Gutierre Fernández, sometimes given as Gutierre Fernández Hidalgo, (c. 1547 – June 11, 1623) was a South American composer and Roman Catholic

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

of Spanish birth. His only surviving works are sacred vocal works; most of which were composed for

vespers Vespers /ˈvɛspərz/ () is a Christian liturgy, liturgy of evening prayer, one of the canonical hours in Catholic (both Latin liturgical rites, Latin and Eastern Catholic liturgy, Eastern Catholic liturgical rites), Eastern Orthodox, Oriental O ...

Life and career

Gutierre Fernández was born in

Talavera de la Reina Talavera de la Reina () is a city and municipalities of Spain, municipality of Spain, part of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Castile–La Mancha. Its population of 83,303 makes it the second most populated municipalit ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

in c. 1547. He was trained by Juan Navarro and worked as a musician under Navarro at the

New Cathedral of Salamanca The Catedral de la Asunción de la Virgen (Cathedral of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary), popularly known as New Cathedral () is, together with the Old Cathedral, Salamanca, Old Cathedral, one of the two cathedrals of Salamanca, Castile and Le ...

until Navarro was fired in 1574. Fernández also left the cathedral at this time and took a post as

maestro de capilla ( , , ), from German (chapel) and (master), literally "master of the chapel choir", designates the leader of an ensemble of musicians. Originally used to refer to somebody in charge of music in a chapel, the term has evolved considerably in i ...

at the Church of Santa María la Mayor in Talavera de la Reina He remained there for approximately nine years. In late 1583 Fernández left his post in Talavera de la Reina to travel to the

New World The term "New World" is used to describe the majority of lands of Earth's Western Hemisphere, particularly the Americas, and sometimes Oceania."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: ...

to assume the post of maestro de capilla at the in Santafe (now

Bogotá Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish Imperial period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city, capital and largest city ...

). He concurrently served as rector of the

Major Seminary of Bogotá Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

. He left those posts in 1586 to assume a similar position at the cathedral in at

Quito Quito (; ), officially San Francisco de Quito, is the capital city, capital and second-largest city of Ecuador, with an estimated population of 2.8 million in its metropolitan area. It is also the capital of the province of Pichincha Province, P ...

. He stayed in that post until he was appointed maestro de capilla at both the cathedral in

Lima Lima ( ; ), founded in 1535 as the Ciudad de los Reyes (, Spanish for "City of Biblical Magi, Kings"), is the capital and largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rive ...

and the Royal Monastery of La Encarnación. In 1587 he was appointed maestro de capilla of the Cuzco Cathedral. From 1612 until his death he was the head priest at San Lazaro Church in

Sucre Sucre (; ) is the ''de jure'' capital city of Bolivia, the capital of the Chuquisaca Department and the sixth most populous city in Bolivia. Located in the south-central part of the country, Sucre lies at an elevation of . This relatively high ...

(then called La Plata). Gutierre Fernández died in La Plata on June 11, 1623.

References

{{reflist 1547 births 1623 deaths 16th-century Spanish composers People from Castilla–La Mancha es:Gutierre Fernández Hidalgo