A Historical Overview of Oaxaca’s Pipe Organs
Cicely G. Winter
Soon after the fall of the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan in 1521, Spanish galleons began to arrive regularly at the port city of Veracruz.
Packed in their cargo were the arms, tools, animals, seeds, and diverse objects necessary for transplanting the power, culture, and religion of Spain to the New World. Small table organs were included in the shipments and would prove to be powerful evangelizing tools for the conversion of the native population to Christianity.
José Antonio Guzmán Bravo describes the shipping of the first organs to Mexico: “The first organs to arrive from Castilla to New Spain in the 16th century were dismantled and packed in wooden crates. The pieces of the organ were numbered and specified in a manual, so that they could be assembled at their final destination. Finished pipes were rarely transported, because good quality metal for casting the sheets was readily available in New Spain. A few small treble or characteristic principal pipes were imported as models, as well as various specialized tools, molds, and delicate mechanisms. The cases were usually made in Mexico according to the typological design of the organ. Tin was sometimes imported from Spain, supposedly of finer quality, as well as windchests, valves, rollers and other components, including keyboards, which were soon built locally of high quality.” 1
The Emperor Charles V and the ecclesiastical authorities recognized the importance of music for the evangelical mission.
Friars competing for appointments to be sent abroad were given priority if they had musical skills. Guzmán Bravo notes that the passenger lists of the ships arriving in Veracruz were reviewed in the hopes that notable musicians, organ builders or instrumentalists might be on board. 2 The first bishop of Mexico, the Franciscan friar Juan de Zumárraga, instructed missionaries to teach music wherever they went as “an indispensable aid in the process of conversion.” 3 Since words are more easily memorized when sung than spoken, the organ could outline the melody and guide the singing of the catechism, prayers, and hymns (villancicos).
Dominican route from Veracruz to Oaxaca and Guatemala via the Mixteca Alta.
Charles V parceled out the newly claimed territory among the mendicant orders, awarding what is now the state of Oaxaca to the Dominicans.
Dominican friars arrived in Mexico in 1526 and began to filter southeastward into Oaxaca, cutting a diagonal swath across the state toward the coastal trading center of Tehuantepec. From there, communication and trade continued on to another important Dominican colony in Guatemala and the rest of Central America. The distribution of historic organs located in Oaxaca corresponds roughly to the Dominican route, which in turn corresponds to the earlier pre-Hispanic settlements and trade routes. It is along these routes that evangelizing centers were soon established.
Within a few years after the Conquest, music schools were established in Mexico City, and indigenous men were trained in all aspects of European music making.
Their quick grasp and fondness for a completely unknown type of music, including polyphony, soon led to their singing in choirs, composing music, and playing musical instruments. These skills were soon transmitted in Oaxaca by the Dominican friars.
More than a century later in 1674, native musicians still elicited admiration as Fray Francisco de Burgoa notes in reference to the Oaxaca village of Quetzaltepec: “The natives of this community are skillful and clever for everything, they play various instruments, they look very tidy, learn to play the organ and play in ensembles.…” (“La gente natural de este pueblo es muy hábil y de maña para todo, tocan varios instrumentos, se visten muy aseado, aprenden órgano y a tocar ministriles…”) 4
Organs were designated by the Crown and the Church as the proper instrument to accompany the liturgy and were in great demand.
During the first church council called by the Archbishop Alonso de Montúfar in 1556, it was decreed that “the organ is the correct instrument for use in the church, and we wish its use to become universal in Mexico.” 5 Organbuilding shops were quickly established in Mexico City to meet this demand and to gradually offset the expense and complication of imports. The first shops were directed by Spanish immigrants (peninsulares), utilizing indigenous labor for both basic labor and precise crafting by skilled carpenters. The main responsibility of these first organbuilders was to construct the missing parts of the disassembled organs arriving in Mexico. They would then assemble, tune, and maintain them. Within a generation the group of immigrant organ-builders included creoles (criollos), Europeans born and trained in Mexico, who were probably the sons or relatives of the first organ-builders.
Small imported organs, destined for open air chapels or rudimentary church buildings, were initially in the highest demand for the evangelizing mission. But once larger, more permanent churches were built, larger, finer organs were needed to properly complement them. The shops expanded and the work became more complex, requiring business acumen to organize and finance construction projects. 6 At first, only Spaniards and creoles could manage such work, and decades would pass before workshops in Mexico were completely independent of Spanish imports or guidance.
ORGANS ARRIVE IN OAXACA SOON AFTER THE CONQUEST
The first organ in Oaxaca City dates from the 1540s and was destined for the Cathedral.
A letter dated 1544 from Juan López de Zárate, the first bishop of Oaxaca, to Charles V cites an organ already in use in the original Cathedral building, located at the current site of the church of San Juan de Dios (“Contaba ya la iglesia con un órgano y estaba bien servida”). 7 It would have been a small table organ built in Spain or Mexico City and was indispensable for the of the diocese of Antequera. It seems certain that at some point during the 16th century, the Dominican convents of Santo Domingo Cuilapam and Santo Domingo de Soriano (now the San Pablo Cultural Center) would also have acquired organs.
