Juan Gutiérrez de Padilla (ca. 15901664) was a Renaissance-style Spanish

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

and

cantor A cantor or chanter is a person who leads people in singing or sometimes in prayer. Cantor as a profession generally refers to those leading a Jewish congregation, although it also applies to the lead singer or choir director in Christian contexts. ...

, most of whose career took place in Mexico.

Life and career

Juan Gutiérrez de Padilla was born in Málaga, Spain. He received his musical education from Francisco Vásquez, who was the ''maestro de capilla'' of Málaga Cathedral. Padilla took up the position of ''maestro'' at the

collegiate church In Christianity, a collegiate church is a church where the daily office of worship is maintained by a college of canons, a non-monastic or "secular" community of clergy, organised as a self-governing corporate body, headed by a dignitary bearing ...

Jerez de la Frontera Jerez de la Frontera () or simply Jerez, also cited in old English-language sources as , is a city and Municipalities of Spain, municipality in the province of Cádiz in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Sp ...

in 1612. While at Jerez, he unsuccessfully contended for the office of ''maestro'' at Málaga Cathedral in 1613, losing out to Estêvão de Brito. Padilla remained at Jerez until 1616, when he was appointed ''Maestro'' at Cádiz Cathedral. Padilla moved to

Puebla Puebla, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Puebla, is one of the 31 states that, along with Mexico City, comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 217 municipalities and its capital is Puebla City. Part of east-centr ...

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

, between 1620 and 1622. At the time

New Spain New Spain, officially the Viceroyalty of New Spain ( ; Nahuatl: ''Yankwik Kaxtillan Birreiyotl''), originally the Kingdom of New Spain, was an integral territorial entity of the Spanish Empire, established by Habsburg Spain. It was one of several ...

was a

viceroyalty A viceroyalty was an entity headed by a viceroy. It dates back to the Spanish colonization of the Americas in the sixteenth century. British Empire India * British Raj, India was governed by the Governor-General of India, Governor-General and Vi ...

of Spain that included modern day

Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...

, the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

and other parts of

Central America Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...

and

the Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America to the west, a ...

. Padilla is one of the more important composers represented in the manuscripts at Puebla, Mexico and the Hackenberry collection in

Chicago, Illinois Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. He worked at

de Los Angeles, Mexico, which in the 17th century was a bigger religious center than

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

itself. Padilla was hired as a cantor and assistant professor at Puebla Cathedral under the ''maestro de capilla'' Gaspar Fernandes. After Fernandes' death, he was appointed ''maestro'' of the cathedral in 1629. By 1645, Padilla was overseeing 14 choir boys and 28 cantors. Some of the musicians under Padilla would themselves go on to become important figures in the music of New Spain, such as Francisco López Capillas. The Mexican composer Juan García de Zéspedes was a boy soprano in the cathedral choir under Padilla, and later succeeded him to the office of ''maestro'' in 1664. He is to be distinguished from a younger Juan de Padilla, who was ''maestro de capilla'' at Zamora, Spain (1661-1663), and Toledo (1663-1673).

Works

The majority of his vast output (over 700 pieces survive) include sacred

motet In Western classical music, a motet is mainly a vocal musical composition, of highly diverse form and style, from high medieval music to the present. The motet was one of the preeminent polyphonic forms of Renaissance music. According to the Eng ...

s, often for double choir, in the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

style or ''stile antico'' as well as sacred ''

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, P ...

s.'' It often includes accompaniments for organ or various stringed instruments.

Bibliography

Padilla's music is rather difficult to get hold of: ''Mapa Mundi'', publish singing scores of some of this music including the double choir piece ''Deus in Adiutorium Meum Intende.'' Alfredston Music can provide instrumental parts for the smaller pieces in their collection. There are at least 2 Ph.D. theses with Padilla's music in the appendices: S. Barwick, ''Sacred Vocal Polyphony in Early Colonial Mexico'', (diss., Harvard Univ., 1949), includes the 2nd ''St. Matthew Passion''; and A. Ray / A. R. Catalyne, ''The Double-choir Music of Juan de Padilla'', (diss., Univ. of Southern California, 1953).

Recordings

*Missa Ego Flos Campi; Stabat Mater on ''Victoria and the Music of Imperial Spain'' Mixolydian dir. Piers Schmidt. Carlton Classics 30366 00802 1989 *Mirabilia testimonium; Lamentation for Maundy Thursday; Salve Regina on ''Masterpieces of Mexican Polyphony'' Westminster Cathedral Choir dir. James O'Donnell. Hyperion CDA66330 1989 *Missa Ego Flos Campi, along with a number of secular works on '' Missa Mexicana'' The Harp Consort dir. Andrew Lawrence-King. Harmonia Mundi HMX 2907293 2003 *Missa Ave Regina and motets. ''Streams of Tears'' The Sixteen dir. Harry Christophers. CORO COR16059 2008 *Lamentation for Maundy Thursday on ''Lamentations of Jeremiah'' The

Tallis Scholars The Tallis Scholars is a British professional early music vocal ensemble established in 1973. Normally consisting of two singers per part, with a core group of ten singers, they specialise in performing ''a cappella'' Religious music, sacred vocal ...

dir. Peter Phillips. Gimell CDGIM 043 2010 Benjamín Juárez Echenique has recorded a Mass and two sets of Christmas '' villancicos'' for Urtext digital classics: *Padilla; ''Maitines de Natividad 1652'' (Mexican Baroque, Vol. 7) Angelicum de Puebla, dir. Echenique Urtext UMA2011 46'07" *Padilla; ''Maitines de Natividad 1653'' (Baroque Mexico, Vol. 1) Angelicum de Puebla, dir. Echenique Urtext UMA2004 *Padilla; ''Missa Ego flos campi'' (excerpts) 1653 (Baroque Mexico, Vol. 3) Angelicum de Puebla, dir. Echenique Urtext UMA2005 1996

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gutierrez de Padilla, Juan Spanish Baroque composers Mexican male classical composers Mexican classical composers Spanish male classical composers 1590s births 1664 deaths History of Puebla Musicians from Málaga People from Puebla 17th-century classical composers 17th-century Mexican people 17th-century male musicians Cantors