming distance foreign troupes would be required to travel to perform. Based solely on logistics, opera was a genre without many possibilities in Spain. If opera were to have an impact on the history of lyrical theater in Spain, it would take a great playwright like Lope de Vega—perhaps the only writer of the period with enough financial support and audience appeal—to introduce the genre in the peninsula. In 1629 Lope wrote a one-act opera, La selva sin amor (The Loveless Jungle), with music by Filippo Piccinini (1575-1648), which was clearly part of the Italian Florentine tradition16. Produced with the wise counsel of the Florentine stage designer Cosimo Lotti, Lope’s opera featured Italian meter with lines of silvas (seven or eight syllables) and was sung completely in Italian recitative. Lope himself called the work an «égloga pastoril» («pastoral eclogue»), suggesting it matched the Italian eclogue tradition.The members of the Florentine delegation who were brought 14 Alier, 2004, p. 29. This does not mean that Spanish troupes did not travel to Italy and France and, perhaps, affect traditions there (Stroud, 1981, p. 6). 15 Lamas, 2006, p. 43. 16 Picinnini was Philip III’s chamber musician who taught the viol to the future Philip IV and his brothers.

Gasta.indd 67

01/07/2014 18:22:42

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

68

to Madrid by Philip VI in 1626 performed the work. Accordingly, La selva sin amor falls within the Florentine tradition of opera and is widely believed to be the first non-native opera in Spain17. In his dedication to the Admiral of Castile, Lope acknowledges the newness and innovation of the work claiming that it was «cosa nueva en España» («something new in Spain») because «se presentó cantada18» («it was performed in song»). Lope’s statements suggest that the genre itself is not only «something new» to Spain, but also perhaps something new to him. To some degree, it is plausible that Lope knew of Italian opera not just from the Italian delegation but also because by 1627 Monteverdi had perfected the genre in Italy, it had caught on in Germany, and it was a preferred form of entertainment in Florence, Mantua, and Rome. All of these areas had close ties to the Spanish monarchy since Spain controlled large areas around Milan in the north and from Naples to Sicily in the south, and of course enjoyed political and religious links to the Vatican in Rome. On the other hand, perhaps the genre was unknown to the playwright and, for that reason, he felt the need in the dedicatory of the 1629 publication to justify the high degree of singing and musical accompaniment: «Los instrumentos ocupaban la primera parte del teatro, sin ser vistos, a cuya armonía cantaban las figuras los versos, hacienda en la misma composición de la música las admiraciones, las quejas, las iras y los demás afectos19» («The instruments occupy the first part of the theater, without their being seen, to whose harmony the characters sing the verses, making at once in the same musical composition wonders, complaints, anger and other affects»).The opera featured an entire gamut of singing parts—solos, duets, trios, and choruses—mostly in monodic recitative—and Lope admitted that the sound overwhelmed the sites— »la hermosura de aquel cuerpo hacía que los oídos se rindiesen a los ojos20» («the beauty of the composition made the ears surrender to the eyes»). The beauty of the production must have been superb since even Lope admitted his role was diminished alongside these innovations: «lo menos que en ella hubo fueron mis versos21» («the thing of least importance in it was my poetry»). The music itself was Italian, and it was 17

Stein, 2001a, p. 80; Cancelliere, 2001, p. 118. El arte nuevo de hacer comedias en este tiempo, v. 65. 19 El arte nuevo de hacer comedias en este tiempo, v. 66. 20 El arte nuevo de hacer comedias en este tiempo, v. 65. 21 El arte nuevo de hacer comedias en este tiempo, v. 65. 18

Gasta.indd 68

01/07/2014 18:22:42

OPERA IN SPAIN AND THE NEW WORLD

69

composed to fit Lope’s verses22. In the dedication, Lope also described how the stage designs and sets included very innovative stage mechanizations and backdrops such as cityscapes, a lighthouse, ships, harbors, and fish swimming against a moving sea. Cosimo Lotti, the designer of these early mechanizations, was originally trained as an engineer, and during his time in Spain he introduced a variety of significant changes to the Spanish stage such as artificial lighting, portable machines, and special effects (trap doors, transportable clouds, moving seas, and pyrotechnics). The Italian also was an ingenious set designer who preferred Italianate perspective stage scenery23. Despite Mary Neal Hamilton’s claim that La selva sin amor positioned Spain as one of the leading countries where opera was developing (behind Italy and Germany)24, history tells us that Lope’s work impacted the development of lyrical theater only slightly. On the contrary, Stein writes that after La selva sin amor, monodic recitative was not employed in lyrical drama for the next 23 years, perhaps because the style was extremely difficult to imitate25. Additionally, most of the artistic community and the audience rejected Lope’s experiment because the genre was believed to be very tedious and difficult to follow. In fact, in writing the opera Lope seems to have ignored his own advice from Arte nuevo de hacer comedias in which he states that audience reception is paramount: «escribo por el arte que inventaron / los que el vulgar aplauso pretendieron / porque como las paga el vulgo, es justo / hablarle en necio para darle gusto26» («I write for the art invented / by the common people and for their common applause / because since they pay, it’s only just / to speak to them in simple terms that entertain them»). Finally, a drama in which music and song were the centerpieces rather than strategic accompaniments was simply not customary in the world of the comedia nueva27. Even though Philip IV was greatly interested in Lope’s work and attended nearly all of the rehearsals, the opera did not enjoy much

22

Cotarelo y Mori, 1917, p. 14. Stroud, 1981, p. 7. 24 Hamilton, 1971, p. 21 and p. 100. 25 Stein, 1993, p. 202. 26 El arte nuevo de hacer comedias en este tiempo, vv. 45-48. 27 Stein believes the work was unsuccessful due to the unoriginality of the text and because the music made little impression, leaving Lotti’s visual spectacle as the only aspect of the opera to make an impact (1993, p. 202). 23

Gasta.indd 69

01/07/2014 18:22:42

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

70

success, and even the monarchy did not finance anything approaching opera again until the 1650s28. Another problem that affected totally lyrical works was the time it took to write and stage them. The typical rapid succession of comedia performances was only possible if playwrights could write new works constantly and if theater troupes could practice and perform them with equal agility. The shelf life of most dramas in Golden Age Spain was from a few days to a few weeks while the length of time for actor-singers and musicians to rehearse and perform a full-length opera required months. More time required more money, and patrons simply were not prepared to bankroll such extravagant productions that featured complex staging requirements and an extraordinary number of performers and musicians. Hence, lyrical theater such as La selva sin amor was too expensive or difficult to produce without royal patronage. Lope proved that fully-sung lyrical theater was possible and that music and song could be moved beyond the traditional Spanish polyphonic style. However, since no other similar work was produced in the subsequent decades, it is very difficult to gauge if Lope’s opera really affected the development of musical theater. It would not be until 1652 when another genuine large-scale experiment with music took place. In that year Calderón wrote La fiera, el rayo y la piedra (The Fierce, the Ray, and the Rock) followed in 1653 by Fortunas de Andrómeda y Perseo (The Fortunes of Andromeda and Perseus), both of which included high degrees of music, but which cannot be considered rightly operatic29. Indeed, Stein refers to them as «semioperas»30, suggesting that their form and content fell short of opera. What was significant about these two lyrical dramas was that both employed a degree of Italian recitative in which seven and eleven-syllable verses were set to music31.

28

Stein, 1993, p. 201. La fiera, el rayo y la piedra is one of the only plays before 1700 for which complete scenery drawings exist; they are excellent means to understand how elaborate theatrical spectacles were produced (Stroud, 1981, p. 18). 30 1993, p. 201. 31 Stein, 1993, p. 160. The recitative for La fiera, el rayo y la piedra has not survived, but we know Calderón used it because the stage directions state that «sale Cupido cantando en estilo recitativo» («Cupid enters singing in recitative style»). On the other hand, the text and music as well as the stage set drawings for Fortunas 29

Gasta.indd 70

01/07/2014 18:22:42

OPERA IN SPAIN AND THE NEW WORLD

71

However, Calderón’s role in the slow development of opera in Spain and the New World is much more significant than his semi-operas from 1652-1653. When the playwright became a priest after 1651 and dedicated himself to writing exclusively for court festivities, he presumably had the patronage and the support to experiment with different genres and themes. He began to search for ways to overcome what he perceived as limitations to traditional comedia storylines and found that integrating music was one such means to invigorate drama. The immediate result was the zarzuela, a one or two act musical and dramatic piece that featured alternating singing and spoken parts (sometimes in recitative).The pieces also included dance sequences with comedic characters and burlesque or satirical plots. Stein defines the genre as «a shorter, lighter court entertainment with a stronger admixture of comedy, and a pastoral or mythological-pastoral plot that unfolds in an Earth-bound pastoral or rustic setting»32. Over time, the zarzuela intensified its use of music and vocals until the works were mostly or entirely sung in one or two acts. Calderón, the master of the genre, fused traditional Spanish polyphonic musical tradition with elements from Italian opera33. For example, the stage directions for La fiera, el rayo y la piedra specifically call for monodic recitative, but the playwright also incorporated parts sung in polyphony (choral refrains, for example). These zarzuela compositions took their name from their performances at Philip IV’s hunting lodge, La Zarzuela, so named for the large quantity of bramble bushes, or zarzuelas, that dotted the landscape. Located on the outskirts of Madrid, near El Pardo, the productions on the small stage contained within the Zarzuela lodge were presumably directed at the court, several members of which might have attended opera performances in Italy. The uniqueness of opera might have been more acceptable to such an audience. Attending members presumably were often educated in other countries such as Italy or spent a great deal of time there and bore witness to distinctive theatrical traditions. The first work to formally be labeled a zarzuela was Calderón’s 1657 El laurel de Apolo: zarzuela en dos jornadas (Apollo’s Laurel: Zarzuela in Two Acts) followed a year later by his El golfo de las sirenas (The Gulf of the de Andrómeda y Perseo from 1653 are extant and demonstrate a form of recitative that departs from the Italianate style (Stein, 1993, p. 160). 32 1991, p. 128. 33 Stein, 1986, p. 31.

Gasta.indd 71

01/07/2014 18:22:42

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

72

Sirens)34. Little by little, however, many of the zarzuelas forwent sung dialogue (recitative) in favor of outright singing. It was the zarzuela, according to Hamilton, that would eventually give Spain its own nationalistic style of lyrical drama35. Indeed, the zarzuela was adapted over time and, as a genre, it survived into the twentieth century in Spain. The history of Spanish opera got a lift in 1659 when Calderón wrote two fully sung lyrical dramas—true operas. The first, La púrpura de la rosa (The Blood of the Rose), was staged in honor of the marriage of the Spanish princess María Teresa to France’s King Louis XIV which also sealed the Peace of the Pyrenees that ended years of warfare between the two countries. Juan Hidalgo (1610-1685), a respected harpist and musician of the royal chapel, likely composed the musical score while Calderón wrote the libretto36. La púrpura de la rosa was slated to be performed in the Zarzuela and, there, it would have been attended by members of the court. However, the production was moved to the Coliseo del Buen Retiro, and its production schedule hastened. The opera was finally staged January 17, 1660, months after the initial peace agreement of 1659 and well before the marriage in June 1660.With the change in venue to the Retiro, overnight the opera became a fabulous public event directed at audiences of all types. The second opera, Celos aun del aire matan (Jealousy Even in the Air Kills), was performed some months later, on December 5, 1660, also in the Retiro. Since only the libretto of La púrpura is available today, Celos aun del aire matan is considered to be the earliest existing Spanish opera manuscript since it contains both the libretto and musical score. Celos had three acts featuring choruses of men, nymphs, and shepherds, sometimes in solos alternating with four-part choruses. It featured parts sung in recitative, arias,

34

El laurel de Apolo was originally planned for the Zarzuela palace (1657), but instead transferred to the Retiro at Philip IV’s request, and finally performed in 1658. Chase calls it the «prototype» for the zarzuela (1959, p. 301) and Stevenson names it a close cousin to opera (1976, p. 99). 35 1971, p. 11. 36 The music for La púrpura de la rosa has been lost while that of Celos aun del aire matan was found in 1927 by José Subirá (Act 1) and by Santiago Kastner (Act 2) in 1945 (Alier, 2002, p. 91; Livermore, 1972, p. 100), and the entire three acts are contained in a manuscript held in Évora, Portugal discovered in 1942 by Luis Freitas Branco (Stroud, 1981, p. 41). The completeness of the Évora manuscript makes Celos aun del aire matan the first extant opera since it includes the entire musical score. See Matthew Stroud’s study and edition (1981) for full details.

Gasta.indd 72

01/07/2014 18:22:42

OPERA IN SPAIN AND THE NEW WORLD

73

and polyphonic choruses similar to Italian opera seria. For this opera, Calderón again collaborated with Juan Hidalgo. Both productions were also very elaborate and no expense was spared since they celebrated the aforementioned marriage and peace, and because they came in the wake of the expiration of a Royal dictate that closed the theaters for the previous two years. The Spanish court had been privy to several theatrical works that featured music and singing such as the zarzuela, but general audiences had not37. Calderón goes to great lengths to point out that he realizes he is venturing into uncharted waters, but that the innovative work will ultimately please. In his loa (an overture to the main opera set to music) for La púrpura de la rosa,Vulgo, the character said to represent audience opinion, points out that the work will be fully sung: «Por señas que ha de ser / toda música que intenta / Introducir este estilo38» («It has to be / all in music in order to / introduce this style»). Here «to introduce» could be read as introducing opera to this unsuspecting group of spectators, but also perhaps to «introduce» the genre in Spain as a whole. Regular theater audiences, accustomed to the action and intrigue of the comedia, probably would have been relatively displeased to find that they were attending a lyrical work. In fact, Calderón likely foresaw that reluctance: «¿No mira cuánto se arriesga / en que cólera española / sufra toda una comedia / cantada?39» («Can’t you see how much / Spanish anger you risk / by making them suffer a sung / comedy?»). But, the playwright, fully aware of his audiences’ temperament to such innovations, also knew how to control it. Hence, he downplays the work’s form and states it will only be a short lyrical work for entertainment: «No lo será, / sino sola una pequeña / representación (...)40» («It will only be / a small presentation»).Years earlier, Calderón provided a 37

For details regarding the ideological and political nature of La púrpura de la rosa, see «Public Reception, Politics and Propaganda in Torrejón’s La púrpura de la rosa, the First New World Opera» and Chapter 3 of Imperial Stagings: Empire and Ideology in Transatlantic Theater of Early Modern Spain and the New World. 38 Calderón de la Barca, La púrpura de la rosa, vv. 425-427.The text was first published by Juan de Vera Tassis as part of Tercera Parte de Comedias de D. Pedro Calderón de la Barca (Third Part of Comedies by Don Calderón de la Barca) in Madrid (1664). Verse numbers here are taken from the Cardona, Cruickshank, and Cunningham edition. 39 La púrpura de la rosa, vv. 429-432. 40 La púrpura de la rosa, vv. 433-435.

Gasta.indd 73

01/07/2014 18:22:42

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

74

similar defense for his pervasive integration of music in El laurel de Apolo stating that «No es comedia, sino solo / Una fábula pequeña / En que, á imitación de Italia, / Se canta y se representa41» («It is not a comedy but rather / a short fable / that is sung and acted / in imitation of Italy»). Unlike the French whose first sojourns into the genre produced Italian opera sung in Italian, Calderón wrote his entirely in Spanish and used traditional Spanish instruments. What can be culled from Calderón’s texts, however, is that the playwright was intensely aware of audience appreciation or rejection of this unusual Italian style of Spanish lyrical drama, and he adapted his work accordingly. This was one lesson other composers would need to learn as well. Considered together, La púrpura de la rosa and Celos aún del aire matan are the first native Spanish operas: «Hidalgo and Calderón produced a Spanish operatic style (in which the predominant texture is that of the strophic aire, even for narrative and dialogue) more than a decade before Lully and Quinautl developed a French one»42. In other words, the two opera experiments from 1659-1660 demonstrate that opera was much more fully developed in Spain than in France and probably England. Additionally, La púrpura de la rosa was more advanced musically than any other Spanish lyrical drama to date, including Lope’s La selva sin amor. For example, Calderón clearly understood the musical devices common to seventeenth-century opera such as recitative, arias, choruses (in duos or trios), and dances were not known to exist together in mature form in earlier Spanish musical dramas.These constructions were perhaps derived from Italian opera43. In fact, in the stage directions the playwright states that he is among the first to introduce recitative, «il stilo rappresentativo», («recitative style») by having his characters enter the stage «cantando en estilo recitativo, como con asombro, mirando al vestuario, como huyendo con admiración44» («singing in recitative style, with as41

Calderón de la Barca, El laurel de Apolo, p. 144. Stein, 1990, p. 329. 43 There seem to be parallels between Calderón’s opera experiments and existing opera texts that, if true, suggest Calderón was versed on the historical development of Italian opera. Livermore believes Auro’s grieving at the beginning of the first act of Celos aun del aire matan is very similar in theme and structure (short aria and long recitative) to Arianna’s lament in Moteverdi’s Lamento d’Arianna (Arianna’s Lament, 1608), indicating Calderón had Monteverdi’s opera in mind (1972, pp. 100101). 44 La púrpura de la rosa, v. 166. 42

Gasta.indd 74

01/07/2014 18:22:42

OPERA IN SPAIN AND THE NEW WORLD

75

tonishment, looking at their costumes, as if hurrying with admiration»). Calderonian recitative, however, diverged strongly from previous Italian models and was both more lyrical and more melodic or, as Stein puts it, «more song-like than Italian recitative»45. While strong vocal melody remained important in Calderonian opera, recitative was used strategically. In both La púrpura de la rosa and Celos aun del aire matan, more than in the equivalent Italian opera, recitative was employed mainly because it mimicked natural speech and was easier to understand than the aria, which featured long syllabic enunciations. In the world of the comedia nueva, Calderón knew that spectators would need help in understanding the main argument of the operas he had written, and so he placed greater emphasis on recitative than would have been the case in Italian opera. He did this because, like Lope before him, Calderón was a clear theatrical innovator and realized that if the Spanish stage was to continue advancing, playwrights must take chances: «quien no se atreve a errar, no / se atreve a acertar46» («he who dares not make a mistake / dares not succeed»). Calderón may have known quite a bit about Italian opera, but these radical changes in dramatic presentation for an audience accustomed to the popular themes, plots, and characters of the comedia nueva probably pleased very few. As Cotarelo y Mori points out, the «cólera española» («Spanish rage») must have been extreme since no director or theater manager expressed interest in producing another similar work47. In fact, the two operas from 1659-1660 are his only absolute attempts at initiating opera in Spain during the century. Other lyrical dramas he wrote afterwards picked up the zarzuela tradition where Calderón left it in 1658. Through the end of the seventeenth century and the reign of Charles II (1665-1700), the zarzuela continued to be the most appreciated form of lyrical drama. Zarzuelas were produced and performed throughout the peninsula, especially in Madrid, and they often adopted spoken sections in recitative and sung arias, but without changing the basic dramaturgy48. In other words, they did not incorporate recitative or arias to such an extent that they occupied the entire work as they might in an opera. Juan Hidalgo and other successful composers wrote many 45

Stein, 2003, p. 29. Calderón de la Barca, La púrpura de la rosa, vv. 434-439. 47 Cotarelo y Mori, 1934, p. 57. 48 Carreras, 1998, p. 11. 46

Gasta.indd 75

01/07/2014 18:22:42

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

76

zarzuelas and Sebastián Durón (1650-1716), even began to title his zarzuelas «operas», starting with the 1710 La guerra de los gigantes (The War of the Giants). Even before that, however, Subirá, following Cotarelo y Mori, pointed out that a few theatrical companies began using the term «ópera» in 1698 as «fiesta de ópera» (as opposed to zarzuela or representación música [musical performance]) in productions whose titles are not known49. Nevertheless, in general, and with some exceptions, despite labeling the works «operas», they were still zarzuelas or other forms of lyrical drama. It would not be until the arrival of Philip V (1701-1724 and 1724-1746) and his wife María Luisa of Savoy, that Italian style opera became a successful genre in Spain. In fact, just after taking up the throne on behalf of the House of Bourbon, in 1702-1703 Philip V spent a great deal of time in Naples and Milan where he attended opera productions by the famed composer Alessandro Scarlatti50. Recent evidence, however, suggests that as early as 1697 aristocrats in Spain made requests for musical pieces by Scarlatti and other Italian musicians accompanied by their portraits, demonstrating growing interest in Italian opera during the closing years of Charles II’s reign51. King Philip V and Queen María Luisa de Savoy, who were fluent French speakers and Italian culture enthusiasts, gave patronage to the production of several lyrical dramas in Madrid sparking an influx of artistic activity by Italians. Since the Queen generally disliked Spanish comedias, the Crown instead contracted Italian theatrical companies. Similarly, the Royal Treasury subsidized Italian singers, composers, scenery designers, painters, and costume makers52. Such changes in royal policy relegated Spanish actors, singers, musicians, and composers to a second-rate position well into the nineteenth century, and for a short time signaled the decline of traditional comedia productions.

49

Subirá, 1965, pp. 26-27. Carreras is firmly set against the notion that opera was sought in Madrid by Philip V due to the King’s travels to Italy (1998, p. 7). 51 See José María Domínguez (2009) and Leticia de Frutos (2009). Domínguez maintains that the cycle of reception of Neapolitan music held two phases: «the diffusion of the fame of the musicians depicted in the portraits through the members of the aristocracy closest to Charles II», followed by the «transmission to Madrid of the music as performed by the virtuosos in the portraits» (2009, p. 201). 52 Hamilton, 1971, p. 101. 50

Gasta.indd 76

01/07/2014 18:22:43

OPERA IN SPAIN AND THE NEW WORLD

77

Xoán Carreira writes that there was compatibility between traditional Spanish theater and Italian style opera53. When Spanish opera included the Neapolitan customs of introducing danced intermezzos or occasional sung intermezzi buffi between acts, the similarities to the traditional Spanish comic entremés became more pronounced54. The new French monarchy in Spain also viewed public theater as a powerful instrument of public education. The Crown, however, believed the traditional Spanish comedia, with its emphasis on honor, was considered «a cause of the country’s cultural and social backwardness»55. Instead, Italians were granted spectacular access to the court as the demand for Neapolitan and other Italian lyrical styles grew. In 1703, upon Philip V’s return from Italy, the King granted exclusive access to the Buen Retiro stage to «La Compañía de Farsa Italiana», a company of Italian farcical singers. The singers used the stage for three months and presented the three-act opera Il pomo d’oro para la más Hermosa (The Golden Apple for the Most Beautiful Woman), an adaptation of the classical story of Helen and Paris. This was followed a month later by La guerra y la paz entre los elementos (War and Peace Among the Elements). The company realized that Spanish audiences preferred traditional dramatic works and called both The Golden Apple and War and Peace comedias. They also had three acts and were dominated by music and singing. They really were like Italian operas. The troupe’s success made it possible for them to remain in Madrid for several years and eventually take the name «Trufaldines», after one of the lead writers. For many displaced Spanish musicians and singers, the nickname became synonymous with the seemingly neverending «invasion» of Italians to Spain. But, the Trufaldines never really dedicated themselves to opera, preferring instead to stage theatrical works in the tradition of the commedia dell’arte which often included singing and dancing but exploited the growing interest in Neapolitan opera56. Among the significant opera performances during the time were several works written by Spanish dramatist José de Cañizares with music by the Venetian composer Giacomo Facco that over the course of a few years helped advance Italian opera in the peninsula: Las amazonas de España (The Amazons of Spain, 1720), Amor es todo invención: Júpiter y 53

1998, p. 19. Carreira, 1998, p. 19. 55 Carreira, 1998, p. 19. 56 Carreras, 1998, pp. 8-10. 54

Gasta.indd 77

01/07/2014 18:22:43

78

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

Amphitrión (Love is all Invention: Jupiter and Amphitryon, 1721), Angélica y Medoro: Dramma músico u ópera scénica en estilo italiano (Angelica and Medoro: Musical Drama or Scenic Opera in Italian Style, 1722), and La hazaña mayor de Alcides (The Greatest Deed of Alcides, 1723)57. Despite the progress made, simple royal obligations impeded further development: the royal family’s journey to Badajoz in 1728 for the wedding of the Prince Ferdinand to Portuguese Princess María Barbara of Braganza and its subsequent relocation to Seville for five years (17281733) forced companies to disband and opera houses to close. This changed with the intervention of María Bárbara whose penchant for music was noteworthy, having studied exclusively with Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757), son of famed composer Alessandro Scarlatti. María Bárbara studied with the master from 1721 through his appointment as palace harpsichordist in 1729, and intermittently up to his death. Scarlatti even relocated to Seville to tutor his formidable pupil. When the court returned to Madrid in 1733, new Italian singers were hired, and a new opera company was formed, though it lasted only a short time. In 1737, Queen Isabel Farnesio, Philip V’s second wife, contracted the famed castrato Carlo Boschi, known as Farinelli (1705-1782). Farinelli, «el favorito del Rey» («The King’s Favorite»), spent the best part of his career in Madrid singing almost exclusively for Philip V followed by the court of Fernando VI. Farinelli was not only the most well known singer of the time but also something of a politician who frequently met with the rich and powerful and offered his own viewpoints on state policies. He remained influential until Charles III dismissed him in 1759. Charles III spent his formative years in Naples, which cultivated his disgust for opera seria. For a time, the King even prohibited the genre in Spain (1777-1787). In part, these decisions came about due to widespread suspicion in Madrid’s court of Italian cultural influence in the wake of the 1766 Esquilache revolts. Overall, though, up to Farinelli’s dismissal, Italian opera in Spain was not well received outside of the royal family, even as the Bourbons attempted to cultivate cultural appreciation for the art form.The formal prohibition of opera only fur57 The loa and sainete for Angélica y Medoro was written by José Cañizares and Giacomo Facco, but the comedia text was written by Antonio Zamora and composer Antonio San Juan. For a good review of these details as well as the state of lyrical drama at the beginning of the eighteenth century, see Ignacio López Alemany’s study (2008).

Gasta.indd 78

01/07/2014 18:22:43

OPERA IN SPAIN AND THE NEW WORLD

79

ther contributed to the genre’s decline in Spain during the rest of the century, leading back to a preference for native styles of lyrical drama such as the zarzuela58.

OPERA AND MUSICAL CULTURE IN THE NEW WORLD Early music in the New World built upon European polyphonic music perfected during the Renaissance. Since polyphony was ecclesiastical, and the Church controlled most aspects of life in the colonies, polyphony persisted in the Americas until the middle of the eighteenth century, a much longer time than in Europe, where more profane pieces had already begun to dominate59. These polyphonic works—masses, psalms, hymns, chants, and lamentations—reflected the sacred themes that the Catholic Church imposed. In Church proceedings vernacular religious pieces (villancicos, romances, and tonos) also were used periodically, and in Lima jácaras, juguetes (a variant of the carols), and negrillas (carols purportedly developed by black slaves) were common, but often with a religious bent60. The most up-to-date polyphonic pieces by leading Spanish musicians and composers such as Tomás Luis de Victoria and Alonso Lobo (1555-1617) were sent immediately to the New World, and regular shipments by other masters continued throughout the colonial period61. María Gembero Ustarroz reports that there existed an intense exchange of musical texts between Spain and its colonies such that the most significant musical pieces produced in Europe (especially in Spain and Italy) were exported to cathedrals and churches in colonial cities almost immediately62. Moreover, despite regulations on book exports, many Spaniards carried musical compositions with them on their journey abroad. Since the Catholic Church managed many of the administrative aspects of Spain’s lands abroad, the music in the New World was slower to incorporate profane topics than its counterparts in Europe. Church officials were at first wary of putting to use indigenous

58

Lamas, 2006, p. 45. Béhague, 1979, p. 7. Stein points out that the first profane works written in Peru (not imported), for example, date from the eighteenth century (2001b, p. 229). 60 Mendoza de Arce, 2001, p. 110. 61 Mendoza de Arce, 2001, p. 105. 62 Gembero Ustarroz, 2006, p. 153. 59

Gasta.indd 79

01/07/2014 18:22:43

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

80

traditions or languages precisely because it was believed that these did not favor Catholic teachings. New World music of European flavor developed roughly along two lines in two different geographical circumstances. In urban centers where the cathedral was the center of artistic and musical activities, the council of clergymen, called the cabildo or chapter, had jurisdiction over the city and surrounding areas within the diocese. The cabildo at first promoted polyphony and spiritual songs to native Spaniards, Spaniards born in the New World (criollos), and upper class Indians. In these situations, both European and Indian musicians were employed to play regularly in the churches, but their roles were limited and closely controlled, and they were paid rather poorly. Later, the religious orders—the Franciscans, Dominicans, and Jesuits—adopted the task of setting up small parishes in the Indian boroughs of Lima and Mexico City where they instructed the Indians on matters of the faith and in music. In these more closely subjugated zones, the number of musicians grew immensely and even private amateur musical groups sprang up. In the second case, in rural areas under the direction of the brethren of religious orders such as the Jesuit’s Paraguay province (encompassing parts of modern-day Bolivia, Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Chile), missionaries were hard at work teaching Indian populations to play evermore complex musical pieces, sing elaborate songs, design and make instruments, copy imported musical texts, and, eventually, compose multifarious musical numbers including short lyrical dramas. Here, the Indians were completely assimilated into the musical life of the rural towns. By the late seventeenth century, Indians were combining European musical forms with their own styles so well that a brand of music appeared that strongly highlighted Indian contributions: the playing of particular instruments, voice parts, and personalized playing of European pieces63. The Jesuits trained the Indians so professionally (often through one-on-one instruction) that several of them came to occupy the position of Chapel Master in towns. In these rural missions, European and indigenous cultures merged slowly and peacefully, first through the Indians’ incorporation of European musical forms, then as an amalgamation of European and indigenous styles, followed later by musical pieces composed entirely in Indian languages that also integrated their own customs. Eventually, the results of these collaborations 63

Gasta.indd 80

Mendoza de Arce, 2001, p. 169.

01/07/2014 18:22:43

OPERA IN SPAIN AND THE NEW WORLD

81

yielded extraordinary transcultural pieces that curiously set the missions apart from other musical developments in the New World. Hence, the missions were arguably the only location where cross-cultural collaborations took place between and among the Europeans and the indigenous. On the other hand, the urban areas continued the styles and hierarchy imposed by Church and secular authorities. This urban/rural bilateral progression of music would naturally affect how early opera would develop. Since the years following the Spanish conquest, major Spanish composers and musicians took up significant posts as Cathedral Masters in Lima, Cuzco, Bogotá, and Mexico City, among other urban centers. The maestro de capilla was a very reputable position and his compositions, teaching styles, and decisions regarding the musical retinue of pieces in the cathedral immensely impacted musical life not only in the city, but also in the outlying areas under the influence of the cathedrals. In general, he was responsible for the education and training of the choir and musicians including instruction in polyphony, choosing and directing the music for any of the Church masses and festivities, maintaining the organ (the cathedral’s pride and joy), authorizing the musical activities of musicians outside of the cathedral, and assessing the qualities and abilities of candidates for positions within the chapel. In this sense, the Cathedral Master was as much a composer and musician as an administrator. Nonetheless, despite the prestige ascribed to the position, the Cathedral Master was still a humble employee: «The social position of the professional musician was almost always low in the eyes of the colonial Iberian world’s ruling elite»64. This was not at all out of line with the prevailing role of even the most successful musicians in Spain or the New World. Whereas Lima’s Cathedral, and by relation its Chapel Master, was the most important in the New World, it was also a thankless position that was poorly paid, or not paid at all. In Lima, he was given mandates to compose versatile musical works for any of several Church holidays and celebrations including elaborate Church processions. For example, in Peru only Lima and Cuzco had Chapel Masters who could compose, and these compositions tended to be in polyphonic singing and counterpoint. Beyond the cathedral, the Chapel Master was ordered to write and stage elaborate public musical productions for holidays, anniversaries of important Church events, or for the arrival of noteworthy political and Church appointees. These 64

Gasta.indd 81

Mendoza de Arce, 2001, p. 7.

01/07/2014 18:22:43

82

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

public offerings provided the funds and the context to experiment with more and more complex and innovative musical works, some of which led to Italian-style opera, such as in the case of the Chapel Master Tomás de Torrejón y Velasco who composed the New World’s first opera in Lima in 1701, La púrpura de la rosa. In rural mission towns in South America, religious orders fully believed that native populations were more easily integrated into the Catholic fold if they did so on their own terms. Therefore, as part of their evangelization strategies, missionaries exploited high Baroque musical creations to which Indians were drawn. The Jesuits, for instance, recruited their missionaries from among the greatest learning centers in Europe, and most of them, despite not being musicians by trade, were exceptional players of several instruments and fully versed in ecclesiastic polyphony. Upon their arrival in the New World, they brought with them the latest trends from Austria, Germany, Italy, and Spain. Typically, this meant the integration of new musical styles that moved away from polyphony toward monody, but which still applied sacred themes in dramatic presentations. Opera in the missions was one of these imports—brought directly from Spain and Italy by Europeans—but which eventually evolved to a more autonomous style. In short, urban opera, despite the Catholic Church’s influence, cultivated secular themes that were akin to the Viceroy’s expectations. Meanwhile, in the missions, under a decentralized ecclesiastical influence, sacred themes were the norm. Taken as a whole, opera development in the New World happened in two places a few decades a part, both under the influence of the Church or the Viceroy, but yielding different trajectories. Given the frequent comings and goings of Europeans to Lima and the city’s attempts to maintain a cultural scene equivalent with Madrid, it is not surprising that the «City of the Kings» was the first to sponsor and stage opera, a rewriting of Calderón’s La púrpura de la rosa by the Chapel Master, Tomás de Torrejón y Velasco. Lima was the administrative, military, and religious epicenter of imperial Spain beyond the Iberian Peninsula. As the home of the Viceroy, the city was, for a time, fantastically wealthy. This was due in part to its centrality in the trade route between the Americas and the Philippines and for it being the base of the mining industry that supplied Spain with silver. Anything of significance, whether philosophical, political, economic, or military, made its way to Lima not long after it was fashioned in Spain. But, as silver earnings declined and other New World cities challenged Lima’s

Gasta.indd 82

01/07/2014 18:22:43

OPERA IN SPAIN AND THE NEW WORLD

83

prominence, the financial hardship Spain suffered imposed limitations on Lima’s own development. Among these casualties were the arts, which were normally financed by the Crown through the Viceroy. By the end of the seventeenth century, routine public spectacles and court entertainments diminished greatly. It is perhaps amazing that opera was ever undertaken at all. Chapter 3 discusses the Lima arts scene, its financial quandaries, and how, in the midst of a retreat in public funding for the arts, Torrejón was commissioned in 1701 to compose the Americas’ first opera. Since Calderón’s original performance in 1660, La púrpura de la rosa became a preferential theatrical work to memorialize momentous political events. It was performed four more times before the end of the eighteenth century: in 1679 in honor of the queen María Luisa de Borbón; in 1680, with a new loa with music (again) written by Juan Hidalgo in celebration of yet another Franco-Spanish alliance, the marriage of King Charles II to Marie-Louise d’Orléans; for carnival in 1690; and in 1694 in honor of the birthday of Queen Mariana, Charles II’s second wife.Teresa Zapata Fernández de la Hoz states that it was the 1680 performance that solidified this opera’s place as the premiere musical work to celebrate weddings and other royal events in both Spain and the New World65. Like the preceding four performances in honor of royal events, Torrejón’s production was written to commemorate the first year of the Bourbon dynasty in Spain and its empire, and simultaneously in celebration of King Philip V’s eighteenth birthday. For the occasion, Torrejón was provided with baseline funding by the Peruvian Viceroy for a series of private and public performances of the opera, each lasting over five hours. The Lima Chapel Master based the work on Calderón de la Barca’s original opera libretto, but he wrote a new loa that better reflected the festivities and political happenings playing out. Torrejón did, however, conserve Calderón’s original story of Venus and Adonis—and composed a new musical score for all parts since Hidalgo’s original had been lost. The loss of the original score should not be surprising. Ever since opera reached the masses in Venice, collectors and wealthy patrons sometimes purchased the libretti, but the musical scores were hardly ever published and were instead transmitted from musician to musician. For that reason, in Early Modern Spain, France, and Italy, there is an abundance of opera libretti, but few extant musical scores, indicating the importance given to text over music and high65

Gasta.indd 83

Fernández de la Hoz, 1991, p. 233.

01/07/2014 18:22:43

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

84

lighting the disconcerting fact that a great quantity of music from the period has been lost to us. La púrpura de la rosa set off a series of aesthetic performances in the city that helped to slowly revive the musical and theatrical scene, marking also the city’s cumbersome return to eminence as a cosmopolitan center independent from Madrid.Torrejón must have been very knowledgeable about the significance of the occasion and of the genre. His production was wildly successful for two simple reasons: it was a new and innovative genre that incorporated music, song, dance, and theatrical spectacle imported from Madrid (and Europe), and it was daringly performed at a time of theatrical stagnation in Lima, due to the costly War of Succession that diverted funding to Philip V’s fight to secure the Spanish Crown. In spite of Torrejón’s success, in the long run opera pleased very few, and it was plagued by many of the same problems as in Madrid: general public disfavor of the new genre, insufficient funds, no appropriate theatrical venues for staging, an absence of qualified singers and musicians, and, more than anything, a lack of royal or political will. Moreover, like in Spain, the comedia nueva dominated the entire theatrical scene up through the early part of the eighteenth century, and dramatists such as Lope, Tirso, and Calderón were immensely popular66. True, the short musical and singing parts integrated into the comedia were known to many audiences and well-received. For example, several of Calderón’s auto sacramentales featured choruses offstage accompanied by music and were performed repeatedly in Lima and Mexico City up through the eighteenth century. Moreover, other theatrical songs, villancicos, romances, and secular pieces also were well known to New World spectators, so much so that many of these catchy poetic tunes were known by heart. However, Torrejón’s experiment with opera was only partially successful in instilling the genre permanently67. Opera still remained a less viable alternative to the comedia or other trendy, established forms of court entertainment. Indeed, opera was the exception, not the rule, and through most of the eighteenth century in the Americas, it was rarely performed. But, the general dissatisfaction with the genre did not completely stop its progression as many among the 66

Hesse, 1955, p. 12; Stein, 1990, p. 334. Hesse maintains that La púrpura de la rosa was re-staged in Lima in 1708 and in Mexico City in 1728 (Hesse, 1955, p. 13), but that supposition is disputed by Rodríguez Garrido (2008) and Stein (2008, pp. 457-458, n. 54). 67

Gasta.indd 84

01/07/2014 18:22:43

OPERA IN SPAIN AND THE NEW WORLD

85

upper classes in Lima were thrilled about having an aesthetic event on par with its counterpart in Madrid. Except for Mexico City, where the famed mestizo organist and Chapel Master, Manuel de Zumaya (1678-1755), is believed to have written the now-lost musical score of La Parténope (Parthenope, 1708), no other major New World city is known to have cultivated a musical tradition leading to opera during the opening decades of the eighteenth century68. If opera took hold in Lima, it evolved from a Spanish national style represented by the traditional writers like Lope and Calderón to a French national style that coincided with the end of the Habsburg line in Spain and the emergence of the Bourbons after 1700. Indeed, opera was first a form of court entertainment, not necessarily for public trade. Even musicians working in musical theater often were trained in Italy before working in Spain, followed by their recruitment to the colonies69. The chaotic arrival of the Bourbon monarchy changed completely the pattern of patronage as traditional Spanish arts and culture ceded primacy to the new trends espoused by the Bourbon dynasty (Stein, 1990, p. 330). However, these transformations were not always French but instead Italian. The new artistic style in Spain and the colonies were propelled, in part, by Philip V’s love of Italian opera and because of earlier development in lyrical drama in Paris by the Venetian composer, Lully. Philip V and his political appointees eventually provided funds to bring to Spain and the New World numerous Italian musicians, actors, stage designers, and painters in order to establish Italian opera as commercially viable. For example, another composer, the famous Chapel Master and successor to Torrejón, Roque Ceruti (a native of Milan), wrote the music for the 1708 opera El mejor escudo de Perseo (The Great Shield of Perseus) (with libretto by the recently-arrived Viceroy, Manuel de Oms y de Santa Pau, Marquis of Castelldosríus)70. 68 Silvio Stempiglia (1664-1725) wrote the libretto for Zumaya’s opera, which was first performed in Naples in 1699. An unsigned Spanish translation is printed on opposite pages. Most believe the opera followed Neapolitan traditions and may even have been performed in its original Italian. The work was staged at the viceregal palace in Mexico City on May 1, 1711. 69 Stein and Máximo Leza, 2009, p. 264. 70 Since the music for El mejor escudo de Perseo is lost, it is hard to assess whether or not it was an opera. Stein and Máximo Leza remind us that the manuscript clearly states it to be a mythological comedy but likewise indicate that Ceruti could have greatly enhanced the drama to integrate a higher degree of music (2009, p.

Gasta.indd 85

01/07/2014 18:22:43

86

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

Staged in the Viceroy’s palace garden, El mejor escudo de Perseo was a lavish spectacle that honored the birth of the Crown Prince, Luis71. It featured recitative and arias72. Other operas include Triunfos de amor y poder (Triumphs of Love and Power, 1711) by Pedro Peralta Barnuevo (16641743), a Lima writer familiar with Italian-style opera whose work was staged over eight alternating days in the viceregal palace. This opera commemorated the 1710 victory of French forces at Villaviciosa, which guaranteed the Spanish throne for Philip V. Peralta’s opera included a loa, dances, a satirical fin de fiesta (End of Celebration theatrical piece), and a bullfight, all set to music. He featured arias, choruses, and an imitation of Italian-style recitative. The audience enjoyed printed scenery and stage mechanizations that only Lima could properly bring to fruition73. The years after Torrejón, starting with Ceruti, ushered in a short time of Italian opera in Lima, mimicking the shift in attitudes of the monarchs in Madrid. But these times were short lived. The establishment of Italian opera was difficult given that Italian music remained unfamiliar to audiences and acting companies and, most significantly, singers were not trained vocally for these new traditions74. Nonetheless, the works enjoyed popularity and fueled speculation about the riches of the New World. Accounts about their performances and stories describing the lavishness of the Lima musical and theatrical life were exported back to Spain. The fact that sensational new musical works and trends made their way back to Europe on the regular traffic between South America and Spain suggests interconnectedness between Spain’s imperial center and its colonies, marking points of convergence and suggesting a transatlantic nature to Early Modern aesthetics.

255). According to Lohmann Villena, the Viceroy was a great advocate of music. As soon as he arrived he increased funding for music in Lima including support to bring the Milanese musician Roque Ceruti (1945, p. 323). An inventory of his personal belongings upon his death lists at least four books of music (Lohmann Villena, 1945, p. 323). 71 Opera in Lima was not commercially viable. Roque Ceruti’s small success brought a group of musicians to Lima to produce and perform a number of sonatas, serenatas, arias, French dances, and an occasional opera, but the full development of the genre was still a ways off (Stein, 1990, p. 335). 72 Estenssoro, 1989, p. 43. 73 For information on both of Peralta’s works, see Williams (1990 and 2006). 74 Stein and Máximo Leza, 2009, p. 255.

Gasta.indd 86

01/07/2014 18:22:44

OPERA IN SPAIN AND THE NEW WORLD

87

Whereas both pre-Colombian and European musical tastes intermingled across the New World, theatrical traditions followed the models established in Spain. Unfortunately, there is no widely documented history of indigenous lyrical drama before the eighteenth century in part because, as El Inca Garcilaso de la Vega intimates, the Indians never matched singing with acting to a great extent: At the time of writing, which is 1602, they tell me that there are as many Indians expert in playing musical instruments as may be met with anywhere. In my time the Indians did not use their voices, because they were not good: this must have been for lack of exercise because they did not know how to sing. On the other hand, there were many mestizos with excellent voices75.

Garcilaso’s testimony also indicates the Jesuits’ promotion of some sort of lyrical theater, recalling how, in Cuzco, Indian boys acted in a play about the Holy Sacrament in which «they sang the songs so sweetly that many Spaniards wept with pleasure and joy to see the grace and skill and wit of the little Indians, and changed the opinions they had hitherto held that they were uncouth, stupid, and clumsy»76. When the Jesuits came to South America to minister to the Indian populations, they brought with them an amazing tradition of teaching music. For these missionaries, Catholic Church messengers, music was a systematic and powerful tool for achieving a remarkable degree of transculturation of Western musical techniques77. The Jesuits were famous throughout Europe for protecting the Indians and evangelizing them through education. During the colonial period stories circulated in European courts that told of the amazing ability of the Indians to learn to play complex musical pieces by memory and reach the highest registers in song. In fact, it was well known that Indian musicians and singers began writing masses, carols, and other polyphonic forms of music, demonstrating a high degree of competence and originality in both performance and composition78. Although the Spanish Crown expelled the Company of Jesus from all Spanish territories in 1767, the Jesuits left a large number of manuscripts and other documents that attest to their interest in uti75

Garcilaso de la Vega, 1961, pp. 125-126. Garcilaso de la Vega, 1961, p. 132. 77 Mendoza de Arce, 2001, p. 9. 78 Mendoza de Arce, 2001, p. 12. 76

Gasta.indd 87

01/07/2014 18:22:44

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

88

lizing music and theater as a means for didactic teaching. Several ethnomusicologists specializing in Latin America have spent a great deal of time and effort in reconstituting much of these lost manuscripts. One excellent example of their work comes to us from the Bishop’s archives of the Diocese of Concepción de Chiquitos in eastern Bolivia where ethnomusicologists have discovered over 5,000 sheets of music dating from when the Jesuits dominated the historic Paraguay province. Among the sheet music transferred to Concepción from the more than thirty mission towns that made up the Paraguay province are two mission operas known today as San Ignacio de Loyola (1717-1726) and San Francisco Xavier (1720-1730). San Ignacio was written by the eminent Italian organ master and composer, Domenico Zipoli (1688-1726), a Florentine by birth whose studies of cathedral and organ music in Florence, Naples, Rome, and Bologna in the first decades of the eighteenth century placed him in the enviable position of not only working with some of the greatest musicians and singers in Europe, but also learning from great opera composers such as Alessandro Scarlatti (1709)79. Zipoli’s San Ignacio retells the story of the Saints Ignacio Loyola and Francis Xavier, founders of the Company of Jesus. The entire musical score has survived, and the libretto contains stage directions that indicate that Indian actors sang the work exclusively while other indigenous musicians provided the accompaniment. Hence, San Ignacio is likely the first known opera performed completely by Indians making it a crosscultural tool illustrating the close relationship between the Jesuits and the indigenous population. The discovery of the work was miraculous in itself, but the realization that the great Domenico Zipoli had settled in the New World was a detail that was almost lost forever. Whereas there is a concrete record of Torrejón’s works that include his opera being printed and distributed throughout the major centers in the New World and in Europe, there is very little in the historical record relating to Zipoli80. In fact, it was only by accident and luck that musicologists 79

Since the actual manuscript does not contain a title, one was given by Bernardo Illari, the musicologist who discovered it in two parts in Chiquitos and Moxos, respectively. Illari divided the work into several scenes in imitation of early eighteenth century operatic style. He explains that each scene includes one or more short pieces (either a recitative, a short aria, or an accompanying recitative) and a long aria (2000, pp. 348-349). 80 During his career as Chapel Master of Lima Cathedral, Torrejón’s works were printed in Lima (1701, 1708, and 1725) and in Antwerp (1688). His work was

Gasta.indd 88

01/07/2014 18:22:44

OPERA IN SPAIN AND THE NEW WORLD

89

learned that Zipoli departed Seville for Córdoba in 1717 where he spent the next nine years studying for the priesthood and composing music. Zipoli’s musical works for the organ and the harpsichord (oratorios, masses, and cantatas) were quite famous in Europe during his lifetime, and several are still considered to be among the very best ever composed. For those reasons alone, it was, for a time, inexplicable why such a famed composer would leave it all behind to pursue the priesthood abroad. His opera was ultimately shaped as much by the composer’s extensive musical training in Italy as by his ecclesiastical studies. San Ignacio showcases recitative, arias, choruses (in duos and trios), and dances—all of which point to Italian style opera. The opera also is significant in that it is a documented record of collaboration among the Indians, and between Europeans and Indians, in a seemingly unlikely location. But it is not the only one. Several years ago, the musicologist Piotr Nawrot discovered San Francisco Xavier, a mission opera composed by an unknown Indian composer that tells the life story of St. Xavier and his acceptance into heaven where he was reunited with the Jesuit founder, St. Ignatius. Whereas Zipoli was one of the greatest musicians and composers to come to the Americas, we do not know the name, origin, or background of the composer of San Francisco Xavier. What is most significant about this opera is not so much that it is one of only a few extant examples of Jesuit mission opera but that the entire libretto was written in the native Chiquitano language, and most likely sung and played by Indians. This makes San Xavier the earliest and perhaps only opera in an indigenous language in the world, though additional discoveries may bring others to light. Both of these works are essentially transcultural and transatlantic forces illuminating the advancement of opera beyond the metropolitan centers of Europe or the Americas. They point to areas of convergence and divergence between Europeans and the indigenous populations suggesting that there are reciprocal ideological ramifications for works produced in the missions. Chapter 4 illuminates the strong musical tradition among the Indians dating from the earliest days of the Spaniards’ appearance in South America, the significance the Jesuits placed on integrating music and drama as part of their evangelization strategies, and the close cross-cultural collaboration among the missionaries and the Indians. This is a in demand in Cuzco and Trujillo, and his compositions were requested from as far away as Guatemala (Stevenson, 1964, p. 34).

Gasta.indd 89

01/07/2014 18:22:44

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

90

point echoed by El Inca Garcilaso: «Those who are now living should be very grateful to God for sending them the Society of Jesus, which so abounds in all sciences and teaches them so well»81. The Jesuits seemed to prefer lyrical drama as a means of education, so much so that the missionaries often composed their works in the native tongue. In fact, San Ignacio, composed in Spanish, includes a parallel text written in the Indian’s Chiquitano language, and San Xavier was composed completely in that language, suggesting the importance the Jesuits placed on native languages and customs. Moreover, since the Indians played the principal roles in singing and playing the music, designing and implementing the stage sets and costumes, and in nearly all aspects of the performance, there is little doubt that these are Indian operas but they feature European intervention and collaboration. As such, the two mission operas represent a unique cultural space where Old World and New World musical styles, belief systems, and identities are transcribed, negotiated, and illuminated. The fact that these two operas were produced in the missions—and nearly lost to us—suggests that others like it may await rediscovery, especially since other prominent musicians and composers made up the Jesuit contingents in the New World. The entry of opera into the New World—especially in Lima, Peru, then into the Jesuit missions in South America—makes the genre a transatlantic phenomenon that hinged upon the blurring boundaries between center (Spain) and periphery (the Americas). On the one hand, a work like Torrejón’s La púrpura de la rosa clearly points to Italian style opera, inherited through French and Spanish sources, that functioned as a political tool in support of the monarchy. In this fashion, opera is a propagandist instrument that can seem self-serving and a bit deceptive, but one that still pushed artistic and musical boundaries as it initiated lyrical theater in Lima. On the other hand, true indigenous opera, such as San Ignacio or San Xavier, were composed and performed within a European context, but physically within mission lands.They suggest that early opera was reciprocal in nature: dependent upon the new European genre’s initiation across the Atlantic, then transformed by Indian musicians and singers, and reflecting religious teachings under the Jesuits.The two opera traditions in the Americas are similar in their ideological intent, but different in their linguistic adaptation to the contemporaneous realities of their time and place. So, for example, the Jesuit operas, written mostly 81

Gasta.indd 90

Garcilaso de la Vega, 1961, p. 133.

01/07/2014 18:22:44

OPERA IN SPAIN AND THE NEW WORLD

91

in Spanish (San Ignacio) or completely in Chiquitano (San Xavier), were meant to impart religious doctrine. On the other hand, opera in Lima, written wholly in the language of the empire, Spanish, was used to reinforce state and Church ideology. The chapters that follow expand these ideas and demonstrate how early opera did make inroads in several areas in the colonies in spite of slow development of content and structure in Spain, the enormous cost required to stage these spectacles, as well as the general discontent of regular audiences not accustomed to the genre. In the process, the genre was put to work for specific tasks and to persuade a particular audience of precise views concerning politics and religion. The prolonged history and variety of early opera in Spain and the New World suggests that these locations did cultivate a rich opera tradition, but one that seems to be forgotten or ignored by most critics. This book hopes to help rectify that error.

Gasta.indd 91

01/07/2014 18:22:44

Gasta.indd 92

01/07/2014 18:22:44

CHAPTER THREE

OPERA IN THE CITY OF KINGS: TOMÁS DE TORREJÓN’S LA PÚRPURA DE LA ROSA

In 1693 an indigenous artist named Francisco Chihuantito was commissioned to paint a portrait depicting the Peruvian city of Chinchero’s devotion to the Virgin of Montserrat. The celebration in honor of the Virgin was a Catalonian veneration that became a part of the city’s annual processions after 1540, and Chihuantito was an important artist in the Cuzco region during the late seventeenth century. The painter was also a native of Chinchero, which was located 19 kilometers north of Cuzco and over 1,100 kilometers to the east of Lima. The city’s population included 670 inhabitants, mostly indigenous, very poor, but it was one of the few Andean cities where the cult of the Catalan Virgin was embraced.The Virgen de Montserrat painting described the town’s spiritual relationship to the Virgin and was to be displayed in the parish church along with several other art pieces1. It featured the Virgin of Montserrat seated with the infant Jesus in her lap while God and the Holy Spirit (in the form of a dove) watch over two angels as they place a crown upon the Virgin’s head.To the right and left are onlookers from the church and, in the background to the lower right among the mountains, Chihuantito painted imperial Inca buildings, the town church, and the courtyard where the local cacique, or indigenous leader, Pascual Amau, leads a religious procession of elites and indigenous commoners. The painting is a typical seventeenth-century adoration to the Virgin and the Catholic faith, and clearly is propagandistic in its illustration of the Indians’ acceptance of both Spanish culture and Catholicism. It mediates European 1 The painting is printed in Kagan and Marías’ Urban Images of the Hispanic World 1493-1793, and the author also provides a description (2000, pp. 133-134).

