South American baroque church music
  • ViolaViola
    Posts: 411
    Please could anyone suggest a good starting point to explore this repertoire. I'm aware that there is a rich heritage from Spanish/Portuguese composers who crossed the Atlantic to work in mission stations, but I know very little about it. I would like to bring a little exotic flair to grey chilly Scotland.
    Thank you
  • NihilNominisNihilNominis
    Posts: 1,023
    Do you know Dr. or Mrs. Nathan Knutson? They have a keen interest in the work of Zipoli (not Spanish, I know), but I'm sure in reading up on him, they've found their way to material of this kind.
    Thanked by 1Viola
  • CGM
    Posts: 700
    This repertory is a specialty of the San Antonio Vocal Arts Ensemble (SAVAE). You may be interested in their CD's.
    Thanked by 1Viola
  • JL
    Posts: 171
    Chanticleer, based in San Francisco, tends to focus a little farther north, but their discography would be worth consulting. The late T. Frank Kennedy, S.J., was one of the foremost experts in Jesuit music history, so I'm sure his work has dealt with Paraguayan composers at least once. The instrumental ensemble Chatham Baroque, based in Pittsburgh, has done a fair bit of repertoire from Nueva España (often in Bolivia), and has the added advantage of being made up of very nice people. There are active early music ensembles in Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, and probably elsewhere, and a quick internet search will think of them faster than I can.

    Also, if you're looking to extend your window a little later into the Classical, CPDL has several large works from Brazilian composers of the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
    Thanked by 1Viola
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,193
    Here are South American composers from the Renaissance, Baroque, and Classical eras that have works at CPDL. The Baroque composers are marked with an asterisk (*). Sacred works are as diverse as motets and villancicos.

    Bolivia:
    *Juan de Araujo
    *Antonio Durán de la Motta

    Brazil:
    Marcos Coelho Neto
    Emerico Lobo de Mesquita
    João de Deus Castro Lobo
    José Maurício Nunes Garcia
    Manoel Dias de Oliveira
    *Luis Alvarez Pinto
    Francisco Manuel da Silva
    Joaquim de Paula Souza

    Colombia:
    Gutierrez Fernandez Hidalgo

    Guatemala:
    Rafael Antonio Castellanos
    Pedro Nolasco Estrada Aristondo
    *Francisco de Quirós
    *Manuel José de Quirós

    Peru:
    *Tomás de Torrejón y Velasco

    Venezuela:
    Pedro Nolasco Colón
    José Ángel Lamas
    José Francisco Velásquez

  • tomjaw
    Posts: 2,782
    Fr. Joao Baptista Lehmann? His Regina Caeli is very nice.
    Thanked by 1Viola
  • melofluentmelofluent
    Posts: 4,160
    I'd also google Juan Pedro Gaffney Rivera, director of Coro Hispana de San Francisco. Huge resource.
    Thanked by 1Viola
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,193
    Fr. Joao Baptista Lehman (no double "n"?) is a modern composer, and his Reginia Caeli is available at CPDL.
    Thanked by 2Viola tomjaw
  • ViolaViola
    Posts: 411
    Thank you so much for all these helpful suggestions. This forum never disappoints.
  • We are singing the De Rivera Missa a cuatro voces on Sunday. I think he may have been Mexican so possibly too far north but it's a lovely little mass and it's on CPDL.
    Thanked by 1Viola
  • a_f_hawkins
    Posts: 3,471
    Following up de Rivera I found Musica_Colonial_Archive.
    Thanked by 1Viola
  • I believe that The King's Singers have done a Spanish colonial CD. (I think.)
  • ghmus7
    Posts: 1,483
    This repertoire is a staple of the Orchestra of New Spain in Dallas (which I perform with frequently), and the group will celebrate it's 30th anniversary soon. The director is Grover Wilkins and there is a website.