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.
Industry Reviews
"For the novelty of its theoretical and methodological approach, which transits the domains of musicology, cultural anthropology, and histoire des mentalités, and for the constellation of issues discussed, this book can be of use to readers with heterogeneous interests, from students and music lovers in general to musicologists and historians of the colonial period ... I recommend a reading of this refreshing volume, which represents a significant
stepping-stone in an incipient sociology of Latin American colonial music." -- Javier Marin-Lopez, Notes
"an important and engaging book ... I realized I was so enthralled ... that I might as well have been reading a novel." -- Eva Moreda, Bulletin of Spanish Studies
"Playing in the Cathedral is an informative and incisive case study. The author describes the soundscape of Bourbon Mexico City, illuminates the world of musical performance (then, as now, filled with clashing personalities and competitive machinations), and clearly explicates-without becoming too technical-the ongoing changes in music theory. Most importantly, he demonstrates how musicians participated in and responded to contemporary socioeconomic
and cultural processes." --The American Historical Review
"The work will appeal to a wide variety of readers, including those interested in the
construction of social and racial identities and the cultural history of colonial Latin
America, in addition to those interested in the musicians of the Mexico City cathedral in
the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. For nonspecialists, an overview of the
positions and power structure within the colonial church, and specifically the Mexico
City cathedral, would have been helpful. Overall, Ramos-Kittrell is to be commended for
approaching this subject from a variety of disciplinary perspectives, a difficult task that
required mastery of secondary works in musicology and colonial history." --Hispanic American Historical Review
