Juan García de Zéspedes:
Convidando está la
Introit - Hodie scietis

Juan Gutiérrez de Padilla:
Joseph fili David
Missa Joseph fili David
A la xácara xacarilla
Christus natus est
Deus in adiutorium meum intende

Francisco de Vidales:
Los que fueren de buen gusto

Joan Cererols:
Marizápalos a lo Divino ‘Serafin que, con dulce harmonía’

Francisco López Capillas:
Cui luna, sol et omnia

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina:
Missa O Admirabile commercium – Agnus Dei

Gaspar Fernandes:
Tleycantimo choquiliya

By the early 1620s – when Juan Gutiérrez de Padilla migrated from Cádiz to New Spain (modern day Mexico) in search of new horizons as a music director, composer and instrument-maker – the colony was an important and wealthy outpost of the Habsburg Empire, keen to maintain the religious and musical customs of its mother country. The cathedral of the young, thriving city of Puebla de los Ángeles was still a magnicent work in progress, but its music provision could already rival its European counterparts.

Padilla stayed there for forty years, composing proli- cally right up to his death in 1664, and had at his disposal a sizeable body of men and boys who not only sang but also played instruments – including guitars, sackbut, dulcian, & simple percussion such as the cajón.

Siglo de Oro’s programme explores the rich soundworld of this time and place: a sonic landscape ultimately quite dierent from the one Padilla had left behind in Europe. Evoking a Mass at Christmas Eve aords the opportunity to include a number of villancicos – energetic, dance-like pieces whose captivating mixture of Mexican, Afro-Hispanic and Portuguese inuences would have invigorated even the most sober churchgoer.

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Recorded on 8-10 January 2020 in All Hallows’ Gospel Oak