Gasta.indd 93

01/07/2014 18:22:44

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

94

painting traditions to illuminate the multifarious cross-cultural issues that characterized the region during the Spanish occupation. What is perhaps most unique in the artwork is an uncommon portrayal of a number of musicians, instruments, and singers. In the painting’s foreground, the painter successfully establishes a visual hierarchy by depicting to the left of the Virgin and Christ friars playing musical instruments: two play a sacabuche (similar to a trombone) and another plays a shawm (a predecessor of the modern oboe). Moreover, a boy plays a harp while four others hold what appears to be sheet music, perhaps as part of their duty in the choir.There is nothing out the ordinary for Chihuantito to depict the religious procession in honor of the Virgin. Music was central to all religious processions during the period, and especially significant to this Virgin’s legend since her appearance accompanied the sound of music coming from a cave in a Catalan Montserrat mountain. However, the centrality of these players in the painting coupled with the depiction of the procession demonstrates how music and performance were integral to the villages across the Peruvian viceroyalty. Ecclesiastical pieces, nearly always composed in sacred polyphony, were integrated into religious life early on as part of the Church’s evangelization strategies, and Indians were taught the necessary instruments to play these songs. Geoffrey Baker, in «The Resounding City», uses the painting as one example of how, away from the larger cities like Lima where Spanish authorities held overarching control, indigenous power was centralized in the parishes such as Chinchero where local elites maintained power2. According to Baker, the physical distance from the urban centers allowed influential native musicians to preserve their social and professional status by avoiding the control imposed by the Church: «The music performed by the singers and instrumentalists may have been similar to that in the city centre, but its meanings were undoubtedly different»3. As a result, according to Baker, paintings about musical activity have real-world political intentions as they not only project images of the city’s important musical life but also express a system of social communication shared across cultures4. Chihuantito’s canvas is a visual and verbal or sonic representation of urban life where music played a central ideological role by offering 2

Baker, 2011, p. 15. Baker, 2011, pp. 15-16. 4 Baker, 2011, pp. 14-15. 3

Gasta.indd 94

01/07/2014 18:22:44

OPERA IN THE CITY OF KINGS

95

visions of harmony among citizens. This was true of all urban centers in the New World, especially Lima, the most significant urban center in the Southern Hemisphere where music played a predominant role in all official and extra-official events. During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, both Lima and Cuzco were the most important cities in Peru in terms of Spanish imperial administration and finances. Nonetheless, Lima far outshined its neighbor. Francisco Pizarro consolidated it as Spain’s South American financial, political, and military center in 1535, and by 1543 it was officially named the capital of the Viceroyalty of Peru. As a result, Lima was home to the judicial district, the Audiencia Real (Royal Court of Justice) overseeing other significant South American centers such as Panamá, Quito, Lima, Charcas, Santiago, and Buenos Aires. Within a decade, the city boasted blocks upon blocks of housing, several churches, many schools, a university, and elite palaces and residences for both the conquering Spaniards and Inca royalty5. In terms of material wealth, Lima’s location as a hub between Spain, the Caribbean, and the Philippines placed it squarely in the middle of the transoceanic trade route between Europe and Asia that, in turn, secured its value to the empire. The growing wealth of the city led to the construction of magnificent palaces and ecclesiastical structures with an equally growing number of merchants, nobles, and clergymen. Early revenues from trade as well as significant silver production helped the city grow and prosper and often kept Spain itself from bankruptcy, which further reinforced the city’s strategic political and economic significance. Among the commercial interests, on a local level, were stores devoted solely to silk, gloves, jewelry, kerchiefs, and other opulent fashions, all of which thrived, indicating the personal riches of the city’s inhabitants6. One essential sign of wealth was the prosperity of the arts, and Lima became the foremost cultural center in the New World. Religious festivities such as the Corpus Christi celebrations, solemn ceremonies in honor of the King or the Viceroy, and festivities marking the Patron Saints of the city, the Three Kings (from which the city draws its moniker, «Ciudad de los Reyes», or «City of the Kings», were all celebrated over several days replete with musical processions, several theatrical representations, and other festivities. Local artists, musicians, and writers 5

The University of San Marcos was founded in 1551 by royal order of Charles V and is considered the oldest in the Americas. 6 Cardona, Cruickshank, and Cunningham, 1990, p. 263.

Gasta.indd 95

01/07/2014 18:22:45

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

96

were supported by patronage to create aesthetic works in honor of the events transpiring. Such luxuries help explain Lima’s meteoric rise in the New World, an ascension that quickly overshadowed Cuzco and the other cities which the Inca had traditionally considered the center of their empire. In terms of religion, Lima and Cuzco were the only two cities that had large cathedrals, the locus of religious and artistic life in any city, but Lima gradually eclipsed all other religious centers in South America as it became the point from which aesthetic trends were exported to neighboring cities and towns. Lima’s early prosperity and skyrocketing population—90,000 inhabitants by 1700 according to an official census7—required greater force on the part of the Church and the state to control them, and this was partly accomplished through the inner workings of the cathedral and its employees. By the end of the seventeenth century, however, things had changed for Spain. The economic pressures of military defense and religious warfare in Europe, declining silver earnings, and a slowdown in trade both with Europe and its New World colonies, forced Spain to cut back on its allowances to Peru. Financial problems increased too as a result of Spain’s War of Succession (1701-1714) that pitted competitors from Europe’s two major royal families, the French Bourbons and the Austrian Habsburgs, against one another for control of the Spanish Crown8. In the ensuing conflict, Peru and other colonial outposts were left to fend for themselves, not just in their defense from invasion by foreign entities but also in viceregal finances9. Lima was founded on a European grid system that placed the Plaza Mayor at the center, surrounded on all sides by the Viceroy’s palace, the 7

Ballesteros Gaibrois, 1946, p. 389. Charles II, son of Philip IV, was named King after his father’s death in 1661. Called «el hechizado», Charles suffered many physical ailments and died without an heir on November 1, 1700. Official notice did not reach Lima until May 6, 1701. In that same year a War of Succession broke out between the Austrian Habsburgs’ principal contender to the Spanish throne, Archduke Charles, and the French Bourbons who supported Philip of Anjou, the grandson of the French King Louis XIV and the Spanish Princess María Teresa. Philip ascended to the throne of Spain as Philip V, but the War of Succession continued until 1714. 9 There were serious concerns expressed in many letters that either the English or the Dutch, bystanders in the War of Succession, might invade the Spanish colonies while attention was diverted to the European conflict. This preoccupation was heightened when England, Germany, and Holland formed the Great Alliance and declared war on Spain and France in 1702. 8

Gasta.indd 96

01/07/2014 18:22:45

OPERA IN THE CITY OF KINGS

97

cathedral, and the Archbishop’s residence, followed in the area around the main square by buildings dedicated to housing the Inquisition, the university, schools, and the public theaters. When royal funds were depleted, one of the commercial casualties in Lima was the arts. Normally abundant and popular plays as well as patronage for authors and artists fell drastically as aesthetics in the capital underwent a period of inactivity. As depicted in Chihuantito’s Virgen de Montserrat, music and musicians had always held a special place in the colonies since music was believed to be intricately tied to the Church’s goals of ecclesiastical teaching. Nonetheless, even music emanating from Lima’s Cathedral saw hardship as new compositions were rarely funded and Church authorities only expected standard pieces to be played for key Church services and festivities. Antithetically, it was within this troubling atmosphere in 1701 that Tomás de Torrejón y Velasco, Chapel Master of Lima’s Cathedral, staged the first opera in the New World, La púrpura de la rosa, in honor of the first anniversary of the Bourbon dynasty in Spain and the eighteenth birthday of King Philip V10. For the occasion, Torrejón rewrote the musical score for Calderón’s original 1660 opera of the same name—long since lost—and composed a new loa to more appropriately extol the virtues of Philip V and commemorate the monarchy. The loa, or overture, itself was a genre that was fantastically ideological since it interrelated political and religious themes within an imaginary and symbolic discourse that helped visualize a hierarchy of ideas. For Rull, the Calderonian loa did not contain an argumentative structure that would dispute a topic, but rather one that artistically generated symbolic anecdotes that dispersed an explicit and instructive message11. Similarly, the aim of Torrejón’s loa to La púrpura de la rosa was just that: a unique combination of music and representation to explicitly educate audiences on the new monarchy, acclaim its legitimacy, and seek solidarity in honoring it. This is plainly evident on the title page of the 1701 manuscript, which contains the first unambiguous approval of the new monarchy and its Viceroy in Peru: «Representación música, fiesta con que celebró el año decimoctavo, y primero de su reynado de el Rey Nuestro Señor Don Phelipe Quinto, El Excelentísimo Señor Conde de la Monclava Virrey, Governador, y Capitán General de los 10

Torrejón’s manuscript is catalogued under the call number C1469 at the Biblioteca Nacional in Lima. It contains 89 pages. 11 Rull, 1994, p. 31.

Gasta.indd 97

01/07/2014 18:22:45

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

98

Reynos de el Perú, Tierra Firme, y Chile...» («Musical Representation, Festival that celebrated the Eighteenth Birthday and First Year of the Reign of Our King His Majesty Philip the Fifth, and the Most Excellent Count of Montclova, Viceroy, Governor, and General Captain of the Kingdoms of Peru, Solid Ground, and Chile...»)12. Torrejón’s opera can be considered an overt political work, and one of the few grand theatrical spectacles funded at that time. It was plainly ordered at a very turbulent time as the Viceroy set out to persuade his New World audience to look favorably upon the new Bourbon dynasty and embrace the «Spanish» king, even though the War of Succession was to continue for another 12 years without a clear victor. It was surprising that he experimented with the unproven genre of opera at a time when success was paramount in delivering praise, in securing future funding for his own works, and in improving the financial stability of the Cathedral’s musical retinue. The opera was first performed for the Viceroy and his court followed by a public staging on December 19, 1701. Reports from the time indicate it was widely attended by an audience starving for grand celebrations. Like Calderón’s work, Torrejón’s main opera retold the mythological story of Venus and Adonis with the intention of insinuating that love and strength can overcome the jealousies of the past and put an end to war: «A pesar de los celos, sus triunfos logre / el Amor, colocados Venus y Adonis13» («Despite jealousy Love has triumphed / and Venus and Adonis are seated»). Although the plot and message of the loa are similar to Calderón’s original, the characters and the motive have changed: Torrejón’s loa was rewritten to praise the new monarchy of Philip V and persuade audiences to embrace the new French monarchy in control of Spain. It features three of the nine muses who unite at Apollo’s mountain temple to observe a new star that has appeared in the sky.They descend from the mountain and learn that the star represents the birth of a new monarchy, symbolized by the accession of Philip V to the Spanish throne, which, for Peruvian audiences, also represents a unification of the New World and the Old.The loa expressly grapples with a few key dilemmas that the composer believed could be solved through his aesthetic creation. First, Calderón’s loa attempted to introduce the new genre of opera, urge artistic innovation, and ac12

Citations from Calderón’s La púrpura de la rosa are taken from the edition of Cardona, Cruickshank, and Cunningham. English translations are my own. 13 Torrejón y Velasco, La púrpura de la rosa, vv. 1954-1955.

Gasta.indd 98

01/07/2014 18:22:45

OPERA IN THE CITY OF KINGS

99

quire funding for similar musical dramas. Officially ordered by the Viceroy in praise of the new monarchy, Torrejón went to great lengths to initiate opera in Lima, persuade his public of the genre’s viability and, in the process, lobby for increased funding for the Cathedral as well as to secure support for future grand musical performances. Second, the loa was conceived to plead with Hispanic audiences to support the new French Bourbon monarchy in the New World in the midst of the War of Succession. This was no easy task given the general mistrust of the French going back over one hundred years. Torrejón, himself born and raised in Spain, confronted this problem by moving beyond mere praise of the monarch to carefully demonstrate the shared cultural history of Spain and France. By examining these underlying political, economic, and cultural issues working against Torrejón, we can appreciate how the first opera in the New World was effective as a tool of control and propaganda, and how opera, as an arrangement of dramatic spectacle featuring music, song, and dance, can be considered an excellent aesthetic work to do that. For Torrejón, there was an inherent contradiction between the unfolding events of the War of Succession (and the mystery as to who might actually emerge victorious) and the message he was paid to impart. Hence, in his glorification of the Bourbons, Torrejón provides a limited scope on the entire socio-political situation related to the new monarchy. After all, most citizens had very little knowledge of the real events and looked to the cultural elite in Lima to lead the way. Moreover, spectators in the New World would have loathed the French, as they had for centuries. When Charles II died and Philip V came to the throne, all citizens were expected to approve of the new monarchy. Torrejón’s situation was especially precarious. Brought to his position by a Habsburg appointee, under the Bourbons he necessarily favored the monarchy in order to keep his position and, if he did it right, he might even increase his standing. Any disfavor of the French is therefore totally displaced and instead Torrejón invokes the incoming Bourbon Monarch in the interests of persuading the audience of the Crown’s righteousness. All of this suggests that several ideological subtexts conjoin in the basis of Torrejón’s opera, and the composer contrives a work that presents a particular perspective on the situation, a distorted view of what was happening. In this sense, following Jameson, the opera can be considered a symbolic act and reconstruction after the fact, one that

Gasta.indd 99

01/07/2014 18:22:45

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

100

generates its own context14. As Jameson explains, the symbolic act articulates and contextualizes its own situation, «thereby encouraging and perpetuating the illusion that the situation itself did not exist before it (...) that there was never any extra- or con-textual reality before the text itself generated it in the form of a mirage»15. In other words, the historical or ideological subtext is an invented construction that cannot ever truly represent the specific sequence of events it is purports to describe. Torrejón’s loa is a discourse that invents its own context then symbolically resolves the problems it purports to represent. Specifically, the loa is an aesthetic response to problems associated with Lima’s acceptance of the new Bourbon king, a recognition that concurrently had ramifications for the composer’s own well-being since the success of the implicit propaganda in the opera might further usher in a period of cultural prosperity for himself. In the end, the loa reifies the historical and ideological circumstances of 1701 Lima, but that reification is by nature invented since praises of the new Franco-Spanish alliance under Philip V outside of the opera were in no way a certainty. In fact, the entire printed record of music in Lima only provides us a limited view of what really happened there. There exists many sacred pieces written by Chapel Masters and other religious personnel in honor of Catholic teachings, festivities, and saints, but very few secular pieces have survived to the present. In part, this is because the Church, still embroiled in the ideological battles of the Counter Reformation, inhibited the creation of any work that suggested lascivious or blasphemous behavior. Under the control of the Church and state, aesthetics have always been deemed propagandist, and music emanating from New World cathedrals was perhaps even more so since the Catholic Church in the Americas controlled nearly everything. The incompleteness of Lima’s musical record—both sacred and secular—is partly a result of the poor financial situation of musicians and composers who were unable to make a solid living in the New World’s most wealthy city. Moreover, the fact that most of the works that have survived to the present are sacred pieces underscores yet again the role of ecclesiastics in music making, as Stein points out:

14 15

Gasta.indd 100

Jameson, 1981, p. 81. Jameson, 1981, p. 82.

01/07/2014 18:22:45

OPERA IN THE CITY OF KINGS

101

What we know as the history of cultivated European art music in the Andean region is a history of how music served the catechistic process. Even the richly fascinating extant sacred repertory is incomplete, and little is known about how it was performed, though public musical life in colonial cities well into the eighteenth century was organized primarily for and by ecclesiastics. Musical activity of the public, festive, and ceremonial kind was generated within or around religious spaces, especially in the city of Lima, with its many churches and convents16.

During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries public spectacles sponsored by the Church were principal in helping to administer to the Spaniards and their offspring, the criollos, as well as in assisting in the evangelical mission of Christianizing the Indians. Private spectacles bankrolled by the Viceroy or other cultural elites had a similar mission in that they engendered a particular message to a chosen group of receptors. In colonial Lima, however, private performances, especially in the viceregal palace, were limited to a select group of spectators. The real locus of musical power was the cathedral, the convents, and other religious institutions, the only significant authoritative structures that outlasted Viceroys and other nobles while maintaining several key principles associated with ecclesiastical teaching. Lima’s Cathedral was governed by the bishop or archbishop with the aid of the cabildo, or council of clergymen. Together with the Viceroy and his administration, they were responsible for nearly all aspects of the entire region— the churchmen in matters of faith, and the Viceroy in everything else. But, since politics and religion were essentially the same, the jurisdiction of both entities merged in most matters. The head of the cathedral was the Maestro de capilla, or Chapel Master, an appointed position that was usually given to the best musician and composer in the area, and which initially granted incredible access to its holder. Among the Chapel Masters in Lima—some of the greatest composers ever to work in New World music—was Tomás de Torrejón y Velasco, a native of Villarrobledo, Spain who traveled in 1667 with Pedro Antonio Fernández de Castro Andrade y Portugal, the Tenth Count of Lemos, as he was to take up his position as Nineteenth Viceroy of Peru17. During his 16

2008, p. 435. Tomás de Torrejón y Velasco was baptized in Villarrobledo, Spain on December 23, 1644. His father, Miguel de Torrejón, was a royal huntsman of Philip IV who placed his son as a page in the household of the Tenth Count of Lemos 17

Gasta.indd 101

01/07/2014 18:22:45

102

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

five years as Viceroy (1667-72) Lemos appointed Torrejón to prestigious positions including Capitán de la Sala de Armas, then Corregidor followed by Justicia Mayor of the Chachapoyas province (located in the Amazon River Valley), before naming him Chapel Master of Lima Cathedral in 1676, a post he held until his death in 1728. Torrejón was the first Chapel Master who was not a priest, and upon the death of his first wife, he married again. The organist and composer was well suited for the position; since his arrival, he enjoyed a strong reputation among cultural elites in Lima. He was also internationally renowned: during his lifetime his compositions were printed in Antwerp, Madrid, and Lima, and musical authorities throughout the New World requested his works and sought his opinions and services18. The position of maestro de capilla in Lima was originally created in 1612 and was one of the first ecclesiastical-musical posts in the colonies. It became the most prestigious and effectual position a musician could occupy in the New World. During his time as Chapel Master, Torrejón’s responsibilities included conducting the orchestra and choir, teaching polyphony, administering the finances of the Cathedral, and composing musical works for all sorts of celebrations. The long appointment afforded him the opportunity to train some of the New World’s best musicians and singers of the eighteenth century, and he also composed several of the most significant musical works of the period. Indeed, following the (1632-1672) who would become the nineteenth Peruvian Viceroy in 1667. After marrying Doña María Manuela, on February 6, 1667, Torrejón sailed with 112 other members of Lemos’ household to Peru as the new Viceroy planned to take over the Peruvian Viceroyalty. On March 3, 1667, the ship carrying Lemos,Torrejón and the royal contingent departed from Cádiz and after a 45-day voyage reached Cartagena, then Portobelo, the port from which treasure ships departed for Spain. After disembarking in Callao, the Lemos entourage started its journey to Lima by crossing the Isthmus of Panama.The Count’s retinue finally reached Lima only after spending time for ceremonial requirements in a number of towns along the route. A jubilant and ostentatious entry upon a gold brick road into Lima finally took place towards the end of November 1667. As Stevenson points out, since the content of Torrejón’s opera deals with a hunt, it is interesting that his own father was one of Philip IV’s huntsmen, perhaps contributing to the reasons for choosing Calderón’s opera, rather than another work (1959a, p. 114). 18 Stevenson, 1964, p. 34. Torrejón’s music has been discovered and catalogued in the Bishop’s archives of the Diocese of Concepción de Chiquitos in eastern Bolivia. See Piotr Nawrot’s Indígenas y cultura musical de las reducciones jesuíticas (2000, Vols. 1 and 3) and Archivo musical de Moxos – Antología (2004,Vol. 1).

Gasta.indd 102

01/07/2014 18:22:45

OPERA IN THE CITY OF KINGS

103

European model, the Cathedral Master was generally expected to constantly provide new music for all religious ceremonies as well as civil events associated with the Church19.

FUNDING THE ARTS IN LIMA: THE POLITICAL AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY OF AESTHETICS As Mendoza de Arce indicates, early music in Spain’s colonies was functional in that it was intended for use on specific occasions, and chapel masters were not expected to compose music that inspired themselves but rather instilled faith in their varied audiences20. Hence, whereas the Chapel Master created works that inspired the faithful, he and other musicians composed works on demand exclusively for important state events such as royal weddings, victory celebrations, coronations, funerals or visits by dignitaries. Early opera followed a similar pattern and emerged as a preferred form of aesthetic celebration that highlighted the power and prestige of its patron. Bowman indicates that such musical forms are neither objective nor subjective but rather «intersubjective» constructs that are «deeply enmeshed in relations of power and control»21. Similarly, Attali considers music composition through the eighteenth century a ritual process and a sacrificial entity that produces order, resolves problems, but produces no wealth beyond regular subsistence for the musician22. In fact, even music manuscripts were not considered valuable economically, and instrumentalists and singers would keep their own parts in their possession guaranteeing their loss23. Manuscripts that were kept in their entirety and used more than once might end up in archives, but when music outlived its usefulness, it was discarded24. In Torrejón’s case, regular church services, special concerts, and other public performances associated with anniversaries, births, and deaths generally kept the Chapel Master beholden to the Church and the state as he was essentially employed to supply new compositions for

19

Stevenson, 1980, p. 49. Mendoza de Arce, 2001, p. 105. 21 Bowman, 1998, p. 352. 22 Attali, 1985. 23 Mendoza de Arce, 2001, pp. 106-107. 24 Mendoza de Arce, 2001, p. 107. 20

Gasta.indd 103

01/07/2014 18:22:45

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

104

the Church and the viceroyalty. One such event, the eighteenth birthday of Philip V and his first year as King of Spain, provided the impetus for the composition of La púrpura de la rosa. In many ways, it was quite extraordinary that La púrpura de la rosa was staged at all since it was commissioned at a time of unprecedented financial upheaval in Lima.The seventeenth century in Peru witnessed a great rise in theatrical productions by the most significant writers from Spain, followed by a general epoch of decline in which funding for the arts dried up. Torrejón lived and worked through these periods, witnessing times of exceptional prosperity right after his arrival, followed closely by torrential depression in the last two decades of the seventeenth century, then a renewed interest in the arts during the first twenty years of the eighteenth century. His opera was both a victim and beneficiary of the financial crises facing the Viceroyalty during the second part of the seventeenth century and, as an employee of the crown and Church, his personal fortunes rose and fell with the times. For nearly a century after its founding around 1540, Lima enjoyed fabulous wealth. While the Spanish and criollo population increased, and the large numbers of Indians and slaves were slowly integrated into city life, the Church, the government, and commercial elites began investing heavily into the local economy, propelling great economic development. This, in turn, spurred investment in all sorts of aesthetic production, very much similar to what was happening during the early part of the seventeenth century in Spain. In short, Lima was a bastion of the Hispanic pre-Enlightenment, a city of internationally acclaimed writers and intellectuals25. Strong spending on music, theater, art, and literature was considered a must for a colonial center to match the great capitals of Europe, especially Madrid where Philip III and Philip IV spent lavishly on grand public and private spectacles sustaining a golden age of aesthetics. Artistic activities and trends in Lima tracked those in Madrid and in the process sought to reproduce peninsular values26. Spain established New World cities like Lima as imaginary constructs meant to project an idealized and harmonious order; that idealization was given life by a physical representation of the city that featured a grid system27. Music was meant to play an important role in this construction of harmonious urban space: «The city 25

Williams, 1990, pp. 90-91. Baker, 2011, p. 10. 27 Baker, 2011, pp. 2-3. 26

Gasta.indd 104

01/07/2014 18:22:45

OPERA IN THE CITY OF KINGS

105

resounded both in its essence—its harmonious design—and through its sonic practices, as ceremonies with music provided an aural counterpart to urban planning norms»28. Consequently, faced with the opportunity to build a city from nothing, Lima was constructed in a way that benefitted performance. Lima’s high society went to great lengths to finance aesthetics to show that the viceroyalty could compete with the capital of the empire and foster an image of a royal court in Lima. Jean Andrews holds that La púrpura de la rosa was indicative of a «certain metropolitan aspiration»29, suggesting comparisons with Madrid, and Stein writes that despite Lima’s best efforts to compete with the capital, no known information about the production ever made it to Spain, indicating that «the cultural life in the colonies was considered insignificant» compared to developments in Madrid30. Nonetheless, great things—and important developments in music— were happening in Lima. In Diaro de Lima (1640-1694), for example, the chronicler Joseph Mugaburu claimed that the 1672 El arca de Noé, presented in «música recitativa», offered «nunca vistas tramoyas, como se hacen en el Retiro de Madrid»31 («never-before-seen theater machinery, like they do in Madrid’s Retiro Stage»), denoting Lima’s success. Even in the first years of the seventeenth century, Lima boasted several theaters presenting popular dramas: El Corral de San Andrés (1605), El Corral de Santo Domingo (1622), and El Corral de San Agustín (completed in 1622, but with several presentations since 1617). Mirroring what was customary in Madrid, dramas normally written by Spanish authors were performed by experienced actors. They often began with four or eight voiced choirs (cuatros and ochos) accompanied by instrumental music, then a popular villancico or a dance, followed by the loa. After the loa, the first act of the drama began with an entremés performed after the first act, a jácara after the second, and a dance such as a bailete (similar to an entremés, but danced), chacona, or zarabanda after the third act32. A typical comedia performance would last almost three hours. These per28

Baker, 2011 p. 5. 2007, p. 183. 30 Andrews, 2008, p. 444. 31 Mugaburu, 1935, p. 145. 32 The chacona and zarabanda were native Peruvian dances set to profane music that eventually became popular in Spain. It was widely believed, however, that they were lascivious and ultimately the zarabanda was outlawed in 1630 by the Consejo Real de Castilla. See Stein’s «De chacona, zarabanda y La púrpura de la rosa en la 29

Gasta.indd 105

01/07/2014 18:22:45

106

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

formances helped to disseminate popular songs and verses among the populace with an advanced sense of tonality that were also a part of the first Iberian operas33. After Torrejón’s arrival, most of these dramas were either comedias de santos (dramas retelling the lives of the saints), autos sacramentales, or comedias of religious themes, suggesting interest on the part of the Viceroy and the Church to instill Catholic doctrine34. The first seventy years of the seventeenth century was a time of prosperity for theater and music, followed by general stagnation and decline. By the last decade of the seventeenth century, for example, few productions were produced and those that were staged were done so sporadically. Lohmann Villena reports that in 1699 Juan Martín Navarro, an «autor de comedias» who would eventually hire the actors of La púrpura de la rosa, had difficulties just enlisting «un desdichado y ruin elenco que contaba apenas con tres cómicos y una actriz»35 («a wretched and despicable cast that barely had three comedians and an actress»). This downturn was closely related to the economic pressures facing the Peruvian Viceroyalty during the period, themselves a result of fiscal demands forced upon Peru by the Spanish crown. The financial problems can be traced to the military and religious policies of Philip IV’s government, under the direction of the chief minister, the Count-Duke of Olivares. Olivares had a reputation as a dedicated government official who used his powerful post to push for reforms throughout Spain’s empire in order to re-establish the country as the world’s religious, political, and military power. Between 1621 and 1640 he proposed a series of social, economic, and political reforms under the «Union of Arms» directed at all of Spain and its kingdoms. The reforms included political and social reforms, but a good deal of them were purely economic (increased taxation, the sale of government offices, and centralized trade) in the hopes of garnering greater revenue for the crown’s military incursions across Europe. One of Olivares’ principal goals was to bring all of the New World viceroyalties more closely under central control of the crown believing that their strong allegiance—as well as financial contributions—would help stave off the disembodiment of Spain’s emcultura musical del Perú colonial» (2001) and ««La música de dos orbes:» A Context for the First Opera of the Americas» (2008). 33 Mendoza de Arce, 2001, p. 190-191. 34 Rodríguez-Garrido, 2003, p. 31. 35 Lohmann Villena, 1945, p. 311.

Gasta.indd 106

01/07/2014 18:22:45

OPERA IN THE CITY OF KINGS

107

pire. These efforts have been deemed a denial of imperial disintegration and an attempt to return to the glory of the time of Carlos V and Philip II36. Even with the best of intentions, however, Olivares’ decisions were often shortsighted. He allowed peace treaties with the French, English, and Dutch to expire, then embarked on military campaigns against the French and the Dutch at a time when Spain needed to spend a greater amount of men and money on protecting overseas possessions37. All of this required greater and greater revenues from Spain’s colonies, so Olivares initiated new taxation measures whereby all of the empire would share equally in the burden of supporting the monarchy. Up to that time, an inordinate amount of taxes was drawn from Castile alone. It was perhaps the crown’s policies regarding taxation that most affected Peru. During the first decades of the seventeenth century, Peru had already gained greater self-sufficiency by producing many of the basic products it needed, thereby decreasing or eliminating customary imports from Spain. Moreover, Peru was transitioning from an economy based on the transatlantic trade and silver mining to one of local industry, farming, and intercolonial trade. Silver mining, the most significant financial draw for Spain since Spain’s conquest of Peru in 1535, continued, but the overall value decreased after 1620, partly because the mines of highlands and upper Peru, such as Potosí, steadily declined in productivity and because more of the load was being kept by the Viceroyalty to pay for defense and administration38. Peru also suffered from periodic labor shortages and cycles of great inflation and unemployment as well as numerous natural disasters such as the major earthquake in 1687, all of which seriously stunted economic growth. Nonetheless, the Spanish monarchy’s fiscal 36

Elliott, 1989, pp. 116-23. Spain’s direct costs related to maritime defense of the Viceroyalty of Peru fell from over 17 million pesos (45% of all costs) in the decade 1601-1610 to under 1 million (4% of total costs) by 1700. At the same time, the Viceroyalty itself took on a greater portion of these expenditures so that by 1700 over 40% of all defense measures came from internally allocated funds. See TePaske and Klein’s volume 1 of The Royal Treasuries of the Spanish Empire in America (1982). 38 According to David Brading and Harry Cross, silver production peeked around 1600 at 50 million pesos, then fell steadily to under 20 million by 1700 (1972, pp. 548-555). Based on Parker and Smith’s estimates, the amount remitted to Spain fell from 64% of total revenue at the beginning of the seventeenth century to 5% by 1690 (1997, p. 20). Silver production at Potosí, the major producer in the Peruvian Viceroyalty, peaked between 1590 and 1600 at over 85 million marks then fell to around 10 million by 1700 (Brading and Cross, 1972; Bakewell, 1975). 37

Gasta.indd 107

01/07/2014 18:22:46

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

108

demands, especially in terms of higher taxes and completely new taxes, increased unabated. Eventually, colonial elites began to look to their local government for protection from the monarchy’s decisions. In Crisis and Decline: The Viceroyalty of Peru in the Seventeenth Century, Kenneth J. Andrien discusses the taxation measures levied by the crown and the subsequent opposition by colonial elites39. According to Andrien, during the years leading up to 1700, Peruvian treasury officials bowed to pressure from Lima’s elites and often did not enforce the monarchy’s tax levies, which resulted in a fiscal crisis and set up serious confrontations with the crown40. Generally, Peruvian bureaucrats were able to temporarily produce the required funds, thus diffusing tensions between the viceroyalty and the crown, but these were temporary measures that did nothing to solve the long-term issues facing the territory. By 1700 Peru was weakened and impoverished, and it lost its status to Mexico who, by 1680, had surpassed Peru in terms of monetary wealth41. Likewise, clashes for notoriety and privilege often broke out between the two viceroyalties42. For officials in Madrid, however, the financial difficulties were not believed to be the result of their own poor financial and political decision making in the crown’s attempts at supremacy in Europe. Instead, the crown believed that poor governance in the pathetic administration of the Peruvian viceregal treasury and other government agencies was to blame. Accordingly, by as early as 1660, crown administrators claimed that a full-scale reform of Peru’s treasury system would be the only means of controlling what the crown deemed outrageous spending by Viceroys or the local governments, and ensuring that taxes would be collected and forwarded to Madrid43. As a result, in October 1662 the Council of Indies met in a special session (junta particular) to discuss the 39

Andrien, 1985. Andrien, 1985. 41 Andrien, 1985, p. 205. Although Mexico’s silver production followed an uneven pattern, after 1650 it was consistently higher than Peru’s, averaging more than 50 million pesos annually (Brading and Cross, 1972, pp. 548-558). 42 The competition for resources and reputation may best be seen in the loa for Lorenzo de las Llamosas’ También se vengan los dioses (1689), a zarzuela that celebrates the birth of the son of the Count of Montclova, Francisco Javier, just as the Count was to leave Mexico to take up his post as Viceroy of Peru.The loa alludes to a rivalry between Mexico City and Lima as represented by the Viceroy’s change of location (Rodríguez-Garrido, 2003, p. 111). 43 Most viceroys during the seventeenth century were elected precisely for their abilities to control spending and collect taxes. The Count of Lemos, the benefac40

Gasta.indd 108

01/07/2014 18:22:46

OPERA IN THE CITY OF KINGS

109

Peruvian problems. The Council determined that many of the causes of the fiscal crisis were political and administrative: it appeared to them that treasury officials in Lima were ineffective in collecting royal taxes44. Moreover, the bureaucrats in Lima frequently insisted on retaining a larger percentage of what they did collect. Consequently, throughout the seventeenth century, a number of regulations were issued by the crown aimed at collecting a greater amount of delinquent taxes while simultaneously cutting down on the expenses by the local cabildos. Tax collection, however, was precarious.The economic displacement caused by the earthquakes of 1687, 1694, 1697, and 1699, for example, made it nearly impossible to raise money from unemployed citizens and business owners who could barely reconstruct their companies or homes.To further rile the passions of citizens in Lima, the crown took matters into its own hands by ordering a new sale of juros (public bonds) in 1695. The Viceroy, the Count of Montclova, refused to implement it, claiming that local merchants were simply too poor to support the policy45. The net result of these financial losses was a weak government in Lima and a nearly bankrupt treasury. By 1700, Lima’s financial emergency reached a critical stage. It would take a new King and a new reform program in the early eighteenth century for the fiscal system in Peru to recover from the damage done by the long financial crisis46. During the various reform periods, the crown put into place many regulations that attempted to limit the amount the Viceroy could spend on ceremonies, festivals, receptions, and general public spectacles. Normally, the most spectacular celebration was dedicated to the recibimiento—the arrival of a new Viceroy, said to be the King’s alter ego in the New World.Torrejón’s protector, the Count of Lemos, for example, traveled across the Isthmus of Panama, passed under banners and through triumphal arches in several settlements, and for upwards of a month the townspeople along the route to Lima would indulge in numerous celebrations and festivities to express their affection and loyalty47. One town along the route even paved sections of the main street in silver bars48. tor of Torrejón, was believed to be the most effective and successful (Cardona, Cruickshank, and Cunningham, 1990, p. 269). 44 Andrien, 1985, p. 167. 45 Andrien, 1985, p. 196. 46 Andrien, 1985, p. 206. 47 Moore, 1954, p. 204. 48 Moore, 1966, p. 90.

Gasta.indd 109

01/07/2014 18:22:46

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

110

The Spanish crown became incensed about such waste, and several laws were passed to curtail unnecessary spending. Philip II, for example, instituted a policy that limited the cost of receptions for a new Viceroy in Peru to no more than 12,000 pesos, a policy that was re-issued many times during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and broadened to include other public events49.This ultimately meant that throughout the New World, spending for the arts was severely restricted. The music sector was left to Church officials to worry about. Even though appointed to his prestigious position as Chapel Master of Lima’s Cathedral, Torrejón was a victim of these economic circumstances. His appointment came on January 1, 1676, at the moderate salary of 600 pesos,50 but financial hardship in Lima coupled with natural disaster meant Torrejón would spend most of his life poorly paid for his work— or not paid at all. Although few biographical details are available for the years between 1676 and 1681, it is likely that Torrejón enjoyed a steady income and was provided with most of the funding he needed to churn out the required music for church masses, festivities, anniversaries, and special events. In 1681 Torrejón had under his direction ten adult singers, an organist, five instrumentalists, and several children for the choir51. He was already given the power on October 3, 1679, to fine or dismiss singers and musicians who were either absent or unreliable52. After 1681, however, the financial situation in the Cathedral seems to have deteriorated significantly. On April 22, 1681, due to a general decline in the Cathedral’s revenues, Torrejón’s salary as Chapel Master was reduced to 500 pesos and his pay for teaching the choir singers from 152 pesos to 13053.To make matters worse, on March 4, 1683, the cabildo also ordered him to release all but two choirboys54. The next year the remaining singers were dismissed, and the cabildo proposed cutting his teaching pay in half, but a successful protest by the Chapel Master saved his salary55. The financial situation further worsened after the 1687 earthquake that

49

Moore, 1966, p. 107. Stevenson, 1976, p. 106. 51 Cardona, Cruickshank, and Cunningham, 1990, p. 284. 52 Stevenson, 1976, p. 106. 53 Stevenson, 1959b, pp. 11-12. 54 Cardona, Cruickshank and Cunningham, 1990, p. 285. 55 Stevenson, 1959b, pp. 11-12. 50

Gasta.indd 110

01/07/2014 18:22:46

OPERA IN THE CITY OF KINGS

111

destroyed most of Lima’s Cathedral56. There were no funds for immediate reconstruction and without a cathedral in which he could work, Torrejón’s salary was cut again.This should not be so surprising because the crown generally believed that if anyone could provide music more cheaply than the Chapel Master, such a person was preferable57. It was not until ten years later, on September 6, 1697, that the cabildo was able to restore the Chapel Master’s salary to the initial 600 pesos at which he had been contracted twenty years earlier58. Despite these economic hardships Torrejón labored to produce some extraordinary musical works, a great deal of which survive in archives throughout the New World59. With the Cathedral’s inauguration of a second grand organ on November 11, 1680, for example, he composed eight villancicos in honor of the beatification of St. Toribio de Mogrovejo, the Archbishop of Lima who died in 160660. Several of the polychoral pieces were played by over thirty musicians divided into six groups composed of singers and instrumentalists, and helped contribute to the composer’s reputation throughout the New World and in Spain, especially after the publication of his works in Antwerp and Lima61.Torrejón’s success, however, did not automatically secure for him the necessary endowment to maintain his singers and musicians, as indicated above. After news reached Lima on May 6, 1701, announcing the death of Charles II, the Viceroy, Melchor Portocarrero Lasso de la Vega, Count of Montclova, as was customary, announced a period of mourning, putting an end to any musical or theatrical performance then in progress. The Viceroy then commissioned Torrejón to compose musical works for public vespers in honor of the departed King62. On June 26, 1701, the spectacle was attended by nearly all of Lima who turned out to wit56 The earthquake of October 20, 1687, was exceptionally violent and caused widespread destruction. Doering and Lohmann Villena report, for example, that it equaled 8.2 on the Richter scale leveling more than 163 city blocks, destroying more than 5,200 buildings and killing at least 400 people (1992, p. 127). 57 Mendoza de Arce, 2001, p. 99. 58 Stevenson, 1976, p. 107. 59 See Stevenson’s Renaissance and Baroque Musical Sources in the Americas (1970). 60 Cardona, Cruickshank and Cunningham, 1990, p. 271. 61 Cardona, Cruickshank and Cunningham, 1990, p. 285. 62 Montclova served as Viceroy of Peru longer than any other. From 1686-1688 he was Viceroy of New Spain, followed by his service as Viceroy of Peru, from 1689 until his death in 1705. Although appointed to the position by Charles II, he was re-appointed by Philip V.

Gasta.indd 111

01/07/2014 18:22:46

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

112

ness one of the New World’s truly great composers at a time of nearly non-existent community performances. According José de Buendía’s eyewitness account published in his Parentación Real al Soberano Nombre e immortal memoria del Católico Rey de las Españas, the audience was so enthusiastic that only Torrejón’s fantastic composition could silence it: [...] the crowd was so vast that is seemed useless to hope for silence during the music [...]. However, the delicious harmony of voices, organs, and other instruments so captivated the ear that all noise gave way to rapt attention. [...] The Chapel Master—Don Tomás de Torrejón—showing that same meticulousness and zeal with which he attends to every task assigned him, had with very special care composed new polychoral music for the Invitatory, the Lessons of Job in the three nocturns, and for certain psalms such as the Miserere [...] Having managed to gather all the best voices in the city, he united them in such a moving ensemble that everyone present was reduced to tears during the more affecting canticles63.

The grand production pleased the Viceroy so much that he immediately commissioned Torrejón to compose another work to commemorate the eighteenth birthday of King Philip V64.The result of course was Torrejón’s rewritten opera based on Calderón’s libretto of La púrpura de la rosa. No doubt the Count of Montclova was aware of the incurrent problems associated with supporting the Bourbons when he himself had been a life-long Habsburg appointee and supporter. To make matters more difficult, during his military career the Viceroy fought against Louis XIV in Villaviciosa (1665), and his leadership on the battlefield led to his naming to several posts including the monarchy’s War Council (1678). Indeed, it was Montclova’s successful military career that provided the foundation for his later power. However, his outspokenness at court caused jealous rivals to arrange for his appointment as Viceroy of New Spain, followed by that of Peru, where it was believed he could be contained. The back-to-back appointments had never been bestowed upon any other individual previously. Despite their prestige, rivals viewed the appointments as a sort of exile from Madrid. For his 63

Quoted in Stevenson, 1976, p. 46. Not everyone was happy with this performance, however. Stevenson reminds us that Torrejón’s production displeased Lima’s archbishop, «who took steps the next year to stop the performance of all ‘jocular music’ in the cathedral and to ban the nuns from participating in anything that smacked of entertainment» (1959a, p. 83). 64

Gasta.indd 112

01/07/2014 18:22:46

OPERA IN THE CITY OF KINGS

113

part, Montclova was a very astute politician who allied himself with the Bourbons during the earliest days of the War of Succession. The local cabildo followed suit. Nonetheless, some in Madrid held unfounded concerns about his allegiance to the new King. Montclova was aware of incipient questioning about his loyalty and put to use every ideological weapon at his disposal to demonstrate his allegiance to Charles II’s final decree to recognize Philip V as King of Spain. Montclova may have believed that a successful rhetorical campaign might strengthen his own position with the crown, solidify his future, and perhaps lead to a ticket back to Madrid. After all, since things had not gone well for him in the past ten years under the Habsburgs, perhaps he would fare better with the Bourbons. It didn’t work out that way, however, as he reigned longer in Peru than any other viceroy, dying in Lima in 1705 while still in charge. Despite political maneuvers, Montclova was not interested in music for ideological gain alone. He was a great admirer of music and theater who also clearly understood the political impact that aesthetics could have in Lima. For the celebrations in honor of both the death of Charles II and the subsequent coronation of Philip V, he spared no expense in providing the appropriate—and expected—public ceremonies so that authorities in Madrid would recognize his loyalty. In fact, letters written to Madrid demonstrate his concern with official protocol, and he stressed that the public celebrations properly remembered the passing Charles II just as they celebrated Philip V’s arrival65. As a result, he commissioned La púrpura de la rosa as a cheerful musical piece that would commemorate Philip V’s eighteenth birthday and the first year of the Bourbon reign while also extolling the virtues of the passing Habsburg dynasty.66 The opera premiered at the viceregal palace on December 19, 1701 and became known as the first opera in the New World, «a gesture welcoming in the new king just as the music of June 26 had ushered out the old monarch»67. According to the Diarios y memorias de los sucessos principales y noticias más sobresalientes de esta ciudad de Lima, Corte de Perú, one of the first 65

Stein, 2001a, pp. 91-92. According to Stein, it is possible that Montclova attended one of the several performances of Calderón’s original La púrpura de la rosa before his departure to the Americas (2001b, p. 237). 67 Stevenson, 1964, p. 34. 66

Gasta.indd 113

01/07/2014 18:22:46

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

114

periodicals published in the New World, Torrejón’s opera was extremely elaborate and expensive: «la noche se celebró en uno de los patios de Palacio la Púrpura de la Rosa, composición elegante de D. Pedro Calderón, toda música, y executada con gran destreza de vozes, riqueza de galas, aparato de perspectivas, bastidores, tramoyas, y vuelos68» («at night, in one of the patios of the palace, La púrpura de la rosa, an elegant composition by Don Pedro Calderón, all in music, and executed with greatly skilled voice, rich costumery, moveable stage sets, perspective scenery, machines, and flights»). Those in attendance included the Viceroy and his family, the upper nobility, the clergy, and the members of the Audiencia and Tribunales courts. The opera was performed several other times between December 22, 1701 and January 6, 1702, with each subsequent performance directed at a specific group including members of the chief religious orders, the lower nobility, and the principal members of the university and seminary69. Finally the opera was performed on January 6 for the entire city in honor of Epiphany or the «Day of the Kings» that marked the anniversary of the founding of Lima, «City of the Kings». Certainly, the initial audience—essentially the upper strata of Lima—had much to do with ideological foundation of the work. But, by opening up the doors of the palace’s royal theater to the general public, the Viceroy was in effect putting his generosity on display and fomenting and dispersing the work’s perspective to a wider audience, bringing all of Lima to see his point of view70.

68

Quoted in Rodríguez-Garrido, 2003, pp. 235-236. Stein, 2008, p. 441. After its initial staging for the Count of Monclova and members of the nobility, another six performances followed, culminating in the public spectacle: the first for the head of the cathedral chapter and local clergy, the second directed at Lima’s caballero class, the third for the Franciscan and Dominican missionaries, the fourth for the monks of the order of St. Augustine, St. John of God and the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy, the fifth presented before the university and seminary members and, finally, the public performance for all of Lima on January 6, 1702. Joseph Mugaburo in Diario de Lima recorded news for each of these performances (1935). 70 According to the Mugaburo’s report, «Diario de las noticias mas sobresalientes en esta corte de Lima (con otras avidas de la Europa) desde fines de Diciembre de 1701 hasta mediado Febrero de 1702», this final performance must have included a new loa and sainetes dedicated to the accomplishments of Montclova, though they have not survived to the present (Rodríguez Garrido, 2003, p. 242). 69

Gasta.indd 114

01/07/2014 18:22:46

OPERA IN THE CITY OF KINGS

115

OPERA AND THE IDEOLOGICAL AGENDA It is apparent that without the financial intervention of political figures such as the Viceroy, there was little hope for grand public spectacles in Lima. Torrejón, like all composers and musicians of the time, found himself within an expansion of capitalism, but completely outside of this economic system. His musical labor is not itself productive—it produced no commercial wealth, either for himself or for his benefactor, the Viceroy. He did not write music, perform it, and profit from its sale, nor did he earn money for publishing his works since they are the property of either the political machine or the Church. Instead, Torrejón was dependent upon the Church or Viceroy, both entities who demand music as part of ceremony, but who care little for the economic impact of such creations. Since no material wealth is earned from the production of music, neither by the composer nor his patron, and since the explicitly stated motivation for La púrpura de la rosa is to overtly praise the monarchy at a time of political uncertainty, the opera is instead ideological in that it foments a process of socialization, coercion, and persuasion. While it is true that most operatic loas during the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries were purely propagandist in their praise of the crown, opera was new and would have been more effective than earlier attempts at musical theater. Audience members would have been astonished by the awe-inspiring combination of music and plot. Lyrical and theatrical devices, unique on their own terms and especially welcome at a time of few theatrical stagings, could have effectively concealed the ideological message contained within the work. And since the first performances were private affairs reserved for Lima’s influential leaders, we can expect that this was the audience the Viceroy wished to influence. As an artist commissioned to fashion a particular discourse, Torrejón’s opera becomes an outright ideological act that has significance beyond the original moment of conception71. It connects dominant social, political, or religious institutions with symbolic value systems and yields alternate conceptions of the world. Since ideology is often embedded within symbols and cultural practices whose message is consumed by social entities, La púrpura de la rosa therefore can be viewed as an attempt to legitimize either the status quo, or urge a change of the norm. As will be seen in the remainder of this chapter, Torrejón, as a 71

Gasta.indd 115

Jameson, 1981, p. 79.

01/07/2014 18:22:46

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

116

paid hand of the Viceroy, uses lyrical theater to symbolically respond to Lima’s general uncertainty of the new Bourbon monarchy as well as the composer’s own, more personal, dilemma of protecting and advancing his own position despite the troubling economic times. If the politics and economics of the time held so much influence over artistic production, why would Torrejón have decided to compose an opera, a genre that had not yet infiltrated the colonies, nor one that had a role in the training of the Chapel Master? Torrejón was an established organist and composer of sacred religious works (despite not being a priest), and it would certainly have been easier for him to compose some other grand polyphonic sacred piece that did not rely so heavily on theatrical devices about which he had limited knowledge. Indeed, La púrpura de la rosa seems to be the only secular piece he ever wrote, at least as far as we know. The answer can most likely be traced to his musical training before coming to the Americas, his experiments with recitative-like devices specific to Calderonian opera, as well as his duty and aspiration to dazzle his audience with originality. It is worth remembering that opera is one of the few genres that can create an extraordinary and wondrous atmosphere that entertains on the one hand and informs on the other. However, there may have also been other incidental reasons for Torrejón’s interest in opera. Stevenson claims that Torrejón’s position as a page in the household of the Count of Lemos prior to his departure for Peru may have had something to do with the decision to compose an opera72. Specifically, Torrejón accompanied the Count’s entourage to the theater in Madrid where he may have attended both Calderonian operas of 1660, La púrpura de la rosa and Celos aun del aire matan: [...] the youthful page engrossed in music could scarcely have escaped falling under the influence of the Calderonian operas. Both were of course composed for court festivities and shown before all the élite of Madrid. At any event, he chose precisely Calderón’s La púrpura de la rosa when later at the age of 56 in faraway Peru he came to compose his own opera. How attentively he listened to Juan Hidalgo’s music can also be judged by anyone who will compare the truncated surviving score for Celos aun del aire with the complete score of his La púrpura de la rosa of 170173.

72 73

Gasta.indd 116

Stevenson, 1959a, p. 115. Stevenson, 1959a, p. 115.

01/07/2014 18:22:46

OPERA IN THE CITY OF KINGS

117

Cardona, Cruickshank, and Cunningham believe it is inconceivable that Torrejón, already officially identified as a professional musician, would miss one of the most notable productions of that time especially since Calderón, one of Spain’s greatest playwrights, was the author, and the esteemed musician, Juan Hidalgo, composed the music74. Stein claims that Hidalgo, Royal Harpist and composer, was probably Torrejón’s teacher75. And Cardona, Cruickshank, and Cunningham count no less than eighteen musical works (nine by Calderón) that Torrejón could have attended before departing for Peru, including the two aforementioned operas.76 Having first-hand knowledge of both operas from 1660 and understanding how monumental Calderón’s works were at that time, it made sense that he chose Calderón’s opera as the basis for his own77. The adverse financial state of the viceroyalty in 1701 Lima meant that spending extravagantly on public spectacles was not just inappropriate or unlawful, it was frankly negligent. Even though Lima had a number of corrales and casas de comedias where well known, traditional Spanish comedias were presented, only bullfights or religious processions were guaranteed monetary support78. Writers in Lima were lucky enough to be paid to stage theatrical works, however, often did so as part of the Corpus Christi celebrations, which meant that only autos sacramentales—laden with Church doctrine and allegory—would be surely brought to the public stage. On the other hand, many first runs of dramas or comedias by well known playwrights such as Calderón, Lope de Vega, Mira de Amescua, Vélez de Guevara, and Rojas Zorrilla were often enacted before an elite audience in the viceregal palace or 74

Cardona, Cruickshank, and Cunningham, 1990, p. 283. Stein, 1999, p. 10; 2008, p. 443. According to Stein, there are several sections in Torrejón’s version of La púrpura de la rosa that may contain music from Hidalgo’s original 1659 musical score (2008, p. 443). 76 Cardona, Cruickshank, and Cunningham, 1990, p. 127; p. 281. 77 Cardona, Cruickshank, and Cunningham also point to the remote possibility that Torrejón could have accompanied the Count of Lemos to Naples during the latter’s fourteen months there (1662-1663) (p. 280). In Naples, an important center of opera during the latter part of the seventeenth century and a key capital of musical teaching, Torrejón could have perfected many of his musical talents. Moreover, Stevenson claims that Lemos attended at least one opera in Naples, Cavalli’s Alessandro vincitor di se stesso (1662) (1976, p. 105). Although there is no definitive proof that Torrejón made the trip to Italy, it remains an intriguing possibility. 78 Doering and Lohmann Villena, 1992, pp. 133-139; Hesse, 1955, p. 12. 75

Gasta.indd 117

01/07/2014 18:22:47

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

118

within the palace walls of the wealthy. On those occasions, the commissions came as a result of the ascension to the throne of a new monarch, notable birthdays, military victories, or the arrival of a new viceroy: «These happenings touched off such festivities as pyrotechnic displays, bullfights, jousting tournaments, and parades and terminated with the performance of one or more plays»79. In both cases, theater was performed at the impetus and desire of wealthy and privileged cultural patrons such as the Church or the nobility. Nevertheless, even at the end of the seventeenth century these two sources more or less dried up as both Church and state concentrated their wealth on a few, grand public spectacles, that might make the greatest impact, or those that the Viceroy was required to celebrate. With the ascent of the French Bourbons to the Spanish Crown, a growth of public celebrations and festivities took place. Traditional Spanish comedias, zarzuelas, and autos were quickly uprooted because new forms of theater and music were elevated that better reflected the prestige of the Bourbon Crown which expressed their more secular views80. The metamorphosis from a Spanish national style represented by the traditional writers like Lope,Tirso, and Calderón to a French national style might have meant a change to popular French writers such as Molière or Racine. Indeed, the end of the Habsburg line in Spain and the turbulent arrival of the Bourbon monarchy thoroughly changed the pattern of patronage and patrons since interest in traditional Spanish entertainment waned81. Surprisingly, though, the new artistic trend was not French but Italian. Philip V and his queen, María Luisa of Savoy, who believed traditional Spanish and French dramas expressed stodgy and out of date themes, looked to other genres to express their views. Since the King and Queen spent an extended period of time in two significant Italian opera centers, Naples and Milan, they developed a love of Italian music, even attending operas by Scarlatti. Just after their arrival in Madrid, a wave of Italian writers, actors, musicians, singers, and composers came to the capital. It was only a matter of time before Italians made their way to Lima where, after 1703, lyrical theatrical works

79

Hesse, 1955, p. 12. Hesse, 1955, p. 18. 81 Stein, 1991, p. 330. 80

Gasta.indd 118

01/07/2014 18:22:47

OPERA IN THE CITY OF KINGS

119

in the style of Italian opera would be implemented82. The merging of these political and aesthetic happenings meant that musical productions would be ideologically marked, reflecting the likes, dislikes, concerns, and influences of the new French monarchy. Whereas the French court dictated style and fashion in the arts and culture in Madrid, it was much harder to do so in the colonies where local established customs such as Spanish theater, dance, and popular song continued to appeal to the common people83. Torrejón’s opera, however, was staged at least a year before much of these aesthetic evolutions took place, therefore maintaining many of the intricacies of Spain’s own lyrical traditions. In fact, Stein views La púrpura de la rosa as a distinctly Hispanic opera in both music and text as well as in purpose since, like other European operas during the period, it was performed for a specific political directive84. Similarly, Stevenson has written that the «Spanish School», presumably led by Calderón, had already developed its own structural devices and emotion-producing formulas and was unique in its ability to balance spectacle and action, group singing and solos, heroic deeds and comic actions85. These advances eventually were overshadowed, then nearly eliminated, with the ascent of the Bourbons, making La púrpura de la rosa tremendously noteworthy as one of the last surviving works that exhibits many of the structural and thematic devices specific to early Spanish opera. This also means that Torrejón’s work closely resembles its original source, Calderón. Torrejón departed Spain in 1667, and it is difficult to gauge his knowledge of opera’s development in Europe after that point. If he did witness the two 1660 Calderonian operas, he saw them only once making it unlikely he would remember much. Nonetheless, forty years later he would have recalled that Calderón’s operas were completely sung, a form of recitative was used throughout, and Hidalgo was the composer. He may have also remembered some of the staging, stage sets, that actresses probably performed many of the roles, and that he was experiencing something truly groundbreaking. In Lima, he may

82 Stevenson believes that Italian opera «invaded» Spain around 1703. Five years later (1708), the first opera with music by an Italian composer was produced in Peru, thereby displacing traditional Spanish court entertainment (1959a, p. 135). 83 Mendoza de Arce, 2001, p. 199. 84 Stein, 2008, p. 442. 85 Stevenson, 1959a, p. 135.

