The Sweet Penance of Music: Musical Life in Colonial Santiago de Chile

by Alejandro Vera

Overview

A monumental study of musical practices in 18th century Santiago de Chile, and the only English-language monograph about Chilean colonial music, A Sweet Penance of Music offers a comprehensive view of musicians within the city and their links with other Latin American urban centers in the wider colonial system. Author Alejandro Vera, recent winner of the International Casa de las Am?ricas Musicology Prize for the Spanish edition of his monograph, provides a fascinating account of the quotidian cultural and social significance of music in varying physical spheres - from cathedrals, convents, and monasteries, to private houses and public spaces. He brings to life a city long neglected in the shadow of other colonial centers of economic power, asserting the importance of duality in the period and its music - particularly centering one nun harpist's conception of music as "sweet penance." Drawing from historical documents and musical scores of the period, A Sweet Penance of Music breaks new ground, laying the foundation for a revisionist approach to the study of music in the colonial Americas.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780190940232
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	09/18/2020
Series:	Currents in Latin American and Iberian Music
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	432
File size:	18 MB
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About the Author

Alejandro Vera is Associate Professor at the Music Institute of the Pontificia Universidad Cat?lica de Chile. He is the author of Santiago de Murcia: Cifras selectas de guitarra and M?sica vocal profana en el Madrid de Felipe IV, and has published in journals including Acta musicologica, Early Music, and Latin American Music Review.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1. The Cathedral of Santiago 2. Convents and monsteries 3. The private sphere and the music trade 4. From birth to death: fiestas, spectacles, and public space in colonial Santiago 5. Musicians in colonial Santiago Conclusions Bibliography Discography Documents

Editorial Reviews

"The Sweet Penance of Music is a groundbreaking study of one of the most vibrant urban music cultures in colonial South America. Alejandro Vera offers a richly detailed account of musical life in Santiago de Chile, drawing from a wide array of archival sources to reveal and critically interpret valuable new data on the practice, function, and meaning of music in diverse parts of Santiaguino society." — David R. M. Irving, ICREA & Institució Milà i Fontanals-CSIC, Barcelona

"Both wide-ranging and precise, Alejandro Vera's new study carefully tracks the routes of musicians and music through colonial Santiago de Chile. His long work enables him to highlight the roles of convents and monasteries and the career trajectory of musicians, including Mapuche and Afro-Chileans. And his close attention to the musical repertory gives us a new understanding of how one colonial city's music actually sounded." — Robert L. Kendrick, University of Chicago

From the Publisher