Journal of Historical Research in Music Education April 2004 XXV:2

An Approach to the History

of Music Education in Latin America
Part II: Music Education 16th–18th Centuries

Alicia C. de Couve
Conservatorio Superior de Música de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires
Claudia Dal Pino
Universidad CAECE
Ana Lucía Frega
Universidad CAECE

This article follows up on research published in the Bulletin of Historical

Research in Music Education in September 1997, on the subject of music
education in Argentina from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century.1 The purpose
of this second study is to provide a general panorama of music teaching in the
rest of Latin America during the same period, applying the same methodology
and categorization of data. Because the colonizing movement began in the
Caribbean Islands and extended across Latin America, examples have been selected
to give punctual data from different countries that may serve as a basis to introduce
the tendencies in music education in Latin America. Some similarities and
differences between music education in Argentina and in other Latin American
countries will be discussed.
Institutionalized Music Education
The previous article on Argentina and a diachronic study on music training
institutions2 both noted that the Catholic Church exercised an outstanding role
in music education during the colonial period. Almost every important
ecclesiastical see sustained music training, through chapel masters’ action.
Different sources provide data refering to the insular region, especially in the
present Dominican Republic: “Since 1512 there were two bishoprics, one of
la Vega and the other of Saint Domingo de Guzmán, that had chapel masters,

1. Alicia de Couve, Claudia Dal Pino, and Ana Lucía Frega, “An Approach to the History
of Music Education in Latin America,” Bulletin of Historical Research in Music Education 19
(September 1997): 10–39.
2. Alicia de Couve and Claudia Dal Pino, “Historical Panorama of Music Education in
Latin America: Music Training Institutions,” International Journal of Music Education 34 (1999):
30–46.
79
80 Journal of Historical Research in Music Education

organists and choruses.”3 “The archdiocese of Santo Domingo was created in

1504 by Julio II’s papal bull. The Cathedral was finished in 1540. When its
construction was authorized in 1512, a chapel master and an organist were
included.”4
Similar information has been obtained regarding Cuba. In the decree
establishing the music chapel of the Santiago de Cuba Cathedral dated February
10, 1682, Bishop Juan García de Palacios was appointed, “to entrust Domingo
de Flores, city neighbor, the music in organ chant for the Saint Cathedral.”5
This musician was asked to conduct the music activity and to teach children
and priests, or anyone else who expressed interest, the organ chant in order to
celebrate Mass in a decent way especially on solemn or festival days. In his contract
he was granted seventy-five pesos per year and,

… was obliged by himself and by all the chapel members to attend Church
and to sing vespers and masses on the most solemn days as those of first
class, Palm Sundays, Holy Maundy, Good Friday, Easter Saturday, November
twenty-nine, Saint Sacrament Fêtes and any other celebrations held in such
Church as well as those of brotherhoods but at private ones performed by
devoted people at which he will have no obligation to assist unless he receives
a payment according to his work. The same is understood for fêtes
performed at convents and hermits. The named Domingo Flores will
have the duty to compose at least one complete mass per year, plus
Christmas carols and songs to be sung at Church in vespers and in
Christmas celebrations. He also has to compose for less solemn occasions.6

In South American territories there were similar situations. It is known that

Juan Pérez Materano was chapel master in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia,
from 1534 to 1552.7 In the Brazilian colony, governed by the Portuguese
Crown, the positions of chapel master and two chorus singers were created on

3. Juan Francisco García, Panorama de la Música Dominicana [Panorama of Dominican Music]

(Ciudad Trujillo [Santo Domingo], República Dominicana: Publicaciones de la Secretaría de
Estado de Educación y Bellas Artes, 1947): 9.
4. J. M. Coopersmith, Música y músicos de la República Dominicana [Music and Musicians
of the Dominican Republic] (Washington, D.C.: División de Música y Artes Visuales
Departamento Asuntos Culturales, Unión Panamericana, 1949), 71.
5. Pablo Hernández Balaguer, El más antiguo documento de la música cubana: antecedentes
y acta de la constitución de la primera capilla de música establecida en la isla [The Oldest
Document of Cuban Music: Antecedents and Constitutional Acts of the First Chapel of
Music Established on the Island] (La Habana, Cuba: Ed. Libros Cubanos, 1986), 27.
6. Ibid., 27.
7. Robert Stevenson, “La Música Colonial en Colombia” [Colonial Music in Colombia],
Revista Musical Chilena XVI, no. 81–82 (July–December 1962): 153.
Alicia C. de Couve, Claudia Dal Pino, Ana Lucía Frega 81

December 4, 1551 at the Salvador see by royal letter. On August 17, 1552 the
bishop of Salvador had already appointed musicians for the charge.8 In the
Captaincy General of Chile, in the city of Santiago de Chile:

In 1725 the Ecclesiastical Cabildo [cathedral chapter] determined the budget

to create several musician positions for the metropolitan chanting house,
including one of chapel master, that will receive a payment of 350 pesos per
year, that were increased to 408 two months later by Bishop Don Francisco
Salcedo, ‘with the duty to teach music to the chorus children and to provide
lessons to all singers, because it was necessary that all clergymen could
skillfully sing the plain chant and the organ or polyphonic one, as we have
the experience that natives became pious by hearing music and chant.’9

