This article is divided into two parts. In the first part the importance of the baroque guitar of five courses in colonial Chile is documented mainly in Santiago (the capital) but also in other cities and villages of the country. The data was gathered by the author after several years of systematic work in different archives and collections such as the Escribanos de Santiago collection at the National Historical Archive. As a result a significant number of guitars and related instruments from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century were identified.
The second part presents a new hypothesis about the origin of the Chilean “guitarrón” and the traditional vocal practice known as “canto a lo divino”. Both probably stemmed from the colonial practice of accompanying sacred music with the guitar while using psalm intonation formulae to sing the liturgical texts. This hypothesis is supported by the data presented in the first part combined with previously unknown data about music and liturgical practices in colonial Chile along with ethnographic data published previously by other scholars. The final purpose is to establish convincing links between the colonial music mainly of written tradition and the present practice of the “canto a lo divino” which belongs mainly to the oral tradition.
Keywords:
music in colonial Chile, baroque guitar, canto a lo divino, Chilean guitarrón, music of oral tradition, music of written tradition
Vera, A. (2016). Music between Written and Oral Traditions: the Baroque Guitar, the Chilean Guitarrón and the Canto a lo Divino. Revista Musical Chilena, 70(225), pp. 9 – 49. Retrieved from https://actabioethica.uchile.cl/index.php/RMCH/article/view/42595
