Drew Edward Davies, Catálogo de la Colección de música del Archivo Histórico de la Arquidiócesis de Durango

Monday, August 4, 2014

A new thematic catalog has been published by Drew Edward Davies (Northwestern University) that documents for the first time the complete musical holdings of Mexico’s Durango Cathedral (MEX-Dc):

Drew Edward Davies. Catálogo de la Colección de música del Archivo Histórico de la Arquidiócesis de Durango (Mexico City: Instituto de Investigaciones Estéticas - Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Apoyo al Desarrollo de Archivos y Bibliotecas de México, 2013) ISBN 978-607-02-4521-3

In a foreword in Spanish, Davies describes the collection and explains the criteria for documentation. A bibliography of primary and secondary sources is included. Entries include the name of the composer with life dates, title, genre, year, foliation, instrumentation, shelfmark, catalog of works number, music and text incipits, and notes. In total, 945 items are documented, including manuscripts, printed editions, and miscellaneous items. The catalog is arranged by document type and then by composer. There is also an index of items in shelfmark order, an index by genre, and an inventory of two previously unknown antiphonaries located at the Galería Episcopal de la Catedral de Durango.

In a press release from Northwestern, we read that works in the collection date “from the sixteenth through twentieth centuries, but the majority of them were composed during the second half ofthe eighteenth century and are scored for chorus or solo singers and chamber orchestra. These music manuscripts were originally used in church services at Durango Cathedral or for teaching music to young people. Many of the pieces were composed for the cathedral itself by chapel masters or local musicians. Other pieces were composed in Mexico City, Spain, or Italy, and brought to Durango by priests or musicians. The catalog reveals how the music of Italian masters were preserved side by side with pieces written by local people born in Mexico.”

Davies told Northwestern, “We can and will not know the extent of the colonial Mexican repertoire, or its true character, until we know the contents of the archives.”

Photo credit: Northwestern University

Category: New publications