On some occasions the hereditary system was applied in chapel masters’

appointments. This happened in Quito in 1653 when Juan Ortuño de Larrea
left his charge after thirty years because he had become deaf and incompetent.
Another Ortuño de Larrea obtained the office in 1697 and remained in charge
until his death in 1721 or 1722. Throughout the eighteenth century, Capitulary
Acts reveal that a member of this same family was appointed, because of a lack
of other candidates.10
There are data that suggest that at the beginning of the eighteenth century
the authority in Seville was transferred to the Cathedral of Bogotá, that is, “to
appoint the chapel master chief of all the musical program and to appoint a
subordinate master to teach to the acolytes. The chapel master taught polyphonic
chant to the chorus children while the subordinated teacher taught only plain
chant to the altar boys.”11 There are no references to indicate if this practice was
applied in all Latin American music chapels.
Groups of musicians were in charge of music teaching at churches in other
urban centers. “In 1550 the first Bishop of Quito, Bachelor Don Garcí Diaz
Arias (?–1562) brought from Lima some Spanish musicians who taught violin,

8. Regis Duprat, “A Música na Bahia Colonia [Music at Colonial Bahia],” Separata do no.
61 da Revista de Historia. (Sao Paulo, Brazil: s/de, 1965): 96 quoted in Bruno Kiefer, Historia
da Música Brasileira dos primórdios ao inicio do século XX [History of Brazilian Music from the
Beginnings to the Twentieth Century] (Porto Alegre, Brazil: Editorial Movimento, 3rd ed., 1982),
16.
9. Samuel Claro and Jorge Urrutia Blondel, Historia de la Música en Chile [History of Music
in Chile] (Santiago de Chile: Editorial Orbe, 1973), 64 including a quotation from Pereira
Salas, Los Orígenes del Arte Musical en Chile [Origins of Musical Art in Chile] (Santiago de Chile:
Imprenta Universitaria, 1941), 31.
10. Robert Stevenson, “La Música en Quito” [Music in Quito] in Revista Musical Chilena
Year XVI, no. 81–82, (July–December 1962): 185.
11. Stevenson, “La Música Colonial en Colombia,” 139.
82 Journal of Historical Research in Music Education

flute, oboe and so on, to the Indian boys who gave service to the Cathedral
chorus.”12
Simultaneously urban schools were including music teaching within a
general curriculum.13 For example, in Cuba, the San Ambrosio College
was founded at La Havana, “where the children serving at the altar and in the
parochial chorus were instructed in Latin and plain chant.”14 In Brazil, the priests
“… in the interior of the States or Captaincies, exercise the role of the three
‘Rs’: arithmetic, solfege and Latin.”15
Although they were not very prevalent, there were institutions that provided
specific musical teaching dependent on civil authorities. For instance, in
Venezuela, “On 2 April 1641, the Metropolitan Cabildo [town hall] founded
a plain chant school, where not only those people serving Church, but whoever
wanted to, could learn musical rudiments.”16
As in Argentina, music education was a subject included in priesthood studies.
For example, at Pará, Brazil: “In 1786 the Seminar was provided by Bishop Frei
Caetano Brandao, with one discipline of vocal music and another of Gregorian
chant, ordering that scores were sent from Portugal. During his Episcopal
government the cathedral chorus reached its apogee and we have notice of two
excellent organists …”17
In Ecuador, there was a Consiliar Seminar at Quito, where Gutierrez
Fernández Hidalgo (1553–1586) taught music. His duties were: “to teach
classes twice a day, one of singing and other of counterpoint, one in the
morning and the other in the evening. His pupils would be all those clergymen
of Quito who wished to learn music …”18
There is evidence that nuns received similar teaching at some convents. In
Mexico the Music School for women was founded in 1740 at the San Miguel
of Bethlen Convent by Archbishop Don Antonio Vizarrón y Eguiarreta. It
functioned up to 1821 when the convent was closed. Similar to the first
conservatories in Italy, it was an asylum where girls were taught music. During

12. Segundo Luis Moreno Andrade, La Música en el Ecuador [Music in Ecuador], 2nd ed.
(Quito, Ecuador: Municipio del Distrito Metropolitano de Quito, Departamento de Desarrollo
y Difusión Musical, 1996), 48.
13. See de Couve and Dal Pino, “Historical Panorama … Music Training Institutions,” 35.
14. Alejo Carpentier, La Música en Cuba [Music in Cuba], 3rd ed. (La Habana, Cuba: Editorial
Letras Cubanas, 1988): 51.
15. Kiefer, Historia da Música Brasileira, 35.
16. José Antonio Calcaño, “Música Colonial Venezolana” [Colonial Music in Venezuela],
Revista Musical Chilena (July–December 1962): 195.
17. Kiefer, Historia da Música Brasileira, 26.
18. Stevenson, “Música en Quito,” 181.
Alicia C. de Couve, Claudia Dal Pino, Ana Lucía Frega 83

the first six years more than twenty music teachers graduated. This institution
provided its services to all the convents in New Spain, the nuns acting as
teachers who trained those pupils who showed more aptitude:
It is ordered that not every girl at the Recogimiento will attend that school
because of their number, as only twenty or a few more may be trained at
the same time, and that for their selection it must be taken into account
who felt more inclined to the religious state and even more to music
playing. As regards the first point the Priests must immediately acknowledge
and as for the second point Teachers must take an exam to the girls so that
those who applied to constant study will occupy a place in the chorus with
the only cost to have taken part in this charitable exercise.19

