Gaspar Fernandes

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Gaspar Fernandez (* 1563 or 1571; † 1629 ) was a composer , organist and conductor of the Renaissance in Latin America . He worked in the cathedrals of Santiago de Guatemala , today's Antigua Guatemala , and Puebla de los Ángeles, New Spain .

Life

It has been generally assumed by musicological research that Gaspar Fernández came from Évora in Portugal , where he received his musical training and where he is attested in 1590 as singer and organist of the cathedral. Most music historians agree that this Gaspard Fernandes was identical to the man who was appointed organist of the Cathedral of Santiago in the capital of Central America, Guatemala (now Antigua Guatemala ) on July 16, 1599

Documents from the cathedral in Évora prove the presence and activity of a Gaspar Fernandez - with a "z" - in Portugal until at least 1599. However, the presence of the composer in Guatemala and Mexico is documented a few years before that. New research refutes the assumption that Fernandez came from Portugal and shows the presence of Gaspar Fernandez in Guatemala as early as 1597 when he was the cathedral's subdeacon . Further documents prove that Gaspar Fernandez was one of the first students to be accepted into the seminary of the Assumption (“Colegio Seminario de La Asunción”) in Guatemala. This seminary was founded in 1598 by the decree of King Philip II to meet the requirements of the Council of Trent . The seminar only accepted those who came from Spanish (Iberian) households. It can therefore be assumed that Gaspar Fernandez was born in the bishopric of Guatemala, and that his origins gave him access to musical and theological training.

In 1606 the dignitaries of Puebla Cathedral offered him the post of conductor, which Fernandes' deceased friend from their times together in Santiago, Pedro Bermúdez , had held. Fernandes left Santiago on July 12 of the same year and took up his post in Puebla de los Ángeles in New Spain, now Puebla , Mexico , on September 15 , which he held until his death in 1629.

plant

One of the most important achievements of Fernandes for posterity was his collection and editing of various books with choral music, a. a. on the Roman Catholic polyphonic liturgy , some of which have been preserved in Guatemala. They contain works by the Spanish composers Francisco Guerrero , Cristóbal de Morales and Pedro Bermúdez . To complete these books, Fernandes composed a cycle of eight Benedicamus Dominoes (the versicle that followed the Magnificat at Vespers and replaced the final cry Ite, missa est at certain masses ), each in a different church key . He also added his own setting of the Magnificat in the fifth church key, some Fauxbourdons without text and a Vesper hymn for the Guardian Angel Festival.

During his time in Puebla he concentrated less on the composition of Latin liturgical music , but wrote a significant number of popular villancicos for Matutinen . This part of his oeuvre shows a large linguistic range: from Spanish to pseudo- African to Indian and occasionally Portuguese texts. One of the Villancicos, Xicochi , is notable for its use of Aztec . His music leaves the counterpoint of the 16th century and reflects the new baroque search for expression of the text. Most of this collection is preserved in the Oaxaca Code and was researched, edited and published by Robert Stevenson and Aurelio Tello.

Fernández is of the utmost importance for the musical history of Central and Latin America , as he, together with his conductor Pedro Bermúdez, compiled the four choir books preserved in the Cathedral of Guatemala, which enable us today to reproduce the liturgical music of the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries. Century to explore. From his own Vesper compositions he contributed a cycle of polyphonic settings of the verse Benedicamus Domino , as well as a Magnificat in the 5th mode and the hymn Custodes Hominum , both for four-part a cappella choir .

Works

  • Magnificat quinti toni (1602), on the biblical text (Luke 1: 46-55).
  • 8 Benedicamus Domino (1602), at the end of the Vespers service.
  • Custodes hominum (1605), Vespers hymn for the feast of the angels.
  • Numerous Villancicos on texts in different languages.

literature

  • Dieter Lehnhoff : Espada y pentagrama: la música polifónica en la Guatemala del siglo XVI . Universidad Rafael Landívar, Guatemala City 1986.
  • Dieter Lehnhoff: El Magnificat de Gaspar Fernández . Universidad Rafael Landívar, Instituto de Musicología, Guatemala City 2002. ISBN 99922-67-32-1 .
  • Dieter Lehnhoff: Creación musical en Guatemala . Editorial Galería Guatemala, Ciudad de Guatemala 2005, ISBN 99922-704-7-0 , pp. 37–51.
  • Dieter Lehnhoff: Antología de la Música Coral en Guatemala . Editorial Cultura, Ciudad de Guatemala 2005
  • Robert Snow: Gaspar Fernandes: Obras Sacras . Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon 1992, pp. Vii-ix.
  • Robert Stevenson: Gaspar Fernandes , in: Portugaliae Musica , Série A, XXIX. Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon 1976, pp. Xix-xxv, lx-lxxiv.
  • Aurelio Tello: El Archivo Musical de la Catedral de Oaxaca . CENIDIM, México, DF, 1990
  • Aurelio Tello: Fernandes, Gaspar , in: Diccionario de la Música Española e Hispanoamericana . Sociedad General de Autores de España, Madrid 2000, Volume 5, pp. 27-29.
  • Omar Morales Abril, "Gaspar Fernández: su vida y obras como testimonio de la cultura musical novohispana a principios del siglo XVII", Books of Hispanic Polyphony , ed. E. Ros-Fábregas (accession date: 17 Jun 2020), https: / /hispanicpolyphony.eu/publication/24642

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. "Gaspar Fernández: su vida y obras como testimonio de la cultura musical novohispana a principios del siglo XVII", Books of Hispanic Polyphony, ed. E. Ros-Fábregas (accession date: 17 Jun 2020), https: // hispanicpolyphony. eu / publication / 24642 ">