Mexico City

   After Hernan Cortes conquered the city in 1521, the Indian people assimilated very rapidly the idioms of the sacred music brought by the Franciscans, Dominicans, and Augustinians to their new churches. Ten years later a polyphonic choir of Indian singers won the praise of Bishop Juan de Zumárraga and by 1539 the cathedral boasted a maestro de capilla, Juan Xuárez, and an organist, Antonio Ramos. In 1556, an Augustinian Ordinarium of chant appeared—the first music book printed in the new world. Polyphony continued to flourish in the city throughout the 16th and 17th centuries, supported by paid choirs and an ever growing choral library that included European works as well as new ones composed by the maestros. The cathedral had an instrumental ensemble of brass and woodwinds by the end of the 16th century, to which later were added harps and strings.

   See also Franco Codex; Padilla, Juan Gutiérrez de; López Capillas, Francisco.