The document added that:

None of the girls may become a regular nun if she has not achieved three
different vocal and instrumental skills, the first two ones in an acceptable
and current way, the third one even in a lesser level, excepting the case when
an organist is trained taking into account the outstanding meticulousness
this profession requires, attending the study difficulties and the quality of
the teaching provided to these teachers.20

Music was also taught at some universities, but with regard to this point it
is necessary to refer to information cited in previous analyses of music training
institutions, as there is no additional data available at this time.21 The following
educational centers included music in their schedule: the Real and Pontifical
University of Caracas (Venezuela, seventeenth century),22 the Santo Tomás
University (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, seventeenth century), the
Gorjón University (Dominican Republic),23 the San Basilio Magno Seminar
(Santiago de Cuba, Cuba, eighteenth century), and the Real Pontifical University
of San Cristóbal of La Havana (Cuba).24
19. Document “Escuela de Música en que perpetuamente hallen las niñas más desvalidas el
recogimiento y Casa de San Miguel de Bethlen de esta ciudad de Mexico. Dote y título para
poder ser religiosas” [School of Music in which are always found the most neglected girls of
the House of Correction and House of St. Michael of Bethlehem in Mexico City. Endowed
and licensed for the study to become nuns.] (Mexico: Imprenta RL del Superior Gobierno y
del Nuevo Rezado, 1746) quoted in Saldivar, Historia de la Música en México, 148–149.
20. Ibid.
21. See de Couve and Dal Pino, “Historical panorama … music training institutions,” 37.
22. Calcaño, “Música colonial Venezolana,” 196.
23. Coopersmith, Música y músicos de la república Dominicana, 72.
24. Pablo Hernández Balaguer, “Panorama de la música colonial Cubana” [Panorama of
Colonial Cuban Music], in Revista Musical Chilena Year XVI, no. 81–82, (July–December 1962):
201–202.
84 Journal of Historical Research in Music Education

Music education also was an outstanding aspect in Jesuits’ missions or

Indian towns so the examples provided in the Argentine study may be applied
to any point of Latin America where an Indian settlement was organized.
Other religious orders founded missions where they applied music as a means
for religious conversion. José Antonio Calcaño cites the important role of the
Capuchin monks who had a mission in Piritó, very far from Caracas, where
they taught Caribbean Indians.25 Another musicologist, Gabriel Saldívar, points
out the arrival of the Franciscan missionaries to Mexico in 1524, who created
Indian towns following the example of the first Belgian priests.26
As in Argentina the first music educators were European priests, but in other
American territories they were soon assisted in their tasks by lay teachers. For
example: “Father Martín Iriarte [was] by that time missionary at San Joaquín
town. After many contretemps he could devote himself to teach music to
young people. He worked for more than two years helped by an Spanish boy
from Lamas city, who had a very beautiful voice, and so he managed to teach
singing to Omagua children and young men.”27 In other cases there is no
reference to these assistants’ origin, as in Ecuador when, “Father Zefiris was sent
to the San Regisa Mission where he brought two singers and two instrument
players in order to help him in teaching. Jameo people [became] very skillful
at singing and playing instruments.”28
Music educators had varying depths of musical knowledge, generally
according to whatever training they received in Europe before being sent to
America. Some outstanding examples of those priests who studied at universities
were Antonio Sepp and Fray Pedro de Gante. The latter was born in Flandes
in 1480 and died in Mexico in 1572. He attended the Lovaina University and
arrived in Veracruz, Mexico, in August of 1523. He was a theologian, humanist,
and musician, but also developed great ability in mechanical jobs. While he
studied the Mexican language, he founded the first music school at Texcoco,
where workshops were installed in order to teach arts and crafts, including music.
In 1524 he opened a school for the Indian principals’ sons. Three years later
this institution was moved to the San Francisco convent near Mexico City, where
he spent the rest of his life.29

25. Calcaño, “Música colonial Venezolana,” 195.

26. Saldivar, Historia de la Música en México, 95.
27. Father José Chantre y Herrera, Historia de la Compañía de Jesús en el Marañón Español:
De los cantores, músicos y tañedores de instrumentos [History of the Jesuits in Spanish Marañón:
The Singers, Musicians and Instrumentalists] (Madrid: Imprenta A. Avrial, 1901), 652 quoted
in Moreno Andrade, La música en Ecuador, 63
28. Ibid., 62.
29. Otto Mayer Serra, Música y músicos de Latino América [Music and Musicians of Latin
America] (Mexico: Ed. Atlante, 1947), 40–408.
Alicia C. de Couve, Claudia Dal Pino, Ana Lucía Frega 85

