Jouyssance Early Music Ensemble: “Spirit Child”

The LA vocal ensemble interweaves an adaptation of a Mexican pastorela with music of the Mexican Renaissance and Baroque in a heartwarming story chronicling the shepherds’ journey to the newborn Christ Child, ultimately celebrating the triumph of good over evil. Featuring narration from renowned Los Angeles Times columnist Gustavo Arellano.

Nicole Baker, Director
Rick Dechance, Associate Director

Narrator – Gustavo Arellano
Angel – Rick Dechance
Maria – Jennifer Jurick
Gila – Rebecca Russell
Russell Bartolo – Steve Padilla

Alejandro Acosta – Baroque Guitar
John Schroeder – Percussion

PROGRAM

PROGRAM NOTES

Welcome to the newest edition of Spirit Child, which interweaves music from Nueva España with our
own take on a Mexican pastorela — traditional plays, still performed in Mexico and the Southwestern United
States, that recount the shepherds’ pilgrimage to the newborn Jesus in Bethlehem. Irreverent and even
comical at times, the tale’s true subject is the conflict between good and evil. Our show is inspired in part by
Psalmodia Christiana, a work by Bernardino de Sahagún (1499-1590) that recounts biblical tales and lives of
various saints. A Spanish Franciscan missionary to the Aztec, or Nahua, people, Sahagún produced the first
encyclopedia in the New World (in Spanish, Latin, and Nahuatl), and penned what has been translated as
Spirit Child, a nativity story laced with traditional Aztec imagery.

In addition to drawing on Sahagún, our narration is also inspired by a 1984 children’s book Spirit Child, A
Story of the Nativity, translated from the Nahuatl by John Bierhorst and illustrated by Barbara Cooney.
Illustrating different aspects of the storyline are musical selections from the New World, Spain and
Portugal, representing a host of traditions. Beginning in the early 16th century, Catholic missionaries from
Spain brought musicians to the Americas and trained the native-born people to sing music of such masters as
Morales, Victoria and Guerrero. In time new music was composed, and Spanish, Aztec, Incan and other styles
intermingled, often flavored with influences from the African slaves brought in to build the new colonies. The
Aztecs already had a rich musical tradition: their music, both sacred and secular, was associated with dancing,
and its rhythms infuse much of the music you will hear tonight. One might notice that some of the music
creeps well into the 18th century: it wasn’t unusual for learned stile antico polyphony to flourish alongside
middle Baroque styles in early 18th century Mesoamerica.

We begin with the anonymous Incan Quechua hymn Hanacpachap cussicuinin, considered to be the
first published polyphonic work in the New World. The stately procession demonstrates how the Spanish
proselytized with Indigenous languages.

Hernando Franco (1532-1585) most likely emigrated from Spain to Nueva España in 1554, working first
in Guatemala and later becoming maestro de capilla in Mexico City. Possibly the earliest composer on our
program, his solemn psalm-setting Miserere mei, Deus adheres to the Counter Reformation in its simplicity
and heavily homophonic texture.

Little is known about the one of the earliest Mexican-born composers of polyphony, Juan de Lienas, who
flourished between 1617 and 1654. According to musicologist Craig Russell, some contemporary references
to the possible nobleman are far from complimentary (one called him a “chubby, stuck-up fop”). His five-
voice Magnificat tertia toni, composed in the stile antico, involves verses of chant alternating with highly
skilled polyphony that rivals the Spanish masters of the 16th century.

Outside of a brief stint at the important Mexican musical center of Puebla Cathedral, Francisco López
Capillas (1608 – 1674) spent his entire career in his hometown of Mexico City. The 17th century composer
was influenced by the prima prattica of Palestrina and Morales, and possibly by Padilla. He returned to
Mexico City in 1754 and became the prestigious Cathedral’s maestro de capilla. His haunting Cui luna, sol et
omnia straddles Renaissance and Baroque styles, with its unusual harmonies and intricate counterpoint.