Gasta.indd 119

01/07/2014 18:22:47

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

120

have had the added fortune of studying Calderón’s original text since its publication in Tercera parte de las comedias de Calderón by Juan Vera Tassis y Villarroel in 168786. Indeed, Cardona, Cruickshank, and Cunningham hold that there is little doubt that the Vera Tassis edition was used by Torrejón and believe that the Lima copy is mostly faithful to the Vera text but that Torrejón changed the placement or order of nouns and adjectives, modernized the spelling of certain words, and substituted words or whole verses87. These modifications were generally to accommodate the music he was writing, since the Calderón/Hidalgo score was lost88. All of this points to some sort of recollection of the ground-breaking operas from 1660, but also signals Torrejón’s profound understanding of what was required to write an opera since some of the textual alterations were carried out in order to better match the new musical score with the existing libretto89. It was not at all surprising that Calderón’s original text existed while the music did not; in Early Modern Europe the great dramatists and opera composers often had their texts purchased, collected, and even dispersed far and wide, but musicians rarely had an audience for their musical scores. As a result, few scores survived past their original performance. Torrejón was under great pressure to exhibit his extraordinary talent in a work of admiration demanded by the Viceroy, but remain faithful to Lima’s preferences for traditional Spanish writers like Calderón. As Louise Stein and José Máximo Leza report, La púrpura de la rosa represents both customary Spanish theatrical tradition and the new musical culture imported to New World viceregal courts by aristocrats arriving from Madrid90. Under these circumstances, choosing La púrpura de la rosa for opera’s initiation made sense as it was originally written by Calderón—the playwright synonymous with traditional Spanish tastes 86

The National Library of Lima also holds an imprint of Lope de Vega’s opera, La selva sin amor, published in 1630 by Lope himself as part of Laurel de Apolo, con otras rimas, but it is unclear when that manuscript arrived in Lima and whether or not Torrejón would have had access to it during his lifetime. It is quite possible the National Library came to hold the manuscript well after the period in question. Even if he did consult Lope’s manuscript, it does not appear that he took much from it. 87 Cardona, Cruickshank, and Cunningham, 1990. 88 Cardona, Cruickshank and Cunningham, 1990. 89 Cardona, Cruickshank and Cunningham, 1990, pp. 307-308. 90 Stein and Máximo Leza, 2009, p. 245.

Gasta.indd 120

01/07/2014 18:22:47

OPERA IN THE CITY OF KINGS

121

whose first opera undoubtedly would satisfy the Viceroy’s request for something unique91. Calderón, long a theatrical innovator, spent the better part of the last thirty years of his life writing zarzuelas, lyrical dramas presented for the nobility at the Zarzuela hunting lodge of Philip IV.Torrejón may have been witness to some of these works while in the protection of the Count of Lemos and before embarking for the New World. When Calderón was commissioned to write a fully sung theatrical work to be performed in honor of Spain’s Treaty of the Pyrenees with France and the marriage between Spanish Princess María Teresa to France’s Louis XIV, he was faced with several key dilemmas that are not unlike the situation in which Torrejón found himself. First, Calderón’s opera was moved from the Zarzuela lodge to the stage in the Retiro Park, and attendance was now open to a general public. This general audience, composed of everyday citizens, signaled that the radical departure from the customary action-filled comedias to a fully-sung representation might lead to public disapproval. In Calderón’s 1660 loa, the allegorical character Tristeza (Sadness) confirms an awareness of the dangers of presenting an untested musical genre: «¿No mira cuánto se arriesga / en que cólera española / sufra toda una comedia / cantada?»92. («Can’t you see how much / Spanish anger you risk / by making them suffer a sung / comedy?»). Calderón anticipates his audience’s reaction and provides a response meant to deflect public disfavor. He puts in the mouth of Vulgo, the character most associated with interest and opinion, the suggestion that it is just a «small» presentation: «No lo será, / sino sola una pequeña / representación (...)»93. («It will only be / a small presentation»).Vulgo’s remarks suggest that Calderón is intentionally downplaying his work as an «insignificant one», in order to ward off public disapproval and act as if his experiment was really no big deal at all. Years earlier Calderón used a similar tactic in the loa to El laurel de Apolo (1657), a work that featured sung parts: «No es comedia, sino solo / Una fábula pequeña / En que, á imitación de Italia, / Se canta y se representa»94 («It is not a comedy but rather / a short fable / that is sung 91

Stein claims Montclova himself selected Calderón’s opera and requested that Torrejón rearrange and produce it. He chose the opera because of its peaceful message and because it was used previously in honor of Franco-Spanish alliances (1999, p. 14). 92 Torrejón y Velasco, La púrpura de la rosa, vv. 429-432. 93 Torrejón y Velasco, La púrpura de la rosa, vv. 433-435. 94 Calderón de la Barca, El laurel de Apolo. p. 144.

Gasta.indd 121

01/07/2014 18:22:47

122

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

and acted / in imitation of Italy»). Nonetheless, Calderón’s production was a very important event. After the closure of the theaters for two years, his opera was ordered in honor of a major halt in hostilities with France and, even more importantly, the marriage that sent the beloved princess to Spain’s archrival, Louis XIV. Audience members included both lower classes and nobility; Calderón was saddled with the unenviable task of pleasing both groups, communicating the royal memorandum that the treaty and marriage were good for Spain, all while providing extraordinary entertainment. The playwright surely understood the inherent risk of failure in producing this type of musical genre. However, he likewise understood that there was also a risk if he did not attempt new imaginative techniques and genres in an effort to keep the stage fresh and interesting. For all of his good intentions, however, this new musical-dramatic experiment probably pleased few—maybe that is why he made the opera only one act (in the zarzuela tradition) instead of the customary two or three of most operas in Italy. Fast forward forty years to Lima where Torrejón, in the wake of economic depressions and cycles of impoverishment, finds himself funded for a grand public spectacle ordered in honor of a French King. The rivalry between Spain and France, symbolized now in a war of succession, is at the forefront of everyday life, and, on top of that, New World citizens are told to honor Charles II’s final testament and ally with the French as Philip V comes to the throne. Ultimately, the decision of the Viceroy was a good one as Philip V eventually maintained his hold on the Spanish crown. Until that point Torrejón becomes the Viceroy’s ideological messenger. To choose opera, a fully sung dramatic genre, when none had ever been attempted in the New World, was a bold answer to a significant problem within a politically charged atmosphere. On closer inspection, however, opera had always been an unusual genre in that it was more adept at imposing certain viewpoints than music or drama alone. It has been shown, for example, that music produces powerful effects on people, but it is nearly impossible to scientifically explain precisely how this process functions or provide any sort of mathematical measure of it. When music is combined with dramatic action, the effect is heightened. In Thomson’s seminal study of propaganda, ideology, and persuasion, the author lists visual arts, music, and the literary such as poetry or drama as three components especially useful in communicating

Gasta.indd 122

01/07/2014 18:22:47

OPERA IN THE CITY OF KINGS

123

a particular ideology95. Opera was a combination of exactly that: poetic text and dramatic action supported by music and song. Through representational means, opera negotiates between the nature of the theater, the social aspects from which the opera has been created, and the audience’s appreciation for aesthetics. In La púrpura de la rosa, for instance, the unusual, but unique, arrangement of visual stimuli, aural sensations, and sung verse enhanced audience participation and constructed an ambiance within which court ideology could be effectively transferred. Therefore, fully sung dramatic theater may seem such an odd choice for the moment, and Torrejón, like Calderón before him, must have been keenly aware of how opera can effectively take drama and music to an unprecedented level. After all, what differentiated Calderón’s first opera from other earlier musical dramas—and which certainly impacted Torrejón—is the fact that it was totally sung accompanied by music, «que ha de ser / toda música»96 («it has to be / all in music»). For his part, Calderón went to great lengths to include devices specific to seventeenth-century opera— airs, recitative, choruses (in duos or trios), and dances—and most of these were resourceful elements that did not exist in earlier Spanish lyrical dramas, including Lope’s La selva sin amor97. Since its perfection in the first years of the seventeenth century in Florence, recitative was meant to be naturally persuasive since it was seen as a break from vocal perfection in order to tell a portion of the plotline in a clearly enunciated form98. Whereas arias and similar voice parts were beautiful, but difficult to understand, recitative was functional and easy to follow because it adopted the rhythms of ordinary speech. Calderón’s own stage directions for the main opera explicitly indicate his desire that parts of the story be told in recitative: «Van saliendo Flora, Cintia, Clori, Libia, cada una de por sí, cantando en estilo recitative»99 («Flora, 95

Thomson, 1999, pp. 13-14. Calderón de la Barca, La púrpura de la rosa, vv. 425-426. 97 Stein, 1993, p. 138. 98 Although quite fashionable in Italy, recitative was not known in Spain before 1627. The first appearance of recitative was due to the king’s Italian stage engineer, Baccio del Bianco, and the papal legate to Madrid, Giulio Rospigliosi, a well known poet and opera librettist. According to Baccio’s letters, the Spaniards knew nothing of recitative and were skeptical about its use (Stein, 1990, pp. 327-329). See also Cotarelo y Mori for background on recitative in the Spanish musical drama (1934, pp. 43-53). 99 Calderón de la Barca, La púrpura de la rosa, v. 166. 96

Gasta.indd 123

01/07/2014 18:22:47

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

124

Cynthia, Cloris and Libya enter the stage, one by one, singing in recitative style»). Calderón likewise put to use mechanisms that had similar counterparts in Italian opera, but were certainly Spanish. Like Calderón’s opera, Torrejón employed strophic coplas (short songs, generally of one stanza) marked by estribillos (refrains) and dances. On the other hand, with Hidalgo’s original score lost and Torrejón forced to compose a new one, he made some significant changes. First among these was his rejection of recitative in favor of the melodic arioso (also called «tono humano»), a solo voice part that expressed natural speech and which was very similar to recitative. The ariosos were generally utilized to connect the tonadas, repeated solo parts which were sung at dramatic points that highlighted the strong vocal performance of particular singers, strikingly similar to the Italian aria. However, since Torrejón had little or no knowledge of these Italian devices, he reverted to his training in Spain and repeated the tonadas and ariosos throughout.The repetition of stanzas of music was considered the style of the day. According to Renaissance musical theory, without repetition, musical forms could only be contemplated once and spectators thus were not able to fully grasp their sensual appeal100. In Torrejón’s hands, though, the tonada and the arioso differed due to their structure, not style, and their use throughout La púrpura de la rosa was based upon Torrejón conscious decision to repeat portions of the opera101. Musical devices such as the arioso and tonadas may have been similar to Italian opera, but were no doubt Spanish in origin. They had very specific roles in Calderonian opera: In the Calderonian system, the mortals (unenlightened, powerless, and dependent on the will of the gods) cannot understand the recitative speechsong of the gods, so that the tonada (a song-type related to popular song and characterized by a memorable, repetitive melody) and not recitative was usually employed when the gods sang to the mortals. The use of the tonada for divine ‘persuasion’ became conventional in Spanish court plays (...)102.

100

Stein, 1999, p. 12. Cardona, Cruickshank, and Cunningham, 1990, pp. 312-314. Most agree that the terms recitative and arias can be broadly applied to both versions of the opera, while Cardona, Cruickshank, and Cunningham have argued for specific use of the terms arioso and tonada. See their discussion on the reasons for this determination (1990, pp. 309-315). 102 Stein, 1990, p. 138. 101

Gasta.indd 124

01/07/2014 18:22:47

OPERA IN THE CITY OF KINGS

125

Calderón therefore reserved use of the tonada for the singing part of the gods, which distinguishes La púrpura from French and Italian opera or from earlier attempts at musical drama in Spain such as Lope’s La selva sin amor103. With respect to Torrejón, recitative and monody were sung in Lima as early as 1672, first in the religious drama commissioned by the Count of Lemos, El arca de Noé, then as part of the Jesuits’ brief public «coloquio de música recitativa» («colloquium in recitative music»).Torrejón may have composed the music for both104 since, as Stevenson argues, Torrejón was the first to employ recitative recurrently. After his death in 1728 Roque Ceruti, an Italian-born composer, began employing Neapolitan recitativo secco to such a degree that he single-handedly wiped out Torrejón’s more narrative style105. In fact, it is generally believed that Ceruti’s arrival to Lima in 1708 marks the beginning of Italian opera’s prominence and Spanish opera’s demise106. However, Ceruti, a pupil of the Neapolitan School, was witness to advancements in opera that Torrejón never came to know. Hence, Ceruti used a variety of Italian opera devices such as arias that simply were not a part of Spanish genre during the seventeenth century. Other stylistic elements of earlier Spanish opera also present in Torrejón’s were the lack of numeric divisions and the use of ritornellos that identified each character107. Consequently, the singing devices used in Calderonian system of opera are reaffirmed by Torrejón in his 1701 La púrpura de la rosa demonstrating that at least musically Torrejón did not stray much from his source material. Both composers also saw opera as an opportunity to outdo political and aesthetic rivals. In Calderón’s case, Spain may have seen political, economic, and military decadence set in, but aesthetically, it was still the most significant country in the world. In his 1660 loa, Calderón indicates his intentions of surpassing other countries through the staging of a totally sung musical work: [...] que ha de ser toda música, que intenta

103

Stein, 1990, p. 138. Lohmann Villena, 1945, pp. 276-277; Béhague, 1979, p. 63; Mendoza de Arce, 2001, p. 194. 105 Stevenson, 1959a, pp. 86-87. 106 Estenssoro, 1989, p. 42. 107 Estenssoro, 1989, p. 42. 104

Gasta.indd 125

01/07/2014 18:22:47

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

126

introducir este estilo porque otras naciones vean competidos sus primores108. [...] it has to be all in music which endeavors to introduce this style so that other nations will see its competitive miracles.

For Calderón, Spain could compensate for its failing military prowess by outdoing France with its brilliance and originality in operatic celebration. If successful, then Calderón’s two opera experiments from 1660 would confirm that Spain was still, at the very minimum, an artistic power. At the same time, he is admitting to his audience that he is installing a new aesthetic foundation for drama, moving away from the comedia or auto sacramental, toward lyrical works. The 1660 production of La púrpura de la rosa, coupled with Calderón’s second opera from the same year, Celos aun del aire matan, seemed destined, if successful, to concretize opera in Spain, even if that was not Calderón’s main goal. Success was modest, however, and Spain would not see another original attempt at opera until well into the eighteenth century. Similarly, Torrejón saw opera as an unprecedented opportunity to show his worth. He had already established a reputation for groundbreaking musical compositions that featured complex polychoral singing. He likewise achieved a solid reputation throughout the New World where several cathedrals requested his religious pieces. His La púrpura de la rosa highlighted some of those earlier advances, but he may also have seen the occasion as an unprecedented opportunity to move beyond musical compositions and into dramatic creation. We must remember that Torrejón was an organist and composer. He was not a playwright. By choosing Calderón’s libretto for his own opera, he reduced the problems associated with dramatic action and characterization, but he still had to set the story to music, oversee the building of stage sets and the design of costumes, and train singers and musicians. Some of these responsibilities may have been under the supervision of the Viceroy, but there is no doubt that Torrejón’s personal involvement must have been decisive. 108

Gasta.indd 126

Calderón de la Barca, La púrpura de la rosa, vv. 425-428.

01/07/2014 18:22:47

OPERA IN THE CITY OF KINGS

127

He was venturing into uncharted territory not just in choice of genre, but also in managing an event of this magnitude for an audience as illustrious as Lima’s elites. The stakes could not have been higher both personally and professionally. IDEOLOGY AND PERSUASION IN TORREJÓN’S LOA TO LA PÚRPURA DE LA ROSA Torrejón’s loa is an explicit glorification of the new Bourbon monarchy, its claim to Spain’s throne, and praise for the French King, Philip V. Implicitly, however, Torrejón also attempts to position himself as a leading musician and composer despite the troublesome economic and political environment of the Viceroyalty caused partly by the monarchical changes taking place. Given Lima’s difficult and complex political, social, and economic climate there were serious consequences for Torrejón’s opera if the composer was unable to effectively favor an unproven monarchy while the War of Succession endures (and which may yield a different king). It is nonetheless very difficult to estimate the success of this new musical invention. Eyewitness accounts or historical documentation of the events are limited. We know that the opera was no doubt extensive in terms of its production length—probably over five hours109. Moreover, Torrejón’s choice of Calderón’s libretto inevitably exploits the often-tedious mythological story of Venus and Adonis as the basis for most of the performance. Nonetheless, opera, regardless of the theme, was still not a publicly viable alternative to popular, established forms of court entertainment, nor had it any serious precursors in Lima up to that point. While Torrejón did not substantially change Calderón’s main libretto, he greatly reworked the loa to better reflect the political issues in Peru during the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. The remainder of this chapter will focus on those changes and the meanings concealed within them110.

109 Stevenson suggests that if Calderón’s La fiera, el rayo y la piedra (1652) took seven hours to perform La púrpura de la rosa, with roughly half the lines, must have taken over five (1959b, p. 14) 110 The author of the loa text is unknown. It may be Torrejón himself or Stevenson who initially suggested it could be Pedro José Bermúdez de la Torre y Solier, an attorney and poet in Lima (1973, p. 92). Cardona, Cruickshank, and

Gasta.indd 127

01/07/2014 18:22:48

128

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

With only 64 verses,Torrejón’s loa is quite brief when one compares it to Calderón’s original, itself fairly short (502 verses). This offers a rather limited scope for study111. But, despite its brevity, the loa is laden with symbolic and ideological meaning. Taking on the difficult charge of adapting Calderón’s libretto without Hidalgo’s musical score, Torrejón was also interested in showing himself to be more than just a Chapel Master and musician. He was fully aware of the consequences and opportunities provided by the celebration. Composing an opera was hard enough, but the second phase—that of actually staging it—was even more difficult in this case given that so many diverse venues and dissimilar audiences were involved. He nonetheless believed such a challenge was worthwhile, even with an unproven genre. Like Calderón before him,Torrejón saw himself as a trendsetter with an unprecedented opportunity to move beyond the limits of cathedral music and enter the realm of popular dramatic presentation. If successful, he might establish opera in Lima, enhance public spending on the arts, and improve his own financial and political position. The loa is set at Mount Olympus, the heavenly retreat of the gods, where the nine muses have descended to the temple of Apollo to witness a new star in the distance, meant to symbolize the rise of Philip V’s reign. According to classical tradition, during Apollo’s musical performances he was accompanied by the «Mousai», nine goddesses who presided over music, dance, and song, and who served as a source of inspiration for poets and artists112. Three of these muses make their appearance in the loa: Calliope, the oldest and leader is the muse of eloCunningham do not rule out this possibility but note that there is an absence of definitive proof (1990, p. 491). 111 Cardona, Cruickshank, and Cunningham believe it is likely that only three quarters of the loa survived to the present, and that perhaps as much as one page (20-24 verses) is missing from the manuscript (1990, p. 496). Nonetheless, even if we count those 20-24 verses in the overall tally, Torrejón’s loa is still quite brief in comparison to Calderón’s. 112 Seemann explains the origins of the Nine Muses: «After the defeat of the Titans, the celestials besought Zeus to create some beings who might perpetuate in song the mighty deeds of the gods. In answer to this prayer, Zeus begot with Mnemosyne (Memory) the nine Muses. They sing of the present, the past, and the future, while Apollo’s lute accompanies their sweet strains, which gladden the hearts of the gods as they sit assembled in the lofty palace of Father Zeus, in Olympus. [...] Originally the Muses were only goddesses of song, thought they are sometimes represented with instruments and vases. In early times, too, they only appear as a

Gasta.indd 128

01/07/2014 18:22:48

OPERA IN THE CITY OF KINGS

129

quence and epic poetry; Terpsichore is the muse of dance and choral song; and Urania is the muse of astronomy113. A chorus opens the loa pleading for a respite from the day so that the audience may take notice of their song: CORO

¡Ha del coro de las nueve ninfas!, cuya dulce voz es el oido y al gusto armónica suspension114.

chorus or company, but at a later period separate functions were assigned to each, as presiding over this or that branch or art» (1880, p. 93). 113 Of all the mythological deities in Olympus, the muses are among the most distinguished because they possessed the divine ability to inspire poets and musicians (such as Torrejón). As time went on, the muses were assigned other responsibilities such as the arts and sciences, and poetry, and astronomy (Berens, 1979, p. 157). Calliope is derived from the Greek words «kallos» and «ops», meaning «beautiful-voiced»; Terpsichore means «delighting in dance», derived from «terpsis» and «khoros»; Urania means «heavenly one». The other six muses are Clio, derived from the Greek verb kleô, «to make famous» or «celebrate», and was the muse of history; Euterpe, derived from the Greek words eu- and terpô, meaning «giver of much delight», was the muse of harmony or lyric poetry; Erato, «the lovely» or «beloved» from the Greek word eratos was the muse of love and erotic poetry normally represented holding a lyre; Melpomene, derived from the Greek verb melpô or melpomai meaning «to celebrate with dance and song», was the muse of tragedy and elegy; Polyhymnia, the muse of sacred heroic hymns and mimetic art derived her name from the Greek words poly-, «many», and hymnos, «praise» or «hymn»; and Thalia, the muse of festivity and comedy, is also an adjective form describing rich, luxuriant and abundant festivities. In the analysis of the Torrejón’s loa, the English usage of these figures (i.e., Calliope instead of Calíope, etc.) will be followed unless quoted directly from the text. 114 Torrejón y Velasco, La púrpura de la rosa, p. 44. Citations from Torrejón’s La púrpura de la rosa are taken from the recording edition of Louise Stein (1999) who has modernized spelling and accentuation. Page numbers from the libretto will be cited as this edition has no verse numbers. Closely following Torrejón’s original manuscript, the Cardona, Cruickshank, and Cunningham edition has maintained the original Spanish («q» = «que»; «q.n» = «quien»; «qto» = «quinto»; «perfecc.on» = «perfección»; «nro» = «nuestro»; «porq» = «porque») and does not assign singing parts when the manuscript refers to «voz sola», «duo», or «a cuatro». Stein’s edition, however, does an excellent job making sense out of this confusion by assigning the solo parts to a single character, the duos to two muses, and plural singing parts to the choir. She also introduces «El Tiempo» (Father Time) and «España» (Spain), characters that seem to have singing parts as per the text itself, but which are not specifically labeled in the original manuscript. These adaptations were no doubt

Gasta.indd 129

01/07/2014 18:22:48

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

130

CHORUS

Hark to the choir of the nine nymphs!, whose sweet voices offer harmonious suspension to the ear and the senses.

An audience expecting a dramatic work would have been disappointed. Through the harmony of the muses, spectators are made aware from the first instant that the work in progress is different from the traditional dramas normally staged for public consumption. That music will be central to the entire work is highlighted when the chorus announces that the musical cult of Apollo will be the central characteristic of the work in progress: CORO

los velos corred al templo de Apolo veréis la atención con que Urania consagra a su culto cuanto al compás y a la esfera debió115.

CHORUS

remove the veil that covers the temple of Apollo and you will see the concentration which Urania devotes her cult, both to music and to the spheres

Since the loa’s main theme, which is revealed shortly after, is the adoration of Spain’s heroic past under the Habsburgs alongside the glorious future of the combined Spanish and French monarchy of the Bourbons, it makes sense that Calliope, the muse of heroic and epic poetry, is the

motivated by the need to understand Torrejón’s manuscript for recording purposes, but the assignment of singing roles and the alternation of solos and choruses with the refrain is very similar to other loas of the period. This is also true of her choice of character insertions that are similar to other seventeenth-century allegorical and mythological plays. 115 Torrejón y Velasco, La púrpura de la rosa, p. 44.

Gasta.indd 130

01/07/2014 18:22:48

OPERA IN THE CITY OF KINGS

131

most prominent character in the work. Calliope shares or possesses the vast majority of the singing parts, a fact that signifies that Torrejón held in high regard her role as muse of poetry and eloquence. She is also leader of the other muses: CALIOPE

Ya del monte en que habita dejando el esplendor del templo a los umbrales Caliope su influjo destinó116.

CALLIOPE

Leaving the splendour of the mountain where she lives, Calliope was directed by your influence to the threshold of the temple.

For Lima’s elite, the appearance of Calliope might also bring to mind her mythological prominence: she was the mother of Orpheus, the bard of Thrace from Ovid’s Metamorphoses, who was the inventor and protector of the classical lyre, the musical instrument that Calliope normally carried. Through the beauty of his music, Orpheus charmed wild animals, animated trees and rocks, and diverted the course of rivers. More relevant to this discussion, however, is that Orpheus was also the subject of one of the very first operas, Monteverdi’s La favola d’Orfeo from 1607. Monteverdi, the composer of madrigals and religious polyphony in Mantua, moved beyond cathedral music to opera just as Torrejón had done. Monteverdi was also one of the first to perfect the recitative style, one of the cornerstones of opera in general. To what extent Torrejón knew of these connections to his precursor is unknown, but their associations to his own opera are likely not fortuitous. The announcement and presence of the two muses is followed by the invocation of a third,Terpsichore, who sings that she too will join in the harmonious chorus that will honor the new monarchy: TERPSICORE

116

Gasta.indd 131

Ya de la cumbre sacra pináculo del sol

Torrejón y Velasco, La púrpura de la rosa, p. 44.

01/07/2014 18:22:48

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

132

CORO TERPSICHORE

CHORUS

la activa cumbre deja Tersicore al impulso de tu voz. ¡Ha del coro de las nueve ninfas!117 Down from the sacred summit, pinnacle of the sun, Terpischore leaves the proud heights at the invitation of your voice Hark to the choir of the nine nymphs!

It readily becomes apparent that these three muses deliberately were chosen for their divine abilities to inspire poets and musicians, especially since the remaining muses typically were not related to music or song118. In the loa, they also serve to introduce the harmonious setting of Apollo’s temple: CAL. Y TERP.

CORO CAL. Y TERP.

CORO

Pues al descender al templo, sacra víctima formó de los aromas de oriente nuestra humilde adoración. ¡Ha del coro de las nueve ninfas! ... ¡Ha del sagrado templo!, cuyo retiro halló Urania tan propicio que la sombra reduce a resplandor ¡Ha del coro de las nueve ninfas!119

117

Torrejón y Velasco, La púrpura de la rosa, p. 44. As far as I can tell there has been only one other work that is known to present Apollo, Terpsichore, and Calliope together: Igor Stravinsky’s 1928 ballet, Apollon Musagete, also known as Apollo. Stravinsky’s composition lasted less than thirty minutes and required less than six dancers. Many of the elements associated with Apollo made their way into Stravinsky’s interpretation of the mythological figures: «Apollo wore a pink tunic and golden shoes, and the action was set before a large mountain poised against a turquoise sky from which—for the apotheosis— a many-colored chariot descended to take the god to Olympus» (New York Public Library, 1962, p. 51). 119 Torrejón y Velasco, La púrpura de la rosa, p. 44. 118

Gasta.indd 132

01/07/2014 18:22:48

OPERA IN THE CITY OF KINGS

CAL. & TERP.

CHORUS CAL. & TERP.

CHORUS

133

Upon descending to the temple, our humble adoration made an offering of the perfumes of the East. Hark to the choir of the nine nymphs! Hail the sacred temple!, Whose retreat Urania found so propitious, for its shadows recede into brilliance Hark to the choir of the nine nymphs!

Although Apollo does not appear in the opera, his absence is actually a form of presence since he is the object of adoration throughout the loa. In mythology, Apollo was the god of light, prophecy, music, poetry, and the sciences. He was often worshiped for his divine ability to spread prosperity and cultivate knowledge among humankind as well as for his extraordinary ability to bring health. Other writers, poets, artists, and musicians generally represented the god as being forever youthful and graceful: [...] his countenance, glowing with joyous life, is the embodiment of immortal beauty; his eyes are of a deep blue; his forehead low, but broad and intellectual; his hair, which falls over his shoulders in long waving locks, is of a golden, or warm chestnut hue. He is crowned with laurel, and wears a purple robe; in his hand he bears his silver bow, which is unbent when he smiles, but ready for use when he menaces evil-doers120.

Apollo was the heavenly musician of the gods and patron of the arts who found inspiration in the light of heaven. His forever youthful and graceful countenance is presented as a mirror image of the young and beautiful eighteen-year-old Philip V. The new King, like Apollo, is the benefactor and patron of the arts across the Spanish empire. This sort of comparison was not uncommon in Spanish literature of the period. In The Play of Power: Mythological Court Dramas of Pedro Calderón de la Barca, Margaret R. Greer shows that in Calderónian theater Apollo is often invoked as a comparison to Spain’s monarch121.There is little doubt that

120 121

Gasta.indd 133

Berens, 1979, pp. 73-74. Greer, 1991.

01/07/2014 18:22:48

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

134

Torrejón, basing his own loa on Calderónian tradition, also set out to make direct associations and comparisons between Apollo and the new King. If Apollo is to be taken for Philip V, then his temple is to be understood as the new King’s court. In Greek mythology Apollo attained his greatest importance as the god of prophecy whose all-knowing oracles at the Delphi Temple influenced social and political life throughout time as foreign kings and philosophers conferred with the temple and relayed its teachings to their people122. In the quote above, Calliope and Terpsichore compare the serenity of Olympus with the tranquility of Philip V’s monarchy. On the one hand, it is a place of knowledge, beauty, and artistic creation. On the other hand, Philip V’s court is the locus of prestige, wisdom, and strength. The structured relationship between Apollo’s temple and the Philip V’s court further is compared as Calliope and Terpischore suggest that under the new King, the shadows will recede and a brilliant new light will shine. At this point, the muses have vacated the peaceful security of the past as symbolized by Mount Olympus to descend to the throne of Apollo where they may consult the oracles and look to the future. Their song makes clear that the Peruvians should do the same by collectively embracing the idealized «aromas del oriente»123—the spirit of the East—represented by the newly associated strength of France and Spain.This departure implies the rejection of a past marked by SpanishFrench hostilities in order to share in the new glory of Philip V’s peaceful monarchy. Such a rejection also signals future greatness and virtue for Peru and the rest of the Hispanic empire under the Bourbons. It is at this point that Urania’s participation is elicited through the song of the others. She is introduced by the chorus and enters the stage carrying her symbols, the compass and the celestial globe:

122

The throne of Apollo at Delphi was the most magnificent of all his temples. Kings and commoners traveled great distances to offer treasures and riches to the temple, hoping to receive favorable replies from the oracle.The Greeks believed that Apollo’s temple was the center of the earth because two eagles sent forth by Zeus, one from the east and another from the west, were said to have arrived there at the same moment. Apollo’s other temples were at Clarus near Colophon, Didyma near Miletus, and Ismenus near Thebes. 123 Torrejón y Velasco, La púrpura de la rosa, p. 44.

Gasta.indd 134

01/07/2014 18:22:48

OPERA IN THE CITY OF KINGS

URANIA

135

¿Quién hace a mis inquietudes la injuria de que yo divierta la tarde que, peregrina, imprime mi atención?124 Who so disturbs my inquiries that I must be distracted from the objects whose perpetual motion focuses my attention?

Urania, the inventor and muse of dance, carried a lyre and was also the muse of astronomy. She was even considered the muse of poetry by later writers such as Milton who invoked her in Paradise Lost (1667)125. Typically, Urania is depicted carrying the globe and a compass, and it was said that she could foretell the future by the position of the stars. These attributes have both real and figurative value for many spectators who would have arrived safely to the New World via dangerous transoceanic travel. These attributes represent the heavens—the vast expanse of stars, which were said to be the map by which sailors found their destinations—as well as contemporary advancements in navigational tools so important to safe passages abroad. Urania plainly speaks to «objects in perpetual motion», no doubt a reference to Earth, which, for these audiences, refers to both the journey to the New World as well as the boundless Spanish empire on which the «sun never sets», following the Italian poet Torquato Tasso126. Urania dons a crown of laurel, the roman emblem of victory, signaling the triumph of the new Franco-Spanish alliance. If the crown of laurel was indeed to denote the victory of Philip V over the Habsburg competitor for the Spanish throne, it was certainly too early for either Torrejón or the Viceroy to make that determination. Charles II died without an heir to the throne in 1700. In the weeks leading up to his death, the King proclaimed France’s Philip of Anjou as his successor. Philip was the grandson of Louis XIV and Spanish Princess María 124

Torrejón y Velasco, La púrpura de la rosa, p. 44. Zimmerman, 1964, p. 284. 126 In 1700, despite having lost a number of territories during the previous one hundred years, Spain’s global empire still stretched from Europe down to Africa to Goa and Malacca, then to Macao and the Philippines, the Americas and back to Spain, a true circumnavigation of the earth. 125

Gasta.indd 135

01/07/2014 18:22:48

136

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

Teresa whose own wedding was the motivation for Calderón’s 1660 opera. While Philip’s father, Louis, the Grand Dauphin, had the strongest hereditary claim to Spain’s crown, he could not be displaced from his place in the succession to France’s crown. Instead, Charles II settled on Louis’ son, Philip. At the same time, the Austrian branch of the Habsburgs strongly insisted that their own candidate, Archduke Charles of Austria (baptized Carolus Franciscus Josephus Wenceslaus Balthasar Johannes Antonius Ignatius), be granted the throne of Spain. The English, Dutch, and Portuguese quickly supported the Archduke believing that an Austrian King might balance the power France already possessed in Europe and the Atlantic World. It was also thought that the Austrian’s ascension would put a stop to any potential for a combined France and Spain under one Bourbon King, though such a perceived threat was not much of a reality. Most of Spain and its colonies enthusiastically received the Bourbon dynasty, except the Catalans who opposed it. As a result, Charles set up his capital in Barcelona from which he carried out the War of Succession against Philip V and his supporters. The first two years of the conflict, however, far from solidified the Bourbons’ right to Spain as France suffered several defeats that only emboldened Archduke Charles. Matters became significantly less clear when Charles was named Holy Roman Emperor in 1708 upon the death of his older brother Joseph. At that point, some of his supporters became equally wary of a potential union between Spain and the Holy Roman Empire. The conflict would not end until the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht whereby Philip V retained the crown of Spain but vacated his claim to the French line of succession, thereby eliminating the possibility of a full union between France and Spain. The treaty would have immense implications for all of Europe as England retained Gibraltar, and Austria took over Spain’s Italian and Dutch territories. With so much insecurity in the Spanish and French sphere of influence, it was quite a gamble for the Viceroy to commit to the Bourbons in the early days of the war. But the Viceroy was quite an adept politician and clearly understood the political landscape. He fulfilled his duties as a loyal servant of the governing monarchy in Madrid by commissioning the opera anyway, and it was presented to a special audience on a makeshift portable stage within palace walls. It is possible that initially the Viceroy consciously limited both the audience and the venue in order to best control the transmission of his allegiance to the Bourbons. Using the viceregal palace was one such technique to ma-

Gasta.indd 136

01/07/2014 18:22:48

OPERA IN THE CITY OF KINGS

137

nipulate the unfolding events. José Antonio Rodríguez-Garrido makes clear that stagings within the palace in Lima had great political impact and persuasive effect: «Los montajes en el patio (...) buscan además un poderoso efecto persuasivo en estrecha relación con condiciones históricas particulares y, por ello, tales representaciones obedecen a una meditada selección y se proponen como unidades de contenido que procuran impactar sobre sus múltiples espectadores»127 («The stage setup in the courtyard [...] also seeks to have a powerful persuasive effect in close relation to specific historical conditions and, therefore, such presentations are thoughtfully selected and offered as units of content that try to impact its varied spectators»). However, there may have been some reluctance on the part of the audience to even attend the performance of La púrpura de la rosa precisely because of its praise of the new monarchy. Several letters sent from Lima to Madrid just months after the original 1701 production register a series of complaints by city authorities who felt indignant about being forced by the Viceroy to attend public ceremonies they deemed «indecent». As Stein conjectures, their complaints might refer to the fact that Torrejón’s opera performance plainly honored the Bourbons. On the other hand, it is equally possible that their concerns were related to the erotic love themes of Venus and Adonis in the main opera text128. Nonetheless, the basic assertion of the opera—the resolution of conflict and the accompanying peace—had to balance the turmoil of military action with hoped-for pacification. Hence, the messages contained in the loa are not very subtle. In addition to explicit praises of Philip V, the rest of the verses clearly lead the audience to make associations between Philip V’s monarchy, his right to the throne, and the peace, stability, and prosperity such a rule will bring about. For these reasons, throughout the loa Philip V’s ultimate victory is seen as inevitable as well as a triumph and return of tranquility and economic affluence. Torrejón chose Calderón’s original opera because several comparative points exist between both texts and the contexts of their two works. Calderón’s original libretto of 1660 also was written in the shadow of a long war with France and celebrated the forthcoming peace. The playwright also sought to promote a similar unification of world powers. Despite widespread sentiment opposing the French, in 1659 Calderón 127 128

Gasta.indd 137

Rodríguez-Garrido, 2003, p. 198. Stein, 2001a, p. 92.

01/07/2014 18:22:48

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

138

was mindful that the audience would likely agree that war was tiring and peace was advantageous. As such, he understood that the risks of continuing the war with France were a possibility if the wedding union was voided for any reason. To take up this issue, he put forth Alegría, «Happiness», to sing about the utopian dream of peace and cohabitation of enemies: ¡O feliz edad, en que se cansó de ver la guerra en no opuestas voluntades las políticas opuestas!129 Oh what a happy age in which, opposing parties, without conflict grew tired of war!

Calderón’s opera suggested to its audience that the epoch of war has ended and a happy age now reigns, marked primarily by the love and reconciliation of the present marital union. The playwright’s strategy was to frame the events in a manner favorable to the crown and understandable to his audience. He emplots certain sentiments, uses historical figures and tropes, and puts to work great persuasive strategies. For example, in a lengthy passage, Sadness and Happiness—the sentiments that best mark popular feelings of capitulation and peace—declare that religion, faith, and prudence are the constituents of the trust and unity that have constructed the peace agreement and sustaining marriage: TRISTEZA.

ALEGRÍA. TRISTEZA.

129

Gasta.indd 138

...en orden a que de España y Francia las dos diademas, que ciñó de roble Marte, ciña de oliva Minerva,... ...siendo de la paz, bien como sacros Iris de la Iglesia,... eclesiástico y seglar los brazos que los sustentan. [...]

Calderón de la Barca, La púrpura de la rosa, vv. 160-163.

01/07/2014 18:22:49

OPERA IN THE CITY OF KINGS

ALEGRÍA. TRISTEZA. SADNESS

HAPPINESS SADNESS

HAPPINESS SADNESS

139

...de los dos polos de Europa la lealtad y la prudencia,... ...la religión y la fe a sus dos patrias atentas130. ...so that Spain and France, the two crowns who seized Mars’ oak now seize Minerva’s olive tree... ...since peace, like the holy Irises,... is supported by both the ecclesiastical and secular sides. [...] ...from the two poles of Europe, loyalty and prudence,... ...religion and faith are attentive to them both.

Here, specific terms formulate audience appreciation of how far Spain has come to become a peaceful and benevolent country, not one bent on waging war. Calderón’s chore was to harmonize opposing powers and make his audience believe in the integrity of the treaty and marriage processes. For that reason he relates peace with wisdom and love with religion. In the example above Happiness praises the two military powers for being «loyal» and «prudent» in their actions, but more importantly, they are to be commended for coming to terms on a mutually beneficial agreement that ended the war between them. Torrejón was burdened with a predicament similar to Calderón’s. The composer was to honor the Bourbons without criticizing the Habsburgs. He needed to find a way to show how the alliance of the two powers was natural, inevitable, and advantageous, one that the audience should embrace. In short, he was burdened with the obligation to construct a preferred vision of what was happening, to sow unification where perhaps there was none. To do so through musical theater, however, must have been challenging in terms of form as well as audience reception of content. Or, perhaps it was part of an elaborate distraction? 130

Gasta.indd 139

Calderón de la Barca, La púrpura de la rosa, vv. 144-152 and 156-159.

01/07/2014 18:22:49

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

140

Faced with a captive audience unaccustomed to opera or any sort of lyrical drama as complex or elaborate as this one,Torrejón believed music and song could effectively be used to foster a particular mood. After all, as Bowman indicates, music and singing were, since the Renaissance, exceptional mechanisms to bring about social cohesiveness: «music is a uniquely human and uniquely socializing force...its significance extends well beyond its patterns and structures...it is intimately bound up in issues of social relatedness, politics, and power»131. Hence, we find Calliope and Terpsichore declaring that the power of song will bring fame not only to this musical event but also to the reign of Philip V: CAL. Y TERP.

Todo el coro de las musas su influencia dedicó a dar asunto a la fama con la pluma y con la voz132.

CAL. & TERP.

All the choir of the Muses dedicated its influence to bring Fame to this event with pen and voices.

Why such a justification of genre was even necessary might seem inexplicable given that Torrejón was deliberately funded to bring a powerful spectacle to the stage. Perhaps the composer had in mind Calderón’s declaration of apprehension from his own 1660 loa, stating that introducing an entirely sung comedia might cause «Spanish anger» by unsuspecting spectators not accustomed to the genre133. Just as Calderón was aware of the dangers of presenting this new musical and dramatic form of theater, Torrejón recognized the difficulties of moving away from the traditional type of theater already known to audiences. Moreover, it is important to remember that the loa, as a prologue, was an apologetic genre in that it searches for audience assimilation by creating the right ambiance for the reception of the subsequent opera: «Es un género en cierto modo propedéutico en cuanto que sirve de introducción doctrinal o temática a una obra de mayor envergadura teatral, y es un género explícitamente apologético en cuanto intenta captar la aten131

Bowman, 1998, p. 352. Torrejón y Velasco, La púrpura de la rosa, p. 46. 133 Calderón de la Barca, La púrpura de la rosa, vv. 425-432. 132

Gasta.indd 140

01/07/2014 18:22:49

OPERA IN THE CITY OF KINGS

141

ción y la benevolencia del espectador para hacerle asimilar el mensaje de la obra que le sigue»134 («It’s a genre that is partly preparatory since it serves as a doctrinal or thematic introduction to a larger theatrical work, and it’s an explicitly apologetic genre that attempts to capture the attention and benevolence of the spectator and resemble the message of the work that follows»). The subsequent main opera was in fact significantly longer, more complex, and tedious, making the loa extremely important in setting a particular tone for it. Even after just the first verses of the loa, the audience unquestionably would have recognized that they were experiencing something different and pioneering. As the nymphs themselves point out, their task is to give esteem to the work’s text, «la pluma» and to its song, «la voz», two essentials of opera. Consider what Torrejón’s audience would have witnessed. Presented with a mythological theatrical representation brought to life through the beautiful voices of actor-singers dressed in flowing Greco-Roman gowns, the opera was a sensorial overload, the first such extravagant event to ever be performed in Lima, and likely the first that even native Spaniards or Peruvians had seen135. The spectators would hear harps, guitars, trumpets, drums, viols, and violins played in harmony and discord in order to match the poetic text to the singers’ dramatized action. Extravagant uniquely designed and freshly painted stage sets matched with complex stage machinery supported the text and music. Evidence for such innovation is provided in Diario de Lima where Mugaburu mentions an «aparato de perspectivas, bastidores, tramoyas, y vuelos» which suggest that the opera featured mechanized stage changes of backdrops and side flaps («aparato de perspectivas, bastidores»), and some sort of machine («tramoyas») that would lift the actors into the air136. Even in Calderón’s original text, the opera’s finale features Venus ascending to the heavens to take her place 134

Rull, 1994, p. 27. Since the original manuscript does not note the assignment of singing roles to either men or women, except for the role of Dragón in the main opera, it is difficult to determine whether actors or actresses did most of the singing. It is likely that many of the roles were sung by local women untrained in music who learned their roles by rote (Stein, 1999, pp. 12-14; Stein, 2008, p. 447).This would have been a departure from the cathedral where chaplains and priests did most of the singing. Later, choirboys and children would have sung soprano, tenor, and contralto parts while all together avoiding bass voices (Mendoza de Arce, 2001, p. 143). 136 Quoted in Rodríguez-Garrido, 2003, pp. 235-236. 135

Gasta.indd 141

01/07/2014 18:22:49

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

142

beside Adonis. The interaction produced between the audience, the actor-singers, and the play’s content has been deemed a form of «social energy» by Stephen Greenblatt137. According to Greenblatt, social energy is the congenital capacity of a work of art—in this case opera—to generate illusion among the audience well after its initial presentation138. Representational productions carry charges of social energy onto the stage where it is decoded by the audience and returned to the stage in the form of wonder, reaction, appreciation, marvel, and so on139. The subsequent shared bond formed among the play, the performers, and the spectators is a social phenomenon that operates in several directions and combines to construct mutual certainty and understanding. Building consensus through music was at the heart of this production. The Viceroy, through the music and song composed by Torrejón, is able to effectively control the message and implore social unification and support from his invited spectators. This is what Attali means when he states that the composer, the disseminator of a fictional or contrived message, uses music to offer a symbolic point of view: «Make people believe. The whole history of tonal music, like that of classical political economy, amounts to an attempt to make people believe in a consensual representation of the world. [...] In order to stamp upon the spectators the faith that there is a harmony in order. In order to etch in their minds the image of the ultimate social cohesion, achieved through commercial exchange and the progress of rational knowledge»140.The composer mitigates the possible disapproval of Lima’s cultural elites at a critical moment in their political lives, and promotes a viewpoint that they may not even realize is happening. A similar process plays out in propaganda. Jacques Ellul has shown, for instance, that propaganda is a social phenomenon that does not simply communicate messages from the powerful elite to the public; it is also a reciprocal and self-reinforcing discourse that must contain significant fundamentals of truth, one that also must explain political and social reality so that the message will become part of a larger discursive space141.This suggests that audiences, whether they

137

Greenblatt, 1990. Greenblatt, 1990, p. 170. 139 Greenblatt, 1990, p. 14. 140 Attali, 1985, p. 46. 141 Ellul, 1973. 138

Gasta.indd 142

01/07/2014 18:22:49

OPERA IN THE CITY OF KINGS

143

like it or not—and whether they are conscious of it or not—can become complicit in the handling of the information they are given. With the successful establishment of a particular mood through the muses’ song and action, the rest of the loa is dedicated to unabashed praise of Philip V. These remaining verses concentrate on images of luminosity and light through a variety of allusions to the sun. References to Apollo, the Sun God, the brilliance of his temple, and the radiance of his absent presence, are specifically used to tie the characteristics of strength, beauty, and wisdom to the youthful Philip V: CORO

De la esfera luciente del fuego, los rayos dorados anuncios del sol, sin incendios que abrasan, alumbran el día que nace el planeta mayor.142

CHORUS

From the shining sphere of fire, the golden rays, heralds of the sun, without fires that burn, light the day on which the greatest planet is born.

The association of European monarchies to solar metaphors during the Early Modern period was frequent. According to Víctor Mínguez, all European dynasties used the sun as their own icon in some way, especially in their territories abroad: «el alcance de sus rayos atenúa la distancia que separa a los reyes de sus súbditos [...] la iconografía solar tuvo en España y en sus colonias americanas tuvo un tremendo éxito, pues todos los reyes desde Carlos V a Fernando VII son representados en numerosas ocasiones mediante esta iconografía»143 («the reach of its rays lessons the distance separating the monarchs from their subjects [...] solar iconography in Spain and its American colonies enjoyed tremendous success since all of the Kings from Charles V to Ferdinand VII are represented on numerous occasions with this iconography»). In the loa, allu142 143

Gasta.indd 143

Torrejón y Velasco, La púrpura de la rosa, p. 46. Mínguez, 1999, pp. 242-243.

01/07/2014 18:22:49

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

144

sions to the sun, its rays and light, also elicit direct comparisons between Philip and his grandfather, the famed Louis XIV, known popularly as «Le Roi Soleil», the «Sun King». Through his lineage, the muses sing that Philip V will provide the same luster and intensity as Louis XIV. Interestingly, if we analyze Philip V’s genealogy, it becomes quickly apparent that images of the sun do not refer just to Louis XIV, but also to Spain’s Philip IV. It is worth recalling that Philip’s grandmother, María Teresa, and great-grandmother, Anne of Austria, were both Spanish Hapsburgs who married Louis XIV and Louis XIII, respectively. In European dynasties, the female line was valued nearly as much as the male’s. In short, Philip V’s family tree represents, almost equally, ties to both Bourbons and Habsburgs.Torrejón reconfigures these close dynastic relationships to impose a very personal dynastic connection between Spain and France, thus underscoring that Philip V is not only the rightful heir to the throne but also as much a Habsburg as a Bourbon. Indeed, in the loa, Philip V is stated to be the «greatest planet», an allusion that obviously references his own metamorphosis as the heaven’s largest planet, the Sun, the fourth planet in the hierarchy of the stars. However, his great-grandfather, Spain’s Philip IV, commonly was known as «El Rey Planeta», the «Planet King» and was the fourth Spanish monarch of the Habsburg line. Hence, images of light refer back to Philip V’s heritage on both sides, thereby linking his royal lineage to two of the greatest European houses in history. In this way the muses connect seemingly disparate hereditary ties. Past and present as embodied in Calliope, sun and stars represented by Urania, and music and song in the figure of Terpsichore are the unifying factors in the loa that, when brought together, provide justification for the Peruvian Viceroyalty to follow Spain’s lead and accept the new Bourbon King. The legitimacy of Philip V’s monarchy in the face of competition from the Austrian Habsburgs is therefore the ideological subtext that propels the remaining verses in the loa. By juxtaposing descriptions of Apollo with god-like traits attributed to Philip V, the prophecy of Spain’s prominence is then recounted in the song of the muses. The implicit message is that two historic and glorious powers have joined to form a more powerful union, and the audience is asked to acknowledge and admire the great new dynasty: CORO

Gasta.indd 144

¡Viva Felipo, viva! ¡Viva el sucesor

01/07/2014 18:22:49

OPERA IN THE CITY OF KINGS

145

del imperio que, puesto a sus plantas, seguro afianza su eterno blasón!144 CHORUS

Long live Philip! Long live the successor to the empire, who, placed at his feet, loyally assures his eternal glory!

As the loa begins to wrap up, the quartet sings the praises of Philip, wishes him a long life, and foretells of his future greatness. The muses are also careful to label the King a legitimate successor to the Spanish crown, thereby undermining any belief among audience members to the contrary. Indeed, the chorus explicitly states that loyalty to the new King will assure one’s own place in the viceroyalty. Even the allegorical character Spain is invoked to show how the planet Mars admires the peace and prosperity that has come about because of the unification: CORO

ESPAÑA

CHORUS

SPAIN

144 145

Gasta.indd 145

El quinto planeta, Marte, de dos mundos superior, se digna de que tu vista admire su perfección. La siempre invencible España la corona le ofreció, porque a su obediencia diese quilates su obligación.145 The fifth planet Mars, ruler of two worlds, is worthy that your eyes should aspire to his perfection. Ever invincible Spain offered him the crown, so that her obedience will yield carats to his obligation.

Torrejón y Velasco, La púrpura de la rosa, p. 46. Torrejón y Velasco, La púrpura de la rosa, p. 46.

01/07/2014 18:22:49

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

146

Mars, the mythological God of War who will appear in the main opera as the antagonist of Venus and Adonis, represents the distrust and horrors of war. In the loa the God of War symbolically is invoked as the ruler of «two worlds», the master of conflict steering both the Austrian Habsburgs and French Bourbons. For the muses, Spain is the key to ending this skirmish since she initially offered the crown to Philip V, a fact supported historically. Now, Spain’s decision is Mars’ obligation; the conflict must come to an end, as the God of War should heed Spain’s pronouncement. The verses also serve to validate Philip V’s right to the throne through references to Early Modern astronomy. The sun was the fourth planet in Ptolemy’s system («el planeta mayor») followed by Mars («el quinto planeta»). In this sense, Philip V is the fifth planet, heir to the sun, and the legitimate successor of Charles II. As Mínguez points out, the reason for such insistence on planetary imagery is to demonstrate that the death of a monarch is nothing more than a brief eclipse whose shadow will shortly be filled with light by a new monarch: «la muerte del monarca es solo momentánea, pues como en el eclipse o en el ocaso diurno, un príncipe se apresta a sustituir a otro y el Sol vuelve a brillar en el horizonte»146 («the death of the monarch is only temporary because, like in an eclipse or the daily twilight, a prince prepares to substitute him and the Sun returns to shine on the horizon»). The audience, having lived its entire life under Habsburg sovereignty, would not have been easily receptive to the idealization of the French. Indeed, it is this public disfavor that provides the real-life social dilemmas that Torrejón sets out to resolve.Torrejón, himself raised during the Habsburg Empire, was acutely aware that to construct a mythical rendering of the Bourbons, he must also exalt the Habsburgs. That the new King Philip was a descendent of both the Bourbon and Habsburg lines, however, made this reinterpretation easier and more believable. The final song continues to nurture the theme of unification and peace. Torrejón’s objective, in part, was to remind the spectators that harmony will once again return to Spain and its colonies. Hence, the remaining verses are an outward and explicit declaration of loyalty to the new King and his monarchy that, by relation, is a statement on the part of Torrejón’s patron, the Viceroy, to support the Bourbon contend-

146

Gasta.indd 146

Mínguez, 1999, p. 242.