As an exception some priests were self-taught, such as Cristóbal de Llorena,

born in Santo Domingo in 1540. This remarkable prebendary, teacher, singer,
and organist at Santo Domingo Cathedral also was the headmaster at the
Gorjón University. In a letter sent to King Felipe II, López de Avila writes about
Llorena, saying that, “Without a teacher, he has been his own master and has
learned so much Latin and so much music that he could be chapel master in
Toledo.”30
Sometimes the Church requires the services of lay educators. In Mexico City:
“On January 2, 1543 the Cathedral Cabildo appointed Cancionero Campoverde
to teach the chorus children, paying him four pesos per year from the twelve
pesos earned by each child plus six pesos per year paid by Church. The children
had the duty to serve at Church during nine years, being instructed in religious
practices; they integrated choruses and had their own one for chanting at
Easter and Christmas.”31
As it was explained in the Argentine case, many Indians and other native
people became music educators. Official documents state:

In 1568 the Quito Audience asked the teachers’ names in order to distribute
the budget. A list was presented under the conduction [sic] of Fray Juan
de Obeso that included Diego Gutiérrez, Indian from Quito to teach singing,
reading and keyboard and flute playing; Pedro Díaz, native from Tanta,
for plain chant, organ, reading and writing, and flageolet and flute playing;
Juan Mitimas, Indian from Latacunga, for singing and sackbut playing;
Cristóbal de Santamaría, native from Quito for singing, reading and string
instrument playing. All these teachers were given as assistants Juan Oña,
native from Cotocollao, Diego Guaña, Indian from Conocoto, Antonio
Fernández, native from Guangopolo and Sancho native from Pizoli.32

The first methodology applied was mere imitation. At the Jesuit missions
in the Ecuadorian territory: “The missionaries selected several Indian boys and
without any preparation, they taught them by rote to sing some praises and even
the Mass, the Salve and so on; and those one who showed special abilities were
taught to play the harp, the violin (instruments that were constructed in an
unpolished and primitive way in the very mission), the flute, the clarinet, etc.,
with the aim to fulfill new born church’s necessities.”33 In Mexico the Franciscans

30. Coopersmith, Música y músicos de la república Dominicana, 72.

31. Saldivar, Historia de la música en México, 99.
32. Pablo Guerrero and Corporación Musicológica Ecuatoriana (CONMUSICA), Canciones
dedicadas a Quito [Songs Dedicated to Quito] (Quito, Ecuador: Departamento de Desarrollo
y Difusión Musical, Editorial Voluntad, 1993), 8.
33. Moreno Andrade, La música en Ecuador, 34.
86 Journal of Historical Research in Music Education

taught the Catholic doctrine using rhythmic phrases which, when accompanied
by plain chant, made learning easier.34
Although the priests aimed at eliminating every belief contrary to the
Catholic faith, they used many popular Indian songs and changed their texts
for evangelical purposes. As an example, in Ecuador: “It is doubtless that from
the first years of Spanish domination, this melody [Yupaichishca, a sacred
Indian song] was adapted as a pledge to ‘the Great Milady … Sky Empress.’
And this supposition is not unfounded, because it is not difficult to understand
that the missionaries employed Indian melodies, selecting those ones that
without substantial changes may be applied as religious songs.”35 Documentation
has also been found to indicate that priests sometimes composed religious
songs on the minor pentatonic scale.36
Beginning in the seventeenth century there appeared more data on methods
or texts proceeding from Europe. An eighteenth-century Mexican musicologist
stated that: “In the last third of the seventeenth century Cerone’s Musical
Theory and Nasarrecon’s One (1683) were already known.”37 These works used
to be memorized and comprised a great number of rules and definitions. Mariz
states that, “Plain chant, organ, clavichord, violin, and counterpoint treatises
came to Brazil from Portugal.”38 Mariz goes on to note that this contact with
the European resources was fast and fluid: “In Europe Eximeno creates a clear
musical teaching reform, causing great scandal with his work Dell origine e delle
regole della musica colla historia de suo progreso e decadenza e rinovezione [Music
Origin and Rules, including the history of its progress, decline and rejuvenation],
that as soon as it was translated into Spanish it was known in Mexico.”39
There are also references to musical theory books written by Creoles and
Indians. In Brazil the mulatto chapel master Alvares Pinto, who studied in Lisbon
wrote a treatise entitled “Solfege Art.”40 In Mexico, according to a certain Burgos,
“An Indian musician from Oxaca developed To Tie Harmony to a Perfect Circle,
which may be considered the first Mexican work on musical theory, as far as
it is known.”41

34. Saldivar, Historia de la Música en México, 95–96.

35. Moreno Andrade, La música en Ecuador, 16.
36. Ibid., 34.
37. Saldivar, Historia de la música en México, 130.
38. Vasco Mariz, Historia de la música en el Brasil [History of music in Brazil] (Lima, Perú:
Editorial Centro de Estudios Brasileros, 1985), 17.
39. Ibid., 132.
40. Ibid., 14.
41. Ibid., 130.
Alicia C. de Couve, Claudia Dal Pino, Ana Lucía Frega 87

