This thesis examines the three Requiem Masses for five, eight
and nine voices of Juan de Herrera (c. 1670-1738), chapelmaster of
the Santa Fe de Bogota Cathedral from 1703 until his death.
I present biographical data on Herrera, who seems to have
been the most prolific and talented colonial musician born in Bogota
and also review his musical output, consisting mostly of sacred
villancicos, Vespers settings, Lamentations and Masses. I offer a
modern edition of Herrera's Requiem Masses and provide a musical
analysis of these, as well as a study of the relevant manuscripts,
which date from the 1740s to 1770s. I also look into the history of
mus1c-mak1ng at the cathedral, wh1ch was an 1mportant center for
the performance and composition of European sacred music during
colonial times, and include a list of the cathedral's music
collection, considered one of the richest in sacred Spanish music in
the New World.
The manuscripts of Herrera's Requiem Masses show some
musical and textual errors, as well as numerous copying
inconsistencies. I believe these peculiarities are the result of the carelessness and lack of education of the copyists employed at the
cathedral during the 1740s to 1770s, a period during which the level
of music had begun to decline.
The Requiem Masses display versatility and sophistication in
the use of multiple choruses, but too often lack formal and tonal
coherence. I believe Herrera's limitations are the result of a lack of
formal musical training. He was a self-taught composer who spent
his life in Bogota, a small and isolated city in colonial Spanish
America.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bu.edu/oai:open.bu.edu:2144/46823 |
| Date | January 1992 |
| Creators | Restrepo, Margarita |
| Publisher | Boston University |
| Source Sets | Boston University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
| Rights | This work is being made available in OpenBU by permission of its author, and is available for research purposes only. All rights are reserved to the author. |
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