01/07/2014 18:22:49

OPERA IN THE CITY OF KINGS

147

er. In the final stanzas, the singers ask for the audience’s acceptance of the king stating that fame will make his monarchy great: CORO

CORO CORO

CHORUS

CHORUS CHORUS

¡Viva, Felipo, y su nombre aclame el clarín de la fama veloz, por invencible, por justo y benigno, desde el oriente de su formación! ¡Viva, Felipo, viva! ¡Viva el sucesor! ... ¡Viva, viva!, y nuestro afecto rendido a la superior majestad de su grandeza merezca aplauso y perdón.147 Long live Philip! And may the trumpet of speedy Fame acclaim his name as invincible, just, and kind, from the Eastern hemisphere of his birth! Long live Philip! Long may he live! And may our offering of affection, humble before the superior majesty of his grandeur, deserve applause and pardon.

Echoing some of the sentiments earlier expressed, the chorus declares Philip to be the rightful heir to the Spanish Crown because he is just and benevolent, and his fame, emerging from the Eastern Hemisphere, will continue perpetually. Keeping with the mythological theme of both the loa and the main opera, Torrejón invokes the mythological figure Fame to defend Philip V. In Greek mythology, «Pheme» had an altar in Athens from which she continually interfered in the relationships between mortals and gods. Depicted with a trumpet, Fame normally learned information and persistently repeated what she knew, each time 147

Gasta.indd 147

Torrejón y Velasco, La púrpura de la rosa, p. 46.

01/07/2014 18:22:49

148

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

a bit louder until the material was known by everyone. In the loa, Torrejón depicts Fame as an encouraging personality who trumpets Philip’s celebrity. The loa ends like so many others during the period, seeking pardon and applause for this musical experiment. Hence, in the last lines the composer feigns modesty and insinuates that the main opera that follows can be appreciated for its innovation and musicality since it will be sung throughout. Torrejón seems to affirm, just as Calderón had done 41 years earlier, that the combination of music, song, and dramatic spectacle are new trends that should be appreciated because they point to the modernization of the New World stage under the Bourbons. Metaphorically, the loa can be viewed as a type of currency whose value is its artistic innovation and persuasive tendencies. Artistic works, like this loa, circulate through society and negotiate a complex system of ideas and beliefs. In this network, each principle associated with the production both contributes to the system and receives benefits from it. In the case of La púrpura de la rosa, the composer, the audience, and the benefactor all play intricate roles in the supply and demand of this system. For Torrejón the production provided an exceptional opportunity to praise the Bourbon Court for their generosity in providing resources for theatrical production for a New World audience not accustomed to new artistic trends, like opera. However, he may also have protected future artistic creations. For its part, the audience was happy that a production was undertaken at all, especially an elaborately staged spectacle like La púrpura de la rosa. Finally, the Viceroy benefited from the network because he is thought to be responsible for the success of the politically charged message to the audience, thereby cementing his position with the new monarchy. Taken as a whole, the loa renders a poignant sense of the culture, economics, and politics from which the production is socially constructed. Torrejón’s loa to La púrpura de la rosa signifies that artistic production is political and that this opera resonates with contemporaneous history, politics, and economics. Essentially, the loa divulges an expressive allegorical or symbolic relationship with the culture from which it was exacted since it was mythically constructed and staged for specific symbolic political and propagandist purposes. Torrejón’s loa described social problems evident to the public, proposed symbolic remedies to those problems by constructing an imagined contemporaneous ideological discourse. In that process the opera becomes a significant referent for understanding a socio-political context far removed from the

Gasta.indd 148

01/07/2014 18:22:49

OPERA IN THE CITY OF KINGS

149

present-day scope. Whether the propagandist intent was successful is unimportant; the sole objective of imposing ideology on the audience suggests that the work has a fundamental place within this politically acute and temperamental economic environment. Examined in this light, it is clear that there is an intrinsic political and ideological nature of Torrejón’s opera, one that offers a clearer view on society, economics, and politics in 1701 Peru.

Gasta.indd 149

01/07/2014 18:22:50

Gasta.indd 150

01/07/2014 18:22:50

CHAPTER FOUR

SACRED ARIAS: INTERCULTURAL ENGAGEMENT AND MUSICAL CULTURE IN THE JESUIT MISSIONS OF SOUTH AMERICA

Theodor W. Adorno, the German philosopher, academician, music critic, and member of the Frankfurt School, began to compose an opera in 1932-1933 (he called it a singspiel or «epic-opera»). It was called Der Schatz des Indianer-Joe (The Treasure of Indian Joe) based loosely on The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. There was nothing particularly American about Adorno’s work other than it referenced Mark Twain’s great novel1. Adorno’s storyline—murder and revenge—shared little with Twain’s narrative, and instead probably referenced the tumultuous events of pre-World War II Germany. Indeed, Adorno found himself so swept up in the conflict that his exile to the United States allowed him to finish only two songs. Conversely, Adorno may not have completed the opera because, as he would later admit, composing opera was a supremely difficult task since, for him, the art form was decidedly pretwentieth century. What was it that made opera composition so tricky in the twentieth century? Adorno believed that the secularization of world culture before and during his lifetime had made the sacred inferior, and the sacred was necessary for all great art, including opera. Instead, in Adorno’s worldview, the sacred could no longer be rendered in opera or any other art form; in art it was a false consciousness visible

1

Rolf Tiedemann’s examination of the opera bears this out: «The America portrayed in Schatz des Indianer-Joe is neither the real America nor Mark Twain’s America; it rather resembles the dreamlike America depicted in Franz Kafka’s novel of the same name» (2004, p. 386).

Gasta.indd 151

01/07/2014 18:22:50

152

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

only in unfinished and incomplete fragments2. If Adorno is correct, then the locus and power of the sacred in opera pre-dates the twentieth century, in works that were sacrosanct in their composition, their staging, and their message. Perhaps this is most perceptible in the first operas composed within the confines of the remote South American Jesuit missions where, at the outset of the eighteenth century, religious men and their Indian pupils collaborated on complex lyrical dramas conceived to promote Christian faith, Jesuit principles, the Bible, and Church ideology. The story of the discovery of these early New World operas is as important as the works’ study. In the early 1970s in the Bishop’s archives of the Diocese of Concepción de Chiquitos in eastern Bolivia over 10,000 sheets of sacred music dating from the Jesuit era were discovered which had been transferred there from many other former Jesuit reductions originally located in central South America3. Since then, musicologists have spent a great deal of time reconstituting these collections, cataloguing them, and making them available for further study4. The manuscript discoveries paint a unique portrait of not only the way Jesuit missionaries in the New World utilized music, dance, and song as part of their evangelization strategies but how the Indians intervened in that same music. Even before arriving in the New World, the Company of Jesus regularly commissioned operas that played a role in the develop2 See Adorno’s «Sacred Fragment: Schoenberg’s Moses und Aron» (1992). The concept of oppositions, in this case sacred-secular, is much of the basis for Adorno and Horkheimer’s Dialectic of Enlightenment. 3 «Reduction», or «reducción» is the term used to denote the Jesuit Indian missions in the former Paraguay province. The term was meant to indicate that the natives had been «brought back» or «brought together» (reducir) from the wilderness to form a community (O’Brien, 2004, p. 397). Similarly, according to Watkins, the reduction was a point of convergence where «different groups of nomadic Indians were brought together to live a sedentary lifestyle in which they could be both protected from slavery and more easily evangelized» (1993, p. 15). The Jesuit reductions were famous for their resistance to Indian enslavement. 4 Burkhardt Jungcurt was the first to inventory many of the manuscripts. Later, Leonardo Waisman, Gerardo Huseby, Irma Ruiz, and Bernardo Illari (1999) accomplished most of the definitive cataloguing. Over 4,000 sheets of music have also been found in Moxos, another territory of the Jesuit mission system nearby. Less has been written about the discoveries in Moxos, but a good starting point is Leonardo Waisman’s «La música en las misiones de Mojos: algunos caracteres diferenciales» (2002).

Gasta.indd 152

01/07/2014 18:22:50

SACRED ARIAS

153

ment of European opera5. From their initial moment of contact with the native populations in the late 1690s, through the foundation and establishment of the missions, to the Company’s expulsion in 1767, music was tightly linked to Jesuit ideology and practice. The priests were normally trained in several musical instruments and taught to read and write music, and they routinely employed music in their teachings to such an extent that their expertise was transferred to their Indian pupils. For their part, the Indians were quick learners of even the most difficult pieces, and found themselves combining their own native styles with European ecclesiastical and liturgical works yielding a new hybrid genre. Among the works uncovered that demonstrate the amazing European and indigenous partnership are two operas known today as San Ignacio de Loyola (1717-1726), written by the great Italian organ master and composer, Domenico Zipoli (1688-1726)6, and San Francisco Xavier (1740?) written in the Chiquitos language by an unknown composer, probably Indian7. Barring additional discoveries, these musical dramas are among the first operas in the New World, and the only ones from the Jesuit missions.The first, San Ignacio, tells the (hi)story of the founders of the Company of Jesus, the Saints Ignatius of Loyola and Francis Xavier. The first half is called «Mensajero» and recounts St. Ignatius’

5

Fulop-Miller, 1930, p. 415. Beginning in the early seventeenth century, Jesuit musical directors and teachers began to combine dramatic action and scenic effects with song and instrumentation to such a high degree that several compositions were staged regularly. In 1767 the appreciation for the genre reached such a degree that, at the age of 11, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was commissioned to compose an operatic interlude, Apollo et Hyacinthus seu Hyacinthi Metamorphosis (Apollo and Hyacinth or the Metamorphosis of Hyacinth), for the Jesuit college in Salzburg (FulopMiller, 1930, p. 415). So successful were the operas as a part of teaching practices that Jesuit institutions in Rome began to use Latin operas regularly (see Culley, 1970). 6 The Argentine musicologist Bernardo Illari discovered San Ignacio in two parts during archival research and cataloguing. The actual manuscript contains no title, so Illari provided the present one. The musicologist consciously divided the opera in several scenes in imitation of the opera style prevalent during the early eighteenth century. Each scene contains one or more short pieces (either a recitative, a short aria, or an accompanying recitative) and a long aria (2000, pp. 348-349). 7 Based on the style, Piotr Nawrot places the composition date at 1740. Until new archival discoveries or historical information comes to light, there is no way of knowing the actual date (2001, p. 49).

Gasta.indd 153

01/07/2014 18:22:50

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

154

battle against temptation and sin personified by a demonic figure. The second part, «Despedida», features Xavier’s 1541 departure to evangelize non-Christians around the world, though his missionary travels did not take him to the Americas. Zipoli’s opera exists in fragments in more than one copy, but several eyewitness accounts refer to the staging of the work, thus indicating that it was performed several times in several places, probably in honor of one of the two Jesuit founders. Studies to date have discussed Zipoli’s life and works from a historiographic perspective, but little research has examined this opera as a combined crosscollaborative literary and musical phenomenon. Similar issues surround the second opera, San Francisco Xavier, a much less complex work also found among the extant pieces in Chiquitos. Parts of San Francisco Xavier have been lost, others are fragmented, but the majority of the arias are intact, providing a unique look into how sacred music—written entirely in the native tongue of the Chiquitos Indians—was used to entice the indigenous populations to accept Christianity and be baptized. Close study of the operas from the missions reveals blatant attempts at instilling Church ideology among the masses. The Jesuits afforded music a preferred status because they viewed it as a discursive art form that both influenced human conduct and represented perfect order8. As such the operas are intricately political and ideological not least of all because they propagate the faith through an oblique process of musical instruction, message transference, and public consumption, but also because they are exemplary of a process of transculturation; these are works that transcend linguistic and cultural barriers becoming a transatlantic instrument in the evangelization of the Indians. For centuries music had been used to instill particular viewpoints, whether religious or political. Louise Stein makes a similar point in reference to the majority of the musical pieces from colonial America, which she believes were conceived and composed for ideological purposes: «Music was a catechistic art that lent itself to the evangelizing project, and both material musical forms (the music written into choir books, for example) and audible, aural ones (such as instruction in European musical instruments and religious song) were engaged to bring native musicians and listeners into the cult of the Eucharist»9. Stein’s comments echo those made during the period such as by the Italian historian Ludovico 8 9

Gasta.indd 154

Waisman, 2011, p. 213. Stein, 2008, p. 433.

01/07/2014 18:22:50

SACRED ARIAS

155

Antonio Muratori (1672-1750) whose 1743 El cristianismo feliz en las misiones de los padres de la Compañia de Jesús en Paraguay provided broad descriptions of how music was from the beginning a mechanism to convert the masses: Otra invención de gran importancia para nutrir y acrecentar la devoción de nuevos Fieles Americanos, y para atraer a los infieles a la verdadera Religión, y a unirse con los otros en las Reducciones ya fundadas, digna es de ser aquí registrada. Consiste ésta en la Música, de la cual, estos industriosos misioneros tienen a menudo suficiente conocimiento, y alguno tal vez a la perfección. Es increíble la inclinación natural, que tienen aquellos pueblos a la armonía: del que aprovecharon no poco en el principio algunos de aquellos atentos Ministros de Dios10. (Another invention of great importance to nourish and grow the devotion of our new faithful Americans, to attract the nonbelievers to the true religion, and to bring them together in the reductions that had already been founded deserves to be recorded here. It has to do with the music of which these industrious missionaries often have good knowledge and some perfection. The natural inclination that the towns have for harmony is incredible and these Ministers of God took advantage of it from the very beginning.)

Of course, to state that religious music held the same properties as other forms of propaganda is certainly not new, but comments such as those above nonetheless provide clear and explicit understanding that the missionaries were motivated to overtly use music as a political medium and how they expected to employ aesthetics in the production of supremely devout works. While Stein’s comments refer mainly to the urban areas most under the influence of the Church, the missions were thought to be separate entities that responded directly to God and the Company of Jesus in Rome. Such distance from their order’s authority offered autonomy and allowed the missionaries to have a much more tolerant and relaxed attitude about indigenous culture. One aspect that makes the Bolivian discoveries extraordinary—which readily becomes apparent upon examining them—is that these devotional works were a product of tolerance and cohabitation. They were not alone European but rather cross-cultural creations. Indian musicians and perform10

Gasta.indd 155

Muratori, 1997, p. 11.

01/07/2014 18:22:50

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

156

ers staged San Ignacio, while San Xavier was nearly completely Indian in composition, representation, and staging. Few geographic areas boast the treasure trove of unique sacred pieces as the archives in Bolivia. There, the wide assortment of existing manuscripts exemplifies all facets of sacrosanct ecclesiastical music, most of which enjoyed Indian contributions in some form. It may seem quite incredible and fascinating that the Jesuits produced at least a few short operas that have miraculously survived to the present, but it is even more astonishing that the indigenous peoples under their care did the same. However, it is unclear whether the Indians understood that their musical contributions, like those of the Jesuits, had value beyond their immediate time and place. In other words, neither group had a way of knowing that their collaborations would be preserved for later re-evaluation, representation, or critical study. Instead, both the Jesuits and the Indians viewed their music as sacrificial offerings to a higher power that held no extrinsic worth beyond the moment of their production and performance. The missionaries viewed themselves as Christian laborers and servants who remained beholden to authorities that were popularly said to be the voice of God on Earth. Their prestige and wealth came from the success of their evangelization efforts, and few strategies for Christianizing the native populations of the jungles of South America were as effective as the implementation of supremely thought-out and joyously performed, multifaceted musical works such as these operas. This is unlike their European musical counterparts who were established courtly musicians playing mostly secular works on demand and securing a living by doing what was demanded of them by their upperclass employer11. On the contrary in the Americas, although Indian musicians eked out a living in much the same way, the capital was decidedly different: in exchange for education and sustenance as well as protection from warring tribes and European slave traders, the Indians performed ritualized sacred pieces daily, becoming a cog in the machine of power and complicit in their own spiritual conversion. They did so willingly and, it seems, happily, since evidence today suggests the Indians and the missionaries were cultural collaborators, a dynamic that adds another dimension to the traditional structural view of power and powerless.

11

Gasta.indd 156

Attali, 1985, pp. 14-18.

01/07/2014 18:22:50

SACRED ARIAS

157

The relationship between the Jesuits and their understudies was mostly collaborative and inimitable, and the extant operas express that cohabitation and cooperation. The Jesuits viewed music making as a persuasive cultural practice, and the indigenous populations at first freely accepted and even promoted it. Such a proposition has been fairly well documented. Thomas O’Brien has written that the Jesuit reductions were replete with all sorts of Indian and European solidarity: «In virtually every case, the Reductions were a vibrant blending of cultures and not merely an imposition of European culture on an unwilling and resistant native population»12.While that may indeed by the case, it must be stated outright that this musical instruction was one-way, at least at the beginning: upon arrival the Europeans instructed the Indians to play European-style sacred tunes for use in the mission churches, during Jesuit holidays and festivities, and in honor of Catholic saints and Church priests. After the initial stage of instruction, however, things changed as a reciprocal cultural transference took place.Yes, the Indians continued to play—even compose—European musical styles. But, this in no way hindered their interest in and freedom to write music in their own native forms and pass them from generation to generation; indeed, the Jesuits famously advanced a liberal and accepting attitude toward adopting indigenous customs. Music was no exception. Therefore, while Geoffrey Baker rightly argues that creative interactions between colonizer and colonized were non-existent and that the transfer of culture occurred in one direction only («Spaniards taught native Americans [and more rarely Africans] to sound like Spaniards»13), this mostly refers to cathedral music in the urban centers—areas not under the management of the Jesuits. The statement could not refer to the Jesuits rural cultural strategy. We know this because several extant works held in the archives—not just the opera San Xavier—were originally written in native languages, performed by Indian singers and musicians, and copied and preserved by indigenous collaborators through the centuries. This process suggests that the Jesuit method of instruction and training was a cross-collaboration in which both groups prospered, which does not reflect traditional power hierarchies.

12 13

Gasta.indd 157

O’Brien, 2004, p. 405. Baker, 2008, p. 443.

01/07/2014 18:22:50

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

158

MISSION MUSICAL CULTURE The Jesuits believed that the Indians could peacefully and willfully be converted to Catholicism with the aid of any aesthetic form including art, music, and drama. The first missionary groups in the New World, the Franciscans, Dominicans and Augustinians, learned early on that the Indians were strongly drawn to plays with music, especially to Spanish comedias de capa y espada and comedias de enredo. In most cases, just as soon as dramas were written and staged in Madrid, popular ones were exported to the New World centers of Lima and Mexico City, from which they traveled to smaller cities and, presumably, some reached the Jesuit missions14. These theatrical works routinely included the music in vogue, and New World audiences especially held them in high regard. At the same time, internal production was a central feature of mission life as the priests wrote several dramatic works that extolled the virtues of the faith. Religious holidays, visits by dignitaries, and important Jesuit dates were celebrated with ceremonies that included extraordinarily elaborate musical and theatrical events. As such, the Company of Jesus viewed the combination of music and drama as a means to «bolster their argument that the Indians could adopt Christian faith, understand its principles, and live by its commands»15. Early on, it was obvious that the Indians had a superior aptitude for learning complex pieces, difficult vocal arrangements, and Western dance, leading the Jesuits to place greater value on the combination of music and song: La afición por la música, la danza y la construcción de instrumentos musicales, aparejada con la extraordinaria facilidad que demostraron los naturales en el aprendizaje de la música, facilitó en gran medida la labor de los misioneros. [...] Los jesuitas enseñaron música a los indios y pronto éstos ocuparon sus lugares en el coro, como solistas, instrumentistas, copistas, constructores de instrumentos y hasta de maestros de capilla16. (The attraction to music, dance, and the fabrication of musical instruments, paired with the extraordinary ease that the Indians demonstrated 14

María Gembero Ustárroz’s study (2006) illuminates the extent to which musical texts were exported to the New World from Spain. 15 Mendoza de Arce, 2001, p. 9. 16 Claro, 1969, pp. 11-12.

Gasta.indd 158

01/07/2014 18:22:50

SACRED ARIAS

159

in learning music, largely facilitated the work of the missionaries. [...] The Jesuits taught music to the Indians and soon the latter began to take places in the chorus, as soloists, instrumentalists, copyists, makers of instruments, and even chapel masters.)

None of this means, however, that the Jesuits automatically uprooted the Indian’s native musical culture. On the contrary, the two traditions came together gradually. In the mission churches and during important liturgical events, the playing of Jesuit music written in Spanish or Latin was assigned based on the talent and interest of the performing Indians who learned, memorized, rehearsed, and played. On the other hand, during non-liturgical moments, the Indians were allowed to sing in the native tongue and incorporate their own instruments and styles into the musical pieces, even composing their own original works. Eventually, Indian types were integrated into Jesuit modes. Hence, as Piotr Nawrot argues, the indigenous musical culture was never eliminated but rather went through a process of deterioration, even disinterest, followed by gradually accepted domination by the European styles and, finally, the re-introduction of native modes: La presencia de los modos occidentales en la producción musical no fue una obligación sino una preferencia, cuyos protagonistas, quizá autores en parte, fueron los indígenas mismos. El elemento (dosis) europeo, es decir el modelo y compositor, junto con el elemento autóctono, a saber, los intérpretes de las obras, instrumentos producidos por ellos mismos, textos, inclusión de sus lenguas, respeto de sus gustos, etc., resultó en la creación de un nuevo repertorio del barroco misional. Los indígenas no fueron pasivos en esto, sino que filtraron y modelaron las dos realidades, la europea y la autóctona. Lo viejo y lo nuevo, lo enseñado y lo adoptado debe ser más bien entendido como una manifestación de la catolicidad (universalidad) de la Iglesia y no del dominio forzado de un estilo sobre el otro17. (The presence of Western styles in musical production was not an obligation but a preference whose protagonists, perhaps even authors in part, were the Indians themselves.The European ingredient (dosage)—the model and the composer—together with the indigenous ingredient—the musicians—and the instruments produced by them, their texts, the inclusion of their own languages, the respect for their preferences, etc., resulted in the

17

Gasta.indd 159

Nawrot, 2000, p. 4.

01/07/2014 18:22:50

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

160

creation of a new repertoire of missionary-style Baroque. The indigenous were not passive in this, but rather they filtered and modeled the two realities, the European and the indigenous. The old and the new, the taught and the adopted, should be understood as a manifestation of the pervasive (universal) Catholicism of the Church and not as the forced authority of one style over another.)

The persistent contact between European missionaries and the indigenous populations produced what Nawrot has called a «reductional culture», an intensive and reciprocal sharing of cultural models that included song, dance, and instrumentation18.The European cultural model was based on Church and Bible, while the Indians’ was supported by their own local tastes, customs, and traditions. In many ways, this notion of a cohabited space challenges and reflects ideas a number of critics have made, such as Mary Louis Pratt whose description of «contact zones» helps understand this shared space. According to Pratt, contact zones are «social spaces where disparate cultures meet, clash, and grapple with each other, often in highly asymmetrical relations of domination and subordination...»19. Pratt’s research on the issue is a valid means of understanding the entrenched occupation and violent authority of the Europeans over the indigenous populations in many areas of the Americas. In general, historians believe that such shared spaces exist under a dichotomy based upon physical domination and subordination. This is true of many of the geographical locations where conquering Spanish or Portuguese battled and subjugated indigenous groups across the Americas, especially in the first century after Columbus’ arrival. However, things were quite different in Jesuit controlled areas. The missionary contact zone was conceived as a peaceful space built on idealism with the aim of assisting the indigenous to internalize Catholic principles. It is important to underscore the communal nature of this contact. It would be an error to state that the Jesuits were successful in their missions via a forced imposition of European Christian principles. In reality, Jesuit education and reorientation toward Catholicism began from the very moments the missionaries arrived in South America, but it was a slow, steadfast, and deliberate process, and much of it was based around sublimely peaceful and aesthetic means. For the Indians, the 18 19

Gasta.indd 160

Nawrot, 2000, p. 6. Pratt, 1992, p. 4.

01/07/2014 18:22:50

SACRED ARIAS

161

strange new world brought to them by the Europeans resulted in their conversion to Catholicism on the one hand, and the construction of a deep-seated musical culture that still exists today20. According to Nawrot, the Indians were enchanted by the new and different musical forms they heard, and their preexisting appreciation for music and dance led to exchange and creativity, and yielded an impressive retinue of musical works that circulated from mission to mission21. The circulation of musical works in the missions was very different from the urban areas. In cities such as Lima or Cuzco, audiences enjoyed sacred pieces in the many urban religious facilities while Church authorities closely controlled secular music. As a result, profane music was slow in developing and scarcely copied and distributed. Moreover, unlike in Europe, secular music did not garner a good wage for musicians or composers; as the sponsor of most aesthetic celebrations that required musical intervention, the Church demanded sacred pieces. For example, in Lima, music generally originated in and emanated from the cathedral or one of the other major churches in the city. Despite its standing as the capital of the Viceroyalty and seemingly the most affluent area in the New World, musicians or composers could not expect to make a living outside of the Church as there was simply no market for secular pieces. This of course does not mean it did not happen; musicians did work by attaching themselves to the theatrical scene and sometimes musical pieces were commissioned to be performed publically, as was the case with Torrejón’s La púrpura de la rosa22. Regardless, the only works exported to other centers across South America were sacred ecclesiastical pieces, although we know that a few secular works by such composers as Torrejón and Roque Ceruti were requested from afar. Therefore, musical training and education in the missions was very different from its counterpart in the cities. Unlike the urban areas under the control of ecclesiastical authorities, the Jesuits permitted the performance of both sacred and profane music, although in differing 20

This point is taken up in the conclusion where I detail contemporary fascination with these mission operas and their success as indicated by frequent performances and disc recordings. 21 2000, p. 4. 22 Along with the well known composers Zipoli, Giovanni Battista Bassani (1657-1716), Johann Joseph Ignaz Brentner (1689-1720), and Juan de Araujo (1646-1712), Torrejón’s musical works were also found among the pieces at Moxos and Chiquitos (Nawrot, 2004, p. 65).

Gasta.indd 161

01/07/2014 18:22:50

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

162

environments: the former in the many sacred religious pieces written for Church activities and the latter in social activities in which the Jesuits may have intervened, but which Indians dominated. Hence, in the reductions the musical life was isolated from what was happening in Lima (or any place else for that matter) suggesting some autonomy from the locus of power. It is true that the missions were dependent upon one another for a variety of necessities such as manpower in the form of priests who were also architects, carpenters, instrument builders, and teachers, as well as necessary raw materials required for construction, a variety of food stuffs, the sharing of other resources, etc. However, each village consciously was planned to be individually self-sufficient. After all, the Jesuits were faced with building completely new societies based purely on the Bible and Church teachings and, with so little to go on in terms of actual urban planning and social ambiance, they basically started with a blank slate. From this state of mind many writers in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries deemed the Jesuit endeavor an attempt at constructing a utopia on Earth, a misleading characterization that persists today. Some of these portrayals have come about due to the writings of leading Jesuits such as José Manuel Peramás (17321793), who attempted to demonstrate how the Jesuits had succeeded in constructing the Christian realization of utopia as found in Plato’s Republic23. O’Brien cautions against such a description. In his analysis of a utopian portrayal of Jesuit missions among the Guaraní, he stresses that regardless of how the missions may have seemed to outsiders, the same European hegemony prevailed there as elsewhere in the Americas: These authors have stressed the long periods of peaceful coexistence, the rich and fruitful syncretistic melding cultures, the successful and bountiful economic life, and the relative justice. Nevertheless, controversy has always marked these communities because many believe that the Jesuit/ Guaraní missions are best understood as integral to the larger oppressive imposition of European polity and culture. These authors stress evidence of condescending paternalism, structural inequality, restricted freedom of choice, and the erosion of a pristine Guaraní culture24.

23 24

Gasta.indd 162

Waisman, 2011, p. 213. O’Brien, 2004, p. 395.

01/07/2014 18:22:51

SACRED ARIAS

163

Characterizations of utopia were imposed from without, but they were not a representation the Jesuits themselves necessarily used. Nonetheless, both economically and culturally, the Indians under Jesuit protection were better off than indigenous groups elsewhere in the Spanish Empire. The Jesuits believed that should they ever be forced to give up the societies they worked so hard to build, each mission should have the wherewithal to flourish in their absence, an ironic and insightful perspective since the Jesuit expulsion from all Spanish lands in 1767 required the Indians to do just that. Conversely, as seen in the previous chapter, cities like Lima were built to reflect the great European metropolises and, consequently, European likes, dislikes, and styles pervaded, including their appreciation for certain music, musicians, composers, and instruments. This form of urban development suggests dependence not on government or society, but upon the whims of the upper classes trying to compete with Madrid, the perceived center of power, a point made previously with regard to Torrejón and his opera. The power strategies that marked the cities did not affect the planning and execution of the mission towns. In essence, the missions were not directly dependent either upon one another or upon the urban centers for anything except spiritual guidance and general rules of management. In fact, since a greater variety of musical works was created in the missions than in the urban cathedrals and convents, there is reason to believe that the reductions, especially around 1730, could be considered leaders in musical production in South America25. Clearly their sophistication or complexity was not as great, and their production was virtually unknown outside of the immediate mission area. Hence, musical pieces that make up the large collections found in Chiquitos and Moxos were likely composed and performed within the mission system and bear no explicit signs of adhesion to the musical trends radiating from the cities26. This also means that no known competition among musicians, singers, or composers in the cities was known to exist with their counterparts in rural areas. The missions’ autonomy was established early on, based on mandates the Society of Jesus adopted in the New World. The center of Jesuit activity in the Americas before the expulsion in 1767 was within the administrative unit called Paraguay. Paraguay was the term used to 25 26

Gasta.indd 163

Nawrot, 2000, p. 5. Nawrot, 2000, p. 3.

01/07/2014 18:22:51

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

164

denote the large expanse of land under control of the Viceroyalty of Peru before the Jesuit expulsion. It included modern-day Paraguay, Argentina, Uruguay, much of Bolivia, and the entire state of Rio Grande do Sul of Brazil. The Jesuits were given nearly exclusive control over these lands, and it is generally believed that their intervention saved the Indians from the brutal Spanish or Portuguese conquest that took place elsewhere. At the heart of the mission system was Córdoba (first settled in 1587), the intellectual center of the region, the largest city in terms of population, and the strategic point between Buenos Aires and the reductions. Córdoba was the Jesuits’ administrative center and boasted the only university. The city was not really a political or economic rival to Lima, and it definitively lacked the cultural atmosphere that pervaded the Peruvian capital. For a time, the Jesuits were content to administer to the Indians from cities like Córdoba. But, the success of the Franciscans’ first settlements among the Guaraní Indians of eastern Paraguay shaped the Jesuits approach to evangelization. In a short time the Jesuits established multiple missions among the Indians, and by 1710 they transformed the landscape into a string of reductions leading out from Córdoba. The first attempts at establishing the Chiquitos and Moxos missions, the sites of the two operas under study here, dates to 1680 when missionaries set out from Lima to found a series of villages between Peru and Argentina, in the area of what is now Eastern Bolivia. Because of the long distances and difficult terrain between the planned villages and the urban centers of Lima or Cuzco, these attempts mostly failed. It would not be until February 1690 that missionary plans began to bear fruit in the region. In that year, five priests departed Córdoba, moved up the grassy plains and lowlands of upper Argentina and settled the village of Tarija. In Tarija they established a school (1693) and enrolled as many as 80 students, mostly the children of caciques and other upper class Indians.Tarija then became the base from which the Jesuits would eventually build ten reductions, always with the aid and permission of the local Indian populations. The founding of nearly all of the missions, in fact, was a joint effort between the Jesuits and cooperative indigenous peoples who were an indispensable political and social resource27. Alcides D’Orbigny (1802-1857), a French naturalist visiting the mission area between 1826 and 1833 recorded his observations in Voyage dans l’Amérique méridionale 27

Gasta.indd 164

O’Brien, 2004, p. 400.

01/07/2014 18:22:51

SACRED ARIAS

165

(Viaje a la América Meridional). D’Orbigny claimed that not only were the Chiquitos Indians vital to convincing other tribes to convert to Christianity, but also that their language became the preferred tongue used across the entire zone28. By 1710, the Jesuits managed to build four reductions in the Chiquitos region: San Francisco Xavier de Piñocas, San Rafael, San José, and San Juan Bautista. A mission at Concepción was also founded in 1699, but the Indians destroyed it a few months later. By 1710 there were twelve priests assigned to these missions, and around 1740 the number of villages grew to seven including the aforementioned four plus San Miguel, San Ignacio, and a newly-constructed Concepción29. The speed with which the Jesuits established these villages is quite remarkable when one considers that the Indians were generally nomadic, spoke a multitude of languages, and did not readily acquiesce to the priests. As Leonard J. Waisman points out, there were practical and ideological reasons for enticing Indians to live in urban missions: «better political control, easier calculation and collection of taxes, more permanent contact between the priests and the flocks they were supposed to indoctrinate. But the ideological motivation was paramount: if the indigenous groups remained derramados (scattered) all over the fields, as the expression went, they would never abandon their barbarous state»30. Constructing urban environments moreover allowed for a particular spatial arrangement that placed the Church at the center, helped impose a European temporal order on daily life, and consolidated social hierarchies among prominent indigenous families31. Furthermore, as Baker argues, it was believed that forming urban societies would civilize the Indians through the imposition of European values, which included the playing and teaching of music32. Father José Francisco de Arce (1652-1715), founder of San Francisco Xavier de Piñocas, perfected the process by which missions were 28 1945, p. 1254. The Jesuit strategy was to learn the most widespread language—Guaraní, Chiquitano or Mojeño—from the largest regions under their control, then gradually induce all other tribes to use them. 29 By 1732 there were at least thirty large missions in the Paraguay region, including those in Chiquitos, serving approximately 140,000 people (Morner, 1999, p. 306). UNESCO declared them a World Heritage site in 1990. 30 Baker, 2011, p. 212. 31 Waisman, 2011, pp. 213-215. 32 Baker, 2011, pp. 9-12.

Gasta.indd 165

01/07/2014 18:22:51

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

166

established. When Arce set out to found the mission at San Ignacio, for example, he took along musicians, dancers, and singers who performed soothing musical pieces in the Guaraní language closest to that understood by the local tribe in order to put forth a non-threatening posture. According to one eyewitness who recorded his memories regarding the initial contacts with the Indians, dance and music were essential to the negotiations: «Entrados a parlamentos en lo más oscuro de la noche, dieron principio a la función con una sinfonía de flautas y pífanos, y cantando y bailando al son de ellos discurrían sobre el negocio, concluyendo cada baile [...] con brindis»33 («Having begun the talks during the dark of night, they started the meeting with a symphony of flutes and fifes, and singing and dancing ran throughout the negotiation, and each dance concluded [...] with a toast»). Music, in other words, set the stage for Arce’s peaceful conversations with the local Indian chiefs about establishing the mission and, eventually, submitting the tribe to conversion. The implicit role of music in the evangelization efforts was quite apparent the very moment these two cultures came together. Once permission for the construction of the village was secured, the first order of business was to build a church, then a school, and begin to hold mass and instruct on Church dogma, nearly always in the native tongue of the local population. As part of these first steps, a choir and an orchestra of between thirty and forty musicians were formed from among the most promising Indian instrumentalists and singers. Evidently, decisions about the talent of these musicians were initially based on the Indians’ ability to play their own native instruments. Subsequently, one of the priests taught the Indians to play Western-style instruments and learn simple song compositions—and normally in the language of the tribe34. In fact, nearly all facets of Jesuit teachings were undertaken in the native language (one of many from the Tupí-Guaraní family), and most Indians never learned to read, write, or speak Latin, Spanish, or Italian (or any of the other European languages), though that depended on the individual and the mission35.They did learn to recite biblical lessons and Church sacraments in 33

Quoted in Nawrot, 2000, pp. 51-53. Nawrot, 2000, p. 54. 35 The Concilios Limense I, II (1567-68) and III (1582-83) dictated that the conversion of the Indians should take place in their native tongue whenever possible. Werner Hoffmann states that language was not taught in the schools, even 34

Gasta.indd 166

01/07/2014 18:22:51

SACRED ARIAS

167

Spanish, but other official tasks including mass, educational instruction, and musical training were usually in their native tongue36. After a village was confidently established, and the main facilities were built, one or two Jesuit priests would move to another area of the jungle to establish another mission, utilizing the process Father Arce introduced. Just as in the large urban cathedrals of Lima, Cuzco, La Paz, Bogotá, or Córdoba, each mission church required a Chapel Master who was supported by a second-in-command, a Maestro de Canto (Choirmaster). Together, they taught voice and instrumentation to the Indians, preparing and arranging the musical pieces for the liturgy, giving individual lessons, and copying new music for distribution. All of this teaching and training adhered to the European models that were part of the Jesuit priests’ own preparation before departing the Old World, but differed in that the Indians were eventually allowed space to integrate their own styles. Indeed, while the Jesuit brethren began as the first Chapel Masters, eventually the most talented graduates of the schools took up the post, establishing a new tradition whereby the Chapel Master was named or renewed from among the best Indian musicians. This appointment was an important village celebration since the post was widely respected and praised among the populace. It took place on the first calendar day of the year in an official festivity the municipal council and the ecclesiastical governing body organized. As is well known, the Jesuit schools were a priority once a mission was founded. Indian teachers were the first to be schooled and they, in turn, instructed the children of the upper classes, these being chosen for Catholic education because they were perceived to be the future leaders of the tribes and villages37. D’Orbigny, for example, summarizes much of the process regarding musical instruction: En cada aldea establecieron escuelas en las que se enseñaban a leer y escribir en español y, sobre todo, música, para la que los Chiquitos mostraban una gran aptitud. La música sagrada italiana de los grandes maestros de though the Indians were expected to sing songs in Latin and Spanish as well as copy manuscripts in those languages (1979, p. 57). However, there are conflicting accounts regarding the instruction and use of Spanish and Latin. Hoffmann, summarizing several testimonies from the period, states that both were not formally instructed (1979, p. 58) while others, such as D’Orbigny (1954), claims they were. 36 Morner, 1999, p. 309. 37 Nawrot, 2000, p. 11.

Gasta.indd 167

01/07/2014 18:22:51

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

168

la época reemplazó a los cantos indígenas; todos los instrumentos conocidos entonces en Europa fueron fabricados por los indios, quienes, cantores unos, y entregados al estudio de tal o cual instrumento los otros, tomaron parte en los coros de las grandes misas cantadas38. (In each town they established schools that taught them to read and write in Spanish and, above all, music, for which the Chiquitos showed great aptitude. Sacred Italian music by the great masters of the age replaced indigenous songs; all the known European instruments of the time were built by the Indians who, either as singers or dedicated to the study of this or that instrument, took part in singing mass as part of the choir.)

Music became an important element in forming cohesion between the Indians and the village. Moreover, musical instruction was a central feature in any Jesuit school even to those who had no planned future in music, and the Jesuit priests wrote short pieces and taught the Indians to play them. Nonetheless, the most skilled players were instructed in polyphonic sacred works that focused on Catholic dogma, and the Indians learned them by heart: masses, vespers, hymns, motets, carols, sonatas, etc. Once they dominated these styles the Indians themselves may have written similar sacred works, or they collaborated with the Jesuit teachers. Usually, the missionaries were not interested in assigning credit to the composer of a work, or to who copied it for distribution. Hence, it is difficult to assess to what degree the Indians may have authored the music in the missions. In other words, the Jesuits viewed the arts as a privileged liturgical and evangelical vehicle for the teachings of Christian faith, and special talents were understood as gifts to be used for the good of the community, not as a means of self-enrichment39. This tradition may explain why no particular Indian name appears on any of the manuscripts except, perhaps, as copyists. The same is true of many European participants, too. But, in no way does it suggest that there were no indigenous composers, just as it is hard to gauge the participation of other Europeans in the unsigned works. The available evidence shows that Indians could be the authors of some of the pieces, especially if one considers that the testimony from the period indicates the expert ability of some musicians as well as the fact that others were assigned posts as musical teachers and Chapel Masters. 38 39

Gasta.indd 168

D’Orbigny, 1959, p. 1256. Nawrot, 2004, p. 56.

01/07/2014 18:22:51

SACRED ARIAS

169

Over time, each mission amassed a respectable musical repertoire that was renewed each time pieces were shared among neighboring missions, transported from Córdoba, or brought to the village by newly arriving European missionaries or visitors. In fact, official dignitary visits by bishops and foreigners, or even the arrival of new priests, brought with it the excitement of new works that would be integrated into the existing rotation. Performance for these visits also helped evolve the mission style in such a way that many different European musical forms were continually modified or replaced while promising Indian musicians and composers integrated their own advancements. This reciprocal collaboration also yielded surprising results as some of these hybrid works, the product of close, communal teamwork between the Indians and the Europeans, as well as the stories of incredible singers and musicians that emanated from the missions, made their way to European courts where an interested public became ever more consumed by news from the New World. The stories of these accomplishments were known to Europeans in the form of missives to family and friends, reports to the Company of Jesus’ headquarters in Rome, and as proof of progress to Church and political superiors40. Sometimes, the stories were anecdotal, such as how young boys perfected the playing of certain instruments, but other times the reports substantiated the success of music in the evangelization process to an often-skeptical European readership. Popular stories circulated describing great Indian musicians with extraordinary talent from among the Guaraní, Tupí, Chiquitos, and Moxos tribes who were said to be as good as, or better than, their European counterparts41. These reports popularized and legitimized the Jesuits’ efforts to Europeans. For example, José Cardiel, a missionary among the Guaranís, reported that «en todos los pueblos hay 30 o 40 músicos...estiman mucho este oficio... Enseñados desde niños salen muy diestros... Yo he atravesado toda España, y en pocas Catedrales he oído músicas mejores que estas en su conjunto»42 («...in all the towns there are 30 or 40 musicians... the art is highly esteemed... Taught since

40 Piotr Nawrot has performed an exhaustive compilation of the long historical record of many eyewitness testimonies to the musical culture in the missions. This study would not be possible without his pioneering work. See especially his multivolume series Indígenas y Cultura Musical de las Reducciones Jesuíticas (2000). 41 Watkins, 1993, p. 37. 42 Quoted in Furlong, 1933, p. 126.

Gasta.indd 169

01/07/2014 18:22:51

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

170

childhood they end up very skillful... I have crossed all of Spain and in few cathedrals have I heard better musicians than these»). Similarly, according to Zambrano, Indian musicians had a significant propensity for memorizing and playing music, but some Europeans discounted their ability to compose: Los excepcionales dones musicales de esos pueblos eran frecuentemente mentados en la numerosa correspondencia epistolar que jesuitas y novicios remitían a Europa. Se encomiaba su sentido rítmico, su pronunciación exacta del latín y paciencia en el aprendizaje como también su memorial musical y la serenidad, sublimidad y devoción de sus interpretaciones. Se generalizó lamentablemente también la idea de su ineptitud para la composición sosteniéndose que sólo poseían el don para la imitación43. (The exceptional musical talents of these towns were frequently mentioned in a number of epistolary correspondences that the Jesuits and their apprentices sent to Europe. They praised the rhythmic sense, the exact pronunciation of Latin and the patience in learning as well as their musical memory and the serenity, graciousness and devotion of their performances. Sadly, they generalized about the Indians’ inability to compose believing that they only had a talent for imitating.)

Other eyewitness accounts testify to the astonishing musical genius of the Indians to play even the most difficult musical pieces as well as to how mission church choirs and orchestras were on par with their European counterparts. For example, writing to his brother in Modena, Italy, Cayetano Cattaneo (1695-1733) included a statement from the Bishop from Asunción del Paraguay. The Bishop was surprised by the sophisticated degree of music he heard during his stay in the reductions: «non cedano a qualsiasi delle più insigni delle Cattedrali di Spagna»44 («they do not yield to any of most renowned in the cathedrals of Spain»). Others echoed that the mission music equaled the best in Europe. Father Anton Sepp (1655-1733) told of the wide assortment of available music in the missions, including songbooks from Italy and Germany, that helped teach the Indians how to keep time and rhythm better than their Europeans counterparts: «Pude observar que estos indios guardan el compás y el ritmo aún con mayor exactitud que los Europeos, y pro43 44

Gasta.indd 170

Zambrano, 1995, pp. 23-24. Quoted in Nawrot, 2000, pp. 13-14.

01/07/2014 18:22:51

SACRED ARIAS

171

nunciaron los textos latinos con mayor corrección, no obstante su falta de estudios»45 («I could see that these Indians kept the beat and rhythm with more exactitude than the Europeans, and they pronounced the Latin texts with better precision, despite their lack of formal study»). And Cardiel offered several precise descriptions of the Indians’ piety and modesty when playing: «Y como ellos nunca cantan con vanidad y arrogancia, sino con toda modestia, y los niños son inocentes, y muchos de voces que pudieran lucir en las mejores catedrales de Europa, es mucha la devoción que causan»46 («And since they never sing with vanity or arrogance but with complete modesty, and the children are innocent, and many of their voices could shine in the best cathedrals in Europe, the devotion they provoke is tremendous»). As Ludovico Antonio Muratori (1672-1750) points out, the high degree of musical accomplishment of students graduating from the mission schools was due to the fact that they began instruction at a very early age and that only the best were chosen to take up the vocation: «Por tanto acostumbran con particular cuidado los sabios misioneros escoger a aquellos chicos a quienes desde los primeros años se les nota mejor timbre de voz y a través de la instrucción que hacen de ellos expertos músicos que así entienden de notas y de tiempo hasta el punto que sus sagradas músicas gustan y deleitan no menos que las músicas europeas»47 («Therefore, the wise missionaries, with customary care, chose only those children who, from an early age, showed the best voice resonance and through instruction made them expert musicians who understood notation and tempo to such a degree that their sacred music charmed and delighted no less than European pieces»). But, although the most gifted were given such particular musical training, this did not preclude the masses from taking part by singing during church activities or social events, learning how to play due either to the priests’ generous training or lessons family members provided. From the time of the Jesuit arrival in the Chiquitano zone, missionaries also instructed on how to compose, adapt, and arrange music for specific occasions. Students were likewise instructed in the fabrication and refurbishment of instruments including the organ, a requirement of all churches during the time period. Early on, most missions lacked the 45

Quoted in Furlong, 1945, p. 80. Cardiel, 1994, p. 104. 47 Muratori, 1997, p. 11. 46

Gasta.indd 171

01/07/2014 18:22:51

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

172

necessary musical instruments to play what was expected of them and, in particular, most did not have a church organ.The remedy to this problem was to require the priests themselves to learn to make what was needed. Martin Schmid (1694-1772), a Swiss Jesuit, is widely recognized as the greatest architect and craftsman of the missions. It was natural for him to learn to build instruments as well, and he spent nearly two decades in the reductions teaching the Indians to do the same. In one letter he wrote, Schmid left a detailed account of how he alone was responsible for the great number of instruments available to the mission orchestras: [...] mis superiores me encargaron todavía otros trabajos, a saber la enseñanza musical en estas reducciones, como también la fabricación de órganos y otros instrumentos, para que los indios puedan cantar y aclamar a dios con júbilo, tañendo el arpa y el salterio. He empezado así, sin perder tiempo, a enseñar a cantar a los muchachos indios que sabían ya leer; y a pesar de que no había aprendido en Europa a construir violines y mucho menos órganos y nunca se me había cruzado la idea de que tendría que hacerlo un día, me puse también a fabricar toda clase de instrumentos. Por necesidad y a causa de la falta de gente competente llegué a dominar este arte. Hoy día todos nuestros pueblos tienen su órgano, una cantidad de violines, violoncelos y contrabajos, hechos todos de madera de cedro; tienen clavicordios, espinetas, arpas, trompetas, chirimías, etc., todos de mi fabricación, y he enseñado a los indios a tocarlos. Nuestros chicos que salen de mi escuela son verdaderos músicos que cada día, en la Santa Misa, dan las gracias a nuestro Señor, cantando y tocando sus instrumentos; y debo decir, si actuaran en cualquier ciudad europea, llenarían de asombro a la comunidad de fieles en la iglesia48. ([...] my superiors assigned me other tasks, knowing the musical teaching of these missions, as well as how to fabricate organs and other instruments so that the Indians could sing and joyously praise God by plucking the harp and the zither. So I began, without losing time, to teach the Indian boys, who already knew how to read, to sing; and despite not learning in Europe to make violins and especially organs since it never crossed my mind to learn such a trade, I decided to construct all classes of instruments. By necessity and because of the lack of competent people, I ended up dominating this art. Nowadays our towns have an organ, some violins, cellos and double basses, all made of cedar wood; they have clavichords, spinets, harps, trumpets, shawms, etc. all of my making, and I have taught the Indians to 48

Gasta.indd 172

Schmid, 1979, pp. 194-195.

01/07/2014 18:22:51

SACRED ARIAS

173

play them. Our boys that finish my school are true musicians that each day, in the Holy Mass, give thanks to our Father, singing and playing their instruments; and I should say that if they played in any city in Europe, they would surprise the community of faithful in church.)

Schmid designed and built a number of organs and other instruments as well as the construction and decoration of three churches, all visible today49. As a result of the Schmid’s work and that of his Indian assistants, the missions boasted an imposing number of instruments leading to the configuration of a complete orchestra: En cada pueblo hay una música de 30 ó 40 entre tiples y tenores, altos, contraltos, violinistas y los de los otros instrumentos. Los instrumentos comunes a todos los pueblos son violines, de que hay cuatro o seis: bajones, chirimías seis u ocho: violines, dos o tres; arpones, tres o cuatro: y uno o dos órganos y dos o tres clarines, en casi todos los pueblos. En algunos pueblos hay otros instrumentos más: les buscamos papeles de los mejores músicos de España y aun de Roma para cantar y tocar50. (In each town there is music for 30 or 40, between sopranos and tenors, altos and contraltos, violinists and other musicians. The common instruments in the towns are violins of which there are four or six, basses, shawms six or eight; violins, two or three; large harps, three or four; one or two organs; and two or three bugles, in almost all the villages. In some towns there are more instruments. We look for the best musical pieces from Spain and even Rome to sing and play.)

While Schmid built innumerable instruments and at least three organs, it was his predecessor, Father Anton Sepp, who was chiefly responsible for the number of organs installed in the churches51. His first was 49

Martin Schmid was responsible for the mission churches at San Rafael (1747), San Javier (1752) and Concepción (1755). Schmid was a Swiss architect who arrived in Buenos Aires in 1729, and passed through many of the reductions before taking up residence in San Francisco Xavier in 1730. During his time among the Indians, he was asked to help with church construction in other missions and, while there, designed and built church organs, a skill for which he was not formally trained.Werner Hoffmann’s Vida y obra del P. Martin Schmidt S.J. (1694-1772) (1981) contains several examples of his correspondence to family and friends. 50 Cardiel, 2012. 51 According to the inventory of the Jesuits’ belongings at the time of their expulsion in 1767, there were 18 organs among the ten missions, distributed as fol-

Gasta.indd 173

01/07/2014 18:22:52

174

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

built for Los Tres Reyes Magos (founded in 1704), often referred to as Yapeyú, where Sepp also set up an instrument building school (with special attention paid to organ construction). In the school, Indians were assigned specific roles in the construction of the instruments «a la manera europea» («in European fashion»), and, over time, they became so skilled that they went mostly unsupervised in these tasks52. Muratori furthermore notes that the villages not only boasted all the necessary instruments to play complex pieces, but that the players themselves became an object of marvel: Aquello que es más admirable es que, no hay fuerte Instrumento Musical en Europa, que no se haya introducido entre estos buenos indígenas y se lo toque entre ellos, como Órgano, Guitarra, Arpa, Espineta, Laúd, Violín, Violoncelo, Trombón, Corneta, Oboe y similares. Y tales instrumentos no solo son tocados finamente por ellos, sino son también fabricados hoy la mayor parte por sus manos. Más de uno que, pasando por aquellas partes llega a oír aquellas Músicas (así bien concertadas) expresa su maravilla afirmando de haberlas encontrado no inferiores a aquellas de España53. (What is most admirable is that there is no significant musical instrument from Europe that has not been introduced among these good Indians. Between them they play them all such as the organ, guitar, harp, spinet, lute, violin, viol, trombone, cornet, oboe and similar ones. And these instruments are not just finely played but today mostly built by their own hands. More than one visitor passing through those areas has heard such well-performed music and expressed their marvel by affirming that it was not inferior to music played in Spain.)

For decades the school at Yapeyú turned out high quality instruments that were then distributed to other mission churches for use in their own orchestras. Although the European instruments constructed at Yapeyú were to be exclusively used in the church orchestras, this lows: three each in San Xavier and San José, two each in San Rafael, San Ignacio, San Miguel and Santiago; one each in Santa Ana, Concepción, Santo Corazón de Jesús and San Juan (Nawrot, 2000, p. 40). 52 In general, the instruments turned out of Sepp’s workshop in Yapeyú included violins, shawms, cornets, guitars, trumpets, harps, clavichords and, of course, organs. The building of one sort of instrument rather than another depended on available materials. 53 Muratori, 1997, p. 11.

Gasta.indd 174

01/07/2014 18:22:52

SACRED ARIAS

175

did not preclude the Indians’ continued use of their own native instruments. Indeed, Jesuit sacred music may have required the types of European instruments Schmid, Sepp, and other missionaries made, but social events not related to Church endeavors allowed the Indians to play their own devices alongside European instruments. It may also be true that the lessons learned building and perfecting instruments under the Jesuit priests also helped the Indians improve their own. By doing so they were able to include a higher number of instrumentalists playing secular pieces. In these events, indigenous and Western instruments and musical styles came together, inspiring a high degree of experimentation and integration between dissimilar traditions, and bringing secular and sacred customs face to face. In fact, the Jesuits believed firmly in tempered autonomy for the villagers, and they therefore accepted the Indians’ musical interests, customs, and traditions as long as they did not run counter to Church teachings. And since the community held in high regard the mission orchestra, Indian musicians were unlikely to try and impose their own competing musical doctrine upon the sacred music they were mastering, suggesting at least some acceptance of the Jesuit educational methods and musical styles. By the time of the performance of the first operas in the missions, theatrical representations were prevalent in the larger cities, especially in the Jesuit schools of Asunción, Córdoba, Santiago del Estero, and Calamarca54. The schools generally were modeled after the Jesuits’ famous Collegium Germanicum founded in 1552 in Rome where the likes of Tomás Luis de Victoria served as Chapel Master and students included the Roman opera composer Stefano Landi. From the earliest days of the Company of Jesus in Europe, the Jesuits began integrating musical pieces by these and other composers into plays.The dramas in question, always of a sacred or evangelizing nature, were popular visual tools for the priests to teach dogmatic lessons about Christ, the Church, the Saints, and the Bible. Starting in Italy, comedies and tragedies were performed as a means to enrich the Jesuits’ humanistic curriculum, often with annual prizes for the best performance. The Jesuits did not invent this sort of theater, but they did cultivate it to an especially high degree over an extended period of time and across the globe55. Indeed, it could be said that the Jesuit influence on drama was greater in France and Spain than other countries since French 54 55

Gasta.indd 175

Nawrot, 2001, p. 47. O’Malley, 1993, p. 232.