In Colombia, the chapel master “Perez Monterano obtained in 1554 a royal

license to print his treatise on organ chant and plain singing, though it seems
that it was never published.”42 The Spanish Crown governed her American
territories exercising a strict control over every aspect regarding organization and
administration. Print materials were no exception. Publishing allowances had
to be obtained from the relevant authorities and censoring organizations.
Because of the strict censorship on local and foreign publications, illegal book
smuggling became very common.
In many urban centers, like those in the Viceroyalty of New Spain, works
such as the Art of Combinatory Music—with which even those less skillful may
easily compose (by Juan José Padilla, 1733) were printed.43
With regard to musical activities, as it was explained in the Argentine case,
singing played an outstanding role, as evangelicals pursued their aims. As
Saldivar points out in his Mexican history, the priests put every prayer, and even
the commandments, in plain chant in Nahuatl language. They would gather
the natives in the courtyards, where they sang and learned prayers for three or
four hours per day.44 “In Mexico Father Francisco Ximenez composed arts in
Indian language and … translated the doctrine fundamentals to Mexican
language, putting them in a very graceful plain chant so that the listeners
would learn them by heart.”45
The same repertoire has been found in different missions, as it was usual practice
to interchange compositions between very distant settlements. Another repertoire
circuit was shared among cathedrals. In the Chilean captaincy that belonged to
the Viceroyalty of Perú, “the organization, works, manuscripts, and musical
repertoire were regulated from Lima. When the Viceroyalty of the River Plate was
created in the eighteenth century, the repertoire and musical organization arrived
to Santiago from Buenos Aires, rather than from Lima.”46
The Church hierarchy intended by all means to eradicate musical practices
related to Indian idolatry. Three Mexican provincial councils (in 1555, 1565, and
1585) enacted prohibitions, but the movement was not totally successful. In the
Corpus Christi celebrations in Mexico, “indigenous children served as acolytes
singing Vespers … and then were allowed to perform dances devoted to Christ
and the saints, which were the same ones dedicated in the past to their gods.”47

42. Stevenson, “La música colonial en Colombia,” 154.

43. Saldivar, Historia de la Música en México, 145.
44. Ibid., 97.
45. Baltazar de Medina (without references) quoted in Saldivar, 96.
46. Samuel Claro Valdes, Oyendo a Chile [Listening Chile] (Santiago, Chile: Editorial
Andrés Bello), 19.
47. Saldivar, Historia de la música en México, 97.
88 Journal of Historical Research in Music Education

African culture meant another challenge to the priests. Claro Valdez points
out that: “Negro melodies had a great influence on religious liturgy. Together
with Indian songs, they entered in the Catholic ceremonies, causing great
trouble and becoming a debatable point at the first American councils.”48
During the first colonization times, necessity led to flexible criteria when
selecting musical instruments for religious ceremonies. During the sixteenth
century in Cuba “black women sung at church and a guiro [percussion
instrument made from a dried gourd] was among the instruments. The truth
was that at Santiago de Cuba instruments were scarce and it was frequent for
organists to justify the employment of secular musicians for the solemn worship
… because there were very few musicians in Cuba.”49
It is known that in the Brazilian missions: “In short time, there were in
all the catechized villages small music schools, where the Indians learnt with
great facility to play flutes and viols … besides chant for celebrating Mass. The
Jesuits created choral and instrumental music for the religious ceremonies and
the public acts. In 1578 the first Master in Arts diplomas were granted.”50
Instrument construction was soon under way both by independent lutenists
and in the mission workshops, as has already been explained when presenting
the Argentine data.51
There is evidence that musical composition was taught in many educational
centers. For example, in La Havana, Cuba, composition was taught at the
parochial manor in addition to organ and plain chant.
Many Latin American cathedral files constitute the evidence that a diverse
repertoire, which included local compositions, was performed. In Lima,
Perú, in 1809 Andrés Bolognesi registered the music papers available at the
Metropolitan Sacred Church of Lima, which comprised many Latin American
works: “… José de Oregón y Aparicio (1690–1763), Peruvian, thirty-seven works;
Melchor Tapia y Zegarra (eighteenth century), three works; Manuel Davalos,
(?–1818), Peruvian, two works; Toribio del Campo y Pando (1740–1818),
Peruvian, one work; … a total of 221 works.”52 It must be noted that this
inventory does not include famous European composers because their works
were usually performed by the chapel masters.

48. Claro and Urrutia Blondel, Historia de la Música en Chile, 40.

49. Carpentier, La música en Cuba, 36.
50. Renato Almeida, Compêndio de Historia da Música Brasileira [Outline of the History of
Brazilian Music] (Río de Janeiro, Brasil: Editorial Briguiet), 43.
51. De Couve, Dal Pino, and Frega, “An Approach to the History of Music Education in
Latin America,” 27–29.
52. Saá, “La música en la catedral de Lima durante la colonia” [Music in the Lima Cathedral
During the Colonial Period], Revista Musical Chilena 16 (July–December 1962): 38–39.
Alicia C. de Couve, Claudia Dal Pino, Ana Lucía Frega 89

