Gaspar Fernandes (sometimes written ''Gaspar Fernández'', the Spanish version of his name) (1566–1629) was a

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Port ...

Mexican Mexican may refer to: Mexico and its culture *Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America ** People *** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants *** Mexica, ancient indigenous people ...

composer and

organist An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ. An organist may play solo organ works, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumental soloists. In addition, an organist may accompany congregational ...

active in the cathedrals of Santiago de Guatemala (present-day

Antigua Guatemala Antigua Guatemala (), commonly known as Antigua or La Antigua, is a city in the central highlands of Guatemala. The city was the capital of the Captaincy General of Guatemala from 1543 through 1773, with much of its Baroque-influenced archite ...

) and

Puebla Puebla ( en, colony, settlement), officially Free and Sovereign State of Puebla ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Puebla), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 217 municipalities and its cap ...

de los Ángeles, New Spain (present-day

Mexico Mexico ( Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guate ...

Life

Most scholars agree that the Gaspar Fernandes listed as a singer in the cathedral of

Évora Évora ( , ) is a city and a municipality in Portugal. It has 53,591 inhabitants (2021), in an area of 1307.08 km2. It is the historic capital of the Alentejo and serves as the seat of the Évora District. Due to its well-preserved old to ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, In recognized minority languages of Portugal: :* mwl, República Pertuesa is a country located on the Iberian Peninsula, in Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Macaronesian ...

, is the same person as the Gaspar Fernández who was hired on 16 July 1599 as organist and organ tuner of the cathedral of Santiago de Guatemala. In 1606, Fernandes was approached by the dignitaries of the cathedral of

, inviting him to become the successor of his recently deceased friend Pedro Bermúdez as chapel master. He left Santiago de Guatemala on 12 July 1606, and began his tenure in

on 15 September. He remained there until his death in 1629.

Work

One of his most important achievements for posterity was the compilation and binding in 1602 of various choir books containing

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

liturgical

polyphony Polyphony ( ) is a type of musical texture (music), texture consisting of two or more simultaneous lines of independent melody, as opposed to a musical texture with just one voice, monophony, or a texture with one dominant melodic voice accompan ...

, several of which are extant in Guatemala. These manuscripts contain music by Spanish composers

Francisco Guerrero Francisco Guerrero is the name of: *Francisco Guerrero (composer) (1528–1599), Spanish composer of the Renaissance *Francisco Guerrero (politician) (1811–1851), Alcalde of San Francisco *Francisco Guerrero Marín (1951–1997), Spanish composer ...

Cristóbal de Morales Cristóbal de Morales (c. 1500 – between 4 September and 7 October 1553) was a Spanish composer of the Renaissance. He is generally considered to be the most influential Spanish composer before Tomás Luis de Victoria. Life Cristóbal de Mor ...

, and Pedro Bermúdez; the latter was with Fernandes at the time in the cathedral of Guatemala. To complete these books, Fernandes composed a cycle of 8 ''Benedicamus Domino'', the

versicle In Christian liturgical worship, preces ( ; ), also known in the Anglican prayer book tradition as the suffrages, are short petitions that are said or sung as versicles and responses by the officiant and congregation respectively. It is one of th ...

that follows the

Magnificat The Magnificat (Latin for " y soulmagnifies he Lord) is a canticle, also known as the Song of Mary, the Canticle of Mary and, in the Byzantine tradition, the Ode of the Theotokos (). It is traditionally incorporated into the liturgical service ...

vespers Vespers is a service of evening prayer, one of the canonical hours in Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Catholic (both Latin and Eastern), Lutheran, and Anglican liturgies. The word for this fixed prayer time comes from the Latin , meani ...

and certain

Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different element ...

es, one in each of the 8 ecclesiastical tones or modes. He also added his own setting of the

in the fifth tone, some ''faux bordon'' versicles without text, and a

hymn A hymn is a type of song, and partially synonymous with devotional song, specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification. The word ''hymn ...

for the

Feast of the Guardian Angels The Memorial of the Holy Guardian Angels is a memorial of the Catholic Church officially observed on 2 October. In some places, the feast is observed on the first Sunday in September with the permission of the Congregation for Divine Worship. Cat ...

. During his Puebla tenure, rather than focusing on the composition of Latin liturgical music, he contributed a sizable amount of vernacular ''

villancico The ''villancico'' (Spanish, ) or vilancete ( Portuguese, ) was a common poetic and musical form of the Iberian Peninsula and Latin America popular from the late 15th to 18th centuries. Important composers of villancicos were Juan del Encina, Pe ...

s'' for

matins Matins (also Mattins) is a canonical hour in Christian liturgy, originally sung during the darkness of early morning. The earliest use of the term was in reference to the canonical hour, also called the vigil, which was originally celebrated by ...

. This part of his output shows great variety in the handling of texts, which are in

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: ** Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Ca ...

but also in pseudo-

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dialects and

Amerindian The Indigenous peoples of the Americas are the inhabitants of the Americas before the arrival of the European settlers in the 15th century, and the ethnic groups who now identify themselves with those peoples. Many Indigenous peoples of the A ...

languages and occasionally

. One of these ''villancicos,'' "

Xicochi "Xicochi" is a 17th-century motet, written by Gaspar Fernandes while he was organist of Puebla Cathedral. It serves as an example of the influence of indigenous Nahua culture, dominant in Mesoamerica at the time, on colonial Spanish music. In 2000 ...

," is notable for its use of

Nahuatl Nahuatl (; ), Aztec, or Mexicano is a language or, by some definitions, a group of languages of the Uto-Aztecan language family. Varieties of Nahuatl are spoken by about Nahua peoples, most of whom live mainly in Central Mexico and have small ...

, the language of the indigenous Nahua people. The music departs from 16th century counterpoint and reflects the new baroque search for textual expression. The main collection of these ''villancicos'' is extant in the ''

Oaxaca ) , population_note = , population_rank = 10th , timezone1 = CST , utc_offset1 = −6 , timezone1_DST = CDT , utc_offset1_DST = −5 , postal_code_type = Postal ...

Codex,'' and has been studied, edited, and published by

Robert Stevenson Robert Stevenson may refer to: * Robert Stevenson (actor and politician) (1915–1975), American actor and politician * Robert Stevenson (civil engineer) (1772–1850), Scottish lighthouse engineer * Robert Stevenson (director) (1905–1986), Engli ...

and especially by Aurelio Tello.

References

*Aurelio Tello. ''El Archivo Musical de la Catedral de Oaxaca''. México, D.F.: CENIDIM, 1990. *

Dieter Lehnhoff Dieter Lehnhoff Temme (born 27 May 1955) is a German-Guatemalan composer, conductor, and musicologist. Life Dieter Lehnhoff Temme was born in Guatemala City, Guatemala to German settlers in 1955. He has been a pupil of Klaus Ager, Gerhard Wimb ...

. ''Creación musical en Guatemala''. Guatemala City: Editorial Galería Guatemala, 2005. *

. ''Antología de la Música Coral en Guatemala''. Guatemala City: Editorial Cultura, 2005. *Gaspar Fernández.

, ed.

(1986), ''Antología de la Música Sacra en Guatemala'', vol. II. Guatemala: Universidad Rafael Landívar, 2002.

External links

* 1566 births 1629 deaths Portuguese Baroque composers Mexican classical composers Guatemalan composers Male composers Renaissance composers 16th-century Portuguese people 17th-century classical composers Mexican male classical composers 17th-century male musicians {{Portugal-composer-stub