Briefly Noted

Abstract

In 1622, the Spanish composer Juan Gutiérrez de Padilla relocated to the Mexican city of Puebla de los Angeles to assume the post of cantor and assistant maestro de capilla at the thriving cathedral there. Part of his charge was to teach polyphonic singing to the choirboys, but he was also responsible for creating new music for use in worship services. Padilla's Ego Flos Campi is a parody mass in the established European tradition, much of its thematic material borrowed from a long-lost motet. But the flavor of the music takes at least as much from the New World as from the Old, and is characterized by rhythmic and melodic features that are distinctly Central American. Masses are rarely as danceable as this one, and Andrew Lawrence-King and his cohorts are at pains to point up the relationship between Padilla's liturgical compositions and the local vernacular music, alternating elements of the Ordinary with lusty dance tunes (all composed by Padilla himself or his contemporaries) and songs, most of which juxtapose decidedly earthy rhythms with at least nominally pious lyrics. These incidental pieces come from a variety of sources and are arranged thematically within the structure of the Mass: a villancico precedes the Kyrie, two correntes precede the Credo, etc. The result is perhaps more musicologically interesting than musically compelling; despite the clear influences of local musical traditions on the Mass itself,thedisjunctionbetweenthelighthearted—and sometimes downright vulgar—songs and the traditional Mass sections is sometimes a bit jarring. There is no arguing, however, with either the quality of the performances or the historical/ethnographical significance of the music itself.