Carmina Latina

Baroque music, from Spain to the New World

After the conquest of the Americas, Spanish and Portuguese ecclesiastics and musicians exported their polyphonic traditions to the new lands. Musicians like Juan de Araujo and Tomas de Torrejon y Velasco settled in Latin America (Peru and Argentia, respectively). Others were born in the New World, like Gaspar Fernández, who spent his entire career in his native Mexico. The music libraries of Latin American churches have conserved a large number of manuscripts. Some contain pieces that have long been lost in Europe.

While these musicians brought their skills as polyphonists to the “New World”, they were also intrigued by local popular traditions. They even adapted the texts of the Catholic liturgy to local languages. This programme showcases this movement in the Iberian polyphonic tradition and also documents the travels of the musicians in Europe, including the Spaniard Tomás Luis de Victoria, whose stay in Rome allowed him to immerse himself in the style of the papal household.

With his usual musical flair, Leonardo García Alarcón turns this sacred programme into a hymn to divinity, carried by frenzied rhythms and unchained performers.