A native of Málaga, Spain, Juan Gutiérrez de Padilla (c. 1590-1664) served first as maestro de capilla at
Cádiz before emigrating to Puebla in 1622 and working under Gaspar Fernandes. Upon Fernandes’ death in
1629, Padilla became the Cathedral’s maestro de capilla. We present two of his villancicos — works in Spanish
based on a medieval dance form. The first, the joyous Al establo más dichoso, is part of Padilla’s cycle of
villancicos for Christmas 1652. The work resembles an ensalada, with multiple sections in contrasting styles.
It’s believed that parts of the work, including some of its dances, were already familiar to the audience or
congregation. The later work Tambalagumbá, found in the second half in our program, is typical of the music
featured at large celebrations of feast days at Puebla Cathedral. This grand six-voice work is a negrilla, which
musicologist Robert Stevenson identifies as a work infused with African rhythms and speech patterns.

It’s not certain who wrote the upbeat Galegos bailarines, which compares the trek to Bethlehem to
pilgrimages to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. The composer is listed as a Tomás Miciezes or Mizieres,
but it could be either the father (1624-1667), who worked in Segovia, or the son (1655-1718), who served
in Salamanca. The strongly tonal, middle-Baroque style, and its sole appearance in a manuscript from
Salamanca, suggests the composer is Tomás the younger. “Galego” is Galician for someone from Galicia.
Spanish-speakers will be more familiar with the Spanish version of Gallego.

The immensely prolific and well-traveled Spanish composer Francisco Guerrero (1528-1599) is best
known for his skilled polyphony, learned most likely from his mentor, Cristóbal de Morales. This can
be heard in his Vamos al portal, a villancico which boasts harmonies evoking the sense of mystery and
anticipation on approaching the manger. Guerrero’s more bombastic side can be seen later in the program
in ¡Hombres, victoria, victoria!, with its chaotic battle cries. Guerrero’s music circulated extensively abroad; its
ubiquitous presence in the New World gives many the false impression that he worked in Latin America.

Despite its widespread popularity among aficionados of New World music, we have no idea who may
have written the villancico de negros, Sã qui turo zente pleta, which imports the rhythms and speech patterns
of African slaves. We do know it may have roots at the Monastery of Santa Cruz in Coimbra, an important
Portuguese center of music during the 16th and 17th centuries. The African-Portuguese-Spanish criolla dialect
originates from the Gulf of Guinea, and the piece represents the cultural melting pot of the Portuguese
colonies.

Gaspar Fernandes (c. 1570-1629) composed several villancicos on tonight’s program, all showing
influence from native cultures. Born in Portugal, he emigrated first to Guatemala before being named
maestro de capilla at Puebla Cathedral in 1606. While in Mesoamerica, Fernandes wrote more than 250
songs and villancicos in Spanish, Portuguese, Nahuatl and various African dialects. Full of hemiolas and
syncopation, Fernandes’ villancicos seemed particularly well suited to Indigenous texts, including tonight’s
Jesós de me goraçón, and the beloved call-and-response lullaby Xicochi, xicochi. Magos que a palacio vais,
which also features some antiphonal passages, demonstrates Fernandes’ gift for complex polyphony.

A native of Mexico City, organist and composer Francisco de Vidales (c.1630-1702) worked first at
his home Cathedral alongside López Capilla before moving on to Puebla Cathedral, where he served as
principal organist under Padilla, Zéspedes and Salazar. Most of his compositions are lost except for a few
motets and villancicos. His Los que fueren de buen gusto, a virtuosic treble trio, bridges the Renaissance and
Baroque in its harmonies and features extensive “native” syncopation.

Juan García de Zéspedes (1619-1678) spent much of his career at the Cathedral in his native
Puebla. His mastery ranges from stile antico polyphony to the more raucous kind of music heard tonight.
The quintessentially Mexican Convidando está la noche actually consists of only two lines of music: an
introductory juguete (vocal prelude) in majestic, five-voice homophonic chords, and a zippy guaracha
for two soloists answered by the choir. The piece drives to a climax utilizing hypnotic rhythmic hemiolas
coupled with repeated I–IV–V harmonies.

— Nicole Baker, Ph.D











HMC is deeply grateful for the generous support that created The Ken Stevens ’61 Founding Class Concert Series.