01/07/2014 18:22:52

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

176

playwrights Molière and Corneille and Spanish writers Lope de Vega, Cervantes, and Calderón all received their first training in Jesuit schools. Calderón’s auto sacramental, for example, could almost be considered the epitome of the sort of Eucharistic lesson one might find in Jesuit school dramas, but with extended allegory. Throughout Europe, then into the Americas, the Jesuits saw theater as having religious benefits in that they helped visualize Catholic lessons. But, more than that, as Louis J. Oldani and Victor R.Yanasetti report, dramatic renderings—first as debate-type dialogues between students in a public forum, then later as fully performed dramas—were viewed as means to improve personal skills: Corollary to this primary religious aim was an array of other educational benefits: the training of memory, advancement of skills in use of the Latin language, enhancement of rhetorical delivery and physical poise as well as inculcation of lessons of virtue. To win souls by first winning hearts and minds was the strategy behind all Jesuit ministries, including dramatics. Jesuit education strove to develop the student’s whole person: speech, presence, bearing, understanding, disciplined habits of mind, of taste, of moral action - the individual in all his responsibilities and relationships, especially duties as a citizen, requirements as a family member, and faith commitment to God56.

It is perhaps the humanistic quality of the Jesuit education that permitted such tolerance between the Company of Jesus and the groups with whom they came in contact in their missions around the world.

DOMENICO ZIPOLI’S SAN IGNACIO EVANGELIZATION

DE

LOYOLA

AND JESUIT

STRATEGIES

OF

Several studies have indicated that the Indians preferred simple evangelical-style music that, like drama, was either written in the missions or brought from Europe. San Francisco Xavier, for example, is deceptively simple in that the message was direct and explicit just as any sermon might be, with some use of metaphor and simile. On the other hand, the voice and instrumental parts were much more elaborate as they imitated European operatic styles. In the case of San Ignacio, Zipoli’s

56

Gasta.indd 176

Oldani and Yanasetti, 1999, p. 20.

01/07/2014 18:22:52

SACRED ARIAS

177

extensive training before coming to the Americas yielded a much more difficult piece in terms of argument, and especially notable is the fact that the opera features voice parts and instrumentation that only highly specialized musicians and singers could master. These two examples, one simpler, one complex, epitomized the differing musical products and challenges in the missions. The introduction of opera in the missions is perhaps not that surprising when one considers the aforementioned Jesuit principles of including music and drama in Church teachings. Considered alongside the Indians’ known mastery of various instruments and musical genres, it now seems natural to assume that not only would opera be introduced but that it would be best cultivated within a collaborative environment. Although we cannot pinpoint with exactitude the date opera arrived in the missions, it probably could only have appeared through the great genius of a master like Domenico Zipoli. According to recent discoveries, in the Chiquitos collection the three works that qualify as lyrical dramas, or even as operas (depending on one’s definition of the genre), are Zipoli’s San Ignacio de Loyola (in Spanish with a parallel text in Chiquitano), the anonymous San Francisco Xavier (in Chiquitano) and El Justo y el Pastor (in Chiquitano). The first two can be said to be especially indigenous in dramatic composition, staging, and expression57. First, Chiquitano was the principal language of the original text, a corresponding parallel text, or the language the audience understood. And, in the case of the latter two operas, all three criteria are certain. Second, Indians performed the acting, singing, and instrumentation. This is true based on numbers of players alone: Jesuit missionaries were generally few in number and, thus, the large number of instruments required to play the musical scores would have required Indian participation. Finally, just as in other dramas staged in the missions, the Indians almost certainly intervened in scenery design, stage sets, costumery, and even, to some degree, in plot construction. All of this suggests an especially elevated degree of indigenous participation in the works—from conception to composition to performance. This does not exclude, however, an equally high level of European involvement since we know the Italian composer Domenico Zipoli composed San Ignacio in far away Córdoba. In the case of San Francisco Xavier, a similarly complex musical 57 El Justo y el Pastor is incomplete, and what is available is extremely fragmented making it very difficult to assess.

Gasta.indd 177

01/07/2014 18:22:52

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

178

style is visible, suggesting either Jesuit participation in the music, or that of an especially good Indian composer, both hypotheses being quite reasonable. Moreover, the fact that only Western musical instruments are featured, just as they were in sacred Church pieces, further indicates that someone of stature within the Church—either a Jesuit or an indigenous Chapel Master on par with Zipoli—anonymously authored the music58. The second opera believed to have been performed in the New World, San Ignacio de Loyola, originated in Córdoba, from which it was sent out to the nascent Jesuit missions. In Córdoba the Italian organist and composer, Domenico Zipoli (1688-1726), had arrived from Europe to study for the priesthood and work in the city’s Cathedral. Born in Prato, Italy (part of the Great Duchy of Tuscany, near Florence) on October 15, 1688, Zipoli’s upbringing and musical training eventually took him throughout Italy where he learned from some of the great masters, and even witnessed first-hand the emerging opera genre59. As a young man, Zipoli was under the protection and patronage of Cosimo III, Grand Duke of Tuscany, who arranged for Zipoli’s musical instruction in Florence (1707), followed by a short stint in Naples where he 58

Nawrot, 2000, p. 32. Zipoli’s works in the Americas were lost, and the composer was nearly forgotten until Father Guillermo Furlong mentioned him in his seminal Los jesuitas y la cultura rioplatense (1933). This ignited a debate as to whether the Zipoli mentioned in several documents was the Roman composer, or another. In 1941 Ayestarán confirmed that Zipoli did, in fact, travel to the New World and study to be a Jesuit priest (Ayestarán, 1941). Finally, in 1941 Lange, who offers the most comprehensive account of Zipoli’s life in Europe and the New World, was able to secure Zipoli’s birth certificate from Prato.The birth certificate matched known information about the mysterious South American Zipoli from an account published by a contemporary biographer, F.G.B. Martini in the second volume of his Storia della musica (History of Music) (1757). The birth certificate also coincided with the documento de embarque (embarkation document) held in Seville’s Archivo General de Indias, which reads «Domingo Tipoli, mediano, dos lunares en el carrillo izquierdo», («Domingo Tipoli, average height, two moles on his left cheek»), an error (i.e., Tipoli vs. Zipoli) which helped fuel a mistaken identity debate (qtd. in Lange, 1990, p. 217). A few eyewitness accounts then came to light such as those contained in Father Pedro Lozano’s Cartas Anuas (1720-1730) and in José Manual Peramás’ De la vida y costumbre de trece varones paraguayos (1793) (Lange, 1990, pp. 207-210). Since then, continued study of the composer as well as the ongoing cataloguing of the collections in Chiquitos has brought to light details regarding his life including a number of pieces he composed. 59

Gasta.indd 178

01/07/2014 18:22:52

SACRED ARIAS

179

was a student of Alessandro Scarlatti (1709), the composer often cited as one of the founders of Neapolitan opera. Zipoli and Scarlatti had some sort of disagreement that hastened Zipoli’s departure for Bologna where he studied with Lavinio Felice Vannucci (1710). He then moved to Rome where he published his most famous piece for the organ, Sonate d’intavolatura (1711), dedicated to his protector at that time, Maria Teresa Strozzi, the Princess of Forano, with whom some claim Zipoli was in love; others suggest the unrequited interest induced the young composer into joining the Society of Jesus on July 1, 171660. Later that year, Zipoli traveled to Seville to await passage with others to the Paraguay reductions where he would remain until his death in 1726. During his wait, Zipoli routinely practiced the organ in Seville Cathedral and, according to José Cardiel, Zipoli’s contemporary, the composer was even offered the coveted post of Chapel Master but turned it down to enter the Jesuit order61. Father Pedro Lozano (1697-1752), a Spanish ethnographer, historian, and Jesuit missionary who traveled with Zipoli to the Americas, wrote that Zipoli’s performances in Seville were frequent and well-attended: Dio gran solemnidad a las fiestas religiosas mediante la música, con no pequeño placer así de los españoles como de los neófitos, y todo ello sin posponer los estudios, en los que hizo no pocos progresos, así en el estudio de la filosofía como en el de la teología. Enorme era la multitud de gentes que iba a nuestra iglesia con el deseo de oírle tocar tan hermosamente62. (Through his music he gave great solemnity to the religious festivities, with a little pleasure as much for the Spaniards as for the new members, and he did it all without postponing the good progress he was making in his 60

Some believe Zipoli was in love with the princess, which was not reciprocated, and this led the young composer to join the Society of Jesus on July 1, 1716. Lange, however, dismisses this idea stating that it runs contrary to Zipoli’s known character (1990, pp. 213-214). Moreover, Cerocchi notes that Zipoli’s ingress into the Jesuits would not seem strange at all given that his two brothers, Giovanni Battista and Antonio Francesco, were priests and his family was devoutly Catholic: «Un’ulteriore ipotesi, altrettanto persuasiva e realistica, riguarda la profonda devozione religiosa della famiglia del compositore» («Another hypothesis, both persuasive and realistic, is the profound religious devotion of the composer’s family») (2002, p. 33). 61 Lange, 1990, p. 217. 62 Quoted in Ayestarán, 1941, pp. 26-27.

Gasta.indd 179

01/07/2014 18:22:52

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

180

study of philosophy and theology. The number of people who went to our church hoping to hear him play so beautifully was enormous.)

According to historical records, Zipoli did not officially occupy any musical post in Seville and none of his musical works have been found there63. Instead, Zipoli sailed with around fifty other Jesuit missionaries from Cádiz on April 5, 1717, on the three-month journey to the Río de la Plata basin64. After resting two weeks, he spent 25 days traveling 400 miles by ox cart across the pampas to Córdoba. There, he was named Chapel Master, and he studied for the priesthood at the Colegio Máximo and the University of Córdoba. Having completed all his studies for the priesthood, Zipoli died (probably of tuberculosis) in 1726 at the age of 38 awaiting a bishop to ordain him. The location of his remains is unknown. Domenico Zipoli was perhaps the greatest musician and composer to work among the Jesuits in the New World. Although he remained essentially permanent in Córdoba while studying for the priesthood, he composed a number of pieces that subsequently were copied and distributed throughout the Americas, some of which have been discovered in the archives in Concepción. It is widely believed, however, that only a fraction of the works he composed while in Córdoba have survived. Zipoli’s contributions, no matter what their quantity, were significant for their place and time. No other European of greater stature lived in proximity to the missions, and no other composed so many pieces that became a regular part of the musical rotation in so many different mission towns. In fact, Father Guillermo Furlong’s extensive archival work yielded a letter written by Zipoli’s contemporary, José Manuel Peramás, stating that Zipoli’s works were used as models for musical instruction throughout the missions: [...] no había otra música que la de los criados de los jesuitas. Habían ido a la provincia, desde Europa, algunos sacerdotes excelentes en aquel arte, quienes enseñaron a los indios en los pueblos a cantar, y a los negros 63

Watkins, 1993, p. 11. Among the most significant Jesuits to sail with Zipoli were Sigismund Aperger (1678-1772), an apothecary known as the Hippocrates of South America, Bernard Nussdorfer (1686-1762) and Manuel Querini (1694-1776) who fought passionately for Indian rights, and brothers Gianbattista Primoli (1673-1747) and Giovanni Andrea Bianchi (1675-1740), both renowned architects. 64

Gasta.indd 180

01/07/2014 18:22:52

SACRED ARIAS

181

de los Colegios a tocar instrumentos sonoros; pero nadie en esto fue más ilustre, ni llevó a cabo más cosas, que Domingo Zipoli, otro músico romano, a cuya armonía perfecta nada más dulce y más trabajado podía anteponerse. Mas mientras componía diferentes composiciones para el templo, las que eran solicitadas por correo desde lugares remotísimos, hasta por el virrey de Lima, ciudad de América meridional mientras juntamente se dedicaba a los estudios más serios de las letras, murió, con gran sentimiento de todos: y en verdad, que quien haya oído una sola vez algo de la música de Zipoli, apenas habrá alguna otra cosa que le agrade, algo así como el que come miel, le resulta molesto y no le agrada comer algo otro manjar65. ([...] there was no other type of music than that of the Jesuit servants. A few priests who were excellent in music went to the [Jesuit] province[s] from Europe to teach the Indians of the villages to sing, and the blacks in the schools to play resounding instruments; but no one was more illustrious in this, nor completed so many things, as Domingo Zipoli, another Roman musician whose perfectly sweet and precise harmony was overwhelming. And while he composed different compositions for the church, which were then requested by mail from very remote locations including the Viceroy in the meridian American city of Lima, and dedicating himself to his serious studies, he died, despite everyone’s great sentiment: and truthfully, for those who have heard Zipoli’s music only one time, he would doubtfully have heard anything more appealing, something like tasting honey—it ends up being bothersome and unappealing to eat anything else.)

Even though Zipoli never visited the missions, his work was well known there and in the larger cities across the Americas. His fame was such that Stevenson reports that several Jesuit documents from 1728 and 1732 attest to his popularity in Yapeyú and the Guaraní missions and even remote villages where Europeans had been excluded66. Moreover, the Jesuit management in Paraguay held in high regard his compositions. Furlong discovered a statement by the priest Jerónimo Herrán, who visited the Santiago mission in 1732, recommending that Zipoli’s pieces be taught whenever possible so as to improve the existing musical rotation: «Procúrese mejorar la Música, que está muy falta de voces, especialmente triple, y de buenos instrumentos, y se atenderá a que apre65

Quoted in Furlong, 1967, p. 327. Peramás also mentions Zipoli in his Diario del destierro, stating that the master played in Rome and Seville before taking up his post in Córdoba (2004, p. 134). 66 Stevenson, 1988, p. 31.

Gasta.indd 181

01/07/2014 18:22:52

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

182

ndan y se ejerciten en las Músicas del Hermano Domenico Zipoli, por ser las mejores»67 («Try to improve the music, which lacks voice parts, especially sopranos, and good instruments, and pay attention that they learn and practice the music of Brother Domenico Zipoli, since his is the best»). Hence, Zipoli’s music was obviously considered a model for musical training and performance. In fact, Father Lorenzo Rillo singles out Zipoli from among many composers whose works were available and states that if a mission lacks Zipoli’s works for training, their delivery can be arranged: «[...] y si echase menos los papeles del H. Zipoli se podrá enviar a alguno que los traslade en el Yapeyú en donde en Córdoba se le prestará con liberalidad»68 («[...] and if you are lacking pieces by Brother Zipoli, some can be transferred from Yapeyú which can be liberally loaned from Córdoba»). The presence of Zipoli’s master works dramatically changed the musical landscape in the missions. The arrival of such complex pieces required the mission Chapel Masters to study them, then teach them to the indigenous orchestras. Already the missions boasted an array of instruments and musicians and thus the wherewithal to undertake master compositions. Julián Knogler (1717-1772), a missionary in San Javier and Santa Ana, provided a detailed description of the instruments, how the singers were trained in musical theory and practice, and how there was a notable preference for Zipoli’s works: La música es mejor de lo que muchos europeos se imaginan. Tenemos buenos órganos, a veces dos en una iglesia, contrabajos, tres o cuatro violas, catorce o más violines, arpas, flautas y algunas trompetas las cuales son los únicos instrumentos que se importan. Hay buenos conjuntos vocales de cuatro voces. Todos los músicos aprenden la práctica y la teoría de ese arte en la escuela, donde se perfeccionan en solfeo y desarrollan el sentido rítmico marcando el compás con la mano como un director de coro. Las composiciones que se cantan y tocan son fáciles pero agradables al oído y adecuadas para esta gente. Su autor fue un italiano, uno de los más famosos organistas de Roma quien, después de ser ordenado, siguiendo su vocación abandonó su patria y se fue a América para embellecer los oficios divinos con su arte, acomodándose a las circunstancias69.

67

Quoted in Furlong, 1945, p. 121. Quoted in Grenón, 1929, pp. 52-53. 69 Knogler, 1979, p. 174. 68

Gasta.indd 182

01/07/2014 18:22:52

SACRED ARIAS

183

(The music is better than most Europeans imagine. We have good organs, sometimes two in the same church, double basses, three or four violas, fourteen or more harps, flutes and some trumpets, which are the only instruments we import. There are good vocal quartets. All the musicians learn the practice and theory of this art in school where they perfect the solemnization and develop a sense of rhythm by marking the beat with their hand like a choir director. The compositions that are sung and played are easy but pleasing to the ear, and adequate for these groups.Their author was an Italian, one of the most famous organists in Rome who, after being ordained, followed the vocation and left his country and went to the Americas in order to beautify the divine trades with his art, adapting to the circumstances.)

Zipoli’s reputation transcended time as well since it is believed that his work was performed in village festivals in Bolivia until the early twentieth century, probably passed orally from generation to generation70. In comparison to other early eighteenth-century operas, Zipoli’s San Ignacio de Loyola is quite brief and provides a limited scope for study. Nonetheless, the libretto and score exemplifies mission activity, from performance and staging to collaboration among different authors. As such, the opera stands out as a cross-cultural tool marking a close and shared working relationship between the Jesuits and the Indians. Bernardo Illari, the Argentine musicologist who discovered the opera, has labeled it «mission style», because Indian musicians performed it for an Indian public within the missions71. Moreover, Watkins believes that Zipoli kept that clientele in mind, composing the opera with differing performance levels based on what he believed the Indians could play best72. As for the audience, the original libretto was composed in Spanish, but a corresponding parallel text written in Chiquitos was penned at some point. The partner text was presumably devised to explain the opera’s argument to the indigenous audience in the same fashion that opera subtitles provide translation for audiences today: «Dado que el libreto cantado está en castellano, y que los chiquitanos no entendían la lengua, el texto paralelo debe haberles permitido comprender lo que se decía en escena: de manera extraordinaria, pues, la ópera se desarrollaba 70

Einhorn, 1990, p. 4. Illari, 2003, p. 5. 72 Watkins, 1993, p. 73. 71

Gasta.indd 183

01/07/2014 18:22:53

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

184

paralelamente a su propia traducción al chiquitano»73 («Given that the sung libretto is in Spanish, and that the Chiquitanos did not understand the language, the parallel text would have allowed them to understand what was said in each scene: quite an extraordinary thing, then, the opera developed its own comparable Chiquitano translation»). Many missionaries agreed that sacred works should be performed in Spanish, but this in no way inhibited them from providing comprehension of the works’ story via the Indians’ own tongue. Moreover, the parallel text tells us that early Chiquitos language was, at least for some, a written language.The fact that the priests deemed Chiquitano necessary for understanding the opera’s religious message suggests that the Spanish language was not entirely privileged. This subverts what we have come to know about Spanish as a means of upholding the imperial agenda. It also supports what we know about the Jesuit evangelization strategy: the missionaries were protectors of the Indians’ culture and allowed them to keep their native language—even learning it themselves—and they introduced Spanish as a second language, albeit one limited to Church teachings including musical training. Zipoli’s musical training in Florence, Bologna, Naples, and Rome contributed to his opera composition.These cities, after all, were the locus of several schools of opera. San Ignacio reflects Zipoli’s development across Italian opera traditions, but mostly features musical components specific to late seventeenth-century Florentine opera: arias, choruses [in duos or trios], and dances. The work also features structures commonly used in early eighteenth-century Neapolitan opera: the sinfonia, or overture, titled «Llamada a la fiesta» («Call to the Festivities»), standard separation of the arias with short recitatives, very few characters, and an emphasis on sacred themes. Zipoli’s opera is not the only sacred musical work catalogued in the missions that shares these characteristics74, indicating that Italian traditions impacted the musical development of the missions. However, Zipoli spent a good deal of time in Spain, too, and it is worth questioning to what degree he absorbed some of the Spanish musical tendencies, especially those visible in Calderón de la Barca’s operas. According to Stein, in the Spanish system of opera, starting with Calderón, then continuing with Torrejón, the gods exclusively used recitative and arias in persuasive manners: 73 74

Gasta.indd 184

Illari, 2000, p. 349. Nawrot, 2000, p. 42.

01/07/2014 18:22:53

SACRED ARIAS

185

[...] the mortals (unenlightened, powerless, and dependent on the will of the gods) cannot understand the recitative speech-song of the gods, so that the tonada (a song-type related to popular song and characterized by a memorable, repetitive melody) and not recitative was usually employed when the gods sang to the mortals.The use of the tonada for divine «persuasion» became conventional in Spanish court plays75.

When Zipoli wrote San Ignacio, however, recitative and arias were just starting to be used to any real degree in Spanish opera, but they were a mainstay in Italian opera. Only a highly trained Italian composer such as Zipoli would even know how to employ them. Hence, in San Ignacio mortals and the god-like angels both sing the recitatives and arias suggesting a strong divergence from the Calderonian- system, and indicating Italian operatic traditions. Structurally, Zipoli’s opera is different from European operas—or even those performed in Lima or Mexico City—because of its brevity, and in its performance difficulty. Frank T. Kennedy notes, for example, that Zipoli’s style emphasizes singing parts that no untrained soloist could ever sing, though based on historical accounts it was generally believed that some Indians were trained to this level of difficulty76. These characteristics make San Ignacio very similar to San Francisco Xavier, as we shall see below. Both operas exhibit unmistakable political and ideological implications as they extol Christian faith and Jesuit principles through lessons on the Jesuit founders77. Perhaps not surprisingly, then, emphasis is placed on the message—not the music—even though with someone of Zipoli’s magnitude an audience in another place and time would take great pleasure in the score. Part One of San Ignacio is titled «Mensajero» («Messenger»), and focuses on two messenger angels who call upon Ignatius of Loyola to leave behind his penitence and fight the devil. Ignatius then confronts the demon by fighting off temptation and celebrates the strength he has found which shall help him in leading the Company of Jesus. Part Two, «Despedida» («Departure»), describes the Company’s founding and concentrates on Francis Xavier’s historic mission to convert the native 75

Stein, 1993, p. 138. Kennedy, 1999, pp. 321-322. 77 With respect to Zipoli’s San Ignacio, this chapter greatly expands on a few arguments I made previously in «Opera and Spanish Jesuit Evangelization in the New World». 76

Gasta.indd 185

01/07/2014 18:22:53

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

186

populations to Christianity. In brief, then, the opera tells the story of Ignatius’ life and spiritual conversion followed by his successful foundation and leadership of the Jesuits. The historical Ignatius of Loyola was born in 1491 in northern Spain. As a young man, he lay recuperating from the wounds he received in the Battle of Pamplona in 1521 and began his study of the life of Jesus and the saints, which hastened his spiritual conversion. Ignatius was especially drawn to the life of St. Francis of Assisi, whose good deeds he sought to imitate. Ignatius came to believe that the salvation of humankind could be pursued through conversion to Catholicism. As a result, he wrote a manual containing a series of mediations, prayers, and exercises to be completed during 30 days.The handbook, the Ejercicios espirituales (The Spiritual Exercises), was in many ways based on his readings of the mystic literature of the time. Mystic texts from sixteenth-century Spanish authors like Santa Teresa de Ávila and San Juan de la Cruz often included spiritual exercises meant to perfect one’s spirit and to unify the soul with God, yielding a sort of ecstasy that ultimately leads to piousness that would otherwise be attainable only through death. The mystics generally believed that since God alone grants his grace to certain individuals, humankind’s efforts mean little. But, if the individual is successful in his spiritual exercises, the soul experiences God through supernatural means. The accompanying literary-mystical vocabulary portrayed this divine union in amorous terms such as «pasión ardiente» («burning passion»), «dulce amor» («sweet love»), «dulce esposo» («sweet spouse») and «fuego de dios ardiente» («God’s burning fire») as seen in the opening aria of San Ignacio: IGNACIO:

¡Ay! ¡ay! qué tormento, vivir lejos de Vos, mi señor, mi bien, mi dios. ¡Oh vida, cuánto duras! ¡Oh muerte, lo que tardas! ¡Oh dulce Amor! ¿Qué aguardas en romper ataduras?78

78

Zipoli, San Ignacio, p. 19. All citations are from Bernardo Illari’s edition found in the sound recording booklet of The Jesuit Operas. No verse numbers are present in his libretto. All translations to English are my own.

Gasta.indd 186

01/07/2014 18:22:53

SACRED ARIAS

IGNATIUS:

187

Oh! Oh! What torment to live far from you, my Lord, my comfort, my God! Oh life, how you endure! Oh death, how you delay! Oh, sweet love why do you wait to break the chains?

Specific poetic expressions in the form of exclamations, symbols, metaphors, paradoxes, and allegory are overused to emphatically define divine love in terms of human love. Like the mystical poets of Early Modern Spain, Zipoli draws on the emotion of the moment—the body and mind as an obstacle to God’s presence—to impress upon the audience how life is long, difficult, and full of sin, and only death can bring one closer to Him. Ignatius sees himself a captive who wishes to break the chains that bind him to this life so that he may experience Him in the next. The opening aria of the opera, then, may come as a shock for an audience routinely taught that Saint Ignatius was full of life and dedicated to the peaceful and benevolent conversion of non-Catholics. The message, however, is that he seeks death only so that he may enjoy God’s goodwill.The tension of the scene is heightened with another aria when Ignatius is depicted in lonely penitence, lamenting his separation from the Lord and yearning to sever the shackles that bind his body and soul to the physical Earth, so that he may unify with God in the afterlife: IGNACIO:

Desátame, y separa del cuerpo con la muerte, que sin fin deseo verte, oh mi Dios, cara a cara79.

IGNATIUS:

Untie me and through death separate me from my body because I long to see you, oh my God, face to face.

It was common among mystical writers to focus their attention on the soul’s salvation through penitence. During the Counter Reformation, penitence was believed to be a sort of purgatory on Earth, a 79

Gasta.indd 187

Zipoli, San Ignacio, p. 19.

01/07/2014 18:22:53

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

188

doctrine that found its greatest supporters among the Jesuits. Similarly, mystical experiences were considered penitent acts described in terms of self-isolation meant to lead to the contemplation of life and death. In the first recitative voice parts of the opera, an angelic messenger appears to remind Ignatius that although he is forever connected to God through his burning passion to meet Him, a great battle is pending for which he must abandon his penitence: MENSAJERO 1:

Un mensajero soy, a ti enviado del campo de la paz, con el recado de que dejes ya tu retiramiento80.

MESSENGER 1:

I am a messenger sent to you from a peaceful place with a message that you abandon now your penitence.

Eventually, two angels will appear with Ignatius on stage as his allies, underscoring for the audience that although Ignatius will not be granted sweet death, God’s messengers will accompany him in life. The eventual appearance of both angels as early as the opening scenes suggests to the audience that if they imitate Ignatius’ penitence, they too can experience God. Mysticism continues to form an important theme of the rest of the opera, but it is slowly undermined by a turn toward more aggressive language and imagery. Ignatius, for example, is blatantly depicted as bellicose, thus destabilizing the typical peaceful message of Jesuit drama. From here on, both Ignatius and Xavier are characterized as warring holy men, quite contrary to their common characterization as benevolent representatives of God on Earth. From the outset Ignatius’ obligation is clear; the angel summons him to spread the word of God in order to fight the devil. In the second recitative part, the second messenger metaphorically describes Ignatius as God’s firestorm, who must prepare for battle with the devil. The angel then sings a beautiful aria that depicts the devil as an infernal captain who commands an army from hell, and who has set fire to the world with his deceits:

80

Gasta.indd 188

Zipoli, San Ignacio, p. 19.

01/07/2014 18:22:53

SACRED ARIAS

MENSAJERO 2:

Ignacio, pues eres fuego y fuego de Dios ardiente, ¡sal luego, vé diligente! No es tiempo de descansar entre los astros y estrellas... ...cando fulmina centellas el capitán del Averno y trata ya de formar su campo con su hueste del Infierno, y todo lo enciende. 81

MESSENGER 2:

Ignatius, you are fire and a fire from God, burning brightly come now and be diligent! Now is not the time to rest among the stars and the heavens. When lightning strikes, the infernal captain will try to establish his battlefield, with his army from hell, and all will burn.

189

The recitative-aria combination here provides explanation and context for the audience describing the pending conflict, but the stark change from recitative’s natural speech to the more melodic aria successfully heightens the tension. Loyola similarly reprises the angel’s obstinacy by volunteering to take up arms against the devil: IGNACIO:

¡Alto pues! vamos apriesa, a oponernos con valor, que en batallas del Señor tenemos su fortaleza.82

IGNATIUS:

Put a stop to it! Let us go quickly to oppose with valor because in God’s battles we have his strength.

81 82

Gasta.indd 189

Zipoli, San Ignacio, p. 20. Zipoli, San Ignacio, p. 21.

01/07/2014 18:22:53

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

190

The confrontational rhetoric, somewhat uncommon in Jesuit drama, resounds with terms that depict Ignatius and the accompanying angels as foot soldiers in an epic battle to uphold Christianity. Perhaps such militancy should not be surprising. The historical Ignatius was a soldier and possessed a soldier’s mentality when he formed and managed the Company of Jesus. Those facts, as well as the urgency to use force when confronted with evil—perceived or otherwise—, nonetheless today bring to mind the Medieval Crusades and the most violent actions of Spanish Conquest in the New World including unnecessary violence against indigenous groups by some missionary groups. Therefore, the penitent, pious tone of the opera is subverted in favor of fiery and violent rhetoric to remind the audience that such strong opposition was necessary to avoid the path of evil. Ignatius declares he will confront the demon accompanied by his «escuadrón volante» («flying squadron»), an army of battletested angels who will fight at his side. A triple aria featuring the two angels and Ignatius evokes a series of heraldic devices such as flags and a cross (recalling once again the Spanish Conquest which was, for many soldiers, an extension of the Crusades); it further depicts the fight between good and evil as an epic confrontation between two armies: MENSAJERO 1:

MENSAJERO 2:

IGNACIO:

MESSENGER 1:

Las banderas por delante de Jesús quiero llevar, y cuando su cruz levante, al soberbio he de humillar. Por mi Jesús yo, constante iré también a pelear, no dudando que triunfante la victoria he de alcanzar. Vamos presto y sin tardar,83 puesto que el arma ha tocado.84 I want to carry forth the banner of Jesus

83

The Italian adverb «presto», meaning «quickly» or «early», denotes fast tempo in musical direction. In Spanish the term also signifies fast tempo as well as «diligent» and «prepared» in the execution of an act. 84 Zipoli, San Ignacio, p. 21.

Gasta.indd 190

01/07/2014 18:22:53

SACRED ARIAS

MESSENGER 2:

IGNATIUS:

191

and when his cross is raised I shall humble the arrogant. I, too, will fight with perseverance for Jesus, without doubting that triumphantly I will proclaim victory. Let us go quickly without delay, since the battle has been announced.

Verse after verse it becomes apparent that to describe the largerthan-life struggle as a war is to suggest an urgency in the conversion of souls. The visual and aural aspects of opera would likewise instill a similar reaction of exigency in the audience. As with many Jesuit dramas, and comparable to the Spanish auto sacramental, to help the audience visualize metaphorical concepts like God, the angels, and the saints through song, music, and dramatic representation in a work as short as San Ignacio, Zipoli needed to forgo plot and character development and expedite the doctrinal lesson. Hence, Ignatius, then Xavier, are immediately depicted as peaceful men who will, when required, take up arms for God, recalling yet again the combative priests of the Crusades. Bellicose terms such as «constante» («constant»), «pelear» («to fight»), «triunfante» («triumphant»), and «victoria» («victory») emblematize the warring holy man who is sent to the battlefield in the name of God. This combativeness is seen throughout the rest of the first act. The first appearance of the devil, in one of the piece’s most harmonious arias, is wrought with rhetorical techniques to emphasize how persuasion and temptation are the devil’s chief weapons. This aria’s style and content serve to situate the battle in terms of absolute consequences where the winner lays claim to the souls of non-converts and non-believers. According to the demon, his master is the most powerful monarch on Earth who is feared by all; he commands obedience and devotion: DEMONIO:

Gasta.indd 191

Es el mayor monarca de la tierra, en paz siempre feliz, y más en guerra. El Orbe todo teme su potencia, y hasta el alma le rinde obediencia. Por él militan tierra, mar y viento, mas por ahora es su intento, ...tiento

01/07/2014 18:22:53

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

192

una cosa lograr muy estimada, y con todos sus haberes buscada.85 DEMON:

He is the greatest monarch of the land, always happy in peace and more so in war. The entire world fears his strength, and even the soul surrenders in obedience to him. The earth, sea and wind go to war on his behalf, and it is now his intent, to achieve something so sought after and revered, with all he possesses.

Humankind’s salvation and God’s good grace hangs in the balance, and temptation is at the heart of all true evil. Just as Loyola is leader of the Jesuits, the demon further sings that the devil is also a leader of soldiers, but that his is the army of darkness: DEMONIO:

Que sigáis su bandera es, y os convida con el goce feliz y vuestra vida, coronada de flores y laureles, arrayán, mirto y claveles.

DEMON:

You should follow Satan’s banner, which will lead you to happy enjoyment of your life, crowned by flowers and laurel, myrtles and carnations.

In mystical literature, the themes of sin and temptation were very common as writers often utilized the Church’s greatest leaders as examples of how one must spurn the devil. Spanish mystics believed that to be successful in their desire to unify the soul with God, they must be confronted with temptation in all forms. Central to mystical literature—and to this opera in particular—was the need to show how regular men of flesh and blood, like Ignatius, could really only become saintly if they successfully found the wherewithal to overcome supreme obstacles. They were utilized as models for those with lesser willpower. In the opera, temptation is most apparent when the demon declares that if humankind follows his flag all will enjoy a blissful life crowned 85

Gasta.indd 192

Zipoli, San Ignacio, p. 22.

01/07/2014 18:22:53

SACRED ARIAS

193

in flowers. For the indigenous audience, the rhetoric must have been decisive to their interest or ability to follow what could be considered a tedious story set to song. We might remember that the Indians had a high-degree of respect and affinity for music, and with the dramatic action that opera provided they may have lingered on every word. The audience surely would have known who St. Ignatius was, and the opera was no doubt an alternative form of Jesuit teaching. The subject matter imbues a particular political or religious ideology, which Zipoli emphasizes through the Jesuits’ constancy.Their own struggle as God’s couriers is clearly at the heart of the message. The last lines of Act 1 signify the defeat of the demon at Loyola’s hands, but also remind the audience that he is never truly gone forever: «Por más golpes que reciba, / siempre os haré la guerra viva»86 («No matter how many blows I receive / I will always make living war on you»). The aggressive rhetoric that so marks Act 1 is more suppressed in the second. In Act 2 Ignatius turns his attention to emphasizing the blindness by which humankind lives and how one can easily succumb to the devil’s appeals: «¡Oh ciega gentilidad condenada a las tinieblas / sin hallar nunca verdad»87 («Oh, blind heathens condemned to the shadows / without ever finding truth»). While urgency and assertiveness continue to mark Loyola’s song, the general tone changes to one of compassion. Instead of a corporeal battle between Ignatius and the demon, the angelic messenger reminds the saint that the next battle is for humankind’s salvation on the other side of the world: «De tu fuego una centella el Oriente ilustrará» («From your fire a lightning bolt will illuminate the Orient»)88. The Orient refers to the Jesuit mission enterprise throughout the world, especially in South America, home to the Jesuit’s strongest Christian outposts. Hence, validations of the Jesuits in the Latin American settlements are central to Act 2, and Zipoli used them to advocate Jesuit history to the audience. And the audience would have taken note of the fact that mission endeavors included their very own village, providing an intimate or personal sense of urgency. It is at this point that Ignatius’ friend and follower, Xavier, is called upon to take his leave and carry the missionary message abroad: «Al Oriente, hijo, el

86

Zipoli, San Ignacio, p. 23. Zipoli, San Ignacio, p. 24. 88 Zipoli, San Ignacio, p. 24. 87

Gasta.indd 193

01/07/2014 18:22:53

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

194

cielo te destina, / y que vayas es voluntad divina»89 («To the Orient, my son, heaven has destined you / that you go is divine will»). In a subsequent aria, Ignatius informs Xavier that God and the heavens summon him, but that his mission, like all struggles against evil, is a soldierly one: IGNACIO:

De Jesús propagarás la milicia contra la ceguedad, y la malicia, sacando de las fauces del Infierno, tanto gentil que vive sin gobierno, para que debajo del estandarte de Cristo, milite tan grande parte90.

IGNATIUS:

You will promulgate the army of Jesus against the blindness and hatred, snatching from the grips of hell, so many heathens that live without government, so that under the banner of Christ they may participate in this grand endeavor.

The historical Xavier went to the Far East, not west toward the missions, but this would not have mattered much to the Indians who likely had little understanding of the Earth’s true size or makeup, and who furthermore viewed their own villages to be central to the Jesuits mission activities. This was mostly true. In this sense, as Andrews has written, «the audience watching this opera was encouraged to see themselves not as part of the mass of gentiles who had to be saved from bad government and ignorance, but as the locus from which St. Francis departs»91. Returning once again to the crusading devices used in Act 1, Loyola’s aggressive song depicts Xavier’s mission as a military clash of good vs. evil. The lesson is especially ideological and stresses what the Jesuits believed was their calling in the New World. Specifically, Zipoli views the Indians as followers whose salvation depends on the Christian guidance provided in the Jesuit missions. For Zipoli, Jesuit work was an entrenched struggle against paganism. In the opera there are several verses that recall Zipoli’s own life story. Xavier’s journey to the East through rough seas on a small boat, for ex89

Zipoli, San Ignacio, p. 24. Zipoli, San Ignacio, p. 25. 91 Andrews, 2007, p. 182. 90

Gasta.indd 194

01/07/2014 18:22:54

SACRED ARIAS

195

ample, closely follows the composer’s 1717 journey to the New World. The hazards of Zipoli’s own voyage are portrayed in one aria when Xavier talks about his passage and arrival in the Americas: JAVIER:

Pasa ligera, oh navecilla, el mar profundo, que mi alma espera ya ver la orilla del otro mundo92.

XAVIER:

Pass freely, oh delicate ship, through the deep seas because my soul already wishes to see the shores of the other world.

Domenico Zipoli sailed on April 5, 1717, from Cádiz with 53 other Jesuit missionaries on a harrowing journey across the Atlantic. After three months, the missionaries reached the Río de la Plata basin where they were greeted with a violent storm that killed a few workers on the ship. The exhaustiveness of the trip required Zipoli to rest for over two weeks before continuing his travels inland to Córdoba.While sail travel had improved greatly since Columbus’ expeditions, crossing the Atlantic during hurricane season was especially dangerous. In the opera, the depiction of the diminutive boat being tossed by the turbulent sea echoes what Zipoli and Saint Xavier must have felt as they crossed oceans for unknown lands. The Atlantic passage routinely took three months, so it indicative that Xavier cannot wait to «ver la orilla / del otro mundo»93 («to see the shores / of the other world»). Ignatius describes the journey as a step toward victory and essential for the glorious future of the Company of Jesus: IGNACIO:

92 93

Gasta.indd 195

Ve sin recelo de la victoria, que Jesús te envía; y con tu celo

Zipoli, San Ignacio, p. 25. Zipoli, San Ignacio, p. 25.

01/07/2014 18:22:54

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

196

dará gran gloria a su Compañía94. IGNATIUS:

Go without fear for victory Jesus sends you, and with your zeal you will give great glory to his Company.

The reward for Xavier’s crusade will be glory. Since the Middle Ages on, and especially during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in Spain, fame was believed to be an achievement on Earth, but glory was everlasting. Ignatius claims that the Order’s benevolent work will ultimately bring them glory, and thus face-to-face with God. Now that the worldly battle against sin has been represented, followed by an introduction to the missionary activity, the opera concludes with an unnamed narrator’s final didactic message in third-person. He reminds the audience of the reasons for performing the opera on this particular day: NARRADOR:

Estas las banderas son, y su fin tan aplaudido de Loyola esclarecido con que en tan buena sazón en este día festejamos, oh mi Padre San Ignacio, y será nuevo favor, el perdón que suplicamos95.

NARRATOR:

These are the banners, of illustrious Loyola and his success deservedly applauded. At such a prodigious time, as this day we celebrate, oh my Father Saint Ignatius, there will be a new blessing, in the forgiveness we seek.

94 95

Gasta.indd 196

Zipoli, San Ignacio, p. 25. Zipoli, San Ignacio, p. 26.

01/07/2014 18:22:54

SACRED ARIAS

197

The ending message returns to and summarizes the principal argument of the entire opera: the work is intended to honor the patron saint of the reductions and remind the audience of his successes in the New World. The final verses also identify the date of celebration, the Feast of Saint Ignatius, marked yearly by remembrance of his death on July 31, 1556. On these days, it was common to hold grand celebrations commemorating the saint for whom the village was named. But, in the case of such a unique and majestic spectacle as San Ignacio, the opera was likely performed on other dates, such as the Feast of Saint Xavier, December 3. The Jesuit founders’ namesakes were not the only villages that would have performed the opera, as Father José Sánchez Labrador (1717-1798), a Spanish churchman living among the Guaraní, indicates. In the third part of his Enciclopedia del Paraguay, titled Paraguay católico, Sánchez Labrador mentions Zipoli’s opera: «En algunas iglesias de indios se ejectuaba por la noche una ópera italiana de aquellas que había compuesto para ellos el hermano Zipoli, uno de los mejores músicos que vivió en Roma y se transfirió, ya jesuita, a la provincia del Paraguay»96 («In some churches at night, the Indians would perform an Italian opera composed for them by the brother Zipoli, one of the best musicians who lived in Rome and who travelled as a Jesuit to the province of Paraguay»). Since no other Zipoli opera has been uncovered and San Ignacio was found in more than one copy, we can postulate that Sánchez Labrador was referring to San Ignacio. His testimony speaks to the opera’s prestige and further offers proof that Zipoli was well known throughout the mission system. Sánchez Labrador’s comments also plainly remind us that Indians performed it. As I have shown thus far, Zipoli’s opera was a cross-cultural collaboration. Zipoli may have been the principal composer of San Ignacio and the Indians probably performed it, but other Europeans also played significant roles in its development. Martin Schmid, the architect and instrument builder mentioned above, for example, reproduced or trained Indians to copy a great number of musical manuscripts including Zipoli’s masterworks. Luis Szarán reports that with the help of Fathers Johannes Joseph Messner (1703-1769) and Julián Knogler, copying work was so extensive that manuscripts were distributed to as many as ten countries, and their Indian copyists must have been responsible

96

Gasta.indd 197

Sánchez Labrador, 1961, p. 5.

01/07/2014 18:22:54

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

198

for including Zipoli’s name on several of the extant musical works from the missions: I tre lavorarono nel campo della musica, e anche senza essere musicisti ‘di prima linea’ como Zipoli, compresero il valore della sua opera e occuparono il loro tempo, copiandole, per distribuirle in più di 10 paesi e farle interpretare nelle cappelle musicali. E’ grazie a loro e agli anonimi copisti indigeni [...] se il nome di Zipoli appare nei manoscritti e la sua musica, oggi, dopo due secoli, viene finalmente ascoltata97. The three labored in the field of music, and even without a ‘first rate’ musician like Zipoli, they recognized the value of his opera and spent their time, copying, and distributing it to at least 10 countries as well as being chapel masters. And thanks to them and to the anonymous indigenous copyists [...] Zipoli’s name appears in the manuscript and his music, today, after two centuries, finally has come to light.

Schmid also may have transported Zipoli’s works, including the opera, from Córdoba to the missions where they were performed in such locations as Santa Ana, San Rafael, and San Ignacio de Moxos98. It is also believed that Schmid had a hand in the opera’s composition by compiling the pages to be copied, and by reproducing the original text and music99. Since Zipoli never left Córdoba to visit the reductions, nor did he speak their native languages, Schmid may have composed the Chiquitano parallel text as well. It similarly is possible that an anonymous indigenous composer authored the translation. Considering these final biographical and musicological details, it is clearer San Ignacio was a model for collaborative work among and between Europeans and Indians.

97

Szarán, 2000, pp. 165-166. Kennedy, 1988, p. 2; Illari, 2003, p. 5. 99 Illari notes the only indication of authorship on the manuscript is a small piece of paper at the end of the libretto, which reads, «P. Martín», likely referring to the copyist, Padre Martin Schmid (2006, E-mail to the author). 98

Gasta.indd 198

01/07/2014 18:22:54

SACRED ARIAS

199

SAN FRANCISCO XAVIER: THE EMERGENCE OF INDIGENOUS OPERA One very discernible characteristic about San Ignacio is the significance the Jesuits placed on lyrical drama as a part of evangelical teachings. The Jesuits attributed a great deal of importance to music as a means to spread Catholic thinking and beliefs, enhance piety and devotion, and motivate people to become more involved in Church life. As such, music was used in everything: it was written for the liturgy, for routine prayers, and for mass with the goals of making it easier for the Indians to recite the pieces, and expand their understanding of the Bible and Church. It was believed that prayers matched to simple existing melodies were easier to remember and accomplished particular objectives: players and singers learn them quickly and easily through rote, and listeners would extract meaning—a common technique in teaching today. After these simpler tunes were mastered, more complex spiritual songs were matched to an increasingly higher degree of instrumentation and voice. The sacred pieces’ sophistication also continually challenged the mission orchestras to play evermore difficult and multifaceted pieces. Orchestras were asked to rise to the challenge by varying the type of instruments and to increase their numbers. Ensembles moreover began to fully incorporate drama into their works such that eventually opera could be performed100. In the case of the Chiquitos reductions, the Jesuit brothers kept with European tradition and wrote short evangelical-style dramas—as evidenced by San Ignacio—as part of their ecclesiastical teachings. Unlike their European counterparts, indigenous actors staged the work while also taking responsibility for the stage sets and backdrops (if any), vestments, and, of course, the music. On the Spanish stage actresses were common, but in the missions singing parts were not given to women but to a young male alto or soprano101. The dramatic themes treated 100 As Nawrot points out, terms such as «drama musical», and «drama lírica», or «drama escénica» are not differentiated in the manuscripts in Chiquitos. Instead, all dramatic works are referred to simply as «ópera», (2000, p. 29, n.57). This may have three explanations: 1) the Jesuits were not interested in differentiating between the different types of dramas; 2) the Italian term «opera» («ópera» in Spanish), which roughly means «work» was sufficient to describe all dramas; or 3) no differentiation was required because all contained a relatively high quantity of music, thus considered part of the musical-dramatic genre called opera. 101 Nawrot, 2001, p. 49.

Gasta.indd 199

01/07/2014 18:22:54

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

200

biblical topics, the legends and stories of both the saints and the martyrs, and, especially, historical lessons on the founders of the Jesuit Order, St. Ignatius and St. Francis Xavier. They generally performed these pieces at night, in the open air, and used the church entrance as the backdrop. Dramas were staged several times a year: in honor of the visits by dignitaries such as the emissaries, the bishop or the governor; during royal festivities including the wedding of the king or his coronation; on important religious holidays such as Christmas, Corpus Christi, Easter, etc.; in honor of the saint for which the town was named; and in celebration of the Jesuit founders, Saint Ignatius and Saint Xavier. When plays by important Spanish playwrights were imported, they were performed in Spanish. Nonetheless, as we have seen, many of the works produced within the missions were written in the Indians’ native tongue.This was for the benefit of the indigenous audience who was not familiar with European languages, but also reflected the Jesuits’ belief that Spanish or Italian did not have supremacy over the indigenous languages, except in official Church endeavors. Beatriz Aracil Varón argues that the production of evangelical-style theater in the Indians’ native language facilitated the synthesis of both pre-Colombian and Spanish dramatic traditions with what the missionaries came to know about the tribes under their tutelage102. As such, drama was an excellent tool for the moral and doctrinal education of the natives, which, it was believed, would lead to their conversion103. Comments made by Jesuits contemporary to Zipoli, such as Julián Knogler, affirm that theatrical productions sustained the Christian morale of the Indians: Además de estos medios de sustentar la moral cristiana entre los indios y de incitarlos a perfeccionarse, tenemos otros, por ejemplo representaciones teatrales en días de fiestas mayores, las cuales ofrecen una historia edificante, interpretada por alumnos de la escuela, a los que preparamos especialmente para estos espectáculos. [...] El idioma del diálogo y del texto de las canciones era el chiquito. La gente de nuestro pueblo pidió muchas veces que se repitiera el espectáculo [...] En otra oportunidad representamos la historia de San Francisco Javier, el apóstol de los indios, otro caso de una alma con ansias de bienaventuranza. Este espectáculo fue un verdadero melodrama. Dios nos inspiró la idea de componerlo y gracias a El dio buenos frutos104. 102

Aracil Varón, 2008. Aracil Varón, 2008, p. 221. 104 Knogler, 1979, pp. 180-181. 103

Gasta.indd 200

01/07/2014 18:22:54

SACRED ARIAS

201

(In addition to the means to sustain Christian morals among the Indians and to encourage them to perfect themselves, we have others (means), for example theatrical productions on the main feast days which present an edifying story performed by the students from the school who are especially prepared for these spectacles. [...] The language of the dialogue and the text of the songs were in Chiquitano. The population of our village often asked for the play to be repeated [...] On another occasion we performed the story of Saint Francis Xavier, the Indian’s apostle, another case of a soul coming across good fortune. This play was a real melodrama. God was our inspiration in composing it and thanks to him it was fruitful.)

This success was partially due to the Jesuits’ flexibility and benevolence. The Indians took some authorial and directorial control of the dramas by integrating scenes and plots taken from their own world, and by inserting native animals, flowers and plants, and foodstuffs in order to provide authenticity to the story105. Like the music itself, theater was a collaborative endeavor between the two groups that amalgamated, to some degree, Western and indigenous traditions. These resulting new cultural modes were exported to the Old World in reports, letters, and diary accounts, and helped shape—correctly or incorrectly—the Europeans’ understanding about the Indians, the reductions, and the Jesuit enterprise abroad. Knogler’s comments above cite a «melodrama» called San Francisco Javier. This could be a reference both to the opera under study here or, more likely, to any number of dramas written and staged in the missions in honor of the saint. There is no way to know if the comments refer to the opera outright. What is apparent is the general themes of these works, as their titles tend to suggest, is to narrate the life of Saint Xavier who was given entrance into heaven for his good deeds. The historical Xavier was born Francisco de Jasso y Azpilicueta in Navarre on April 7, 1506106. In 1529, while studying in Paris, he met Ignatius Loyola who had been planning the foundation of the Society of Jesus and enlisted the younger Xavier into service, along with six other students. After the group took vows of chastity, poverty, and obedience to the Pope, they went to Venice where the seven members of the nascent order were ordained. In 1540 they were in Rome where he and Ignatius received 105

Nawrot, 2000, p. 29. Some of the information regarding Xavier’s life is taken from Antonio Astrain’s entry in the Catholic Encyclopedia (Astrain, 1909). 106

Gasta.indd 201

01/07/2014 18:22:54

202

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

papal approval to formalize the Society of Jesus via the Bull of Paul III. Xavier’s missionary activity began when John III of Portugal requested he travel to India to convert the populations to Christianity. He arrived in Goa in 1542 from which he began preaching along the coasts of India. During this time he also visited western India and the Island of Ceylon before arriving in Malacca in 1545, followed by the Molucca Islands a year later. By 1549 Xavier began missionary work in Japan. In most of these locations, Xavier set up missions and staffed them with newly arrived Jesuits sent from Europe, or with native citizens who had been accepted into the Society of Jesus. The success and security of these outposts provided the impetus for Xavier to continue his evangelization efforts into China in 1552. Arriving off the coast of mainland China, Xavier took ill and died rather suddenly. But, in the span of only ten years Xavier became singularly famous for his evangelization efforts and is generally considered the greatest missionary since the Apostles. He and Ignatius were both canonized in 1622 by Pope Gregory XV. It was natural and customary for Jesuits and Indians in the missions to honor both of the two saints through any number of means, including music or drama.This mostly explains why Knogler’s citation might refer to the opera San Francisco Javier. Because of the state of the manuscript, only seven of eight arias are available for study107.The opera likely began with a short overture and a «Llamada a la Fiesta» («Call to the Celebration»), inviting everyone to participate in the occasion108. Beginning 107 According to Nawrot, the deterioration of the original manuscript has made it quite difficult, even impossible in some cases, for a complete transcription, as some vocal parts were either missing or illegible. For that reason, Nawrot’s editorial intervention includes a total reconstruction of the first aria (only the violin part was available), a word or two in Ignatius’ voice parts in the second, fourth, and seventh arias, as well as one-fourth of the vocal part (sung by Ignatius) in the eighth. Nawrot indicated these added or reconstructed segments with the use of brackets, also used here. 108 San Francisco Xavier, 2000, pp. 29-124; Mission San Xavier, 2006, pp. 14-26. I am following two editions of San Francisco Xavier, both by Piotr Nawrot. The first, published in 2000 as part of Volume 3 of his Indígenas y cultura musical de las Reducciones Jesuíticas includes Nawrot’s transcription from the original Chiquitano and his own Spanish translation. This edition contains eight arias sung by Ignatius of Loyola and Francis Xavier, eight dialogues between the two characters, and a prologue and epilogue by an unidentified Messenger. Nawrot arranged for the translation from Chiquitano to Spanish with the help of teachers from a school in San Antonio de Lomerio, a city where a variant of eighteenth-century Chiquitano

Gasta.indd 202

01/07/2014 18:22:54

SACRED ARIAS

203

with an overture was standard for early eighteenth-century Neapolitan opera and other characteristics place it within that convention. Thematically, San Xavier is part of the opera seria tradition that emphasized audience comprehension by featuring music and song over plot, poetry, or dramatic effect. The music was composed for a fairly small orchestra and only two singers performed it. Structurally, the piece is organized around a series of solo or duo da capos linked by dialogues between Xavier and Ignatius109. Following standards for early eighteenth-century opera, these dialogues may have been sung in recitative to contextualize the ecclesiastical lessons and forward the storyline; in San Xavier one of the two singers pose doctrinal questions regarding heaven, baptism, and sin which is subsequently answered in the ensuing arias110. In this way, the opera alternates between Xavier or Ignatius’ solo parts or between duets featuring both characters: Aria 2 Aria 3 Aria 4 Aria 5 Aria 6 Aria 7 Aria 8

Xavier solo Xavier and Ignacio alternating Ignacio solo Xavier and Ignacio alternating Xavier solo Xavier and Ignacio alternating in Scene 1 and joined by a chorus in Scene 2 Xavier and Ignacio alternating in Part A; Ignacio solo in the first half of Part B; Xavier solo in the second half of Part B; the duo alternating in Part C111.

is still spoken. He also includes an updated transcription in modern Chiquitano. The second edition is the libretto for the 2006 compact disc recording, Mission San Xavier: Ópera y misa de los Indios para la Fiesta de San Francisco Xavier. This edition does not include the dialogues or first aria. I have corrected two small errors in the Spanish translations—a typo and a missed noun-adjective agreement—neither of which affect the meaning of the story. All English translations are mine based on Nawrot’s Spanish translation. Only the original Chiquitano voice parts match the opera’s instrumental parts. Hence, the Spanish or English translations are only helpful in understanding the opera’s meaning, but not useful for performance. No verse numbers are used in either edition. 109 Illari, 2000, p. 348. 110 There is no proof that the dialogues were sung in recitative, though there is nothing to say they were not (Nawrot, 2000, p. ix). 111 Based on the vocal sequence of the available arias (arias 2-8), it is possible that the missing first aria pertained to Ignatius because the subsequent alternating

Gasta.indd 203

01/07/2014 18:22:54

204

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

The original libretto featured the dialogue parts but, unfortunately, they are no longer extant. According to Nawrot, the recitative dialogues were too fragmented to fully reconstruct so those appearing in his edition were recreated with license based on what was decipherable112. My study of the opera will not take into consideration these dialogues or the first aria since they are, in large part, Nawrot’s (re)constructions. San Francisco Xavier was found entirely written in Chiquitano and the orchestral movements match this language exactly. No corresponding Spanish text exists or has been found and it is thus reasonable to believe that its composer may have been an especially talented Indian musician and composer. That the work appears in scripted form suggests that the Chiquitano idiom was also a written one. The plainness and didacticism of the verses, the directness and clarity of their intended message, and the simplified instrumental parts suggest that either the composer was knowledgeable of Jesuit practices, or one of the priests assisted in the composition. Perhaps both worked together. Barring additional discoveries there is no way of knowing with absolute certainty, but it nevertheless seems possible that an indigenous master played some overarching role. What is clear is that the opera is similar to other sacred works in the missions in that it seeks the Indians’ participation in singing praises of God by memorizing specific words or phrases routinely used in Church teachings or sermons, a sort of teaching through rote. Moreover, a visible—or audible—progression marks San Xavier: the arias 2-4 proclaim God’s benevolence and characterize His kingdom above as a utopian paradise, followed in arias 5-6 by the Indian’s acceptance of Christianity through the sacrament of baptism, and finalized in aria 7 with the celebrations that signal the cleansing of sin and acceptance of God as the Father. The libretto itself offers little in terms of critical analysis: the voice parts are very basic and they simply echo well-established ecclesiastical messages. Hence, besides its brevity, the opera provides a very limited scope for critical study since most of its themes are explicit in their enunciation, directly tied to systemic Church teachings, and exhibits few propensities for concealing ideological message transference. The work can seem unexciting when reading it; hearing it played and sung aloud, however, order of the vocal parts would suggest that character. No character is identified in Nawrot’s reconstruction of the first aria (2000). 112 Nawrot, 2000.

