MEXICO CITY

Mexico City: translation

After Hernan Cortes conquered the city in 1521, the Indian people assimilated very rapidly the idioms of the sacred music brought by the Franciscans, Dominicans, and Augustinians to their new churches. Ten years later apolyphonicchoir of Indian singers won the praise of Bishop Juan de Zumárraga and by 1539 the cathedral boasted amaestro de capilla, Juan Xuárez, and anorganist, Antonio Ramos. In 1556, an AugustinianOrdinariumofchantappeared—the first music book printed in the new world. Polyphony continued to flourish in the city throughout the 16th and 17th centuries, supported by paid choirs and an ever growing choral library that included European works as well as new ones composed by themaestros. The cathedral had aninstrumentalensemble of brass and woodwinds by the end of the 16th century, to which later were added harps and strings.

See alsoFranco Codex; Padilla, Juan Gutiérrez de; López Capillas, Francisco.