Did They Make It Up as They Went Along? Choral Rules in the Mexican Cathedral 1536-85

Abstract

Until 1545, the See of Mexico was suffragan to that of Seville. While it would be easy to assume that the customs and traditions primarily utilized in the early Mexican cathedral choir were those of the cathedral of Seville, the archival evidence suggests otherwise. In 1538, an attempt was made to institute the rules of the choir in the early Mexican cathedral, but the following year individualized entries began to appear in the actas capitulares mandating specific reforms within the choir. Subsequently related entries in the actas are separated by months or in some cases years; yet a collected form of rules for the choir was not assembled until the 1560s under the auspices of Alonso de Montúfar, the second archbishop of Mexico. While the universal rules of silence and obedience-as opposed to conversations, jokes, or games in the choir-are clearly and immediately stated, there are several others that break away from strict protocol and begin to intrude upon social niceties. This raises the questions of how these become rules, and of whether the rules were really being enforced.