Gasta.indd 204

01/07/2014 18:22:54

SACRED ARIAS

205

brings the opera to life. The 2006 recorded version, Mission San Xavier: Ópera y misa de los Indios para la Fiesta de San Francisco Xavier, makes clear that the opera was a rather joyous, emotional piece that would have certainly captured its audience’s attention. Such recordings help us today comprehend how lyrical drama can elicit listener reaction, putting ourselves «in their shoes», and absorbing the linguistic and cultural aesthetic that propels the work. After all, music, especially among the Indians, was a sort of communal communication system that featured a defined lexicon of auditory mechanisms shaped by the sender that he or she matches to a particular message. The results include an interest in prompting a particular response or action from the audience. Of course, the Indians were accustomed to doctrinal lessons through music and song. San Xavier was most likely performed outside the church in an open social space. Adjacent to the church but still physically removed from it, the opera enjoyed an exclusive social performance space where visual stimuli (backdrops, costumes, and staging devices) triggered a particular context for message transference. So, while the opera was physically separated from the religious sanctuary, its proximity to the location of worship still demanded cohesion and acceptance of Church expectations. The audience would have connected the music with the church because of this juxtaposition and because the thematic matter dealt with the two well known Society of Jesus figures. Moreover, in this distinct orthodox-social space, mission composers fashioned specific harmonies, melodies and other structural and thematic devices precisely to draw out a particular response—not only because they enjoyed making music.The sender, aware of the social and religious situation in which he finds himself, exploits opera and its performance location as a unique and rare opportunity to seek compliance on the group level. Hence, ideology and propaganda in San Xavier is not a disguised cultural device as Theodor Adorno had claimed was occurring in the twentieth century, but rather overt, clear and direct, with no interest in concealing either the message or the messenger113. Each aria in the San Xavier nurtures this approach. Since the first aria is lost, our analysis necessarily starts with the second featuring St. Xavier singing «En la casa de Dios en el cielo» («Above in the House of God»). As previously stated, a dialogue between St. Xavier and St. Ignatius precedes each aria to help contextualize the story that will play out in the subsequent aria. Normally, this dialogue takes the form of 113

Gasta.indd 205

Adorno and Horkheimer, 1972.

01/07/2014 18:22:55

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

206

a question to be answered in the aria. Based on the subject matter in the arias we can assume, as Nawrot has in his reconstruction of the dialogues, what questions the dialogues may have posed. In the case of the second aria, the two saints portray heaven by contrasting it with Earth. St. Xavier describes heaven as a utopian paradise free of everyday afflictions: 114 Second Aria Above in the House of God

cheanapî nauxîxîquis, cheanapî maquietis, cheanapî niquîpuras, unca namatî macas.

En la casa de Dios en el cielo San Xavier A En la casa de Dios en el cielo no hay frío, no hay viento, no hay trueno, existe un solo Ser.

B Cheanapî nitaquîrus, cheanapî nareocos, cheanapî na[ne]. Cheanapî nareocos, cheanapî niixucos, cheanapî noîxucos, cheanapî niixucos. cheanapî noixucos, cheanapî noetîmîs, unacanamatî nipenez, cheanapî noetîmîs, uncanamat î nipenez114.

B No tiene fin, no hay llanto, nada de ello. No hay llanto, no hay temor, no hay enfermedad, no hay temor, no hay enfermedad, no hay fieras, su poder está sobre todo, no hay fieras, Su poder está sobre todo.

B He is infinite, there is no weeping, none of this. No weeping, no fear, no sickness, no fear, no sickness, no wild animals, his power is almighty, without wild animals, His power is almighty.

Au nipostij Tupas ape San Xavier A Au nipostij Tupas ape

Saint Xavier A Above in the House of God there is no cold, nor wind, nor thunder, there is only one Being.

It would have been typical for indigenous composers to draw on events or places familiar to their personal situation. Moreover, as Waisman argues, the Indians customarily integrated the natural world into

114

Gasta.indd 206

San Francisco Xavier, 2000, p. 29; Mission San Xavier, 2006, p. 18.

01/07/2014 18:22:55

SACRED ARIAS

207

their celebrations115. The locations and happenings of their homeland in the jungles of South America are no exception. In the first aria, the emphasis is placed on what we can assume to be extreme meteorological events («frio», «viento», «trueno») and the emotional toll («llanto», «temor») of being under constant threat from unfriendly foes or wild beasts116. Historically, such adversaries included competing tribes, the Spanish and Portuguese army, Brazilian slave traders or Spanish colonists who often fought to use the Indians as a source of forced labor117. An115

2011, p. 225. One of the most important Jesuit contributions to science was their study of seismology, which they pioneered in Europe. Seismic activity in South America was described as early as 1590 in José de Acosta’s Historia natural y moral de las Indias (Natural and Moral History of the Indies), portraying the devastating effects of an earthquake in Chile and Peru. Juan González Chaparro (1581-1651) described a similar quake that destroyed Santiago de Chile in 1647 and in a letter the Spanish Jesuit Pedro Lozano wrote about a major earthquake in Lima and Concepción de Chile in 1756. The seismic shock of these natural disasters was felt far away from their epicenters. Similar activity in the mostly-uninhabited jungles of Bolivia and Brazil often went unwritten. Peramás, in his Diario del destierro (Diary of Exile), tells of extreme heat and the inability to travel most roads for nearly six months of the year due to widespread flooding caused by constant rainfall and cresting rivers (2004, p. 93). Similar weatherrelated experiences are repeated by Hoffmann (1979, pp. 4-5). 117 Although the Jesuit Province of Paraguay reported directly to the Society in Rome, the lands it encompassed and the Indians they protected were a constant source of envy and distrust: the missionaries were often under attack from Brazilian bandeirantes (slave traders) and their Tupi Indian allies as well as being threatened constantly by Spanish colonialists who sought Indian labor as part of the dreaded encomienda system. In fact, the missions enjoyed stability when other settlements did not, in large part because of the Jesuit attitude against the encomienda and Spanish nobility who sought Indian labor (Waisman, 2011, p. 213). The mission enterprise was also the target of several powerful enemies like the Franciscan Bernardino de Cárdenas (1579-1668), Bishop of Paraguay, who resented the Jesuits’ autonomy and spread malicious rumors about the Jesuits’ supposed hidden gold mines and even succeeded in convincing other South American bishops to line up against the missionaries. Other foes stated the missionaries wished only to enslave the Indians under their protection so that the Order could sell goods produced in the missions. As a result, investigations were launched by the Spanish monarchy, which at first absolved the Company from any wrongdoing. But, disputes between the Jesuits and Portugal and France over territorial borders coupled with political opposition in Madrid helped fuel the Order’s eventual expulsion. In 1750 Spain signed a treaty that required the transfer of seven missions to Portugal. While the Jesuits were forced to depart those missions, the Indians could accompany the priests or remain in their native lands. It seems that the Indians were mostly aware of the political events unfolding around 116

Gasta.indd 207

01/07/2014 18:22:55

208

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

other significant threat, European-borne diseases, might also to be referenced when St. Xavier repeats that in Heaven there are no «sicknesses». The central idea is to equate the Indians’ earthly existence with pain and suffering that can only be alleviated through heavenly unification with God, as suggested in the third aria, «Junto con Dios en el cielo» («United with God in Heaven»): Third Aria118 Yzatij Tupas ape

Junto a Dios en el cielo

DUO A Yzatij Tupas ape

DUO A Junto a Dios en el cielo

uncai noopatacas,

nadie se mira mal,

uncai pochenenequis, uncai noopatacas, uncai pochanenequis, uncai chîrîri, uncai baiquis, uncai cotarabequis, cheanapî concos.

no hay odio, nadie se mira mal, no hay odio, no hay rabia, no hay peleas, no hay travesuras, no hay muerte.

B Yzatij Tupas ape,

B Junto a Dios en el cielo

cheanapî naqui tarichauro, cheanapî naqui maxiciao, cheanapî naqui porubo, naqui cooñobo118.

no hay impedidos, nadie es flojo, nadie se pudre, ni quien se muera.

119

United with God in Heaven DUO A United with God in heaven no one looks on with hate119, there is no hate, no one looks on with hate there is no hate nor anger, nor hostility, no difficulties, nor death. B United with God in heaven, there are no impediments, no one is weak, no one decays, nor dies.

them hence their armed resistance to Spanish and Portuguese forces (1754-1756), an act that further fueled the call for the Jesuits complete expulsion since the priests had initially trained the Indians to protect themselves. 118 San Francisco Xavier, 2000, p. 41; Mission San Xavier, 2006, p. 20. 119 A standard translation from Spanish to English would be «no one looks at another with hate», but Nawrot’s own translation from Spanish reads «no-one hates

Gasta.indd 208

01/07/2014 18:22:55

SACRED ARIAS

209

Just as the second aria stressed emotional afflictions of the here and now, the third continues to build upon that argument by stressing that hostility, hatred, abuse, and death do not exist in heaven. These particular details likely referenced common concerns such as premature death or physical weakness brought about through pervasive diseases and frequent armed defense or warfare.With respect to the former, several testimonies from the period describe the frequency and severity of many of the Indians’ ailments, including plague and other epidemics, and how the Healer («Curandero» or «Hechicero» in European terms) held the tribe’s most coveted position120. As suggested in the aria’s title, «Junto a Dios en el Cielo», («United with God in Heaven»), the Indians can leave behind such afflictions only through belief and obedience in Him while on Earth, a loyalty that will yield unification with Him later in heaven. The message, poignant in that both St. Xavier and St. Ignatius deliver it, is that heaven remains free from the scourge of humanity. Taken together, arias 2 and 3 serve to emphasize a physical and emotional separation of this world from heaven and, by metaphysical means, begin the separation of the soul from the body. Another physical separation—that of abandoning the jungles for the missions—seems also to have been an objective of the opera’s words; according to Werner Hoffmann, for the Indians paradise was like an infinite tropical forest with enormous trees and unlimited food and drink121. The first half of the fourth aria instills in the audience an understanding of God’s good will and the benevolence of His domain. The central message here, initially begun in the first two arias, advises that heaven is free of mankind’s failures. Hence, heaven is purposefully described as paradise as well as a place of worship and rejoice:

himself». Based on the preceding and subsequent verses I have settled on «no one looks on with hate». 120 San Francisco Xavier, 2000, p. 31; Mission San Xavier, 2006, p. 16. Despite the remoteness of the missions, Indians there were in no way protected from outbreaks of European-borne infectious diseases such as smallpox, the plague, diphtheria, yellow fever, scarlet fever, mumps, typhus, influenza, measles, or syphilis. Whole tribes, who possessed no immunity, succumbed to these and other violent illnesses. 121 1979, p. 15.

Gasta.indd 209

01/07/2014 18:22:55

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

210

Fourth Aria 122123

Aipoostij Tupas ape San Ignacio A Aipoostij Tupas ape taicana fiestas atone,

La casa de Dios en el cielo San Ignacio A La casa de Dios en el cielo siempre tiene fiestas,

taicana azacaty ioma, taicana a[puquínuma biaboma,] taicana aiyaboma122.

siempre miras por ellas: gozan, ríen, siempre gozan, siempre se ríen.

Above in the House of God Saint Ignatius A In the house of God above there are always celebrations, you will always find them: fun, laughter123, always enjoying, always laughing.

The description of heaven as a festive, celebratory utopia may have been intended to match Jesuit teachings with Indian tradition. The Jesuits noted early on the festive nature of the Indian tribes, their interest and passion for music and dance, and how celebrations marked nearly every significant occasion. Such a description of heaven as a paradise that embraces the most loved aspects of the Indian’s earthy existence serves to underscore the peaceful joyousness of God’s domain while also demonstrating its similarities with the tribes’ rural homes on Earth. It is not surprising, then, that in the second part of the aria St. Ignatius invites the Indians to feast with Him and extends the cheerful characterization:

122

San Francisco Xavier, 2000, p. 57; Mission San Xavier, 2006, p. 20. Nawrot provides no translation from Spanish to English of «siempre miras por ellas». The Dictionary of the Real Academia defines «mirar por» as «Ampararla, cuidar de ella», and in English this means «to look after». However, I suspect the translation from Chiquitano to Spanish is incorrect since «miras por ellas» would mean «you look after them (the celebrations)», which does not make sense in this context. Perhaps the translation should have read «encontrar» («to find») and this is the translation I have used here. 123

Gasta.indd 210

01/07/2014 18:22:55

SACRED ARIAS

B Azio nanaiña utuburiboma, azio anaña oñe, ui noñemoxîma, ane na a[mutuburiu tî coño, ausiapata auba.]

B Que quede todo, para que coman, todos, que queden todos, por su voluntad, la mesa ya está preparada, ¡vengan a servirse!

211 B May all share in the feasts, may all stay for by their own will, the table is already prepared, let them come and help themselves!

Indian celebrations regularly included a grand banquet that symbolized the tribes’ communal nature. In the opera, the banquet not only refers to a shared meal but also acts as a metaphor for the Indians to unify with God in heaven, «at God’s table». Indeed, Ignatius tells the audience that the table is set and the food is prepared so that they may voluntarily partake in His goodness. The fourth aria, then, ends by suggesting the unification of the tribe on the one hand and the preparation for their willful partaking of Christianity on the other. The fifth and sixth arias are somewhat more important in terms of Church doctrine since they refer to the acceptance of conversion to Christianity. Specifically in the fifth, Saints Ignatius and Xavier (in duo) no longer obliquely suggest conversion as a means to know God but rather now imply that the Indians have happily and willingly embraced it: Besides stressing the willful and conscious nature of embracing Catholicism, the libretto carefully describes acquiescence as a process that invades the heart and soul (Part A) followed by the happiness felt through one’s senses once acceptance is accomplished (Part B). The repetition here and elsewhere of certain verses («alegres sus...», for example) should be read as a means to keep the rhyme of the piece in the original Chiquitano without complicating the intent or message, sort of like the refrain. By suggesting acceptance of Catholicism and preparedness for conversion through a principle of group unification, the fifth aria sets the stage for the introduction of the main theme of the entire opera, the Catholic sacrament of baptism, as St. Xavier presents in the first part of the sixth aria:

Gasta.indd 211

01/07/2014 18:22:55

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

212

Fifth Aria Their Hearts Rejoice

poquînuña naucîpisma, poquînuña noñernosma, poquînuña ñaquiocosma, poquînuña noñernosma.

Sus corazones están contentos DUO A Sus corazones están contentos, alegres están sus almas, alegre su voluntad, alegres sus pensamientos, alegre su voluntad.

B Poquînuña ñisutosrna, poquînuña nurnacusrna, poquînuña niñasrna, poquînuña nurnacusrna, poquînuña neezrna, poquînuña nipopezrna124.

B Alegres sus ojos, alegres sus oídos,125 alegres sus narices126, alegres sus oídos, alegres sus manos, alegres sus pies.

B Joyful eyes, ears, noses, ears, hands, feet.

Poquînuño DUO A Poquînuña nauzacusrna,

DUO A Their hearts rejoice, their souls are cheerful, their spirit joyful, their thoughts are happy, their spirit joyful.

124 125 126

124

San Francisco Xavier, 2000, p. 75; Mission San Xavier, 2006, p. 22. Nawrot’s translation from Chiquitano originally reads «oidos», instead of «oídos». I have made the orthographic correction here and two verses later where «oidos» again appears. 126 The translation originally reads «su narices» rather than «sus narices». I have corrected the agreement here. 125

Gasta.indd 212

01/07/2014 18:22:55

SACRED ARIAS

213

Sixth Aria Aub’apaezo yriabo roma San Xavier A Aub’apaezo îriabo roma, aub’apaezo cînîmanasrna, aub’apaezo oxirna tañarna.

B Aub’ apaezo rnanausrna, aub’apaezo rnapanausma, apataitaña rnoma. aub’apaezo oxima moma, oxima moma. Ane ape au nipostij Tupas127.

Son muchos los que tienen que ser bautizados San Xavier A Son muchos los que tienen que ser bautizados, recién se están haciendo grandes, recién se están convirtiendo.

There are so Many to be Baptized Saint Xavier A There are so many to be baptized, and by doing so they are converted, they become great.

B Recién adoran, recién se les abren los ojos (sobre lo bueno, lo malo), una realidad grandiosa para ellos, recién son benditos, ahora gozan. En el cielo está la casa de Dios.

B No sooner do they adore than their eyes are opened (to good and to evil), an imposing reality for them, that they are blessed, and now rejoice above is the House of God.

127

Like most Catholics, the Jesuits viewed baptism, the cleansing and purification of the soul from original sin, as the one of the two most significant Catholic rites; the other was the Eucharist or Holy Communion (which can only be received by those who have been baptized). Baptism was considered an outward, tangible sign that conveys the inward, intangible spirit through Christ. In other words, baptism was a physical and visible demonstration of faith in the presence of peers. In this sense, the baptismal rite and the opera share a common goal: to visually display a particular significance. In the second half of the sixth aria, according to Xavier, baptism has been unreservedly accepted, and because they have received the sacrament, the Indians are able to perceive good and evil, «recién se les abren los ojos / (sobre lo bueno, lo malo), / una realidad grandiosa para ellos»128. The promises made by Ignatius and Xavier in 127 128

Gasta.indd 213

San Francisco Xavier, 2000, p. 89; Mission San Xavier, 2006, p. 22. San Francisco Xavier, 2000, p. 89; Mission San Xavier, 2006, p. 22.

01/07/2014 18:22:55

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

214

arias 2, 3, and 4 regarding sought-after happiness and security in God’s benevolence, is revisited by Xavier in aria 6, when he sings that the converted Indians will be blessedly accepted into heaven: «recién son benditos, / ahora gozan. / En el cielo está la casa de Dios»129. The emphasis placed on baptism in the opera cannot be discounted. Baptism was a major objective in the conversion of New World Indians. It was believed that to cleanse the soul from sin not only marked the first step in the conversion process but also acceptance of the Jesuits, their ministry, and the Catholic Church. During the Counter Reformation—surely still a traumatic and enduring event in Jesuit history—the Council of Trent supported the Catholic Church’s decision that baptism was the principle practice to cleanse the soul of original sin and prepare it for heaven. As such, baptism then was upheld as a sacred practice and even Martin Luther believed that baptism does not presuppose faith, it generates it.The opera supports the Council’s declaration that the sacrament of baptism was to be a significant component of evangelization in the New World. Drawing on Church tradition that included the well known example of St. John the Baptist who was said to have baptized as many as 3,000 people in one day in the River Jordan, the Jesuits believed that baptism was a cornerstone of their ministry. Based on the title of the sixth aria as well as St. Xavier’s song in the first half of the same, it can be assumed that there were still many Indians who were yet to accept conversion to Christianity: «Son muchos los que tienen que ser bautizados»130. Nonetheless, the Jesuits generally believed that Indians should first be educated in the faith before they be baptized. These verses likely refer to that fact and to the notion that so many around the world yet await the sacrament. Historically, however, the Jesuits often had great difficulties in convincing the Indians to be baptized, particularly those tribes who continued to be nomadic, living outside the missions, and visited them only periodically. Even for those who lived within the dense confines of the reductions, however, baptism was not automatic. For example, the Jesuits often resorted to baptizing many Indians as they lay waiting to die, in the hopes of providing them a path to heaven. Of course the most common form of baptism took place just after birth, as it does today. The priests kept detailed infant baptismal records. These records provide both the numbers of Indians who 129 130

Gasta.indd 214

San Francisco Xavier, 2000, p. 89; Mission San Xavier, 2006, p. 22. San Francisco Xavier, 2000, p. 89; Mission San Xavier, 2006, p. 22.

01/07/2014 18:22:55

SACRED ARIAS

215

embraced the sacrament and excellent demographic information on the missions’ population131. As a means of celebrating the entry of an Indian into Christianity, and to stress the communal nature of celebrating this important step together, the missionaries often followed the baptismal rite with a town celebration and feast. The seventh aria alludes to such celebrations by calling attention once again to how baptism and entry into Christianity was to be celebrated as a significant step in uniting with God: 132 Seventh Aria Fiestas moma Escena 1 Fiestas moma auza nañenez, mta au nicautas, au nicautasito, poquîñama auza nañenez. Mta au nicautas, au nicautasito, fiestas [poquînuñama] anaaña naneneca, poquînuñama anaaña nazuquîbîbeca, anaaña naneneca, annaña nazuquîbîbeca. Escena 2 Taicana poquînuuncus, taicana coñonaucus. Coñonaucus uncai nitaquîrus, uncai nitaquîrus, taicana uncai nitaquîrus132.

Fiestas para ellos en aquel gran día Escena 1 Fiestas para ellos en aquel gran día, allá donde es y donde será, se alegran en aquel gran día, allá donde es y donde será, fiestas, se alegran todos los días, se alegran por siempre, todos los días, por todos los siglos.

Their Celebrations, on This Great Day Scene 1 On this great day we hold celebrations, where they are and will be, and they are happy on this great day, right where they are and will be, celebrations make them joyful, they rejoice always, each day, forever.

Escena 2 Siempre hay alegría, siempre hay buena suerte, suerte sin fin, sin fin, siempre y sin fin.

Scene 2 Forever joyful, forever fortunate, endless good fortune, endless forever and without end.

131

See Robert H. Jackson’s studies, «La raza y la definición de la identidad del ‘indio’ en las fronteras de la América española colonial» (2007) and «The Population and Vital Rates of the Jesuit Missions of Paraguay, 1700–1767» (2008). 132 San Francisco Xavier, 2000, p. 101; Mission San Xavier, 2006, p. 24.

Gasta.indd 215

01/07/2014 18:22:55

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

216

Besides pointing out the happiness («siempre hay alegría»133) and good fortune («siempre hay buena fortuna»134) will befall those who are baptized and prepared to embrace Christianity, the seventh aria also stresses that such good happenings will occur only to those who have freely chosen to reject sin by being baptized, «Fiestas para ellos en aquel gran día»135 (emphasis mine). In brief, the seventh aria symbolizes how indigenous rituals were incorporated into Christian rites consensually. One of Catholicism’s most compelling features for indigenous groups was how extravagant liturgical celebrations were characterized by inclusion. Often the entire mission attended a grand banquet where ritual practices took center stage: the donning of special Church vestments, the display of sacred artifacts such as gold or silver crosses and other alter pieces, the burning of incense, and sometimes the incorporation of dramatic mystery plays, an auto sacramental, or even musical pieces accompanied communal songs. For their part, the Indians were allowed to practice their own customs provided they did not run counter to Church beliefs. An inimitable brand of Catholicism emerged that assimilated myths, rituals, symbols, and physical artifacts (statues, furnishing, vestments, etc.) from the Indians.The tribes expressed themselves wearing symbolic indigenous dress, playing some of their own instruments (outside of the mission church, of course), singing folkloric tunes, and practicing traditional dances. As a result, a unique culture was produced that was neither strictly European (Catholic) nor wholly indigenous, but rather an amalgamation of the best, or most suitable, parts of them both. The Jesuit priests believed that allowing the Indians to preserve aspects of their culture—especially those that did not hinder the learning of ecclesiastical lessons or those that closely matched Catholic practices—only made the conversion process easier and more effective. The process of stimulating the masses to freely accept the sacrament of baptism is finalized in the eighth aria. At this point in the opera, it is supposed that the Indians have been convinced that to be baptized is to introduce them to Christianity and set them on the road to salvation. Just as in any sermon, the final aria reminds the audience of the requirement to call him «Father» and «Lord», and go about the world proclaiming His greatness: 133

San Francisco Xavier, 2000, p. 101; Mission San Xavier, 2006, p. 24. San Francisco Xavier, 2000, p. 101; Mission San Xavier, 2006, p. 24. 135 San Francisco Xavier, 2000, p. 101; Mission San Xavier, 2006, p. 24. 134

Gasta.indd 216

01/07/2014 18:22:55

SACRED ARIAS

217

Eighth Aria Tu nombre por siempre Padre A Tu nombre por siempre Padre, iré a sentarme junto a ti, Tu nombre por siempre mi Dios, iré junto a ti al cielo.

I Will Always Call You Father A I will always call you Father, I will come and sit by you, I will always call you My Lord, I will go with you to heaven.

B [Iriquîbo ñaana anausape, taicana paezo iñanauta nîri, taicana oquîmazañî.]

B Tu nombre por siempre glorioso, glorificaré por siempre tu nombre, siempre me protegerás

B I will proclaim the glory of your name forever, you will always protect me.

Iriquîbo ñaana tanu ape, taicana nacuba iñemo, taicana nizuba aemo.

Tu nombre por siempre en el cielo, Te amaré por siempre, siempre me amarás.

I will proclaim your name in the heavens, I will love you forever and you will always love me.

C Yriquîbo nana Yyaî, Yîrot’ ichîmo aezai, Iriquîbo nana Ichupa, Yîrot’ tan’ aeza ape. Yasacat, yasarî Tana aeza ape, Yîrot’ tan’ aeza ape136.

C Tu nombre por siempre Padre, iré a sentarme junto a ti, Tu nombre por siempre mi Dios, iré junto a ti al cielo. iré junto a ti al cielo. en el cielo, Junto a ti en el cielo.

C I will always call you Father, I will come and sit by you, I will always call you My Lord, I will go with you to heaven. To heaven I will go with you, to heaven, together with you in heaven.

Iriquîbo ñaana Yyaî A Iriquîbo ñaana Yyaî yîrot’ichîmo aezai, iriquibo ñaana Ichupa, yîrot’tan’ aaeza ape.

136

136

Gasta.indd 217

San Francisco Xavier, 2000, p. 123; Mission San Xavier, 2006, pp. 24-26.

01/07/2014 18:22:56

218

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

The aria is a reminder of what they have agreed to, that they are obligated to follow Him now that the Indians have embraced their own conversion. This fact is underscored in the vocal parts since both St. Xavier and St. Ignatius sing solos, duos, and a choir accompanies them, the latter highlighting the unanimity and collectivity of the messages in the opera. We might even call this the culmination since so many vocal and orchestral parts converge at the same time. The final aria moreover sets the stage for the Indians’ acceptance of the subsequent six Catholic sacraments: communion, reconciliation, confirmation, marriage, anointing the sick (or, extreme unction), and holy orders. Certainly, the Indians were not administered all of the sacraments (particularly the final two), but some missions were able to administer the first five somewhat routinely. For example, the Jesuits encouraged marriage at an early age, generally 17 years old for men and 15 for women, stabilizing the family structure by reducing premarital pregnancy and helping to decrease polygamy in the tribes. The aria instills the message that the Indians are now unfettered to sit beside Him in heaven, but that they must likewise endeavor to proclaim His name and spread His message. This sort of imposed harmony in the libretto, sung by St. Xavier and St. Ignatius, the two chief characters of the opera and most influential figures in Jesuit teachings, implores unanimity that naturally extends the message beyond baptism to the other sacraments, and leads the audience to see that point of view. The acceptance of sacred, dogmatic Jesuit religious ideology was perhaps more successful in the reductions than Church endeavors elsewhere since the remoteness of the missions first consolidated Jesuit thought among the indigenous groups and, after the missionaries departed, obstructed other external influences from taking root. Without extant musical works from these mission towns such as the operas under study here, it would be nearly impossible to draw forth the voices of those forgotten peoples under Jesuit influence and understand how their world was shaped by and alongside the Europeans. Likewise, it is nearly impossible to understand much of the Jesuit livelihood since a great deal of their documentary evidence was destroyed long ago. Operas like San Francisco Xavier and San Ignacio de Loyola are cultural and ideological forces that provide insight on that lost time. On the one hand, they exemplify the artistic and philosophical change from the Baroque to the Enlightenment and illuminate the activity in Jesuit missions. On the other hand, operas partly or wholly conceived and

Gasta.indd 218

01/07/2014 18:22:56

SACRED ARIAS

219

performed by Indians in the shadow of the Jesuits suggest that music and performance were cross-cultural ideological tools that also played a significant role in the evangelization process. Such creations were not distinctly imposed by one group over another, but rather were often transcultural collaborations in which both Europeans and Americans benefited, and in which both groups accepted and valued the intervention and interaction of and with the other. As Nawrot points out, the collaboration was mutual: El encuentro de dos tradiciones de vida musical, aborigen y europea —desconocidas la una para la otra hasta el comienzo de la labor misionera— su coexistencia e interacción, produjeron una nueva expresión musical, representativa de las misiones y distinta de los centros urbanos: la música reducional. La contribución de los indígenas en su creación y desarrollo, ha sido de gran importancia en todos los aspectos de la vida de los pueblos jesuíticos137. (The meeting of two traditions of musical life, indigenous and European—each unknown to the other until the beginning of missionary work—their coexistence and interaction, produced a new musical expression, representative of the missions and distinct from the urban centers: reductional music. The contribution of the Indians in its creation and development has been of great importance to all aspects of life of the Jesuit villages.)

If this were not true, then the Jesuit expulsion and subsequent abandonment of the reductions would have led the indigenous populations to simply discard the sacred Catholic works they were taught and return to their own native musical traditions. As we know, however, this did not happen. Instead, the Western style sacred musical pieces continued to be performed, passed from generation to generation—often orally—and usually prized over other lyrical works. As a result, the aesthetic artifacts resulting from the cultural contact between these two groups outlasted the groups themselves, the topic of the final chapter of this book.

137

Gasta.indd 219

Nawrot, 2000, p. 129.

01/07/2014 18:22:56

Gasta.indd 220

01/07/2014 18:22:56

CONCLUSION

PAST FORWARD: THE LEGACY OF EARLY NEW WORLD OPERA

In the spring of every other year Concepción, Bolivia is the host to a remarkable celebration of classical music, the International Festival of Renaissance and Baroque American Music. Also known as the Chiquitos Missions Festival, over the course of 10 days some 600 musicians from 24 countries and more than 88,000 aficionados from the United States, Europe, Asia, and Latin America converge on the Bolivian mission area to commemorate seventeenth and eighteenth-century musical works1. Many of the pieces performed celebrate the best music from the classical period: operas by Vivaldi and Mozart, works by Bach, even masses and vespers from Tomás Torrejón y Velasco.What makes the music festival truly remarkable, however, is that nearly every performing group plays at least one piece from Concepción’s archives, which holds over 10,000 recently-discovered works transferred there from the former Jesuit missions. Videos of these performances abound on video sharing websites. Zipoli’s San Ignacio de Loyola and the anonymous San Francisco Xavier premiered at the festival; Torrejón y Velasco is in regular rotation, just as he was in the early eighteenth century. Besides professional players from around the world, the festival features orchestras and choirs from across South America—especially from central Bolivia—who perform dressed 1

The festival takes place every two years with the next slated for the spring of 2014. It coincides with the International Musicology Symposium. Concerts are given in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, the Jesuit Missions of Chiquitos, the Jesuit Missions of Moxos, and the Franciscan Missions of Guarayos. The festival website reports 600-800 musicians from between 14-24 countries, and around 50 groups perform over 160 concerts for more than 80,000 attendees. (http://www.festivalesapac.com/).

Gasta.indd 221

01/07/2014 18:22:56

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

222

in traditional garb, just as their ancestors did.The singers and players admit to feeling a connection between indigenous musical traditions as they came to know it and the European styles that once pervaded the land, «a cross-pollination of the cultural impulses of Europe and the indigenous traditions of the Chiquitano» («Bolivian Mission Towns»). These modern performances indicate that the long-ago collaboration between the Jesuits and their Indian understudies remains a part of the social and cultural fabric, evidenced not only by the conservation of the music from that period but also harbored in the manner in which the Indians embrace their past. Just as important as conserving the works or performing them for contemporary audiences is the social and cultural impact the festival has had across the region. Because of the success of the Chiquitos festival, the area around the mission towns, historically one of the most impoverished areas in the world, now boasts more than a dozen orchestras supported by local, national, and international foundations, universities, and private supporters. The orchestras, in turn, train more than 2,000 youngsters in classical music2. The results are as much an appreciation for once-lost music as a rare opportunity to make intimate connections between the impressionable children, the music they are playing, and their ancestral past. A report by National Public Radio covering the 2008 festival included an interview with Father Piotr Nawrot, one of the festival organizers and famed musicologist who has published many of the works in archive. Nawrot explained the spiritual value of the recently-discovered pieces as well as their role in identity formation within the community: «Nawrot says people more commonly safeguarded the music and would tell him, «Father, if this is lost — if it dies, this tradi-

2

McDonnell, 2006. According to Nawrot, during the first two years of training the young instrumentalists learn to dominate an instrument to such a high degree, and the children in the chorus master complex voice parts, that either group can play or sing any piece from the archives despite its performance difficulty. After the third year, the orchestra at Urubichá can play baroque sonatas and accompany an organ concert by Johann Sebastian Bach (Nawrot, 2000, pp. 7-8). A similar phenomenon has taken place in Asunción, Paraguay where conductor and musicologist Luis Szarán, one of the first bibliographers of Zipoli’s works in Bolivia, created Sonidos de la Tierra (Sounds From the Land), a music program that teaches classical music to orphans, street children, and other underprivileged youths. The incredible playing ability of the children was featured in an April 2007 Frontline special called «The Music of the Missions».

Gasta.indd 222

01/07/2014 18:22:56

CONCLUSION

223

tion — we are all lost.We will die together with this manuscript.» «This music was not just music, it was sacred music,» Nawrot says. Even today, the missions’ young musicians claim the pieces make them «feel closer to God»»3. Similarly, a Los Angeles Times article about the 2006 festival included interviews with several young instrumentalists who reported a similar personal connection. Henry Villca, a twenty-seven-year-old indigenous singer from a town near La Paz, originally thought he would be a soldier like his father, but instead he studies voice in Amsterdam and has performed in London and Vienna. «This festival has helped change my life. It is like a dream» said Villca, «It never occurred to me when I was young that I could make my living from music»4. Another student, Ariel Rodríguez, a nineteen-year-old choir member and singer in the indigenous San Javier mission choir, reports a similar outlook: «It makes one feel proud when musicians from Europe come here and say they learn from us, just as we surely learn from them»5. The true value of the festival is to generate confidence and awareness in the past: «La función ayudó a genera consciencia, orgullo e interés en conocer, preservar y revivir la cultura redaccional en todas sus manifestaciones»6 («The event helped generate consciousness, pride, and interest in knowing, preserving, and reliving the mission culture in all its manifestations»). The success of the Chiquitos music festival has nearly single-handedly helped reawaken popular interest in early New World music. And this is particularly the case with early operas such as La púrpura de la rosa, San Ignacio de Loyola, and San Francisco Xavier, the latter two having their stage debut during past festivals. The grand resurgence is propelled by the fantastic story of the discovery of fragmented sheet music that has yielded San Ignacio and San Xavier and the impact they have had on the community. The success is also marked by the complex nature of long existing—but mostly forgotten—manuscripts such as those containing Torrejón’s version of La púrpura de la rosa (found in 1944). As a result of new—or renewed—interest in early American opera, each has been professionally recorded to CD (sometimes more than once), staged for live audiences, featured on classical radio stations, and two have been highlighted in mainstream media outlets such as the Los Angeles Times, 3

McCarthy, 2008. McDonnell, 2006. 5 McDonnell, 2006. 6 Nawrot, 2000, p. 7. 4

Gasta.indd 223

01/07/2014 18:22:56

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

224

New York Times, Spain’s El País newspaper, and National Public Radio, not to mention their appearance on amateur websites or in videos posted to the web sites such as YouTube. Their success on the world stage in recent years has been astonishing7. 7

Tomás de Torrejón y Velasco’s La púrpura de la rosa has enjoyed the greatest success, which is quite understandable given that Torrejón’s music and both his and Calderón’s libretto are extant. Torrejón’s version has been recorded to CD no less than four times: La púrpura de la rosa performed by the Clemencic Consort and conducted by Rene Clemencic (1995), La púrpura de la rosa: The Harp Concert, directed by Andrew Lawrence-King (2000), La púrpura de la rosa, performed by the Ensemble Elyma (Coro de Niños Cantores de Córdoba) and directed by Gabriel Garrido (2000), and La púrpura de la rosa performed by the Clemencic Consort and conducted by Mieke Van Der Sluis and Mark Tucker (2009). Selections from the opera also are recorded in Gramophone Editor’s Choice (1999), Gramophone Editor’s Choice (2001), and the Volume 1 of the Norton Recorded Anthology of Western Music: Ancient to Baroque (2006), the latter being a testament to the significance of Torrejón’s work to the study of early music. The opera was broadcast on ABC Classical FM’s «Early Music» show in 2000.With respect to live performance, La púrpura de la rosa was staged in Madrid (VII Festival de Opera in 1970 and the Teatro de la Zarzuela in 1999), Chicago (Rosary College, 1992), Minneapolis (Aveda Institute in conjunction with the American Musicological Society, 1994), Geneva (The Grand Théâtre, 1999), Santiago de Chile (Syntagma Musicum of the Universidad de Santiago de Chile, 2000), Mexico City (Palacio de Bellas Artes, 2001), Sheffield, England (University of Sheffield, 2003), Galway, Ireland (International Festival of Early Music, 2003), Manchester, England (Instituto Cervantes, 2003), Nottingham (2003), Dublin (St. Ann’s Church, 2003), Lima (Tercer Festival de Música , 2005), Ann Arbor, Michigan (University of Michigan School of Music Opera Workshop, 2006), and Tallinn, Estonia (Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir and Tallinn Chamber Orchestra, 2006). In 2000 American Broadcasting Corporation featured La púrpura on its Classical FM radio station and the BBC FM radio presented the opera on its Early Music Show in 2004. Finally, the opera even has been included on Indiana University’s History of Music 401 reading list (Antiquity to 1750). Domenico Zipoli’s San Ignacio de Loyola has been recorded twice: in 1996 by Gabriel Garrido and Ensemble Elyma and in 2003 as Kapsberger & Zipoli:The Jesuit Operas by conductor James David Christie and Ensemble Abendmusik. Christie’s recording was the feature presentation on American Broadcasting Corporation’s (ABC) Classical FM radio in 2005. Controversial choreographer Bill T. Jones presented the opera as a dance in the La Guardia Concert Hall in New York City in 2001. San Ignacio premiered in the Chiquitos music festival in 1998. Since that date it has been successfully staged across the globe: Boston (Boston College in 1997 and 2006, and the Brooks Concert Hall at the College of the Holy Cross in 2007), Mexico (in Mexico City, at Guanajuato’s Festival Internacional Cervantino, and in Guadalajara at the Capilla del Instituto Veracruz, all in 2000), Rome (Sala Petrassi in the Parco della Musica and Sant’Andrea al Quirinale, both in 2006),

Gasta.indd 224

01/07/2014 18:22:56

CONCLUSION

225

Surely early eighteenth-century Jesuit or Indian composers like Zipoli or Cathedral Masters such as Torrejón would be intrigued to know that their works survive to the present and continue to be appreciated by today’s audiences. Perhaps even more surprisingly is that these master works have entered the mass market where they have found a niche among opera enthusiasts across the world and become the object of wonder and amazement. This, in turn, has further propelled their constant performance, even accelerating the frequency of them. In this sense, it is worth recalling once again the sacrificial nature of early music and musicians as delineated by Jacques Attali in Noise: The Political Economy of Music, one cornerstone for my analysis of these operas. Tomás de Torrejón y Velasco, Domenico Zipoli, or the anonymous composer of San Xavier all produced musical works that reflect Attali’s belief that early musicians were beholden to a specific royal or religious authoritative body because they simply were paid to do so8. As Attali explains, in this network or phase, Sacrifice, their work was ritualized and surrendered to a higher calling—God or the monarchy—for which the artist earned very little: «Tool of the political, his music is its glorification, just as the dedicatory epistle is its explicit glorification. His music is a reminder that, in the personal relation of the musician to power, there subsists a simulacrum of the sacrificial offering, of the gift

Fairfield, Connecticut (Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts, Fairfield University in 2006), New York City (Fordham University Choral Concerts with the Bronx Arts Ensemble in 2006), Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (Synod Hall in 2007), San Francisco (St. John’s Presbyterian Church in Berkeley in 2004 and the University of San Francisco Department of Performing Arts in 2007), Santa Cruz, Bolivia (Santa Cruz Parish Church in Colchagua in 2007), Santiago de Chile (Patio Mayor del Hospicio Cabañas and Colegio San Ignacio, both in 2007) and San Diego, California (San Diego Mission in 2008). The anonymous San Francisco Xavier was first recorded as Mission San Francisco Xavier - Opera y Misa de los Indios by Gabriel Garrido and Ensemble Elyma in 2001 in its original Chiquitano language. The opera debuted at the Chiquitos music festival the year before, then was staged twice in Buenos Aires (Catedral de San Isidro and the Museo de Arte Hispanoamericano, 2000). Subsequent presentations include a series of performances in 2006 directed by Javier Blanco Rubio and supported by Universidad Pontificia de Comillas (Spain). It toured Madrid and parts of Cantabria (Spain) in commemoration of the five hundred year anniversary of the birth of St. Xavier (Iglesia de la Inmaculada y San Pedro Claver in Madrid, the Festival Internacional de Santander, and Liébana). 8 Attali, 1985.

Gasta.indd 225

01/07/2014 18:22:56

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

226

of the sovereign, to God, of an order imposed on noise»9. Hence, Torrejón, bankrolled by the Viceroy, produced the New World’s first opera to praise the new Bourbon King and, in the process, sought out additional funding for his own works. Zipoli, studying to be a Jesuit priest, wrote San Ignacio as a tribute to the founder of the Jesuit order with the goal of spurring the Indians to convert to Catholicism.The anonymous composer of San Xavier composed for the same reasons as Zipoli, except that his was dedicated to the other founder and written and performed in indigenous language, thereby approximating and directing the message much more intimately and, perhaps, efficiently. Each acted as a cog in the machine of power, each composed a work that was supremely propagandistic, and each can be viewed as a sacrificial offering. According to Attali, beginning in the late eighteenth century, music becomes a valued commodity consumed by paying customers (the Representing network), followed by its mass dissemination by innovative technological means in the twentieth century (Repeating), before finally being held as an object of utopian self-expression (Composing)10. Before all of that, however, the musician is at the behest of his benefactor, and really is nothing more than one instrument in the machine of power. If it were not for the fact that these three operas had been lost (San Ignacio and San Xavier) or forgotten (La púrpura de la rosa), only to be rediscovered centuries later, Atalli’s three subsequent networks would be moot to this study. In fact, it is difficult to argue that any of them passed through the second network, Representation, whereby composers and performers are paid for their work through attendance by a paying public, thus eliminating the need for patronage. In Attali’s words, «In this network, the value of music is its use-value as spectacle» that «simulates and replaces the sacrificial value of music in the preceding network. [...] [T]his network characterizes the entire economy of competitive capitalism»11. There is absolutely no doubt that none of these operas was performed for a paying audience after their initial support by Church or state in the early eighteenth century. They were lost after all. Their contemporary revival since the 1970s, however, tells another story. Because of the success of the Chiquitos music festival, the modern reproductions of the operas on CD, their appearance on the radio 9

Attali, 1985, p. 48. Attali, 1985. 11 Attali, 1985, pp. 32-33. 10

Gasta.indd 226

01/07/2014 18:22:56

CONCLUSION

227

and in print media, and their frequent performances across the world, it becomes apparent that these operas have indeed passed through Attali’s third and fourth networks, albeit in accelerated fashion. According to Attali, the third network, Repetition, first appears at the end of the nineteenth century with the invention, then perfection, of recording12. This technology, conceived first as a means of storing representation, later takes a material function as the recordings are sold for profit, erasing the communal experience of attending a representation: «the consumption of music is individualized, a simulacrum of ritual sacrifice, a blind spectacle. The network is no longer a form of sociality, an opportunity for spectators to meet and communicate, but rather a tool making the individualized stockpiling of music possible on a huge scale»13. The compact discs, the music festival, and radio all are technological tools that have served to erase the original sense of group sociality and cohesiveness as designed by the operas’ composers. Nonetheless, fortunately this new technology makes possible the final stage, that of Composition, in which music is performed by a musician for the sake of art alone: Finally, we can envision one last network, beyond exchange, in which music could be lived as composition, in other words, in which it would be performed for the musician’s own enjoyment, as self-communication, with no other goal than his own pleasure, as something fundamentally outside all communication, as self-transcendence, a solitary, egotistical, noncommercial act. In this network, what is heard by others would be a by-product of what the composer or interpreter wrote or performed for the sake of hearing it, just as a book is never more than a by-product of what the writer wrote for the sake of writing it14.

If we consider how the Chiquitos music festival has successfully revived lost works including San Ignacio and San Xavier, how each performing group at the festival actively selects works from the archives to play, as well as the personal connection felt by the players and singers to the music (like those described above), it would seem that Attali is correct. Indeed, in a 2006 Los Angeles Times report, «How they go for Baroque in Bolivia», native singer Angelica Monje who joined a London chamber music group, admits as much: «We have this music inside our 12

Attali, 1985. Attali, 1985, 32-33. 14 Attali, 1985, 32-33. 13

Gasta.indd 227

01/07/2014 18:22:56

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

228

hearts in Bolivia, but it’s not a way to make a living in this country»15. Rather, Monje sings for intrinsic aesthetic or emotional value alone— art for art’s sake. As further proof of performance for the appreciation of aesthetics, we need only look to university theater groups around the world who have painstakingly performed these operas for pleasure. What can be garnered from such actions, then, is a belief that these operas, which started as musical works for the enjoyment of a particular group audience, have come full circle and are serving the same ends today, although the audience motivation is obviously quite different now. But none of this would be important if not for a few remarkable details regarding the rescue and transmission of these operas. Although the printed librettos for San Ignacio and San Xavier had been lost—or at least misplaced—for at least two hundred years, the Indians nonetheless cultivated an amazing tradition of memorization that kept some pieces alive. Many works even were a part of the standard musical rotation in some missions, although professional historians, musicologists, or others did not realize this was happening. This is exactly the case with Zipoli’s San Ignacio, a work that has been passed down from generation to generation by rote. According to Bernardo Illari, the opera continued to be performed, probably by memorization and repetition, during the past century: «In 1991 the aged native musician José Sa’tiba has corroborated this in a conversation in San Ignacio de Moxos remembering the work perfectly as part of the annual celebration for the feast of the patron saint of the town»16. Nawrot reports a similar phenomenon: A lo largo de casi dos siglos, los manuscritos musicales y los instrumentos de los talleres de los pueblos de las misiones fueron preservados por los cabildos de la destrucción, olvido o hurto. Simultáneamente, sucesivas generaciones fueron transmitiéndose por vía oral una parte del repertorio musical [...] los maestros de música, a cuyo cuidado los manuscritos eran confiados por el cabildo indigenal, todavía registraban en su memoria una buena parte del contenido de la colección17. (During nearly two centuries, the musical manuscripts and instruments from the mission workshops were protected from destruction, obscurity or theft by the local city government. Simultaneously, successive generations 15

McDonnell, 2006. Illari, 2003, p. 5. 17 Nawrot, 2000, pp. 71-72, emphasis mine. 16

Gasta.indd 228

01/07/2014 18:22:57

CONCLUSION

229

were transmitting a part of the musical repertoire orally [...] the music teachers, to whose care the manuscripts were entrusted by the local government, still register in their memory a good part of the collection’s contents.)

Despite its performance difficulty, San Ignacio may have been passed from generation to generation and very well could have been the only opera the Indians ever learned. Similarly, the repertoire of works they memorized may have been quite extensive. According to Nawrot, the older generation met periodically to practice masses and chants they remembered from their youth, then performed for the rest of the town18. In part, the Chiquitos festival celebrates the printed librettos of seventeenth and eighteenth-century music—the written word—as well as the older generation who painstakingly kept the works alive through a rather impressive residual oral transmission—the oral tradition. With respect to the printed librettos, the story of their survival is no less surprising. Despite time and neglect, important musical works like San Francisco Xavier or San Ignacio have survived to the present due to a little luck and happenstance. At the time of their expulsion in 1767, the Jesuits destroyed most of their documentation in the Americas. Nevertheless, they seem to have done a poor job since nearly 10,000 sheets of music—over 5,000 in Chiquitos and more than 4,000 in Moxos—have survived to the present. Or, faced with possible persecution from political and religious foes, they simply did not deem printed music a threat as great as official reports, personal diaries, missives, or the like. The endurance of San Ignacio and San Xavier, for example, is nothing less than a story of tremendous chance. In 1972, when the Swiss architect and builder Hans Roth was contracted to renovate the San Rafael Church (in the Diocese of Concepción de Chiquitos in eastern Bolivia), he had no idea that the valuable papers he stumbled upon would open up avenues of research and appreciation for the musical culture of the missions. He found 4,000 pieces of vocal, keyboard, and chamber music in the choral area of San Rafael and another 1,500 sacred pieces in Santa Ana, in addition to several very old instruments. The pieces were badly damaged. Some were worm-eaten, others burned, and most seemed incomplete to the untrained eye. Roth then made arrangements for the entire collection to be moved and archived in the newly founded Archivo Musical de Chiquitos in Concepción. For years, Roth continued 18

Gasta.indd 229

Nawrot, 2000, p. 72.

