Books > History > American history
|
Buy Now
Playing in the Cathedral - Music, Race, and Status in New Spain (Hardcover)
Loot Price: R1,971
Discovery Miles 19 710
|
|
Playing in the Cathedral - Music, Race, and Status in New Spain (Hardcover)
Series: Currents in Latin American and Iberian Music
Expected to ship within 12 - 17 working days
|
Throughout Spanish colonial America, limpieza de sangre (literally,
"purity of blood ") determined an individual's status within the
complex system of social hierarchy called casta. Within this
socially stratified culture, those individuals at the top were
considered to have the highest calidad-an all-encompassing
estimation of a person's social status. At the top of the social
pyramid were the Peninsulares: Spaniards born in Spain, who
controlled most of the positions of power within the colonial
governments and institutions. Making up most of the middle-class
were criollos, locally born people of Spanish ancestry. During the
late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, Peninsulare
intellectuals asserted their cultural superiority over criollos by
claiming that American Spaniards had a generally lower calidad
because of their "impure " racial lineage. Still, given their
Spanish heritage, criollos were allowed employment at many Spanish
institutions in New Spain, including the center of Spanish
religious practice in colonial America: Mexico City Cathedral.
Indeed, most of the cathedral employees-in particular,
musicians-were middle-class criollos. In Playing in the Cathedral,
author Jesus Ramos-Kittrell explores how liturgical
musicians-choristers and instrumentalists, as well as teachers and
directors-at Mexico City Cathedral in the mid-eighteenth century
navigated changing discourses about social status and racial
purity. He argues that criollos cathedral musicians, influenced by
Enlightenment values of self-industry and autonomy, fought against
the Peninsulare-dominated, racialized casta system. Drawing on
extensive archival research, Ramos-Kittrell shows that these
musicians held up their musical training and knowledge, as well as
their institutional affiliation with the cathedral, as
characteristics that legitimized their calidad and aided their
social advancement. The cathedral musicians invoked claims of
"decency " and erudition in asserting their social worth, arguing
that their performance capabilities and theoretical knowledge of
counterpoint bespoke their calidad and status as hombres decentes.
Ultimately, Ramos-Kittrell argues that music, as a performative and
theoretical activity, was a highly dynamic factor in the cultural
and religious life of New Spain, and an active agent in the
changing discourses of social status and "Spanishness " in colonial
America. Offering unique and fascinating insights into the social,
institutional, and artistic spheres in New Spain, this book is a
welcome addition to scholars and graduate students with particular
interests in Latin American colonial music and cultural history, as
well as those interested in the intersections of music and
religion.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!
|
|
Email address subscribed successfully.
A activation email has been sent to you.
Please click the link in that email to activate your subscription.