Hispano-Filipina Church Music in Intramuros, Manila in the Context of Nineteenth-Century Philippine Modernity (1858-1898)

Abstract

Because conversion was Spain’s imperial project in all its colonies, the church, as an institution, became a major player in the colonial enterprise. Christianization became a constitutive force in the country’s colonial affairs as friars were sent to the archipelago to realize Spain’s mission of conversion. From early accounts, it can be surmised that it was the work of religious missionaries that became the most influential factor in the transformation of the cultural behavior of the people in acquiring a Westernized consciousness. The article looks at the conditions that underpinned the transformation of church music in nineteenth-century modernity in the colony, approached through the prism of published music scores. It brings to light both friars and non-religious church musicians who had an active role in transforming the musical life of the colonial capital, being prime movers in the musical scene of the city and contributing to the formation of the city’s sacred music culture. It is interesting to explore this construction within the musical milieu of Intramuros when the church got preoccupied with significant developments of modernity particularly that of lithographic music printing.