HYMNS OF THE ANDES Europeans embracing and coming to know more deeply music from outside Europe, which enriches and sheds new light on our more familiar traditions. Another neglected Latin American church composer of the highest calibre is Pedro Ximenez Abril y Tirado (1784-1856). Known at the time as the ‘Mozart of the Andes’ he was invited by the President of the newly formed independent state of Bolivia to be Kapellmeister at the Cathedral of La Plata (now called Sucre), the cultural capital of the country. At Sucre he composed at least 50 Masses, and more than 100 other sacred works (motets, psalms, settings of vespers). Most of these remain unperformed in modern times. El Parnaso Hyspano has acquired the permission to give the first original text performance of his Vespers for Corpus Christi, for choir, soloists, and chamber orchestra. We are working with London-based musicians and foundations to raise the funds and context for the performance. But so far, our contacts and supporters for this project have been entirely outside the Catholic Church, which saddens us considering how intensely Catholic this music is, and how the Church should be holding close to its heart this precious part of its heritage. Church music in Latin America has always been highly devotional in its conception and performance. This tradition inspires our approach to performance, intended to convey the spiritual power of the music, not just as beautiful music, but as an act of adoration. Our ensemble not only plans to give many more concerts and recordings of this treasure trove of Catholic music (wherever possible in Catholic churches that would host us); we would also like to offer workshops to Catholics who would welcome get closer to this music, by learning more about it, and singing it under expert guidance. One of the works we are particularly eager to make British Catholics familiar with is the extraordinary Hanaq Pachap Kusiquynin. This hymn to the Virgin Mary is the earliest notated piece of choral music from Latin America (anon, circa 1631), and is sung in JUNE 2022
Oremus
Quechua, one of the continent’s indigenous native American languages. It shows from the earliest times the mixing of indigenous traditions with those of the European colonisers. It is often sung in
procession, entering a church. How wonderful if this could be sung in parishes around the diocese and beyond, enriching our hymnody with this glorious, accessible and deeply prayerful music.
Details of the performances of El Parnaso Hyspano can be found on its website at www.elparnasohyspano.com and you can get in touch with us by writing to ephyspano@gmail.com. Forthpcoming concerts focused on Domenico Zipoli’s San Ignacio are on 8 and 9 July respectively at the Little Oratory of the London Oratory (booking by Eventbrite at https://bit.ly/ephyspano8), and the Church of the Immaculate Conception, Farm Street (booking by Eventrbite at https://bit.ly/ephyspano9 .
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