01/07/2014 18:22:57

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

230

to gather additional manuscripts and instruments from several former Jesuit missions. He set them aside for protection and numerous times attempted to convince musicologists to visit the churches and examine his discoveries. Due to a series of mishaps virtually no one came. It was not until around 1986 that Roth traveled to Montevideo to meet Francisco Curt Lange, Director of the Instituto Interamericano de Musicología (Interamerican Institute of Musicology), one of the most respected musicologists in South America who had been pursuing information related to Domenico Zipoli’s life and compositions. Perusing Roth’s microfilm of the collection, Curt Lange immediately recognized the significance of the works stating «E’ un tesoro enorme... sono perlomeno sei brani di Zipoli sconosciuti» («It’s an incredible find... there’s at least six unknown Zipoli pieces»)19. Curt Lange later arranged for the Instituto Nacional de Cultura de Bolivia, under the leadership of Carlos Seoane Urioste, to investigate the collection and formally catalog it. During the visit, Roth also noticed that Curt Lange had an original copy of a famous photograph by the German photographer, Hans Ertl, featuring Indian men in an unknown church reading from sheet music and playing Western-style instruments. Ertl’s photograph was one of 5 or 6 known to exist in the world.The negative was lost a long time ago. When Roth asked Lange if he recognized the church in the photo, he admitted he did not: «No. Non lo so. Non so di quale chiesa si tratti» («No, I don’t know. I don’t know which church it is»)20. Roth immediately identified the unnamed church as San Rafael, the very same place where he had been laboring since 1972 and where some of the 10,000 manuscripts had been found. These fortuitous events spurred interest from a variety of musicologists who have since traveled to the zone to review and catalog the collection21. 19

Szarán, 2000, p. 172. Szarán, 2000, p. 172. 21 Unfortunately, by 1990, none of the efforts came to full fruition although the truncated Catálogo de los manuscritos de música colonial de los archivos de San Ignacio y Concepción (Moxos y Chiquitos), de Bolivia (Catalogue of Colonial Music Manuscripts from the Archives of San Ignacio and Concepción (Moxos and Chiquitos) in Bolivia) was published in 1990 by Seoane Urioste and his colleague Waldemer Axel Roldán. Around the same time, the Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET) (The National Council of Scientific and Technical Investigation) led by Argentine researchers, Leonardo Waisman, Gerardo V. Huseby, Irma Ruiz and Bernardo Illari, produced the most exhaustive catalog of the works available, 20

Gasta.indd 230

01/07/2014 18:22:57

CONCLUSION

231

For his part, Hans Roth also affirmed a puzzling fact about the musical training of the Indians that was visible in Ertl’s photos22. During aerial testing of high-altitude equipment for Siemans over the Bolivian highlands after World War II, Ertl was surprised to learn that many of the Jesuit mission towns were still standing after two centuries of neglect. When he visited the missions, he was fascinated to see that the Indians continued to gather in churches to sing and play music, even though no formal musical training had taken place there since the Jesuit expulsion nearly two hundred years earlier. Ertl’s photographs depicting Indian men in a church playing Western-style instruments was widely published, providing Americans and Europeans one of the first looks at indigenous life in former Jesuit mission towns. More significantly, the photos provided a clear record of the Indians’ attraction to Western sacred music. A similar point had been made previously, though mostly forgotten, by Alcides D’Orbigny, the nineteenth-century French naturalist who spent a great deal of time in the missions, who stressed the sophistication of the sacred Western music being played and observed that the Indians still made their own instruments: El 5 de Julio—un domingo—concurrí a la iglesia con el administrador. Se cantó una gran misa con música italiana y tuve la verdadera sorpresa de encontrar entre los indios esta música preferible a toda la que había escuchado aún en las ciudades más ricas de Bolivia. El director del coro por un lado conducía el canto; el de la orquesta, por el otro, ejecutaba diversos fragmentos con admirable armonía. Cada cantor, cada corista, con el papel de la música ante sí, desempeñaba su parte con gusto, acompañado por el órgano y numerosos violines fabricados por los indígenas23. (July 5th—a Sunday—I attended church with the administrator. They sang a great mass with Italian music and I was very surprised to learn that Catálogo de Obras del Archivo Musical de Chiquitos (Catalogue of the Musical Archives of Chiquitos) although still unpublished (1999). 22 Ertl himself is a strange character in this saga. Born in Germany in 1908, he was General Rommel’s official photographer before becoming a cameraman for Hitler’s propaganda machine. Among his Third Reich works is Olympia, the 1936 documentary of the Olympic Games that has been viewed as a work of art in propaganda filmmaking. Moreover, Ertl’s daughter, Monika, fought alongside Che Guevara in the Bolivian jungle. Ertl, unhappy with Germany’s post World War II ideology, refused to return to his homeland and purchased land in the Bolivian jungle where he died in 2000. See Mercado (2005) for a brief review of his life. 23 D’Orbigny, 1959, p. 1143.

Gasta.indd 231

01/07/2014 18:22:57

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

232

the Indians preferred this music over all that I heard even in the richest cities in Bolivia. The director of the choir on one side conducted the singing; the conductor of the orchestra, on the other side, directed different fragments with admirable harmony. Each singer, each choir member, with sheet music in front, played his part with pleasure, accompanied by the organ and a number of violins made by the Indians.)

What is most obvious from Ertl’s photos backed by D’Orbigny’s account is that the sacred music from the Jesuit era continued to be played as before, virtually uninterrupted despite the Jesuit expulsion. Another point D’Orbigny makes relates to the Indians’ display of sheet music during performance (D’Orbigny, 1959). During the Jesuit era, many textual and eyewitness accounts claimed the Indians were unable to read music, a point not completely supported by historical evidence if we are able to admit that the author of San Xavier or the parallel text for San Ignacio was indigenous. Up to Ertl’s time it was widely held that they memorized the musical notes and played their instruments by rote. And, in fact, in Ertl’s crucial photos the Indians appeared to read from the sheet music, and his immediate comments clarified what was really happening, «Hacían como que leían»24 («They acted as if they were reading»). In other words, the Indians made use of sheet music just as the Jesuits had taught that a choir should, by placing it in front of them in uniform fashion, and acting as if they were following it. The printed musical booklets used by the choirs were for show only. It is important to mention, however, that at the time of Ertl’s photos, perhaps the Indians had already mastered the songs and were conforming to custom when they held aloft the songbooks. Alternately, singers and instrumentalists may not have relied completely on printed sheet music but rather learned to play by rote, as indicated by Hans Roth: Ma solo dopo mi resiconto che gli indigeni utilizzavano le partiture per le messe solenni. Loro non leggevano la musica né comprendevano a cosa servivano quelle pagine. Ma avevano visto che venivano messe sul leggio al momento di interpetare la musica e così continuavano a farlo. Loro interpretavano il flauto o il violino mentre un ragazzo continuava a sfogliare lo spartito da una pagina all’altra, senza che loro potessero leggerla. Ciò significa che faceva tutto parte del loro rituale25. 24 25

Gasta.indd 232

Barbería, 1999. Szarán, 2000, p. 169.

01/07/2014 18:22:57

CONCLUSION

233

(But only after did I realize that the Indians used the sheet music for solemn masses. They did not read the music nor did they understand what those pages were for. But, they had seen that they were placed on the lecterns when playing music and so they continued to do so. They played the flute or the violin while a boy turned page after page, all without being able to read it. That meant that what they did was all part of their ritual practice.)

After having witnessed the Indians playing sophisticated pieces for a period of time, Roth was no doubt surprised to learn that the sheet music had no relevance to the pieces they were playing. The musical tunes were performed from memory, just as José Sa’tiba remembered in 1991. Despite little or no musical instruction since 1767, the Indians instead developed an amazing oral tradition of musical teaching and training that, incredibly, exists up to the present day. This does not preclude the possibility that the Indians knew how to read music at one point in the past, a skill that was ultimately disparaged and forgotten. Nor does this mean that Indian interest in fostering a rather complex musical tradition based on Jesuit sacred works was hindered. It could be, in fact, that a move to an oral culture based on the residues of a written one simply added another aesthetic value to the musical cultures of the missions. If we consider these astounding developments deep within the jungles of present-day Bolivia, alongside similarly amazing advancements in metropolitan areas such as Lima, we find that New World opera developed in the shadow of European standards, but departed distinctly from them in a number of significant ways. Indeed, what I hope has emerged from this study is a revealing portrait describing an astonishing literary and musical hybridization not always found in other genres, or in other places where differing cultures come into contact. While the imposition of religious and political ideology remains a valid characteristic of early New World opera such as those studied here, the process of manufacturing it was caught up in an unexpected practice of complicity and consent whereby unlikely heroes such as Zipoli or unknown indigenous composers and musicians created master works that instilled faith in religion and monarchy but which were incredibly complex works that celebrated the indigenous experience.

Gasta.indd 233

01/07/2014 18:22:57

Gasta.indd 234

01/07/2014 18:22:57

WORKS CITED

ACOSTA, J., de, Natural and Moral History of the Indies, ed. J. E. Mangan, trans. F. M. López-Morillas. Durham / London, Duke University Press, 2002. ADORNO, T. W., «Sacred Fragment: Schoenberg’s Moses und Aron», in Quasi una Fantasia: Essays on Modern Music, trans. R. Livingstone, London, Verso, 1992, pp. 225-248. — and M. HORKHEIMER, Dialectic of Enlightenment, trans. J. Cumming, New York, Herder and Herder, 1972. ALIER, R., Historia de la ópera, Barcelona, Ma Non Troppo, 2002. — ¿Qué es esto de la opera?, Barcelona, Ma Non Troppo, 2004. ANDRIEN, K. J., Crisis and Decline: The Viceroyalty of Peru in the Seventeenth Century, Albuquerque, University of New Mexico Press, 1985. ANDREWS, J., «Opera on the Margins in Colonial Latin America: Conceived under the Sign of Love», in Rewriting Classical Mythology in the Hispanic Baroque, ed. I. Torres, Suffolk, Tamesis, 2007, pp. 171-187. ANONYMOUS, San Francisco Xavier: Drama Musical (Opera Edificante), in Indígenes y cultura musical de las Reducciones Jesuíticas, vol. 3, ed. P. Nawrot, Cochabamba,Verbo Divino, 2000, pp. 29-144. — Mission San Francisco Xavier: Ópera y Misa de los Indios para la Fiesta de San Francisco Xavier, Metz, K617 France Records, 2001, pp. 14-26. APTHORP, W. F., The Opera Past and Present: An Historical Sketch, New York, Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1935. ARACIL VARÓN, B., «Teato evangelizador y poder colonial en México», Destiempos.com 3, 14, 2008, pp. 220-223. ASTRAIN, A., «St. Francis Xavier», in The Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 6, New York, Robert Appleton Company, 1909. ATTALI, J., Noise: The Political Economy of Music, trans. B. Massumi, Minneapolis, University of Minnesota Press, 1985. AYESTARÁN, L., Domenico Zipoli: El gran compositor y organista romano del 1700 en el Río de la Plata, Montevideo, Impresora Uruguaya, 1941.

Gasta.indd 235

01/07/2014 18:22:57

236

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

BAKER, Geoffrey. «Latin American Baroque: Performance as a Post-Colonial Act?», Early Music, 36, 2008, pp. 441-448. — «The Resounding City», in Music and Urban Society in Colonial Latin America, ed. G. Baker and T. Knighton, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2011, pp. 1-20. BAKEWELL P., «Registered Silver Production in the Potosi District, 1550-1735», in Jahrbuch für Geschichte von Staat, Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft Lateinamerikas, vol. 12, ed. R. Konetzke and H. Kellenbenz, Köln, Matau Verlag, 1975, pp. 67-103. BALLESTEROS GAIBROIS, M., Historia de América, Madrid, Pegaso, 1946. BARBERÍA, J. L., «Un jesuita español escribió hace 300 años una ópera en Bolivia», El País, 28 November 1999. BÉHAGUE, G., Music in Latin America: An Introduction, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, Prentice-Hall, 1979. BERENS, E. M., The Myths and Legends of Ancient Greece and Rome,Tortola, Longwood Press, 1979. BOWMAN, W., Philosophical Perspectives on Music, New York, Oxford University Press, 1998. BRADING, D. A. and H. E. Cross, «Colonial Silver Mining: Mexico and Peru», Hispanic American Historical Review, 52, 4, 1972, pp. 545-579. BROWN, S. «Introduction: “How Does Music Work”? Toward a Pragmatics of Music Communication», in Music and Manipulation: On the Social Uses and Social Control of Music, ed. S. Brown and U. Volgsten, New York, Berghahn Books, 2006, pp. 1-30. — and U. VOLGSTEN, ed., Music and Manipulation: On the Social Uses and Social Control of Music, New York, Berghahn Books, 2006. CALDERÓN DE LA BARCA, P., Celos aun del aire matan, ed. and intro., M. D. Stroud, San Antonio, Trinity University Press, 1981. — El laurel de Apolo, in Las comedias de D. Pedro Calderón de la Barca, vol. 2, ed. J. J. Keil, Leipsique, Ernesto Fleisher, 1828. CALDERÓN DE LA BARCA, P., and T. de Torrejón y Velasco, La púrpura de la rosa, ed. and intro. Á. Cardona, D. Cruickshank, and M. Cunningham, Kassel, Edition Reichenberger, 1990. CANCELLIERE, E., «Calderón y el teatro de corte», Cervantes, 0, 2001, pp. 117-32. CARDIEL, J., Breve relación de las misiones del Paraguay, Buenos Aires, Secretaría de Cultura de la Nación, 1994. — «Las misiones del Paraguay», ArteHistoria, , 2012. CARTER,T., «The Seventeenth Century», in The Oxford Illustrated History of Opera, ed. R. Parker, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1994, pp. 1-46.

Gasta.indd 236

01/07/2014 18:22:57

WORKS CITED

237

CARREIRA, X. M., «Opera and Ballet in Public Theatres of the Iberian Peninsula», in Music in Spain During the Eighteenth Century, ed. M. Boyd and J. J. Carreras, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1998, pp. 17-28. CARRERAS, J.J., «From Literes to Nebra: Spanish Dramatic Music Between Tradition and Modernity», in Music in Spain During the Eighteenth Century, ed. M. Boyd and J.J. Carreras, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1998, pp. 7-16. CEROCCHI, M., «Domenico Zipoli, un musicista Dratese nelle Reducciones gesuitiche in America Latina», Romance Review, 12, 2002, pp. 33-43. CERVANTES SAAVEDRA, M. de, Don Quixote, trans. J. Ormsby. London, Sovereign, 1964. CHASE, G., Music of Spain, New York, Dover, 1959. CLARO, S., «La música en las Misiones Jesuitas de Moxos», Revista Musical Chilena. Colección de Ensayos, 17, Santiago de Chile, Universidad de Chile, 1969. COTARELO Y MORI, D., Orígenes y establecimiento de la opera en España hasta 1800, Madrid, Revista de Archivos, Bibliotecas y Músicos, 1917. — Historia de la zarzuela o sea el drama lírico en España, desde su origen a fines del siglo XIX, Madrid, Tipografía de Archivos, 1934. CULLEY, T. D., Jesuits and Music: A Study of the Musicians Connected with the German College in Rome during the 17th century and of their Activities in Northern Europe, Roma, Jesuit Historical Institute, 1970. D’ORBIGNY, A., Viaje a la América Meridional, trans. A. Céspedes, Buenos Aires, Editorial Futuro, 1954. Diccionario de la Real Academia Española, 22nd ed. . DOERING, J. G. and G. Lohmann Villena, Lima, Madrid, Editorial Mapfre, 1992. DOMÍNGUEZ, J. M., «“Comedias armónicas a la usanza de Italia”: Alessandro Scarlatti’ s Music and the Spanish Nobility c .1700», Early Music, 32, 2, 2009, pp. 201-215 DONINGTON, R., The Rise of Opera, London, Faber and Faber, 1981. EINHORN, D., «Re-sounding Lost Masses», Americas, 41, 1990, pp. 4-5. ELLIOTT, J. H., Spain and Its World, 1500-1700, New Haven, Yale University Press, 1989. ELLUL, J., Propaganda:The Formation of Men’s Attitudes, New York,Vintage, 1973. ESTENSSORO, J. C., Música y sociedad coloniales: Lima 1680-1830, Lima, Editorial Colmillo Blanco, 1989. FERNÁNDEZ DE LA HOZ,T. Z., «El Teatro y las fiestas públicas en la corte durante el reinado de Carlos II», in Teatros y vida teatral en el Siglo de Oro a través de las fuentes documentales, ed. L. García Lorenzo and J. E. Varey, London, Tamesis, 1991, pp. 271-336. FESTIVAL INTERNATIONAL DE MÚSICA RENACENTISTA Y BARROCA AMERICANA, «Misiones de Chiquitos», Asociación Pro Arte y Cultura (APAC), .

Gasta.indd 237

01/07/2014 18:22:57

238

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

FRUTOS, L., «Virtuosos of the Neapolitan opera in Madrid: Alessandro Scarlatti, Matteo Sassano, Petruccio and Filippo Schor», Early Music, 32, 2, 2009, pp. 187-200. FULOP-MILLER, R., The Power and Secret of the Jesuits, New York, Viking Press, 1930. FURLONG, G, S. J., Los jesuitas y la cultura rioplatense, Montevideo, Ruta y Curbelo, 1933. — Músicos argentinos durante la dominación hispánica, Buenos Aires, Editorial Huarpes, 1945. — «Presencia, actuación y deceso de Domenico Zipoli en el Río de la Plata (1717-1726)», Anales de la Universidad de Salvador, 3, 1967, pp. 318-334. HOFFMANN, W., Las misiones jesuíticas entre los Chiquitanos, Buenos Aires, Fundación para la Educación, la Ciencia y la Cultura, 1979. — Vida y obra del P. Martin Schmidt S.J. (1694-1772), Buenos Aires, Fundación para la Educación, la Ciencia y la Cultura, 1981. GARCILASO DE LA VEGA, I. The Incas;The Royal Commentaries of the Inca, Garcilaso de la Vega, 1539-1616. trans. M. Jolas, New York, Orion, 1961. GASTA, C. M., «Public Reception, Politics and Propaganda in Torrejón’s La púrpura de la rosa, the First New World Opera», Latin American Theatre Review, 37, 1, 2003, pp. 43-60. — «Opera and Spanish Evangelization in the New World», Gestos, 44, 2008, pp. 85-106. — ««Señora, donde hay música no puede haber cosa mala»: Music, Poetry and Orality in Don Quijote», Hispania, 93, 3, 2010, pp. 357-367. — «Writing to be Heard: Performing Music in Don Quixote», in Cervantes in Perspective, ed. J. Domínguez, Madrid/Frankfurt: Iberoamericana / Vervuert, 2013, pp. 87-109. — Imperial Stagings: Empire and Ideology in Transatlantic Theater of Early Modern Spain and the New World, Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina Press (Studies in Romance Languages and Literatures), 2013. GEMBERO USTÁRROZ, M. «Circulación de libros de música entre España y América (1492-1650): notas para su estudio», in Early Music Printing and Publishing in the Iberian World, ed. L. Fenlon and T. Knighton, Kassel, Edition Reichenberger, 2006, pp. 147-177. GREENBLATT, S. Learning to Curse, New York, Routledge, 1990. GREER, M. R., The Play of Power: Mythological Court Dramas of Pedro Calderón de la Barca. Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1991. GRENÓN, P. J., Nuestra primera música instrumental: datos históricos, Buenos Aires, La Cotizadora Económica, 1929. GROUT, D. and H. W. WILLIAMS, A Short History of Opera, 4th ed., New York, Colombia University Press, 2003. DE

Gasta.indd 238

01/07/2014 18:22:58

WORKS CITED

239

HAMILTON, M. N., Music in Eighteenth Century Spain, New York, Da Capo Press, 1971. HESSE, E.W., «Calderón’s Popularity in the Spanish Indies», Hispanic Review, 23, 1, 1955, pp. 12-27. ILLARI, B., «Metastasio nel’Indie: de operas ausentes y arias presentes en América colonial», in La ópera en España e Hispanoamérica: Actas del Congreso Internacional, La ópera en España e Hispanoamérica, Una creación propia, Madrid 29.XI/3.XII de 1999, vol. 1, ed. E. Casares Rodicio and Á. Torrente, Madrid, Ediciones del ICCMU, 2000, pp. 343-374. — «Introduction», in «St. Ignatius Loyola—A Mission Opera: An Emblem of the Mission», Kapsberger and Zipoli: The Jesuit Operas, Troy, NY, Dorian Recordings, 2003. — «Re: Zipoli», E-mail to the Author, 5 March 2006. JACKSON, R. H., «La raza y la definición de la identidad del «indio» en las fronteras de la América española colonial», Revista de Estudios Sociales, 26, 2007, pp. 116-25. — «The Population and Vital Rates of the Jesuit Missions of Paraguay, 17001767», The Journal of Interdisciplinary History, 38, 3, 2008, pp. 401-431. JAMESON, F., Marxism and Form:Twentieth-Century Dialectical Theories of Literature, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1971. — The Political Unconscious: Narrative as a Socially Symbolic Act, Ithaca, Cornell University Press, 1991. JÁUREGUI, C. and E. H. FRIEDMAN, «Teatro colonial hispánico», Bulletin of the Comediantes, 58, 1, 2006, pp. 9-30. KAGAN, R. L. and F. MARÍAS, Urban Images of the Hispanic World 1493-1793, New Haven,Yale University Press, 2000. KENNEDY S. J., T. F., «Colonial Music from the Episcopal Archive of Concepción, Bolivia», Latin American Music Review, 9,1, 1988, pp. 1-17. — «Candide and a Boat», in The Jesuits: Culture, Sciences, and the Arts, 15401773, ed. J.W. O’Malley, G. A. Bailey, S. J. Harris and T. F. Kennedy.Toronto, University Toronto Press, 1999, pp. 315-332. KERMAN, J., Opera as Drama, Berkeley, University of California Press, 1988. KNOGLER, J., «Relato sobre el país y la nación de los Chiquitos en las Indias Occidentales o América del Sud y las misiones en su territorio», in Las misiones jesuíticas entre los Chiquitanos, ed. W. Hoffmann, Buenos Aires, Fundación para la Educación, la Ciencia y la Cultura, 1979. KUSS, M., «Prologue», in Music in Latin America and the Caribbean: an Encyclopedic History, vol. 1, Performing Beliefs: Indigenous Peoples of South America, Central America, and Mexico, ed. M. Kuss, Austin, University Texas Press, 2004, pp. ix-xxvi. LABRADOR, S., El Paraguay Católico. Historia de la música en la Argentina, vol. 1, ed. V. Gesualdo, Buenos Aires, Beta S.R.L., 1961.

Gasta.indd 239

01/07/2014 18:22:58

240

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

LAMAS, R., «Zarzuela and the Anti-Musical Prejudice of the Spanish Enlightenment», Hispanic Review 42, 2006, pp. 39-58. LANGE, F. C., «El redescubrimiento de Domenico Zipoli», Montalbán, 22, 1990, pp. 207-227. LIVERMORE, A., A Short History of Spanish Music, London, Duckworth, 1972. LOHMANN VILLENA, G., El arte dramático en Lima durante el Virreinato, Madrid, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, 1945. — El Conde de Lemos, Virrey del Perú, Sevilla, Escuela de Estudios HispanoAmericanos de la Universidad de Sevilla, 1946. LÓPEZ ALEMANY, I., ««En música italiana / y castellano en la letra», La ópera italianizante y el teatro palaciego de Felipe V», Dieciocho, 31, 1, 2008, pp. 7-22. MARTIN, P. J., «Music, Identity, and Social Control», in Music and Manipulation: On the Social Uses and Social Control of Music, ed. S. Brown and U.Volgsten, New York, Berghahn Books, 2006, pp. 57-73. MCCARTHY, J., «Bolivian Mission Towns Revive Baroque», National Public Radio. 13 May 2008, . MCDONNELL, P. J., «How they go for Baroque in Bolivia», Los Angeles Times, 6 May 2006, . MENDOZA DE ARCE, D., Music in Ibero-America to 1850, Lanham, MD,The Scarecrow Press, 2001. MERCADO, D., «Nazi Photographer Awaits Valhalla in Bolivia», The English News, 17 November 2005, . MÍNGUEZ, V., «Los «Reyes de las Américas»: Presencia y propaganda de la Monarquía Hispánica en el Nuevo Mundo», in Imagen del rey, imagen de los reinos. Las ceremonias públicas en la España Moderna (1500-1814), ed. A. González Enciso and J. M. Usunáriz Garayoa, Pamplona, Universidad de Navarra, 1999, pp. 231-266. MOORE, J. P., The Cabildo in Peru under the Habsburgs: A Study in the Origins and Powers of the Town Council in the Viceroyalty of Peru, 1530-1700, Durham, Duke University Press, 1954. — The Cabildo in Peru under the Bourbons, Durham, Duke University Press, 1966. MORNER, M., «The Role of the Jesuits in the Transfer of Secular Baroque Culture to the Río de la Plata Region», in The Jesuits: Cultures, Sciences, and the Arts, 1540-1773, ed. J. W. O’Malley, G. A. Bailey, S. J. Harris and T. F. Kennedy, Toronto, University Toronto Press, 1999, pp. 305-316. MUGABURU, J. and F. MUGABURU, Diaro de Lima (1640-1694), Lima, Concejo Provincial, 1935.

Gasta.indd 240

01/07/2014 18:22:58

WORKS CITED

241

MURATORI, L. A., El cristianismo feliz en las misiones de los padres de la Compañia de Jesús en Paraguay, trans. F. Borhesi, Santiago de Chile, Dirección de Bibliotecas, Archivos y Museos, 1997. NARANG, S., «The Music of the Missions», Frontline, 10 April 2007, . NAWROT, P., Indígenas y cultura musical de las reducciones jesuíticas, Cochabamba, Verbo Divino, 2000. — «Opera Production in the Jesuit Reductions», in Mission San Francisco Xavier: Ópera y Misa de los Indios para la Fiesta de San Francisco Xavier, Metz, K617 France Records, 2001, pp. 46-51. — Archivo Musical de Moxos-Antología: Evangelización y música en las reducciones Jesuíticas, Cochabamba,Verbo Divino, 2004. NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY, Stravinsky and the Dance: A Survey of Ballet Productions, 1910-1962, New York,The Dance Collection of the New York Public Library, 1962. OLDANI, L. J. and V. R.YANITELLI, «Jesuit Theater in Italy: Its Entrances and Exit», Italica, 76, 1, 1999, pp. 18-32. O’BRIEN, T., «Utopia in the Midst of Oppression? A Reconsideration of Guaraní/Jesuit Communities in Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Paraguay», Contemporary Justice Review, 7, 4, 2004, pp. 395-410. O’MALLEY, J. W., The First Jesuits, Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1993. DE PARIS, M., El drama ritual indígena y el teatro de la Conquista, Buenos Aires, Instituto Literario y Cultural Hispánico, 2005. PARKER, G and L. M. SMITH, The General Crisis of the Seventeenth Century, London, Routledge, 1997. PERAMÁS S. J., J. M., Diario del destierro, ed. Lila Perrén de Velasco, Córdoba, Universidad Católica de Córdoba, 2004. PRATT, M. L., Imperial Eyes: Travel Writing and Transculturation, London, Routledge, 1992. REBATET, L., Una historia de la música de los orígenes a nuestros días, Barcelona, Omega, 1979. RICHETER, L., «In South America, Missions of a Lost Utopia», New York Times, 3 December 2006. RODRÍGUEZ-GARRIDO, J. A., Teatro y poder en el palacio virreinal de Lima (16721707), Princeton, Princeton University, 2003. [Unedited Doctoral Thesis.] — «El teatro cortesano en la Lima colonial: recepción y prácticas escénicas», Históric, 32, 1, 2008, pp. 115-143. RULL, E., «Apuntes para un estudio sobre la función teológico-política de la «loa» en el siglo de oro», in Apuntes sobre la loa sacramental y cortesana, ed. I. Arrellano, K. Spang and M. C. Pinillos, Kassel, Edition Reichenberger, 1994, pp. 25-35.

Gasta.indd 241

01/07/2014 18:22:58

242

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

SCHMID, M., «Deberes de un misionero y tareas especiales encargadas al P. Schmid», ed. W. Hoffmann, Buenos Aires, Fundación para la Educación, la Ciencia y la Cultura, 1979, pp. 194-195. SEEMAN, O., The Mythology of Greece and Rome With Special Reference to Its Use in Art, ed. and trans. G. H. Bianchi, New York, Harper & Brothers, 1880. STAINES, J., ed., The Rough Guide to Opera, 4th ed., New York, Rough Guides, 2007. STEIN, L. K., «La plática de los dioses», in La estatua de Promoteo: Teatro del Siglo de Oro, ed. M. R. Greer, Kassel, Edition Reichenberger, 1986, pp. 13-72. — «The Iberian Peninsula and its New World Colonies:The Spanish and Portuguese Heritage», in Companion to Baroque Music, ed. J. A. Sadie, London, J.M. Dent & Sons, 1990, pp. 327-336. — «Opera and the Spanish Political Agenda», Acta Musicologica, 63, 1991, pp. 125-167. — Songs of Mortals, Dialogues of the Gods: Music and Theatre in Seventeenth-Century Spain, London, Clarendon Press, 1993. — «The «Blood of the Rose» and Opera’s Arrival in Lima», in La púrpura de la rosa: The Harp Concert, Freiburg, Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, 1999, pp. 9-15. — «De la contera del mundo: las navegaciones de la ópera entre dos mundos y varias culturas», in La ópera en España e Hispanoamérica: actas del Congreso Internacional a ópera en España e Hispanoamérica, una Creación Propia, Madrid, 29.XI/3.XII de 1999, ed. E. Casares Rodicio and Á. Torrente, Madrid, ICCMU, 2001a, pp. 79-94. — «De chacona, zarabanda, y La púrpura de la rosa en la cultura del Perú colonial», in Perú en su cultura, ed. D. Castillo Durante y B. Sattler, Ottawa / Lima, PromPeru / University of Ottawa, 2001b, pp. 227-239. — «The Origins and Character of Recitado», Journal of Seventeenth-Century Music, 9, 1, 2003, p. 29. — ««La música de dos orbes:» A Context for the First Opera of the Americas», The Opera Quarterly, 22, 3-4, 2008, pp. 433-458. — and J. Máximo Leza, «Opera, Genre, and Context in Spain and its American Colonies», in The Cambridge Companion to Eighteenth-Century Opera, ed. A. R. DelDonna y P. Polzonetti, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2009, pp. 244-269. STEVENSON, R., The Music of Peru: Aboriginal and Viceroyal Epochs, Washington, Pan American Union, 1959a. — «Opera Beginnings in the New World», The Musical Quarterly, 45, 1, 1959b, pp. 8-25. — Spanish Music in the Age of Columbus, Den Haag, Martinus Nijhoff, 1960. — «The First New-World Opera», Américas, 16, 1964, pp. 33-35. — Renaissance and Baroque Musical Sources in the Americas, Washington, General Secretariat, Organization of American States, 1970.

Gasta.indd 242

01/07/2014 18:22:58

WORKS CITED

243

— Foundations of New World Opera with a Transcription of the Earliest American Opera, 1701, Lima, Ediciones CVLTVRA, 1973. — La púrpura de la rosa. Estudios preliminar y transcripción de la música de Robert Stevenson, Lima, Instituto Nacional de Cultura, 1976. — «The Last Musicological Frontier: Cathedral Music in the Colonial Americas», Inter-American Music Review, 3, 1980, pp. 49-54. — «Zipoli’s Transit Through Dictionaries: A Tercentenary Remembrance», Inter-American Musical Review, 9, 1988, pp. 21-34. STRANDBERG, O and B-A Tallin, «Forward: Manipulating Music—a Perspective of Practicing Composers», in Music and Manipulation: On the Social Uses and Social Control of Music, ed. S. Brown and U. Volgsten, New York, Berghahn Books, 2006, pp. x-xi. STROUD, M D., «Introduction», in Celos aun del aire matan, ed. M. D. Stroud, San Antonio, Trinity University Press, 1981, pp. 3-25. — «Re:Your Article», E-mail to the Author, 13 September 2007. SUBIRÁ, J., «La opera «castellana» en los siglos XVII y XVIII», Segismundo, 1, 1965, pp. 23-42. SZARÁN, L., Domenico Zipoli: Una vita, un enigma, Prato, Lions Club Prato Datini, 2000. TEPASKE, J. J., and H. S. KLEIN, The Royal Treasuries of the Spanish Empire in America. Durham, Duke University Press, 1982. THOMSON, O., Easily Led: A History of Propaganda, Gloucestershire, Sutton Publishing, 1999. TIEDEMANN, R., «Adorno’s Tom Sawyer Opera Singspiel», in The Cambridge Companion to Adorno, ed. T. Huhn, trans. S. Bird-Pollan, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2004, pp. 386-394. URIOSTE, S. and W. A. ROLDÁN, Catálogo de manuscritos de música colonial de los archivos de San Ignacio y Concepción (Moxos y Chiquitos), de Bolivia, Buenos Aires, Revista del Instituto de Investigación Musicológica «Carlos Vega» (Universidad Católica Argentina), 1989. VEGA CARPIO, L. F. de, El arte nuevo de hacer comedias en este tiempo, ed. J. de José Prades, Madrid, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, 1971. — La selva sin amor, ed. e intro. M. G. Profeti, Firenze, Alinea Editrice, 1999. WAISMAN, L., «La música en las misiones de Mojos: algunos caracteres diferenciales», in La música en Bolivia: de la prehistoria a la actualidad (Memoria del Simposio Internacional), ed. W. Sánchez Canedo, Cochabamba, Fundación Simón I. Patiño, 2002, pp. 529-45. — «Urban Music in the Wilderness: Ideology and Power in the Jesuit Reducciones, 1609-1767», in Music and Urban Society in Colonial Latin America, ed. J. Baker and T. Knighton, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2011, pp. 208-229.

Gasta.indd 243

01/07/2014 18:22:58

244

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

WAISMAN, L, G. V. HUSEBY, I. RUIZ and B. ILLARI, Catálogo de Obras del Archivo Musical de Chiquitos, Buenos Aires, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), 1999. WATKINS, T. D., Domenico Zipoli in the Musical Life of the Jesuit Province of Paraguay. Tallahassee, Florida State University, 1993. [Unedited Master’s Thesis.] WEISS, P., Opera: A History in Documents, New York, Oxford University Press, 2002. Wikimedia, «Misiones jesuíticas de Bolivia», 2012, . WILLIAMS, J. M., «Enlightened Lima: A 1707 Tribute to Philip V, Calderón, and the Return of the Siglo de Oro», Dieciocho, 13, 1990, pp. 90-109. — «Peralta Barnuevo and the Influence of Calderón’s Operatic Legacy to Viceregal Peru», Bulletin of the Comediantes, 58, 1, 2006, pp. 245-462. ZAMBRANO, J., Una semblanza de Domenico Zipoli, Córdoba, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, 1995. ZIMMERMAN, J. E., Dictionary of Classical Mythology, New York, Harper and Row, 1964. ŽIŽEK, S., The Sublime Object of Ideology, London,Verso, 1989.

RECORDINGS AND BROADCASTS AMERICAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, «A Peruvian Baroque Opera», Early Music, American Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) Classical FM, New York, 7 April 2000. — «For the God Who Sings», Early Music, American Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) Classical FM, New York, 31 July 2005. ANONYMOUS, Mission San Francisco Xavier: Ópera y Misa de los Indios para la Fiesta de San Francisco Xavier, Metz, K617 Records, 2001. TORREJÓN Y VELASCO, T. de, «Púrpura de la rosa», Metz, K617 Records, 2000. — «La púrpura de la rosa», Gramophone Editor’s Choice, Tag Mclaren Audio, 1999. — «Torrejón y Velasco: La púrpura de la rosa», Basel, Nuova Era, 1995. — «La Púrpura de la rosa», Basel, Nuova Era, 2009. — «La púrpura de la rosa (Al bosque)», Gramophone Editor’s Choice, Tag Mclaren Audio, 2001. — «Torrejón y Velasco: “La púrpura de la rosa”», Gütersloh, BMG International, 2000. — «La púrpura de la rosa, opera», in Norton Recorded Anthology of Western Music: Ancient to Baroque, 5th ed., New York, W.W. Norton & Co., 2006.

Gasta.indd 244

01/07/2014 18:22:58

WORKS CITED

245

ZIPOLI, D., «San Ignacio», Metz, K617 Records, 1996. — «St. Ignatius Loyola—A Mission Opera: An Emblem of the Mission», in The Jesuit Operas: Operas by Kapsberger and Zipoli, Troy, New York, Dorian Recordings, 2002.

PERFORMANCES La púrpura de la rosa — Pedro Calderón de la Barca and Tomás de Torrejón y Velasco Coro de la Radio Televisión Española, Madrid, 30 May 1970. Directed by Andrew Schultze and Stephen Blackwelder, Choreographed by Kate Lanham, and Performed by Ars Musica Chicago, Rosary College, Chicago, 26 June 1992. Directed by James Middleton, Choreographed by Bob Skiba, and Performed by Ex Machina, Aveda Institute, Minneapolis, 28-30 October 1994. Directed by Óscar Araiz, Conducted by Gabriel Garrido, and Performed by Conjunto instrumental Elyma, and Coro del Teatro de la Zarzuela, Ballet del Grand Théâtre de Genève, Le Bâtiment des Forces Motrices, Genève, 19 October 1999. Directed by Alejandro Reyes van Eweyk, Performed by Universidad de Santiago de Chile, Syntagma Musicum of the Universidad de Santiago de Chile, Santiago de Chile, 31 October 1999. Directed by Óscar Araiz Conducted by Gabriel Garrido, Performed by Conjunto Instrumental Elyma and Coro del Teatro de la Zarzuela, Ballet del Grand Théâtre de Genève, Teatro de la Zarzuela Madrid, 27 November 1999 - 5 December 1999. Directed by Óscar Araiz, Conducted by Gabriel Garrido, Performed by Conjunto instrumental Elyma and Coro del Teatro de la Zarzuela, Ballet del Grand Théâtre de Genève, Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico D.F., 20 March 2001. Directed by Andrew Lawrence-King, Jane Davidson and Andrew Trippett, Performed by the University of Sheffield Drama Studio, Sheffield, 27 February 2003. Directed by Andrew Lawrence-King, Jane Davidson and Andrew Trippett, Performed by the University of Sheffield Drama Studio, Instituto Cervantes, Manchester, 3 March 2003. Directed by Andrew Lawrence-King, Jane Davidson and Andrew Trippett, Performed by the University of Sheffield Drama Studio, Nottingham, 4 April 2003. Directed by Andrew Lawrence-King, Jane Davidson and Andrew Trippett, Performed by the University of Sheffield Drama Studio, International Festival of Early Music, Galway, 17 May 2003.

Gasta.indd 245

01/07/2014 18:22:58

246

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

Directed by Andrew Lawrence-King, Jane Davidson and Andrew Trippett, Performed by the University of Sheffield Drama Studio, St. Ann’s Church, Dublin, 18 May 2003. Directed by Andrew Lawrence-King, Performed by Taller de Ópera del Conservatorio Nacional de Música, Capilla de la Penitenciaría de la Parroquia de San Pedro, Lima, 27 May 2005. Directed and Performed by the University of Michigan School of Music Opera, McIntosh Theater, School of Music, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 24-25 March 2006. Directed by Andrew Lawrence-King, Performed by Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir and Tallinn Chamber Orchestra, Tallinn Methodist Church, Tallinn, 20 May 2006.

San Ignacio de Loyola — Domenico Zipoli Directed by James David Christie, Performed by Ensemble Abendmusik, Saint Mary’s Chapel, Boston College, Boston, 28 May 1997 – 1 June 1997. Directed by Gabriel Garrido, Performed by Ensemble Elymo, Chiquitos Music Festival, Concepción, 1998. Directed by Gabriel Garrido, Performed by Ensemble Elymo, Sala Nezahualcóyotl, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico D.F., 19 October 2000. Directed by Gabriel Garrido, Performed by Ensemble Elymo, Guanajuato’s Festival Internacional Cervantino, Guanajuato, Mexico, 21 October 2000. Directed by Gabriel Garrido, Performed by Ensemble Elymo, Capilla del Instituto Veracruz, Guadalajara, 23 October 2000. Directed by Richard Savino, Performed by San Francisco Early Music Society, St. John’s Presbyterian Church, San Francisco, 1 May 2004. Directed by Michael A. Zampelli and John Finney, Performed by Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts, Fairfield University, Fairfield, Connecticut, 1314 October 2006. Directed by T. Frank Kennedy, Michael A. Zampelli and John Finney, Performed by Randall Wong, Andrei Caracoti, Susan Consoli, Murray Kidd and Ensemble Abendmusik, Brooks Concert Hall, College of the Holy Cross, Boston, 15 October 2006. Directed by T. Frank Kennedy, Michael A. Zampelli and John Finney, Performed by Ensemble Abendmusik, Sant’Andrea al Quirinale, Roma, 25 March 2006. Performed by Fordham University Choral Concerts and Bronx Arts Ensemble, St. Paul’s Church, Lincoln Center, New York City, 1 April 2006. Performed by Urubichá Ensemble, Santa Cruz Parish Church, Santa Cruz, Bolivia, 11 April 2007.

Gasta.indd 246

01/07/2014 18:22:58

WORKS CITED

247

Directed by Michael A. Zampelli and John Finney, Performed by University of San Francisco College Players, University of San Francisco Department of Performing Arts, San Francisco, 13 October 2007. Directed by Gabriel Garrido, Performed by Ensemble Elymo, Colegio San Ignacio, Santiago de Chile, 16 October 2007. Directed by Richard Savino, Performed by Jennifer Ellis, Ann Moss, Jennifer Lane, Paul Shipper, Zachary Carrettin, Adam LaMotte, John Lutterman, Matthew Dirst, Richard Savino, Synod Hall, Pittsburgh, 10 November 2007. Directed by Gabriel Schebor, San Diego Mission, San Diego, California, 11 February 2008. «You Walk?», Directed and Choreographed by Bill T. Jones, Performed by Toshiko Oiwa, La Guardia Concert Hall, New York City, 21-25 March 2001.

San Francisco Xavier Directed by Javier Blanco Rubio, Performed by Orquestra y Coro Ars Futura and the Coro de Comillas. Iglesia de la Inmaculada y San Pedro Claver, Madrid, 16 March 2006. Directed by Gabriel Garrido, Performed by Ensemble Elymo, Chiquitos Musical Festival, 12 August 2000. Directed by Gabriel Garrido, Performed by Ensemble Elymo, Catedral de San Isidro, Buenos Aires, 19 August 2000. Directed by Gabriel Garrido, Performed by Ensemble Elymo, Museo de Arte Hispanoamericano Isaac Fernández Blanco, Buenos Aires, 19 August 2000. Directed by Javier Blanco Rubio, Performed by Orquestra y Coro Ars Futura and the Coro de Comillas. Iglesia de San Cristóbal, Comillas, 17 August 2006. Directed by Javier Blanco Rubio, Performed by Orquestra y Coro Ars Futura and the Coro de Comillas. Iglesia San Vicente Mártir, Liébana, Spain, 18 August 2006.

Gasta.indd 247

01/07/2014 18:22:59

Gasta.indd 248

01/07/2014 18:22:59

INDEX

Acosta, José de, Historia natural y moral de las Indias (Natural and Moral History of the Indies), 24, 207n116 actors, indigenous, 199 (see also singers) Adonis, 141-42, 146 Adorno,Theodor, 14, 18, 151-52, 205; Der Schatz des Indianer-Joe (The Treasure of Indian Joe), 151, 151n1; «Sacred Fragment: Schoenberg’s Moses und Aron», 152n2 The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (Twain), 151, 151n1 aesthetics: the Church and, 100; ideology and, 13-15; political and social responsibility of, 103-14; politics and, 103-14; as propaganda, 100; the state and, 100 Alegría, 138-39 Alessandro vincitor di se stesso (Cavalli), 117n77 Alex, Saint, 45 Althusser, Louis, 14 Amadís de Gaula (Amadís of Wales) (Rodríguez de Montalvo), 59n2 Amau, Pascal, 93 Las amazonas de España (The Amazons of Spain) (Cañizares), 77 Amazonas en las Indias (Amazons in the Indies) (Tirso de Molina), 26n31 Amor es todo invención: Júpiter y Amphitrión (Love Is All Invention: Ju-

Gasta.indd 249

piter and Amphitryon) (Cañizares), 77-78 Andrews, Jean, 105, 194 Andrien, Kenneth J., Crisis and Decline: The Viceroyalty of Peru in the Seventeenth Century, 108 Andromeda (Manelli), 46 Angélica y Medora: Dramma músico u ópera scénica en estilo italiano (Angelica and Medoro: Musical Drama or Scenic Opera in Italian Style) (Cañizares), 78, 78n57 Anne of Austria, 144 Antwerp, Belgium, 88-89n80, 102, 111 Aperger, Sigismund, 180n64 Apollo, 132n118, 133, 134n122; comparison to Philip V, 144; comparison to Spanish monarchs, 128-29, 133-34, 143; myth of, 40, 128-29; temple of, 133-34 Apollo et Hyacinthus seu Hyacinthi Metamorphosis (Apollo and Hyacinth or the Metamorphosis of Hyacinth) (Mozart), 153n5 Apollon Musagete (Stravinsky), 132 n118 Apu Ollantay, 24 Aragón, 34 Araujo, Juan de, 161n22 El arca de Noé (Noah’s Arc) (Cáncer, Martínez de Meneses, and Niño), 27, 105, 125

01/07/2014 18:22:59

250

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

Arce, José Francisco de, 165-67 Arce, Mendoza de, 103 Archivo Musical de Chiquitos, 22930 Argentina, 164 arias, 27, 41-43, 46, 48-49, 51, 55, 57, 74-75, 86, 86n71, 89; «arie di baule» (trunk aria), 55-56; in La púrpura de la Rosa, 123, 124, 124n101; in San Francisco Xavier, 203, 203-4n111, 205, 206, 208, 209, 210-13, 214-18; in San Ignacio de Loyola, 185, 187, 189-90, 191 «arie di baule» (trunk aria), 55-56 ariosos, 51, 124, 124n101 Aristotelian unities, 49, 54 Aristotle, 49, 54, 65 Arte nuevo de hacer comedias en este tiempo (The New Art of Writing Plays at this Time) (Lope de Vega), 65, 68-69 arts, 95-96; funding of, 83, 103-14; ideology and, 122-23; in Lima, Peru, 103-14; politics and, 127-49; in Spanish Empire, 133 Asenjo Barbieri, Francisco, 34 astronomy, 146 Asunción, Paraguay, 175, 222n2 Attali, Jacques, 17, 19, 20-21, 47-48, 103, 142; Noise: The Political Economy, 14-16, 225-26, 227 audiences, 19-22, 20n21, 47-48, 54n33, 57, 75; expectations of, 4849; French, 50-51, 52; language and, 50; popolino, 54n33; propaganda and, 142-43 Audiencia, 114 Audiencia Real (Royal Court of Justice), 95 Austinians, 158 Austria, 82, 96, 96n8, 136, 146

Gasta.indd 250

autos sacramentales, 26-27, 84, 106, 117, 118, 126, 176, 216 Ayestarán, L., 178n59 Bach, Johann Sebastian, 221, 222n2 Badajoz, Spain, 78 Badoaro, Giacomo, 43 bailes, 65, 66, 66n13 bailetes, 105 Baker, Geoffrey, 157, 165; «The Resounding City», 94 ballets, 36, 44 baptism, 214-18 Barberini family, 44, 45, 46 Barcelona, Spain, 67, 136 Bardi, Giovanni de’, Count of Vernio, 38 baritones, 56 Baroque period, 61 Bassani, Giovanni Battista, 161n22 basses, 56 Battista, Giovanni, 179n60 Béhague, Gerard, 27 behavior, music and, 19-20 «bel canto» style, 48 Belianis de Grecia (Belianis of Greece) (Fernández), 59n2 Bermúdez de la Torre y Solier, Pedro José, 127-28n110 Bianchi, Giovanni Andrea, 180n64 Bianco, Baccio del, 123n98 Bishop of Asunción del Paraguay, 170 Bogotá, Colombia, 81 Bolivia, 88, 102n18, 156, 161n22, 163, 164, 183, 221-23, 230, 233; Jesuit missions in, 164 Bologna, Italy, 179, 184 Boschi, Carlo, 78. See also Farinelli Bourbon dynasty, 22-23, 30, 76-78, 83-85, 96-100, 112-13, 116, 127, 136-37, 144, 146; ascension of, 118, 130, 131-32, 134, 135-36;

01/07/2014 18:22:59

INDEX

Italian-style opera and, 118-19; patronage and, 17, 85, 118-19; Torrejón and, 139-40; the Viceroy and, 17, 136-37, 146-47 Bowman, Wayne, 19, 103, 140 Brading, David, 107n38 Brazil, 164 Brentner, Johann Joseph Ignaz, 161n22 Brown, Steven, Music and Manipulation: On the Social Uses and Social Control of Music, 17-19 Buendía, José de, Parentación Real al Soberano Nombre e immortal memoria del Católico Rey de las Españas, 112 Buenos Aires, Argentina, 95 buffa, 53. See alsoopera buffa (comic opera) Bull of Paul III, 202 burlesque, 26, 45 Busenello, Giovanni Francesco, 43 Buti, Francesco, 50 cabildos, 80, 101, 109, 110-11, 113 Caccini, Francesca, 38, 38n9 Caccini, Giulio, 38, 40 Cádiz, Spain, 195 Calamarca, Bolivia, 175 Calderón de la Barca, Pedro, 22, 26, 26n31, 45, 45n22, 64, 70-71, 7375, 84-85, 101-2n17, 116-21, 123-26, 184-85; autos sacramentales of, 176; Celos aun del aire matan (Jealousy Even in the Air Kills), 7275, 72n36, 74n43, 116-17, 126; La dama duende, 45n22; declaration of apprehension in his 1660 loa, 140; El gran teatro del mundo (The Great Theater of the World), 26-27; La fiera, el rayo y la piedra (The Fierce, the Ray, and the Rock), 70-71, 70-

Gasta.indd 251

251

71n31, 70n29, 127n109; Fortunas de Andrómeda y Perseo (The Fortunes of Andromeda and Perseus), 70, 70-71n31; El golfo de las sirenas (The Gulf of the Sirens), 71-72; Italian opera and, 74n43, 75; Jesuit education of, 176; El laurel de Apolo: Zarzuela en dos jornadas (Apollo’s Laurel: Zarzuela in Two Acts), 71, 72n34, 73-74, 121-22; No siempre lo peor es cierto (The Worst Is Not Always Certain), 45n22; La púrpura de la rosa (The Blood of the Rose), 22, 72-73, 72n36, 73n37, 73n38, 75, 82, 83, 97-99, 112-14, 113n68, 114n69, 115-49, 121n91, 127n109, 128n111; role in development of opera in Spain and the New World, 71; Tercera parte de las comedias de Calderón, 120 Calliope, 128-34, 129n113, 132n118, 140, 144 Camerata, 38-40 «Camerata Fiorentina», 38-39, 40 Cáncer, Jerónimo de, El arca de Noé (Noah’s Arc), 27, 125 Cancionero (Encina), 35 Cancionero de Palacio (Cancionero de Barbieri), 34-36 Cañizares, José de, 77-78; Las amazonas de España (The Amazons of Spain), 77; Amor es todo invención: Júpiter y Amphitrión (Love Is All Invention: Jupiter and Amphitryon), 77-78; Angélica y Medora: Dramma músico u ópera scénica en estilo italiano (Angelica and Medoro: Musical Drama or Scenic Opera in Italian Style), 78, 78n57; La hazaña mayor de Alcides (The Greatest Deed of Alcides), 78 cantares de gesta (heroic ballads), 34

01/07/2014 18:22:59

252

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

cantate, 37 cantigas (songs of praise to the Virgin), 34 Cárdenas, Bernardino de, 207-8n117 Cardiel, José, 169-70, 171 Cardona, Á., 117, 117n77, 120, 124n101, 127-28n110, 128n111, 129-30n114, 179 Carlos III, 52 Carlos V, 107, 143 carols, 87, 168. See alsovillancicos (carols) Carreira, Xoán, 77 Carreras, J. J., 76n50 Cartas Anuas (Lozano), 178n59 Carter, Tim, 52 casas de comedias, 26, 117 Castile, Spain, 34 castrati, 50, 55, 56, 57, 78 Catalans, 136 Catálogo de los manuscritos de música colonial de los archivos de San Ignacio y Concepción (Moxos y Chiquitos) de Bolivia (Catalogue of Colonial Music Manuscripts from the Archives of San Ignacio and Concepción (Moxos and Chiquitos) in Bolivia), 230-31n21 Catálogo de Obras del Archivo Musical de Chiquitos (Catalogue of the Musical Archives of Chiquitos), 230-31n21 Cathedral Masters (maestros de capilla). See maestros de capilla (Cathedral Masters/Chapel Masters) cathedral music, 22-23, 100 Cathedral of Lima, 97-99, 101, 102, 110-11 Cathedral of Notre-Dame, 34 Catholic Church, 13-17, 19, 26. See also Catholicism; aesthetics and, 100; cathedral music, 22-23; composers and, 23, 29; Counter Reformation and, 100; in Europe, 33-

Gasta.indd 252

34, 36, 45, 62-63, 68; music and, 23, 35-37, 36n6, 161, 162, 225-26; in the New World, 79-82, 87, 91, 94, 96, 100-101, 103-4, 106, 115, 118. See also Catholicism Catholicism, 64, 100, 106, 158, 16061, 168, 186, 211-16, 218. See alsoCatholic Church; Indians and, 93-94; theater and, 175-76 Cattaneo, Cayetano, 170 Cavalli, Pier Francesco, 46-47, 49, 51; Alessandro vincitor di se stesso, 117n77; L’Ercole Amante (The Herculean Lover), 50 Celos aun del aire matan (Jealousy Even in the Air Kills) (Calderón de la Barca), 72-75, 72n36, 74n43, 11617, 126 Cerocchi, 179n60 Ceruti, Roque, 85-86n70, 86, 86n71, 125, 161; El mejor escudo de Perseo (The Great Shield of Perseus), 8586, 85n68 Cervantes, Miguel de, 59-61, 60n5; Don Quixote, 59-61; Jesuit education of, 176; opera and, 61 Ceylon, 202 chaconas, 105, 105-6n32 chants, 79 Chapel Masters. See maestros de capilla (Cathedral Masters/Chapel Masters) characterization, 42 Charcas, Bolivia, 95 Charles (Carlos) II, 75, 76, 83, 96n8, 99, 111, 111n62, 113, 122, 135, 136, 146 Charles (Carlos) III, 78 Charles of Austria, Archduke, 96n8, 136 Charles (Carlos) V, 95n5 Chase, G., 72n34

01/07/2014 18:22:59

INDEX

Chihuantito, Francisco, 93-95, 97 China, 202 Chinchero, Peru, 93, 94 Chiquitano language, 89-91, 153, 165, 165n28, 177, 183-84, 198, 202-3n108, 204, 210n123, 211, 212n125 Chiquitano traditions, 222 Chiquitos, Bolivia, 28, 88n79, 152-54, 161n22, 163-64, 165n28, 171-72, 177, 178n59, 183, 199, 199n100, 229 Chiquitos Indians, 154, 165, 167-69, 183-84 Chiquitos Missions Festival, 221-23, 221n1, 226-27, 229 Chi Soffre, speri (He Who Suffers Shall Hope) (Rospligliosi), 45n22, 50 choirs, 105, 110-11 choruses, 37, 48, 74, 84, 86, 89 cities, 63. See alsospecific cities; circulation of musical works in, 161 «City of Kings». See Lima, Peru class, opera and, 17, 56, 66, 101, 114, 114n69 classical histories, 54 classical themes, 54 Clemente IX. See Rospligliosi, Giulio, 44-45 clergymen, 80, 101. See alsospecific clergymen Clio, 129n113 «cólera española», 75 Coliseo del Buen Retiro, 67, 72, 72n34, 77, 121 Coliseo de los Caños del Peral, 67 Collegium Germanicum, 175 colonies, Spanish, 103, 136 Columbus, Christopher, 160, 195 comedias, 22-23, 26-27, 49, 64, 6667, 66n13, 70-71, 73, 76-77, 84, 105-6, 118, 121, 126, 140; come-

