Is it Correct to Speak of a Latin American Musical Baroque? By guest contributor, Dr. Juan López-Maya This question scarcely seems to be relevant since even a quick online search immediately shows hundreds of results, including articles, reports, and recordings, that discuss the Latin American Baroque as something established and academically consolidated. It is, let’s say, an accepted category in the history of Western music. But is Latin American music of the 17th and 18th centuries truly “Baroque” music, or is it merely a category created for convenience? In other words, do we call it “Baroque” simply because it chronologically overlaps the European Baroque, or are its characteristics, style, and social context so similar that Latin American Baroque can be considered a subcategory, like “French Baroque” or “Italian Baroque?” Let’s see: to clarify this matter we must first talk about genres, and the most important is opera. It is said that its birth is the starting point of the Baroque period and that thousands of operas were written in Italy alone, making it impossible to give an exact number. The same can be said about France and other European nations. In contrast, in Latin America, during the entire 18th century, there are barely a dozen or fewer original operas. Then we have instrumental music. Historical texts speak of the “rise” of this genre due to the hundreds of concertos for violin and orchestra, as well as for other solo instruments, concerti grossi, sonatas, and suites written during that period. These works include a repertoire that constitutes one of the most important musical legacies of Western music, many of which are still performed and recorded extensively today. In contrast, in Latin America, few examples of solo concertos or concerti grossi are known, and only a few violin sonatas written in colonial Mexico, Santiago de Chile, and some other important urban centers and missions have been preserved. It is in sacred music that the situation seems to be more balanced. Religious musical activity was intense, both in the large colonial centers and in the isolated missions of Central and South America. The amount of music intended for religious services found in the archives is so vast that much of it has not yet been cataloged or examined. What has been recovered and recorded shows a remarkable resemblance to European music, with some notable syncretisms such as motets (virtually identical to European ones) but sung in indigenous languages like Quechua. Regarding compositional techniques and styles, it must be said that basso continuo was as popular in Latin America as it was in Europe, bearing in mind, of course, that most of the Latin American repertoire belongs to the sacred genre. However, the sophisticated counterpoint practiced in Europe is rare in Latin America, and although the imitative style is widely used in vocal music, there is nothing in Latin America comparable to the fugues or inventions of Johann Sebastian Bach or the Ricercari of Girolamo Frescobaldi. In short, “Latin American Baroque” seems to be more of a label for presenting concerts, recordings, editions, articles, and events than a true musical style. It might be more attractive to organize a festival of “Baroque Music in Latin America” than simply to say, “Festival of Latin American Music of the 17th and 18th Centuries” or “Music in Latin America from 1600 to 1750.” The truth is that this music possesses great richness, variety, and originality, despite its obvious similarities to its European counterpart, and it would be fairer to remove the tag that condemns it to exist as a subgenre, a kind of appendage to a larger, more established current in the official history of music. For those interested, I’ve included some links where you can learn more about the topic: • Jane Shuttleworth, Araujo to Zipoli: Baroque Music in South America. • Graham Abbott, The Latin American Baroque. • Francisco Valdez, Marin Baroque Society celebrates music of Mission Period in Latin America. • Linssey Ma, Integrating the Latin American Villancico in Baroque Music History Studies.