The controlling role of religious institutions such as Ecclesiastic Cabildos

and Diocesan Synods upon musical activities, including repertoire restrictions,
was unquestionable.53 The Church passed many documents with the purpose
of controlling all aspects relating to music. For example, “The Third Mexican
Provincial Council in 1585 established that any vestige of Indian impiety must
be carefully constrained, forbidding dancing in the temples, though allowing
them in public places.”54
There are many records indicating that bishops were interested in having
good quality musical performances at their sees. Bishop García Diaz Arias
(1545–1562) of Quito was proud of the music and singers of his cathedral, as
there “were none better in those territories.”55 His sponsorship of the arts was
noteworthy, especially taking into account that the Cathedral budget was so
limited that when he died the building had not been finished.56
“In 1599 Archbishop Lobo Guerrero was transferred from Mexico to
Bogotá where he reestablished an archdiocese seminar getting privileges or benefits
for the singer-priests, reconstructing the chorus and buying a new organ. He
also commissioned Francisco de Páramo to recopy thirty-two big plain chant
books in parchment paper with illustrations.”57
Considering the great amount of funds provided for the payment of
musicians’ salaries, it can be inferred that music was considered a profitable
investment by the Catholic Church. An example is the salary received by
Diego Lobato (1538–1610), a mestizo who took the holy orders in Quito,
Ecuador, in 1566. “In 1571 Bishop Peña created two new parishes for Indians
in Quito (one of them was San Blas located in nowadays [sic] Spain Square)
and immediately appointed Lobato both as San Blas parson and cathedral
organist, because of his perfect knowledge of the Quechuan dialect spoken in
Quito. Lobato got 200 pesos per year as priest and 250 pesos as musician.58
There is little information as to the government’s interest in music teaching,
though some examples can be found. In Mexico, “Benito Bejel asked for a
piece of land in order to built a dancing and playing school, as it is stated in
a Cabildo record of proceedings dated October 30, 1526. His request was accepted
because it will ennoble the city.”59

53. See de Couve and Dal Pino, “Historical Panorama … Music Training Institutions,” 34.
54. Saldivar, Historia de la música en México, 98.
55. Stevenson, “Música en Quito, 176.
56. Ibid. 176.
57. Stevenson, “Música colonial en Colombia,” 157.
58. Stevenson, “Música en Quito,” 175–176.
59. Saldivar, Historia de la música en México, 165.
90 Journal of Historical Research in Music Education

There are Spanish documents that show the Crown’s decision to support
musical development in American churches. It must not be forgotten that the
Spanish Crown was the protector and custodian of the Christian faith in these
territories.

Charles the Third, King of Spain, in a royal letter sent to the bishop and
the Cabildo of the Cathedral of Santiago [Cuba] in 1764, expressed his will
to create a music chapel with everything needed, taking as an example the
metropolitan one in Mexico. Not only plain singing but also string instrument
playing must be considered in order to exercise polyphonic music.60

In the Brazilian colony, which was a dependent of the Portuguese Crown,

some music schools received money from the State for the upbringing of
children. “The Music Schools or Public Music Schools, as it was stated in
documents, were strictly private institutions devoted to the up-bringing of orphans
or abandoned children, … for whom the State paid an annual contribution which
represented a monetary help for those who took the responsibility for their
upbringing, in this case, the music teacher or Professor in the Art of Music.”61
Non-institutionalized Music Education:
It is known that, from the beginning of the conquest, colonizers taught vocal
and instrumental performance both to Indians and to the first settlers without
any connection with the incipient educational institutions. Mexican historians
have found that, “Among the conquerors who devoted themselves to music
teaching Benito Bejel or Vejel (according to his signature) taught the fife;
Master Pedro, the harp; Ortiz, the Nahuatl, vihuela [earlier kind of guitar] and
viola; all of them in Mexico City.”62
In Chile there are data that show a certain royal second lieutenant, don Pedro
de Miranda, saved his life by teaching flute to the Indians. “A chronicler called
Góngora de Marmolejo tells that [when they were] sent by Pedro de Valdivia
to Perú in order to obtain reinforcements, they were captured by the Indians
in Copiapó. By the grace of God, Pedro de Miranda saw his flute, took it and
began to play, which he did well. The Indian chiefs saw him and liked the music
so much that they asked him to teach them how to play. They promised not
to kill the conquerors. Seeing his life was in danger, Miranda agreed.”63

60. Carpentier, La música en Cuba, 82–83.

61. Curt Lange, A organizaçao musical durante o período colonial brasileiro [Musical
organizations during the colonial period in Brazil] in Separato do Vol IV das Actas do V Coloquio
Internaciónal de Estudios Luso-Brasileiros (Coimbra, Brasil: 1966), 43–44.
62. Saldivar, Historia de la música en México, 161.
63. Claro and Urrutia Blondel, Historia de la Música en Chile, 38.
Alicia C. de Couve, Claudia Dal Pino, Ana Lucía Frega 91