Gasta.indd 253

253

dia nueva, 21-22, 64, 65, 69, 75, 84; comedias de capa y espada, 158; comedias de enredo, 158; comedias de santos, 106 comedy, 45 commedia dell’arte, 37, 44, 45, 77 «La Compañía de Farsa Italiana», 77 Company of Jesus. See Society of Jesus composers, 44, 142; the Church and, 19, 23, 29; financial problems of, 100; indigenous, 199-219; Italian, 37; patronage and, 16-17; the state and, 19, 23 Concepción, Bolivia, 165, 173-74n51, 173n49, 221-23, 221n1, 226-27, 229-30 Concilios Limense I, II, and III, 16667n35 the Conquest, 190 Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), 230-31n21 Consejo Real de Castilla, 105-6n32 «contact zones», 160 convents, 101 conversion, 186, 187, 191, 202, 211, 214-18 coplas, 124 Córdoba, Argentina, 164, 169, 175, 177, 178, 180, 195, 198 Corneille, Pierre, 176 corrales, 26, 117 Corsi, Jacobo, 38 Cosimo III, 178-79 Cotarelo y Mori, Emilio, 75, 76 Council of Indies, 108-9 Council of Trent, 36n6, 214 Counter Reformation, 35, 100, 18788, 214 criollos, 80, 101, 104

01/07/2014 18:22:59

254

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

Crisis and Decline:The Viceroyalty of Peru in the Seventeenth Century, Andrien, Kenneth J., 108 El cristianismo feliz en las misiones de los padres de la Compañía de Jesús, Muraroti, Ludovico Antonio, 154-55 Cross, Harry, 107n38 cross-cultural collaboration, 79-91, 9394, 155-57, 159-60, 166-67, 169, 175-76, 183-84, 197-201, 200201, 216, 219, 222, 233 Cruickshank, Donald, 117, 117n77, 120, 124n101, 127-28n110, 128n 111, 129-30n114 the Crusades, 190, 191 cuatros, 105 culture industry, 18 Cunningham, Martin, 117, 117n77, 120, 124n101, 127-28n110, 128n 111, 129-30n114 Cuzco, Peru, 25, 81, 87, 88-89n80, 93, 95, 96, 161, 164 da capos, 203 Dafne (Daphne) (Gagliano), 40, 43-44, 44n19 Dal male il bene (From Bad to Good) (Rospigliosi), 45n22 La dama duende (Calderón de la Barca), 45n22 dances, 74, 124 Delphi Temple, 133-34, 134n122 demon, 191-94 Der Schatz des Indianer-Joe (The Treasure of Indian Joe) (Adorno), 151, 151n1 Diario del destierro (Peramás), 181n65, 207n116 Diario de Lima (Mugaburu), 105, 114n69, 114n70 Diarios y memorias de los sucessos principales y noticias más sobresalientes de

Gasta.indd 254

esta ciudad de Lima, Corte de Perú, 113-14 Díaz, José, 26-27 Diocese of Concepción de Chiquitos, Bishop’s archives of, 88, 102n18, 152-53, 156, 178n59, 199n100 disease, 209, 209n120 Diún-Diún, 24 Doering, J. G., 111n56 Domínguez, José María, 53n30, 76n51 Dominicans, 80, 158 Donington, Robert, 39-40 Don Quixote (Cervantes), 59-61 D’Orbigny, Alcides, Voyage dans l’Amérique méridionale (Viaje a la América Meridional), 164-65, 16667n35, 167-68, 231-32 Dragón, 141n135 drama. See also theater: Calderonian, 133-34; classical, 38-39; colonial, 25-26; evangelization and, 200201; French, 118, 175-76; Greek, 38, 39; ideology and, 26; Indian, 24-26, 25-26n30; Italian, 37; music and, 21-22, 65-66; Nahuatl, 25-26n30; national style of, 118; in New World, 25-27, 148; in Peru, 26, 26n31; pre-Colombian, 24-26, 25-26n30; Quechua, 25-26n30; Spanish, 21-22, 25-26, 45n22, 63, 118, 175-76; writing of, 70 duets, 43 Durón, Sebastián, La guerra de los gigantes (The War of the Giants), 76 dynasties, solar metaphors and, 14344 Early Modern aesthetics, transatlantic nature of, 86 earthquakes, 207n116 education, Jesuits and, 175-76

01/07/2014 18:22:59

INDEX

égloga pastoril (pastoral eclogue), 67 Ejercicios espirituales (The Spiritual Exercises) (Ignacio de Loyola), 186 El Corral de San Agustín, 105 El Corral de San Andrés, 105 El Corral de Santo Domingo, 105 El gran teatro del mundo (The Great Theater of the World) (Calderón de la Barca), 26-27 Ellul, Jacques, 142 El palazzo incantato (The Enchanted Palace) (Rospligiosi), 45n22 Encina, Juan del, 35, 35n4; Cancionero, 35 encomienda system, 207-8n117 England, 74, 96n9, 107, 136 entremeses, 66n13, 77, 105 entremeses cantados, 66 Epiphany («Day of Kings»), 114 Erato, 129n113 Erminia sul Giordano (The River Jordan) (Rospligiosi), 45n22 Ertl, Hans, 230-31, 231, 231n22, 232 Esquilache revolts, 78 estribillos, 124 ethnomusicologists, 88 Euridice (Eurydice) (Monteverdi), 4041, 42 European models, 62-63, 159 Euterpe, 129n113 evangelization, 101, 201-2; baptism and, 214-17; drama and, 200-201; Jesuit strategies of, 23, 29-31, 82, 87, 89-90, 94, 152-56, 160-61, 164-65, 165n28, 166-67n35, 16669, 176-98, 199-201, 214-19; language and, 166-67, 166-67n35; music and, 154-56, 166-69, 199 fables, 54 Facco, Giacomo, 77-78, 78n57 Fame (mythological figure), 147-48

Gasta.indd 255

255

Farinelli, 78 La favola d’Orfeo (The Fable of Orpheus) (Monteverdi), 41, 42-43, 131 «favola in musica», 41 Feast of Saint Ignatius, 197 Feast of Saint Xavier, 197 Ferdinand (Fernando) VI, 78 Ferdinand (Fernando) VII, 143 Fernández, Jerónimo de, Belianis de Grecia (Belianis of Greece), 59n2 Fernández de Castro Andrade y Portugal, Pedro Antonio, 26-27, 1089n43, 117n77, 121, 125; Bourbon monarchy and, 136-37, 146-47; as a great advocate for music, 85-86n70, 86; La púrpura de la rosa (The Blood of the Rose) and, 82-83, 96-99, 1012, 101-2n17, 104, 106, 115-16, 118, 120, 122, 126, 135-37, 142, 146-47 Ferrari, Benedetto, 46, 47 La fiera, el rayo y la piedra (The Fierce, the Ray, and the Rock) (Calderón de la Barca), 70-71, 70-71n31, 70n29, 127n109 «fiesta de ópera», 76 fines de fiesta, 86 Florence, Italy, 38, 40-44, 46, 53, 56, 67-68, 123, 184 Fortunas de Andrómeda y Perseo (The Fortunes of Andromeda and Perseus) (Calderón de la Barca), 70 France, 49-52, 57, 62, 72-74, 86, 96, 96n8, 96n9, 99, 107, 136-38, 146; Calderonian opera and, 184-85; drama in, 175-76; dynastic connection to Spain, 144; Franco-Spanish alliance, 100, 121-22, 121n91, 134, 135-36; Jesuits and, 207-8n117; libretti in, 83-84; Spain and, 100, 121-22, 121n91, 126, 134, 135-36 (see alsospecific conflicts)

01/07/2014 18:22:59

256

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

Francesco, Antonio, 179n60 Franciscan Missions of Guarayos, 221n1 Franciscans, 80, 158, 164 Francis of Assisi, Saint, 186 Francis Xavier, Saint, 88, 89, 153-54, 185-86, 191, 193-97, 200-203, 202-3n108, 205-6, 208-9, 211-14, 218 Franco-Spanish alliance, 100, 121-22, 121n91, 134, 135-36 Freitas Branco, Luis, 72n36 French models, 62-63 Friedman, Edward, 25-26n30 Frontline, «The Music of the Missions», 222n2 Frutos, Leticia de, 76n51 Furlong, Guillermo, 180, 181; Los jesuitas y la cultura rioplatense, 178n59 Gagliano, Marco da, Dafne, 43-44, 44n19 Galilei,Vincenzo, 38-39, 39n10 Garcilaso de la Vega, El Inca, 87, 90; Royal Commentaries, 25 Gembero Ustarroz, María, 79 Germany, 49, 68, 82, 96n9 Gibraltar, 136 Girard, Renee, 15 Goa, India, 202 El golfo de las sirenas (The Gulf of the Sirens) (Calderón de la Barca), 7172 Gonzaga, Francesco, 44n19 Gonzaga,Vincenzo, 41 Gonzaga family, 46 González Chaparro, Juan, 207n116 the Great Alliance, 96n9 Greenblatt, Stephen, 142 Greer, Margaret R., The Play of Power: Mythological Court Dramas of Calderón de la Barca, 133

Gasta.indd 256

Gregory XV, 202 Grout, Donald, 20n21, 39, 45n22; A Short History of Opera, 63n9 Guaraní Indians, 162, 164, 169, 181, 197 Guaraní language, 165n28, 166 Guatemala, 88-89n80 Güegüence, 24 La guerra de los gigantes (The War of the Giants) (Durón), 76 La guerra y la paz entre los elementos (War and Peace Among the Elements) (La compañía de Farsa Italiana), 77 Habsburg dynasty, 17, 23, 30, 85, 96, 96n8, 99, 112-13, 118, 130, 13536, 139-40, 144, 146 Hamilton, Mary Neal, 69, 72 La hazaña mayor de Alcides (The Greatest Deed of Alcides) (Cañizares), 78 Henry (Henri) IV, 40 Herrán, Jerónimo, 181-82 Hesse, Everett W., 26n31, 84n67 Hidalgo, Juan, 45, 72-76, 83, 117, 117n75, 119, 120, 124, 128 Hoffmann, Werner, 166-67n35, 207 n116, 209; Vida y obra del P. Martin Schmidt S. J., 173n49 Holy Roman Empire, 136 humanism, 38-40 Huseby, Gerardo V., 152n4, 230-31n21 hybridization, 233 hymns, 79 identity, music and, 17, 18, 19 ideology, 11-31, 62-63, 122-23; aesthetics and, 13-15; arts and, 12223; drama and, 26; music and, 18n15, 154-56; opera and, 114, 115-27, 122-23; in Torrejón’s La púrpura de la rosa, 115-49

01/07/2014 18:22:59

INDEX

Ignacio de Loyola, San, 88, 153-54, 185-97, 200-203, 202-3n108, 203-4n111, 205-6, 209, 210-14, 218; Ejercicios espirituales (The Spiritual Exercises), 186 Illari, Bernardo, 88n79, 152n4, 153n6, 183, 228, 230-31n21; The Jesuit Operas, 186n78 L’incornonazione de Poppea (The Coronization of Poppea) (Monteverdi), 43 India, 202 Indian culture, 79-80, 216; Jesuits and, 28-30 Indian musicians, 171-72, 175, 17698; European accounts of, 169-71; memorization by, 228-33 Indians, 28, 62-63, 80-81, 87, 152n3. See alsospecific tribes; Catholicism and, 93-94; as Chapel Masters, 167, 168; conversion of, 214-18; cross-cultural collaboration and, 79-91, 93-94, 155-56, 159-60, 166-67, 169, 175, 183-84, 197-98, 200-201, 216, 219, 222; disease and, 209, 209n120; European sacred music and, 231-32; evangelization of, 87, 101, 154-55, 160-61, 165, 214-18 (see also evangelization); founding of missions and, 164-65; instruments and, 17175, 174n52, 231-32; Jesuits and, 151-57, 163; as maestros de canto, 167; musical preferences of, 176; musical training of, 161-62, 16668, 171-72, 175, 180-83, 230-33; music and, 158-59; as a source of forced labor, 207, 207-8n117; Spanish culture and, 93-94; as teachers in missions, 167, 168 Indígenas y cultural musical de las Reducciones Jesuítas (Nawrot), 169n40, 202-3n108

Gasta.indd 257

257

indigenous models, 159 individuality, 39-40 the Inquisition, 97 Instituto Nacional de Cultural de Bolivia, 230 instrumentalists, 67 instrumentation, 41-43, 46, 50-51 instruments: construction of, 17175, 231-32; Indians and, 171-75, 174n52; in missions, Jesuit, 17174, 174n52; native, 175 intercultural engagement, musical culture and, 151-219 intermedios (interludes), 36, 38 intermezzi, 37, 55; intermezzi buffi, 77 intermissions, 65-66 International Festival of Renaissance and Baroque American Music, 221-23, 221n1, 226-27, 229 Isabel of Farnesio,78 Italian language, 67, 78 Italian models, 62-63 Italy, 22, 38, 60, 62, 64, 76-77, 76n50, 136, 178-79, 184. See alsospecific cities; Jesuits in, 37; libretti in, 8384; opera in, 43-57; patronage in, 46-47 jácaras, 66, 66n13, 79, 105 Jameson, Fredric, 14, 40, 99-100; The Political Unconscious, 29 Japan, 202 Jasso y Azpilicueta, Francisco de, 201. See also Francis Xavier, Saint Jáuregui, Carlos, 25-26n30 Javier (character), 195 Los jesuitas y la cultura rioplatense, Furlong, Guillermo, 178n59 The Jesuit Operas, Illari, Bernardo, 186n78 Jesuits, 24-25, 27, 80, 87, 89-91, 180n64, 185. See also Society of

01/07/2014 18:22:59

258

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

Jesus; adoption of indigenous customs by, 157; alleged utopianism of, 162-63; autonomy of, 207-8n117; «coloquio de música recitativa», 125; cross-cultural collaboration and, 157, 159-60, 16667, 169, 175, 176, 183-84, 197-98, 200-201, 216, 219, 222; drama and, 177, 199; education and, 87, 90, 175-76; evangelization strategies of, 23, 29-31, 82, 87, 8990, 94, 152-56, 160-61, 164-65, 165n28, 166-67n35, 166-69, 17698, 199-201, 214-19; expulsion of, 87-88, 153, 163-64, 207-8n117, 219, 229, 231, 232; founding of, 88; founding of missions and, 164-65; France and, 207-8n117; humanistic curriculum of, 175; Indian culture and, 28-30; Indians and, 151-57; initial contact with Indians, 153; in Italy, 37; lyrical drama and, 199; manuscripts of, 87-88; the monarchy and, 2078n117; music and, 153, 154-55, 177; opera and, 152-53, 153n5; in Paraguay province, 163-64, 181, 207-8n117; Portugal and, 2078n117; reductions and, 152n3, 157, 162, 199; seismology and, 207n116; teaching methods of, 87, 157, 166-68, 171-72, 175, 180-83, 232-33; theater and, 37, 175-76; treatment of Indians by, 163; use of Indian languages, 165n28 John (João) III (of Portugal and the Algarves), 202 John the Baptist, Saint, 214 Joseph, Holy Roman Emperor, 136 Juan de la Cruz, San, 186 juguetes, 79 Jungcurt, Burkhardt, 152n4

Gasta.indd 258

juros, 109 El Justo y el Pastor, 177, 177n57 Kagan, Richard L., Urban Images of the Hispanic World 1493-1793, 93n1 Kastner, Santiago, 72n36 Kennedy, Frank T., 185 Kerman, Joseph, Opera as Drama, 21 Knogler, Julián, 182, 197-98, 200, 201, 202 Kuss, Malena, 19 Lamas, Rafael, 12n2 lamentations, 79 Lamento d’Arianna (Arianna’s Lament) (Monteverdi), 74n43 Landi, Stefano, 44, 175; La morte d’Orfeo (The Death of Orpheus), 44; Sant’Alessio (Saint Alex), 44, 45 Lange, Francisco Curt, 178n59, 179 n60, 230 languages, 50, 67, 90-91, 165. See alsospecific languages; evangelization, Jesuit strategies of and, 16667, 166-67n35; Indian, 165-67, 165n28, 166-67n35, 184, 200; music and, 166 Las Llamosas, Lorenzo de, También se vengan los dioses (Even the Gods Seek Vengeance), 108n42 Laurel de Apolo, con otras rimas(The Laurel of Apollo with Other Rhymes) (Lope de Vega), 120n86 El laurel de Apolo: zarzuela en dos jornadas (Apollo’s Laurel: Zarzuela in Two Acts) (Calderón de la Barca), 71, 72n34, 73-74, 121-22 Lemos, Count of. See Fernández de Castro Andrade y Portugal, Pedro Antonio L’Ercole Amante (The Herculean Lover) (Cavalli), 50

01/07/2014 18:22:59

INDEX

Les Noces de Cadmus et Hermione (The Marriage of Cadmus and Hermione) (Lully), 51 Leza, José Máximo, 120 Leza, Máximo, 85-86n70 libretti, 53-54, 83-84 librettists, 44, 48, 53-54 lighting, 48 Lima, Peru, 12, 14-16, 22-23, 25, 31, 33, 62, 79-86, 84n67, 88-89n80, 90-91, 93-102, 141-42, 158, 162, 164, 233; 1687 earthquake in, 110-11, 111n56; arts in, 95-96, 97, 103-14; ascension of, 96; circulation of musical works in, 161; as «City of Kings», 96, 114; commercially viability of opera in, 86n71; compared to Madrid, Spain, 105; as cultural center in the New World, 95-96; financial problems of, 110-11, 117-18, 127; funding of arts in, 83, 103-14; grid system in, 96-97; patronage in, 22; politics and, 127; printed record of music in, 100-101; religious festivities in, 95-96; rivalry with Mexico City, Mexico, 108n42; theater in, 26, 26n31; transatlantic trade and, 95 Lisbon, Portugal, 52 liturgy, 199 Livermore, A., 74n43 «Llamada a la fiesta» (»Call to the Festivities»), 184, 202 Llamosas, Lorenzo de las, También se vengan los dioses (Even the Gods Seek Vengeance), 28 loas, 86, 97-100, 105, 108n42. See alsospecific works; as a currency, 148; as prologues, 140-41; in La púrpura de la Rosa, 127-49 Lobo, Alonso, 79

Gasta.indd 259

259

Lohmann Villena, Guillermo, 27, 8586n70, 106, 111n56 London, England, 52 Lope de Vega y Carpio, Félix Arturo, 22, 26, 64-67, 65n12, 75, 84, 85, 117, 118; Arte nuevo de hacer comedias en este tiempo (The New Art of Writing Plays at this Time), 65, 6869; Jesuit education of, 176; Laurel de Apolo, con otras rimas (The Laurel of Apollo with Other Rhymes), 120n86; La selva sin amor (The Loveless Jungle), 67-68, 69, 70, 74, 120n86, 123, 125 López Alemany, Ignacio, 78n57 Los Angeles Times, 223-24, 227-28 Lotti, Cosimo, 67, 69, 69n27 Louis XIII, 144 Louis XIV, 49-51, 51n28, 57, 72-73, 96n8, 112, 121, 135-36, 144 Lozano, Pedro, 179-80, 207n116; Cartas Anuas, 178n59 Luis, 86 Lulli, Giovanni Battista. See Lully, Jean-Baptiste Lully, Jean-Baptiste, 20, 50, 51-52, 74, 85; Les Noces de Cadmus et Hermione(The Marriage of Cadmus and Hermione), 51 Luther, Martin, 214 Macho Ratón, 24 Madrid, Spain, 52, 53n30, 57, 63, 66, 68, 71, 75-76, 76n50, 76n51, 78, 82, 86, 102, 104-5, 108, 112-13, 158; arrival of opera in, 46; opera productions in, 67; schools of opera in, 22 madrigals, 36-37, 39n10, 44; «dramatic», 37-38; «madrigal comedies», 37-38 maestros de canto (choirmasters), 167

01/07/2014 18:23:00

260

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

maestros de capilla (Cathedral Masters/ Chapel Masters), 80-83, 100-103, 110-11, 116, 166-67L La maga fulminata (The Raging Sorceress) (Manelli), 46 Malacca, 202 Manelli, Francesco, 46-47, 56; Andromeda, 46; La maga fulminata (The Raging Sorceress, 46 Manelli, Maddalena, 46 Manrique, Jorge, 35 Mantua, Italy, 43, 44n19, 46, 68 Margherita of Savoy, 44n19 María Barbara of Braganza, 78 María Luisa of Borbón, 83 María Luisa of Savoy, 76, 118 María Manuela, 101-2n17 Mariana, 83 Maria of Medici, 40 Marías, Fernando, Urban Images of the Hispanic World 1493-1793, 93n1 María Teresa, 50, 72-73, 96n8, 121, 135-36, 144 Marie-Louise d’Orléans, 83 Mars, 145, 146 Martin, Peter, 18 Martínez de Meneses, Antonio, El arca de Noé (Noah’s Arc), 27, 125 Martini, F.G.B., Storia della musica (History of Music), 178n59 masquerades, 26 masques (balletto, masquerade), 36 masses, 79, 87, 168, 199 Mazzarino, Giulio, 49-50, 51 Medici, Fernando de, 52 Medici family, 38, 40-41, 46 Mei, Girolamo, 38-39 El mejor escudo de Perseo (The Great Shield of Perseus) (Ceruti), 85-86, 85n68 melodrama, Jesuit, 37 Melpomene, 129n113

Gasta.indd 260

memorization, 228-33 Mena, Juan de, 35 Mendoza de Arce, Daniel, 27, 62 Messner, Joseph, 197-98 Metamorphoses (Ovid), 131 «Metastasian opera», 54 Metastasio, Pietro, 54, 56 Mexico, 12, 14, 62, 80-81, 84-85, 84n67, 85n68, 108n41, 158 Mexico City, Mexico, 12, 14, 62, 80-81, 84-85, 84n67, 85n68, 108n42, 158 Milan, Italy, 41, 64, 68, 76, 118 Milton, John, Paradise Lost, 135 Mínguez,Víctor, 143, 146 mining industry, 82-83, 95, 107, 107n38, 108n41 Mira de Amescua, Antonio, 117 missionaries, 24-25, 63, 80, 87, 101, 156, 207-8n117. See also missions, Jesuit missions, Jesuit, 12, 15-16, 23, 31, 33, 63, 80, 82, 87-88, 90, 151-219, 152n3, 152n4, 207-8n117, 221, 221n1, 230-31; among the Guaraní, 162; autonomy of, 162, 16364; in Bolivia, 164; circulation of musical works in, 161; construction of mission churches, 173n49; conversion in, 218-19; disease and, 209, 209n120; founding of, 164-67; instruments in, 171-74, 174n52; Jesuit Missions of Chiquitos, 221n1; Jesuit Missions of Moxos, 221n1; as joint endeavor between Jesuits and Indians, 16465; musical culture and, 151-76, 151-219, 169n40; musical culture in, 158-76; musical training in, 161-62, 180-83, 233; musicians in, 17; opera and, 177; organs in, 17374, 173-74n51; in Paraguay province, 164-65, 165n28

01/07/2014 18:23:00

INDEX

Mission San Xavier: Ópera y misa de los Indios para la Fiesta de San Francisco Xavier (Nawrot), 203, 205 mission towns, 82, 222-23, 231. See alsospecific towns Il Mitridite Eupatore (Mithridates Eupator) (Scarlatti), 53 Mojeño language, 165n28 mojigangas, 66, 66n13 Molière (Jean-Baptiste Poquelin), 51, 118, 176 Molucca Islands, 202 the monarchy, 23, 29-30, 46, 64, 6870, 73, 76-78, 84-87, 97-100, 10710, 112, 118-19, 122-23, 127. See also Bourbon dynasty; Habsburg dynasty; specific monarchs; association with solar metaphors, 14344; comparison to Apollo, 128-29, 133; funding of opera by, 69-70; Jesuits and, 207-8n117; opera and, 90 Monje, Angelica, 227-28 monodic style, 39-40, 41, 43, 46, 66, 69, 71, 82 Montclova, Count of. See Portocarrero Lasso de la Vega, Count of Montclova Monteverdi, Claudio, 20, 41-44, 44n19, 49, 66, 68, 74n43; La favola d’Orfeo (The Fable of Orpheus), 41, 42-43, 131; L’incornonazione de Poppea (The Coronization of Poppea), 43; Lamento d’Arianna (Arianna’s Lament), 74n43; polyphony and, 41, 42-43 Montevideo, Uruguay, 230 La morte d’Orfeo (The Death of Orpheus) (Landi), 44 motets, 168 Mount Olympus, 128, 128-29n112, 129n113, 134

Gasta.indd 261

261

Moxos, Bolivia, 28, 88n79, 152n4, 161n22, 163, 164, 229 Moxos Indians, 169 Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus, Apollo et Hyacinthus seu Hyacinthi Metamorphosis (Apollo and Hyacinth or the Metamorphosis of Hyacinth), 153n5 Mugaburu, Joseph, Diario de Lima, 105, 114n69, 114n70, 141 Muraroti, Ludovico Antonio, 171, 174; El cristianismo feliz en las misiones de los padres de la Compañía de Jesús, 154-55 Muses, 128-29, 128-29n112, 129 n113, 134, 140, 144, 145, 146. See alsospecific muses music, 65-66. See alsospecific genres; Baroque, 82; behavior and, 18-20; building consensus through, 140, 142-43; the Church and, 35-37, 36n6, 161, 162, 225-26; colonial, 28; commerce and, 47-48; composition stage of, 226, 227; considered blasphemous, 35; consumption of, 226-27; drama and, 21-22, 65-66; ecclesiastical, 33-34, 35, 39, 94, 102; economic and social function of, 15; European, 1157; European models, 87, 159-60; evangelization and, 154-56, 16669, 199; Greco-Roman, 38-39; homogenizing effect of, 18-19; identity and, 17, 18, 19; ideology and, 18n15, 154-56; Indian, 2425, 28, 87, 89-90, 158-60; integration of European and Indian, 80-81; Italian, 37; Jesuits and, 153, 154-55, 177; language and, 166; liturgical, 33-34, 36; manipulation and control through, 17-19; as mechanism to bring about social cohesiveness, 140; native models,

01/07/2014 18:23:00

262

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

159-60; New World, 79-219; patronage and, 15-16, 225-26; poetry and, 39; political economy of, 14-15, 17; political function of, 15; politics and, 154-56; power and, 225-26; pre-Colombian, 24-26, 87; profane, 35, 36, 79-80, 79n59, 175; propaganda and, 1718, 127-49, 154-56; repetition and, 227; representation stage of, 20-21, 47-48, 226, 227; ritual and, 19, 103; sacred, 100-101, 161-62, 175, 199; as sacrificial offering, 156; sacrificial stage of, 15, 16, 19, 47, 103, 225-26; secular, 34-36, 161-62; Spanish, 33-36, 59-79, 87; in Spanish colonies, 79-219; stages of, 14-15, 17, 19, 47-48, 225-27; the state and, 225-26; symbolism and, 142; theater and, 65-66; transcultural, 80-81 musical culture: Indian, 159-60, 184, 216; intercultural engagement and, 151-219; in Jesuit missions, 151-76, 169n40; Jesuit missions and, 151-219; native, 62; in New World, 79-92 musical theory, Renaissance, 124 Music and Manipulation: On the Social Uses and Social Control of Music (Brown and Volgsten), 17-19 musicians: financial problems of, 100; functions of, 15; Indian, 16, 29-30, 63, 156-57, 161-62, 166-72, 175, 176-98, 230-33; in Jesuit missions, 17; representation and, 16; status of, 17 mysticism, 186-88, 192-93 mythology, Greek, 40, 43, 45, 46, 77, 98, 127, 128-29n112, 128-49, 134n122, 147-48. See alsospecific figures

Gasta.indd 262

Naples, Italy, 22, 44, 52-54, 56-57, 64, 68, 76, 76n51, 78, 85n68, 117n77, 118, 178-79, 184 National Library of Lima, 120n86 National Public Radio, 222, 224 Natural and Moral History of the Indies (Acosta), 24 Navarra, Spain, 34 Navarro, Juan Martín, 106 Nawrot, Piotr, 89, 153n7, 159-60, 161, 199n100, 202, 202-3n108, 204, 206, 219, 222n2, 228-29; Chiquitos Missions Festival and, 222-23; Indígenas y cultural musical de las Reducciones Jesuítas, 169n40, 202-3n108; interviewed by NPR, 222-23; Mission San Xavier: Ópera y misa de los Indios para la Fiesta de San Francisco Xavier, 203, 205; translation of San Francisco Xavier, 208-9n119, 210n123, 212n125 Nebrija, Antonio de, 35 negrillas, 79 Netherlands, 62, 96n9, 107, 136 New World, 49, 62; the Church in the, 79-82; musical culture in, 7992; patronage in, 16-17; in the polyphony, 79; theater in, 25-26n30, 25-27, 148 New World opera, 11-31, 59-92, 151-219, 223-27; European models and, 233; first performances of, 175-76; manuscripts of, 103, 152-53, 152n4, 153n6, 155-56, 168, 230, 230-31n21; memorization of, 228-33; revived interest in, 223-27, 224-25n7 New York Times, 224 Niño, Pedro Rosete, El arca de Noé (Noah’s Arc), 27, 125 nobility, 54, 66, 76, 118

01/07/2014 18:23:00

INDEX

noise, music as channelization of, 1415 Noise: The Political Economy (Attali), 14-16, 225-26, 227 No siempre lo peor es cierto (The Worst Is Not Always Certain) (Calderón de la Barca), 45n22 Nussdorfer, Bernard, 180n64 O’Brien, Thomas, 157, 162-63 ochos, 105 Oldani, Louis J., 37, 176 Olivares, Count-Duke of, 106-7 Olmos, Andrés de, 25-26n30 Oms y de Santa Pau, Manuel de, 85 opera, 76n51, 199n100; as all-encompassing genre, 21; American opera as a hybrid genre, 33; banning of, 78-79; Baroque, 55, 56-57, 61; Calderonian, 116, 119, 124-26, 137-38, 184-85; class and, 17, 56, 66, 114, 114n69; consolidation of styles, 55-56, 57; as court spectacle, 46, 85; as dramatic genre, 20; in England, 12, 74; Enlightenment critics of, 50; European origins of, 24; evangelization and, 23, 17698; expansion in Europe, 43-57; financial model for, 47; Florentine, 43-44, 46, 67-68, 184; French, 11, 33, 49-52, 57, 63, 64, 74, 85, 90; funding of, 22, 47-48, 67, 70, 99 (see also patronage); genesis in Europe, 33-57; in Germany, 12, 49; historiography of, 63-64, 63n9; ideology and, 114, 115-27; impact of Spanish drama on, 63-64, 63n9; Indian, 23, 24, 89, 90, 199-219; Italian, 11-12, 20, 22, 33, 43-57, 50, 52-53, 60-61, 66-69, 71, 7475, 74n43, 85-86, 85n68, 118-19, 119n82, 122-24, 123n98, 125,

Gasta.indd 263

263

184; Italian-style, 63, 76, 89, 90; Jesuits and, 88, 90-91, 151-219, 153n5, 177; language and, 67; Library of Congress cataloguing of, 63n9; Mantuan, 43, 46; «Metastasian opera», 54; the monarchy and, 90; as a musical revolution, 43-57; Neapolitan, 52-54, 56-57, 76n51, 77, 117n77, 125, 179, 184, 203; New World, 11-31, 33, 46, 49, 59-92, 151-219, 152n4, 17576, 223-27, 233; origins of, 33-42; poetry and, 20-21, 20n21; politics and, 30-31; private, 57; production costs of, 67-68; as propaganda, 90, 91, 99-100, 127-49; public admission to, 47-48, 56-57, 66; as record of cross-cultural collaboration, 89; Renaissance, 61; Roman, 44-45; smaller scale of, 48-49; Spanish, 11, 12n2, 22, 33, 46, 49, 57, 5979, 59-92, 63n9, 85, 90, 106, 119, 123-24, 123n98, 125-26, 184-85; in Spanish colonies, 103; subtext of, 99-100; as a symbolic act, 99100; transition from emphasis from text to voice, 56; Venetian, 47-50, 57, 66; verisimilitude of, 50 Opera: A History in Documents (Weiss), 63n9 Opera as Drama (Kerman), 21 opera buffa (comic opera), 53, 54n33 opera companies, 55, 66-67, 67, 67n14, 78 opera houses: closure of, 78; public, 56, 66 «opera in musica», 39 opera seria (serious opera), 54, 54n33, 73, 78 oratorios, 37 organs, 173-74, 173-74n51 Orpheus, myth of, 40, 42, 131

01/07/2014 18:23:00

264

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

Ovid, Metamorphoses, 131 Oxford’s Illustrated History of Opera, 63n9 El País, 224 Palace of Versailles, 57 Pamplona, Battle of, 186 Panamá, 95, 101-2n17 Panamá, Isthmus of, 109 Papacy, 45 Paradise Lost (Milton), 135 Paraguay province, 80, 88, 152n3, 163-65, 165n28, 181, 207-8n117 Parentación Real al Soberano Nombre e immortal memoria del Católico Rey de las Españas (Buendía), 112 Paris, France, 49-52, 57 La Parténope (Parthenope) (Zumaya), 85 Pasquini, Bernardo, 53, 53n32 pastoral plays, 44 pastoral themes, 46 patronage, 16-17, 22, 47-49, 67, 7071, 97, 103, 117-18; Bourbons and, 17, 85, 118-19; composers and, 16-17; economics and, 17; Habsburgs and, 17; in Italy, 46-47; in Lima, Peru, 22; music and, 1516; politics and, 17; royal, 17, 6970, 76, 83, 85; in Spain, 46 Peralta Barnuevo, Pedro, Triunfos de amor y poder (Triumphs of Love and Power), 86 Peramás, José Manuel, 162, 18081; Diario del destierro, 181n65, 207n116; De la vida y costumbre de trece varones paraguayos, 178n59 Peri, Jacopo, 38, 40 persuasion, 122-23 Peru, 95, 107n38, 158, 161; financial problems of, 104, 106, 107-9, 107n37, 108-10, 117-18, 127; in-

Gasta.indd 264

flation in, 107; labor shortages in, 107; maritime defense of, 107n37; Paraguay province, 164; politics and, 127; taxation and, 1079, 108-9n43; treasury system in, 108-9; unemployment in, 107 Peruvian Viceroyalty, 12, 14-16, 2223, 31, 33, 62, 79, 80-86, 84n67, 90-91, 93-149, 101-2n17, 144; funding of arts in, 103-14; printed record of music in, 100-101; theater in, 25-27 Philip (Felipe) II, 36n6, 107, 110 Philip (Felipe) III, 66, 67, 67n16, 104 Philip (Felipe) IV, 57, 66-70, 67n16, 72n34, 96n8, 101-2n17, 104, 106, 121, 144; hunting lodge of, 71, 72 Philip of Anjou. See Philip V the Philippines, 82 Philip V, 16-17, 22, 76-78, 76n50, 8386, 96n8, 97-99, 104, 111n62, 113, 118, 122; comparison to Apollo, 128-29, 133-34, 143, 144; genealogy of, 144, 146; Habsburgs and, 145, 146; legitimacy of, 144-48; praised in La púrpura de la rosa (The Blood of the Rose), 127-49; solar metaphors and, 143-44, 146 Piccinini, Filippo, 67, 67n16 Pitti Palace, 40 Pizarro, Francisco, 95 Plato, 39; Republic, 162 The Play of Power: Mythological Court Dramas of Calderón de la Barca (Greer), 133 playwriting, 70 poetry: music and, 39; opera and, 2021, 20n21 The Political Unconscious (Jameson), 29 politics: aesthetics and, 103-14; arts and, 127-49; music and, 154-56; opera and, 30-31; La púrpura de

01/07/2014 18:23:00

INDEX

la rosa (The Blood of the Rose) and, 127-49 Polyhymnia, 129n113 polyphony, 33-41, 36n6, 39n10, 45, 66, 71, 82, 87, 94, 102, 116, 168; end of, 48-49; Monteverdi and, 41, 42-43; in the New World, 79; sacred, 34 Il pomo d’oro para la más Hermosa (The Golden Apple for the Most Beautiful Woman) (La Compañía de Farsa Italiana), 77 Il Pompeo (Pompeii) (Scarlatti), 53 Pontifical Legate in Madrid, 44-45 popolino (spectators), 54n33 Portocarrero Lasso de la Vega, Count of Montclova, 108n42, 109, 11113, 111n62, 113n68, 114n69, 121n91 Portugal, 136, 207-8n117 Potosí, Bolivia, 25, 107, 107n38 power, 13-14, 225-26 Prato, Italy, 178, 178n59 Pratt, Mary Louise, 160 prayers, 199 prime donne (first ladies), 55, 57 primero tenore (first tenors), 56 Primoli, Gianbattista, 180n64 propaganda, 23, 122-23, 127-49; aesthetics as, 100; audiences and, 14243; music and, 17-18, 154-56; opera as, 127-49 psalms, 79 Ptolemy, Claudius, 146 public performances, 56 La púrpura de la rosa (The Blood of the Rose) (Calderón), 72-73, 72n36, 73n37, 73n38, 75, 82-83, 97-99, 112-14, 113n68, 114n69, 11527, 121n91, 127-49, 127n109, 128n111, 136-38, 141-42, 148

Gasta.indd 265

265

La púrpura de la rosa (The Blood of the Rose) (Torrejón), 16, 22-23, 27, 30, 82, 83-84, 84n67, 90, 93-150, 97-99, 104-6, 112-13n64, 112-14, 114n69, 115-27, 117n75, 121n91, 128n111, 129-30n114, 161, 163, 223-26, 22425n7; audience of, 141-42; Calderón de la Barca, 22; as commemoration of Philip V’s birthday, 16, 112, 113; as distinctly Hispanic opera, 119; ideology and, 115-27; ideology in, 115-49; loa to, 97-100, 115, 121, 127-28n110, 127-49, 128n111, 129-30n114, 129n113; as an overtly political work, 98; as overt praise for the Bourbon monarchy, 127-49; as overt praise for the monarchy, 112, 113, 115; persuasion in, 127-49; political directive of, 119; politics and, 22-23, 127-49; propaganda and, 2223; subtext of, 99-100 pyrotechnics, 48 Querini, Manuel, 180n64 Quinault, Philippe, 51-52, 74 Quito, Ecuador, 95 Rabinal Achi, 24 Racine, Jean, 118 recibimientos, 109 reciprocity, 63 recitative, 41, 43, 46, 49, 51, 55, 66, 67, 69-71, 74-75, 75, 86, 89, 105, 119, 123, 123n98, 124n101, 185, 189, 203n110, 204; Calderonian, 74-75; Italian, 75; Italian-style, 86; Jesuits and, 125; language and, 50; recitativo accompagnato (accompanying recitative), 42; recitativo secco (dry recitative), 42, 46, 55, 125; recitativo semplice (simple recitative), 42; Torrejón , Tomás de and, 116

01/07/2014 18:23:00

266

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

reductions, 152n3, 157, 160, 162, 163, 164, 165, 199, 218-19 Regole per suonare, cantare e comporre per principianti (Rules for Playing, Singing and Composing for Beginners) (Vanucci), Vannucci, Lavinio Felice, 53n31 religious orders, 80 religious subjects, 45 Renaissance, 38, 39-40, 61 repetition, 124 representación música, 76 Republic (Plato), Plato, 162 «The Resounding City» (Baker), Plato, 94 Rillo, Lorenzo, 182 Rinuccini, Ottavio, 38, 40, 41, 44n19 Río de la Plata basin, 180, 195 Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, 164 ritornellos, 125 ritual, music and, 19 River Jordan, 214 Rodríguez, Ariel, 223 Rodríguez de Montalvo, Garci, Amadís de Gaula (Amadís of Wales), 59n2 Rodríguez-Garrido, José Antonio, 84n67, 137 Rojas Zorrilla, Francisco de, 117 Roldán, Waldemer Axel, 230-31n21 romances (narrative songs), 34, 59-60, 65, 79, 84; romance nuevo, 65n12; romance viejo, 65n12 Rome, Italy, 44, 45, 46, 52, 53, 56, 64, 68, 184 Rospligliosi, Giulio, 44, 45, 45n22; Chi Soffre, speri (He Who Suffers Shall Hope), 45n22, 50; Dal male il bene (From Bad to Good), 45n22; El palazzo incantato (The Enchanted Palace), 45n22; Erminia sul Giordano (The River Jordan), 45n22

Gasta.indd 266

Roth, Hans, 229-30, 231, 232-33 The Rough Guide to Opera (Staines), 63n9 Royal Academy, 51 Royal Commentaries (Garcilaso de la Vega), 25 Royal Treasury, 76 Ruis de Ribayaz, Lucas, 27 Ruiz, Irma, 152n4, 230-31n21 Rull, Enrique, 97 sacraments, 214-18 the sacred, 151-52, 152n2 «Sacred Fragment: Schoenberg’s Moses und Aron» (Adorno), 152n2 sacred themes, 45 San Antonio de Lomerio, Bolivia, 202-3n108 Sánchez Labrador, José, 197 San Francisco Xavier, 16, 23, 29-30, 8891, 153, 156-57, 173n49, 176-77, 185, 199-219, 202-3n8, 202-3n108, 203-4n111, 203n110, 221, 223-30, 224-25n7, 232; Catholicism and, 205, 211-14; Jesuit principles in, 185; language of, 202-3n108, 204; manuscript of, 153-54, 153n7, 202, 202n107, 227-30; memorization of, 228-30; Nawrot’s translation of, 208-9n119, 210n123, 212n125; as part of opera seria tradition, 203; performance of, 205; political and ideological implications of, 185, 205; transmission of, 228-30 San Ignacio, Bolivia, 165, 166 San Ignacio de Loyola (Zipoli), 16, 23, 29, 30, 88-89, 88n79, 90, 91, 15354, 153n6, 156, 176-98, 186n78, 199, 218, 221, 223-30, 224-25n7, 232; as cross-cultural collaboration, 197-98; as a cross-cultural tool, 88, 183-84; Jesuit principles

01/07/2014 18:23:00

INDEX

in, 185, 193-94; manuscript of, 153-54, 153n6, 227-30; memorization of, 228-30; plot summary of, 185-86; political and ideological implications of, 185, 193-94; transmission of, 228-30 San Ignacio de Moxos, Bolivia, 198, 228 San Javier, Bolivia, 173-74n51, 173 n49, 182, 223 San José, Bolivia, 165-66, 173-74n51 San Juan, Bolivia, 173-74n51 San Juan, Antonio, 78n57 San Juan Bautista, Bolivia, 165 San Miguel, Bolivia, 165, 173-74n51 San Rafael, Bolivia, 165, 173n49, 198, 229-30 San Rafael Church, 229-30 Santa Ana, Bolivia, 173-74n51, 182, 198, 229-30 Santa Cruz de la Sierra, 221n1 Sant’Alessio (Saint Alex), Landi, Stefano, 44, 45 Santiago, Chile, 95, 173-74n51 Santiago de Compostela, Spain 34 Santiago del Estero, Bolivia, 175 Santillana, Marqués de, 35 Santo Corazón de Jesús, Bolivia, 17374n51 Scarlatti, Alessandro, 52-53, 53n30, 53n32, 55, 56, 76, 88, 118, 179; Il Mitridite Eupatore (Mithridates Eupator), 53; Il Pompeo (Pompeii), 53; Il Tigrane (General Tigrane), 53; Il trionfo dell’onore (The Triumph of Honor), 53; La Griselda (Griselda), 53 Scarlatti, Domenico, 53n32, 78 Schmid, Martin, 172-73, 173n49, 175, 197, 198 seating, 56-57, 66 Seemann, O., 128-29n112 seismology, 207n116

Gasta.indd 267

267

La selva sin amor (The Loveless Jungle) (Lope de Vega), 67-68, 69, 70, 74, 120n86, 123, 125 «semioperas», 70-71 Seoane Urioste, Carlos, 230, 23031n21 Sepp, Anton, 170, 173-74, 174n52, 175 serenatas, 86n71 sets. See stage scenery settlements, 63 Seville, Spain, 78, 179, 180 sheet music, 229-33 A Short History of Opera (Grout and Williams), 63n9 Sicily, 68 silvas, 67 silver, 82, 95, 96, 107, 107n38, 108n41, 109 sinfonias (overtures), 55, 184 singers, 67; gender of, 141n135, 199 singing: evolution of, 66; as mechanism to bring about social cohesiveness, 140 social energy, 142 Society of Jesus, 88, 158, 179, 179n60, 190, 195-96, 207-8n117. See also Jesuits; founding of, 153-54, 197, 200, 201-2, 205; headquarters in Rome, 169; mandates of, 163-64 solar metaphors, royalty and, 143-44, 146 sonatas, 44n20, 86n71, 168 Sonate d’intavolatura (Zipoli), 179 songs, evolution of, 66 Sonidos de la Tierra (Sounds from the Land), 222n2 sopranos, 56 South America, 15-16, 23, 33, 86, 151-219. See alsospecific towns, cities, and countries Spain, 31, 33, 49-50, 53n30, 57, 8283, 86-87, 96n8, 96n9, 97, 136-37,

01/07/2014 18:23:00

268

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

179, 184. See also Spanish Empire; Catholicism and, 64; drama in, 175-76; dynastic connection to France, 144; early music in, 3336; financial problems of, 106-7; France and, 25-26, 100, 121-22, 121n91, 126, 134, 135-36, 13839 (see alsospecific conflicts); Franco-Spanish alliance, 100, 121-22, 121n91, 134, 135-36; French and Italian models and, 62-63; Italian musicians in, 66-67, 77; Italian(style) opera in, 66-77, 78-79, 119n82; libretti in, 83-84; Medici family and, 40-41; opera in, 59-79; patronage in, 46; schools of opera in, 22; transition from polyphonic to monodic style in, 66 Spain (allegorical character), 145 Spaniards, 101, 104 Spanish colonies. See also Spanish Empire, music in, 103 Spanish culture, Indians and, 93-94 Spanish Empire, 31, 33, 134, 136n126; arts in, 133; Bourbon monarchy and, 136; financial problems of, 96, 104, 106-7, 107n37; opera in, 5992; reform periods in more, 10910; taxation in, 107-9, 108-9n43; viceroyalties and, 106-8, 107n37 Spanish language, 91, 184, 200, 2023n108 Spanish model, 64-65 Spanish theater, Italian-style opera and, 66-77 special effects, 48 spectacles, 48, 69, 69n27, 70n29; public, 101, 114n69, 115, 117-18 stage mechanizations, 69, 86 stage scenery, 48, 69, 70n29, 86 Staines, Joe, The Rough Guide to Opera, 63n9

Gasta.indd 268

the state, 13-17, 19, 23, 26, 30, 62-63, 91, 100, 103-4, 225-26 Stein, Louise K., 13, 69-71, 69n27, 75, 84n67, 85-86n70, 100-101, 105, 105-6n32, 113n68, 117, 117n75, 119-20, 121n91, 129-30n114, 137, 154-55 Stempiglia, Silvio, 85n68 Stevenson, Robert L., 27, 72n34, 1012n17, 112-13n64, 116, 117n77, 119, 119n82, 125, 127-28n110, 127n109, 181 «stilo recitativo» («recitative style»), 41. See also recitative St. Mark’s Cathedral, 49 stock characters, 45, 54, 54n33 Storia della musica (History of Music) (Martini), 178n59 St. Petersburg, Russia, 52 Stravinsky, Igor, Apollon Musagete, 132n118 Striggio, Alessandro the Younger, 41 Stroud, Matthew, 63n9, 72n36 Strozzi, Maria Teresa, Princess of Forano, 179, 179n60 Subirá, José, 72n36, 76 The Sublime Object of Ideology (Zizek), 18n15 symbolism, 142 Szarán, Luis, 197-98, 222n2 También se vengan los dioses (Even the Gods Seek Vengeance) (Las Llamosas), 27-28, 108n42 Tarija, Bolivia, 164 Tasso, Torquato, 135 taxation, 107-9, 108-9n43 Teatro di San Cassiano, 46 tenors, 56 Tercera parte de las comedias de Calderón (Calderón de la Barca), 120 Teresa de Ávila, Santa, 186

01/07/2014 18:23:00

INDEX

Terpsichore, 129, 129n113, 131-33, 132n118, 134, 140, 144 Thalia, 129n113 theater. See also drama: castrati, 77; Catholicism and, 175-76; Jesuits and, 37, 175-76, 177, 199 theaters: closing of, 73; closure of, 122; construction of, 56-57; seating in, 56-57 Thomson, O., 122-23 Tiedemann, Rolf, 151n1 Il Tigrane (General Tigrane) (Scarlatti), 53 Tirso de Molina, 26, 26n31, 84, 118; Amazonas en las Indias (Amazons in the Indies), 26n31 tonadas, 124, 124n101, 125 tonos, 79 Toribio de Mogrovejo, Saint, beatification of, 111 Torrejón , Miguel de, 101 Torrejón y Velasco, Tomás de, 16, 2728, 83, 85, 98-100, 101-2n17, 1013, 102n18, 106, 108-9n43, 109, 117n77, 127-28n110, 161n22, 184-85, 221-23; biography of, 101-2; Bourbon monarchy and, 127-49, 135, 139-40; Calderonian opera and, 116-17, 119-21, 12427; the Church and, 103-4; commemoration of Philip V’s birthday, 112, 113, 122; financial problems of, 110-11, 115, 116, 122; musical training of, 116, 117; printing of his works, 88, 88-89n80; publication of his works, 111; La púrpura de la rosa (The Blood of the Rose), 16, 22-23, 27, 30, 82-84, 84n67, 90, 93-150, 112-13n64, 114n69, 117n75, 121n91, 128n111, 12930n114, 161, 163, 223-26, 22425n7; recitative style and, 116; records of, 88, 88-89n80; the state

Gasta.indd 269

269

and, 103-4; vespers in honor of death of Charles II, 111-12 Treaty of the Pyrenees, 50, 72-73, 121, 122 Treaty of Utrecht, 136 Los Tres Reyes Magos, 174-75, 174 n52 Tribunales courts, 114 trionfi, 36 Il trionfo dell’onore (The Triumph of Honor, 1718) (Scarlatti), 53 Tristeza, 138-39 Triunfos de amor y poder (Triumphs of Love and Power) (Peralta Barnuevo), 86 troubadours, 34 Trufaldines, 77 Trujillo, Peru, 88-89n80 Tupí Indians, 169 Twain, Mark, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, 151, 151n1 «Union of Arms» reforms, 106 University of San Marcos, 95n5 Urania, 129, 129n113, 134-35, 144 Urban Images of the Hispanic World 14931793 (Kagan and Marías), 93n1 Urban VIII, 44, 45 Uruguay, 164 Vannucci, Lavinio Felice, 53, 53n31, 179; Regole per suonare, cantare e comporre per principianti(Rules for Playing, Singing and Composing for Beginners), 53n31 Varón, Beatriz Aracil, 200 the Vatican, 68 Vélez de Guevara, Luis, 117 Venice, Italy, 44, 46, 47-50, 56, 57, 66 Venus, 141-42, 146 Venus and Adonis, myth of, 83, 98, 127, 137, 141-42, 146

01/07/2014 18:23:00

270

TRANSATLANTIC ARIAS

Vera Tassis, Juan de, Tercera Parte de Comedias de D. Pedro Calderón de la Barca (Third Part of Comedies by Don Calderón de la Barca), 73n38 Vera Tassis y Villarroel, Juan de, 120 vernacular religious music, 79 Versailles, France, 52, 57 vespers, 168 viceroyalties, 106-8, 107n37 viceroys, 52, 108-9n43, 109-10, 111, 111n62, 112-13. See alsospecific viceroys Victoria, Tomás Luis de, 35, 79, 175 De la vida y costumbre de trece varones paraguayos (Peramás), 178n59 Vida y obra del P. Martin Schmidt S. J. (Hoffmann), 173n49 villancicos (carols), 34, 36n6, 79, 84, 105, 111 Villarrobledo, Spain, 101, 101-2n17 Villaviciosa, battle of, 86, 112 Villca, Henry, 223 Virgen de Montserrat (painting), 93-95, 97 Virgin of Montserrat, 93-94 voice, emphasis on, 56 Volgsten, Ulrick, Music and Manipulation: On the Social Uses and Social Control of Music, 17-19 Voyage dans l’Amérique méridionale (Viaje a la América Meridional) (D’Orbigny), 166-67n35, 167-68 Waisman, Leonard J., 152n4, 165, 206-7, 230-31n21 War Council, 112 War of Succession, 23, 30, 52, 84, 96, 96n8, 96n9, 98-100, 113, 122, 127, 136 Watkins, 152n3, 183 Weiss, Piero, Opera: A History in Documents, 63n9

Gasta.indd 270

Williams, Hermine Weigel, 20n21, 39, 45n22; A Short History of Opera, 63n9 women, banned from opera, 50 Yanitelli,Victor R., 37, 176 Yapeyú, Bolivia,174-75, 174n52, 181, 182 YouTube, 224 Zambrano, Jorge, 170 Zamora, Antonio, 78n57 Zapata Fernández de la Hoz, Teresa, 83 zarabandas, 105, 105-6n32 Zarzuela hunting lodge, 57, 71, 72, 121 Zarzuela palace, 72n34 zarzuelas, 12n2, 22, 26-28, 36, 61, 64, 71-73, 72n34, 75-76, 79, 108n42, 118, 121-22 Zeus, 128-29n112, 134n122 Zipoli, Domenico, 53, 89, 161n22, 180n64, 181n65, 230, 233; background of, 178-80, 178n59, 179n60, 181n65, 184, 194-95; career of, 88-89; Italian training of, 184, 185; manuscripts of his works, 197-98; San Ignacio de Loyola, 16, 23, 29-30, 88-89, 88n79, 153-54, 153n6, 156, 176-98, 186n78, 199, 218, 221, 223-30, 224-25n7, 232; Sonate d’intavolatura, 179; Spanish opera and, 184-85; stature of, 18083; works as model for musical instruction in missions, 180-83; works of, 178n59 Žižek, Slavjov, The Sublime Object of Ideology, 18n15 Zumaya, Manuel de, 85n68; La Parténope (Parthenope), 85

01/07/2014 18:23:01