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Figure 1. Matines The Matins Service (performed on the evening preceding any major feast day or celebration) was probably the most prestigious compositional genre in eighteenth-century Mexico. It is comprised of three nocturns (roughly equivalent in scale to an act in an opera or oratorio). Each nocturn has three Responsories— extended choral works that are often multi-sectional having several “numbers.” The third nocturn usually begins with two Responsories but replaces what would have been the third and final Responsory with a setting of the “Te Deum.” (The structure can be seen in fig. 11) Thus a complete Matins service requires 8 Responsories (or 8 substitute villancicos) plus the Te Deum. There are dozens of important Maitines services from the Mexican choral heritage, each of which lasts between one to two hours and is thus roughly equivalent in splendor and scale to a European oratorio or opera from the epoch. Fig. 1A. Cover page from Ignacio de Jerusalem's Eight Responsories for the Matins of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
Fig. 1B. Score sample from the Te Deum movement. Courtesy of the Bancroft Library |