As was stated in the article on Argentina, music education was an important

aspect of the upbringing of women and men in the aristocratic circles. The first
data available refer to: “sochantre Cristóbal de Molina, a musician who followed
Diego de Almagro from Tumbes to Maule River, and taught clavichord to
Francisca Pizarro, the half-breed daughter of the Conqueror of Perú. Molina
established [himself ] in Santiago [of Chile] where he was still living in 1564
when he wrote a letter to Felipe II, King of Spain, informing that his talent was
known in Italy and France and that he has served as musician at cathedrals during
thirty years.”64
In Brazil, “It is known that a powerful man of Bahía city, probably Captain
Baltazar de Aragao, had a French music teacher, François Pyrard, at his service.
… Joao Fernández Vieira, a wealthy owner, had a chapel with singers and
instrumentalists in his lands in Pernambuco.”65 Inventories and wills constitute
the main documentary sources to determine the presence of musical instruments
and scores in the family estates. Furthermore many diaries of voyages written
by foreigner travelers make reference to Brazilian young women’s charm and
ability when playing harp, clavichord, or guitar.66
In some cases private teaching was carried out by educators who exercised
parallel music activities in the institutionalized field. In Minas Gerais, Brazil,
José Joaquín Emerico Lobo de Mesquita (1746–?), a mulatto of humble birth,
“… over twenty years exercised his profession as musician in Arraial do Tejuco,
as organist in San Antonio principal church, as orchestra conductor in Del
Carmen Church, as [occasional] musician in the Brown People Cavalry Mercy
Chapel and as music and counterpoint teacher … and there is evidence that
he has a music school in his own house.”67 In Recife, another Brazilian territory
in the eighteenth century, it is known that Luis Alvares Pinto not only “…
performs the function of chapel master but also teaches music … in his house,
as it is custom in this epoch. And it was from this course installed in the center
of his natal city that many composers and chapel masters came out and acted
in the first decades of the nineteenth century.”68 In Lima, Perú, the French artist
Juan Daniel Ericourt (eighteenth century) “who played for more than thirty
years at the Primada of Perú and at profane places of position… was professor

64. Ibid., 39.

65. Luis Heitor Correra de Acevedo, “Música y Cultura en el Brasil en el siglo XVIII” [Music
and Culture in Brazil in the Eighteenth Century] in Revista Musical Chilena Year XVI, no. 81–82
(July–December 1962): 137.
66. Ibid., 140.
67. Mariz, Historia de la música en el Brasil, 20–21.
68. Kiefer, Historia da Música Brasileira, 23.
92 Journal of Historical Research in Music Education

of numerous flautists and the most important contributor to call amateurs’

attention towards his instrument.”69
Sometimes music education was transmitted from parents to children, as
in this Chilean case: “Antonio Boza, married with doña Catalina Irarrázaval,
who taught music to his daughters as a pleasure in his old age, and in 1792 used
to give concerts as a hobby.”70 In other cases this training turned music into a
family profession. In Lima, “There were families that for several generations
provided musicians to the Primada chorus: the Cervantes del Aguila singers,
the Esparza harpists (of Indian origin), the Dávalos organists, and so on.”71 In
Colombia, Juan Ximenes, a musician and composer of the eighteenth century,
taught his son (named the same) who was an acolyte in 1709, and his brother,
who was bass at the Cathedral from 1705 to 1709.72
With regard to the repertoire, it is known that from the sixteenth century
the pioneers “sang in and enjoyed parties where the harp and the vihuela [an
earlier kind of guitar] accompanied the songs learned in their land or the new
ones they composed; and zambra [Andalusian Gypsy dance], saraband, contrapás
[Catalonian popular dance] dances and country dances were danced following
their sound and rhythm. … Besides popular forms, other more polished ones
were cultivated for the aristocracy service … such as the Pavana, a Spanish dance
that is performed with circumspection, seriousness and composure.”73 According
to Saldivar: “it has not been possible to get descriptions of the balls at the Viceroy
Courts during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries but it is supposed that
the usual forms in Europe were common in Mexico.”74
As in the Argentine case in the eightenth century, singers and instrumentalists
performed a vast repertoire at the gatherings in the cities. Curt Lange was surprised
by “the extraordinary penetration of academic music in the social circles in Minas
[Minas Gerais, Brazil], where European chamber music by famous authors of
the eighteenth century, like Haydn, Boccherini, Mozart, Pleyel, and Wagenseil
was frequently performed.”75
Unlike the Argentine case, some evidence of the methodology applied in
non-institutionalized music education could be gathered. It mainly refers to
European or American methods that had the characteristic to facilitate musical

69. Saa, “La vida musical en la catedral de Lima,” 25–26.

70. Claro and Urrutia Blondel, Historia de la Música en Chile, 57.
71. Saá, “La vida musical en la catedral de Lima,” 23.
72. Stevenson, “Música colonial en Colombia,” 161.
73. Saldivar, Historia de la Música en México, 158–159.
74. Ibid., 159.
75. Lange, “A organizacao musical durante o período colonial brasileiro,” 13.
Alicia C. de Couve, Claudia Dal Pino, Ana Lucía Frega 93

learning. Some European treatises arrived in Quito during the eighteenth

century, for instance a violin method published in Spain in 1756 by José
Herrando, who was a Spanish composer and violinist. His Art and Punctual
Explanation of the Way to Play the Violin with Perfection and Easiness was used
by many Ecuadorians.76 In New Spain the marquees of San Cristóbal wrote a
method titled, Philharmonic Game born in Mexico City—with which everybody
may easily compose a great number of country-dances for two violins and bass. It
was announced in the Mexico Gaceta, the newspaper that printed it in 1794.77
Two manuscript copybooks dealing with musical theory and violin technique
dated in the first half of the eighteenth century were analyzed by Saldivar, who
notes some interesting points:

It is said that the way to obtain a good sound can not be learned or taught.
This is a misunderstanding because I consider, apart from my observation,
that it is easy to achieve. It consists in putting the bow two fingers from
the bridge with a good balance neither strong nor lax, while at the same
time the fingers of the left hand press the strings in such a way that they
have channel marks on them when they are lifted. This study must
continue up to the moment when the sound has no buzzing or creaking.
In order to obtain this result it is necessary to execute this study in an empty
dark room because this situation does not mask the instrument defects while
darkness helps to the student’s attention.78

The copybook then explains the way to tune the violin in two lines and
develops some musical rudiments, such as intervals, clefs, and measures. It devotes
a whole chapter to note reading, presenting the corresponding symbols.
Furthermore, the first copybook presents the violin scales, the bow management,
and three melodies with their bass parts: an andante, an allegro, and a minuetto.
The second copybook consists of thirty double-chord violin exercises.79
Marcelo Fegerrlande recently published an analysis of the pianoforte method
written by Father José Mauricio Nunes Garcia (1767–1830), of Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil. The full title of this method was “Compendium of Pianoforte Music
and Pianoforte Method.” This work

… represents a synthesis of the didactic orientation of teaching at Marrecas

Street. It comprises musical theory notions—tones, notes, scales, intervals
and chords—and also simple ornaments as appoggiatura, portamento

76. Moreno Andrade, La música en Ecuador, 67–68.

77. Saldivar, Historia de la música en México, 132.
78. Ibid., 133-135.
79. Ibid., 135-136.
94 Journal of Historical Research in Music Education

and accents. … Then we find seven vocal exercises on different intervals

preparing the solfege study. The solfeges follow, in soprano clef with
keyboard accompaniment. Several difficulties are encountered, for example
joined and disjoined degrees, clefs, pointed notes, pauses, expressive
accents, … syncope and chromaticism. In the following item instrumental
instruction is begun—keyboard, whose content was already treated. The
major and minor scales transcription already detailed will be studied in our
last chapter. Before the Pianoforte Method he presents the rules for
constructing chords, bringing examples that could be applied to form other
chords. Here the tonal cadence I-IV-V-I is presented. The Pianoforte
Method consisting in two series of twelve lessons and six fantasies follows.80

From a sociological perspective some activities, such as the construction of

musical instruments, were regarded as honest professions. During the sixteenth
century the Cabildo [town hall] of Mexico City authorized all jobs performed
in town. A regulation dated October 28, 1585 stated that:

“The viol artisan, in order to know his craft well and be an specialist, must
know how to construct many different instruments, for example a
clavichord, a harpsichord, a monochord, a lute, an arch vihuela [former
name for a violin], a big guitar with its inlaid details, and other simpler
guitars, and that a skilled workman who does not known how to construct
all these instruments must be examined in those abilities he declared,
performing them in due manner in order to be tested. The Carpenter
Warden and two deputies must examine every artisan as said before, but
if he refuses to take the exam he will be charged with a ten pesos in gold
punishment. That skilled workman who wants to open a shop must be
examined in the construction of a big guitar with big pieces. If he does
not pass the exam he will be not allowed to open a shop in the city nor in
its surroundings. These strict dispositions were not executed or there was
no opportunity to apply them.81

Musicologist Curt Lange states that in Minas Gerais, Brazil, “Musicians from
this State, as duly respected artists, did not pay license, having the same
privileges as architects, sculptors and painters. They did not exercise a job, but
an art. By that time when a musician, being himself either organist, singer,
instrument player or music teacher, wrote a letter to the authorities, he pointed
that he exercised the art of music.”82

80. Marcelo Fegerrlande, Metodo de pianoforte do Padre José Mauricio Nunes Garcia [Pianoforte
meted by Father José Mauricio Nunes Garcia] (Río de Janeiro: Ed. Relume Dumará, 1996),
20.
81. Saldivar, Historia de la música en México, 185–187.
82. Lange, “A organizacao musical durante o período colonial Brasileiro,” 41.
Alicia C. de Couve, Claudia Dal Pino, Ana Lucía Frega 95

Conclusions
These two large overviews of the history of music education in Latin
America enable the reader and the authors to summarize some relevant trends:

1) From the sixteenth to the eighteenth century, the Catholic Church was
the main institution that included music in its educational programs as
an important factor to spread the Christian faith in the new territories.83
Although priests sometimes took into consideration Indian music
expressions, they imposed the European music style throughout Latin
America.
2) The fact that music teaching in schools depended on the approval of
local Cabildos [town halls] constitutes the first evidence of civilian
authorities’ interest in this field.
3) The increasing presence of private teachers helped to establish music
education as a priority in urban society as well as forming the basis for the
creation of the future conservatories.

Further research is needed to explore fields such as the history of military

music education in Latin America, as no evidence has been located on these
foundations.

83. See de Couve and Dal Pino, “Historical Panorama … Music Training Institutions,”30–46.