AMS Philadelphia 2009 Abstracts - American Musicological Society

Abstracts Friday evening 103
use of this lens is particularly tricky when dealing with the mid-eighteenth century because
of the homogenization and internationalization of the Neapolitan galant style. This lens was
negatively employed by Robert Stevenson in his Music in Mexico. It was his view that “Ignacio
Jerusalem . . . carried into the cathedral the vapid inanities of Italian opera at its worst.” However,
one can no longer say that Mexico was invaded by “second-rate” Italians who brought
the operatic style into the cathedral, and that the effect was only reversed with the hiring of
Spaniard and more conservative composer Antonio de Juanas. No: this galant style had been
subsumed into Spanish musical culture by the mid-eighteenth century and brought to Mexico
City by both an Italian and a Spaniard, thus becoming truly internationalized. Indeed, it can
be argued that the Neapolitan style transcended the Spanish/Italian identity.
MEXICAN MUSICAL IDENTITY IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY:
A CONTEXTUAL APPRECIATION OF JOSé ANTONIO GóMEZ
John Lazos
Université de Montréal
In 1821, after three centuries of Spanish dominion, the newly formed Mexican nation
anticipated better times ahead. Instead its political landscape was one of social upheavals,
constantly changing governments, foreign invasions, civil wars and the loss of half its territory.
In the middle of this period of turmoil the confrontation between Church and State
continued until the proclamation of the Laws of Reformation of 1857. José Antonio Gómez
y Olguín (1805–1876), widely referred to in the music literature as one of the most important
nineteenth-century Mexican musicians, lived through these years. Gómez’s works, including
theoretical treatises, methods and compositions, are dispersed throughout several Mexican archives
including eighty located at the Mexico City Cathedral, where he served as first organist
from the 1820s to 1865. Part of my current Gómez research focuses on this historical period
wherein political and religious conflicts seem to overwhelm all aspects of cultural life.
This paper examines Gómez’s participation in the construction of Mexican identity using
three examples: two compositions and one historical reference. The first work dates from 1823
by a young and idealistic composer. The Pieza Histórica sobre la independencia de la Nación
Mexicana is a programmatic work that praises the political figure of Agustín de Iturbide, a
former hero of the Independent movement whose downfall was to declare himself the first
Emperor of Mexico. It was not until 1843 that Gómez presented this composition to the
public through biweekly publications, although its circulation came to an abrupt end with a
change of government. Relatively little is known of this musical work and its reception. The
Variaciones sobre el tema del jarabe mexicano, written for the piano in 1841, is by contrast to the
Pieza Histórica Gómez’s most well-known piece. It is considered to be the first composition in
Mexico for the concert stage based on a popular theme. The jarabe had in fact been outlawed
by the Church late in the eighteenth century because of its provocative rhythms. As a symbol
of defiance, this popular dance became associated with the Independence movement.
To date Gómez’s most recognized contribution to Mexican music history was his appointment
to the National Anthem Committee. In 1854 President Santa Anna opened a competition
to select a national anthem to accompany a prescribed text. As head of the Anthem Committee,
Gómez was responsible for having established one of the three central Mexican symbols.
Mexican music from the early nineteenth century is practically unknown. Existing scholarship
and music histories include entries for Gómez. To date most of them are incomplete and