Construction had begun around 1535 on the enlarged Cathedral building at its current location, and by 1569 it was already in use, even if not completely finished. In order to fulfill the growing needs of the new church, the (Dominican) bishop Fray Bernardo de Albuquerque commissioned a larger stationary organ from the esteemed Spanish organ builder Agustín de Santiago, resident of Puebla. The more imposing sound of such an organ would have been both appropriate and proportional to the grand open space of the new Cathedral.
Both organs were soon transferred to the new Cathedral building, with the Santiago organ as the major instrument and the original organ in a supporting role. From that time until the early 20th century, the Oaxaca Cathedral housed two organs facing each other across the U shaped choir gallery. There would have been a continuum of organists in the Cathedral since the 1540s, but all were anonymous until the organist Juan Ponce was cited on the Cathedral payroll in 1580s. 8 He must have played both organs. Payments for repairs to the organs were ongoing and often carried out by the organ builder Santiago himself.
Most organs were used outside by the Dominicans as evangelizing aids before churches were built.
These organs were small and portable and were known as “processional organs.” They were transported in pieces from Mexico City to the Mixteca Alta, the Oaxaca Valleys, and other outlying areas on the backs of five or so men. No 16th century instruments have survived to this day, but their construction probably approximated Spanish table or realejo organs of the time, with enough ranks to be heard in the open air. Six extant 2´ (foot) table organs located in the Mixteca Alta region built ca. 1720-1730 with four or five registers may provide a clue. These little organs seem to have been widespread during colonial times and could represent a continuum in construction from two centuries earlier.
Once assembled and presumably decorated, the organs were played in outdoor processions.
The organs were played at first by Dominicans or other trained Spanish musicians, but natives could soon fill in for the Spaniards. The organs were carried on processional tables and set down at appropriate points during collective baptisms, celebrations of venerated saints, or particular Dominican rituals. Once a proper church was built, small chapels (posas) were erected in the four corners of the atrium, thus formalizing the processional route. The organs may also have accompanied processions inside the new church for the Spanish elite or baptized natives.
Santiago Tlazoyaltepec (1724)
These table organs might be similar to the first organs imported from Spain.
Santiago Ixtaltepec (1730)
(reconstructed in traditional form in 1870)
San Juan Bautista Coixtlahuaca (above) and San Pedro y San Pablo Teposcolula (reconstructed), 16th century open chapels
For special occasions during the liturgical year, the expansive atriums of the more important Dominican churches would have been filled with hundreds of indigenous people (“indios”) wearing their native dress and speaking their native language, mainly Mixtec or Zapotec, which the Dominicans learned and used for their proclamations or sermons. The organ guided the singing of the liturgical music in Latin and the lighter songs of devotion (villancicos) sung in Spanish or the indigenous language. The focus of the procession may have been a festively dressed statue of a saint carried around on its trestle table and accompanied by the friars in their black and white priestly vestments. Copal incense, banners, and trumpets would have enriched the pageantry as the bell tolled in the background. (Note the purchase for the church of Texupan in the Codex Sierra cited below). Little has changed since then, except that the organs are now in fixed positions in the churches, and wind bands accompany the processions outside.
A unique document, the Codex Sierra, cites the purchase of an organ in 1552 in Mexico City for the community of Texupan in the Mixteca Alta.
The Codex records community expenses in Santa Catarina Texupan (now Santiago Tejupan) for the years 1552 - 1564 by combining indigenous pictographs and Nahuatl text written with European letters and interspersed with Spanish words. The last entry in the image below (plate 5, lower left corner) refers to a box or chest of flutes (“caxa de flautas”) bought in 1552 from Diego Gutiérrez, a Mexico City businessman who sold luxury church furnishings. The cost was extravagant --180 pesos-- or more than the annual cost of food of the highest quality for “the lord vicar” of Tejupan--150 pesos-- and could not have referred exclusively to the pipes. It is not clear if the organ was built in Spain or Mexico City.
The native scribe noted the cost of the item in the ledger with a pictograph of the organ sight unseen. Thus a box of flutes (four of which are depicted upside down) would have been an adequate description of this unfamiliar object. The next entry in the codex cites the cost of the food for the “nobles and church people” who went to Mexico City to buy the “chest of flutes” and presumably arrange for its transport to Texupan. Transport costs were recorded separately from the purchase price of the items being transported.
Texupan was a wealthy community with a thriving silkworm industry, so there was money available to spend on luxury items for the church. Besides the “flutes,” the convoy would have included the finer components of the organ, such as the windchest and keyboard. The road from Mexico City to Tejupan, around 80 hours walk, must have been rough. If an organ-building shop existed in or near Texupan in the mid-16th century, the larger pieces such as the case and bellows, could have been built by a local carpenter. But this organ was one of the earliest, and a solid organ-building infrastructure did not yet exist to support it. Therefore, the complete organ, case and all (“caxa de flautas”), could have been imported, which would explain the elevated cost. The organ builder probably accompanied the convoy to keep an eye on things; after all, this was an expensive and presumably beautiful organ. Once the organ was assembled, calibrated, and tuned, it would have been decorated in some fashion if not before and inaugurated. The Codex also notes eight metal trumpets (120 pesos), a sackbut (trombone, 23 pesos), and banners for the trumpets (75 pesos). (Plates 2, 10, 16).
Documents cite indigenous transporters (cargador, tlamemeh) carrying organs from Mexico City to the Mixteca Alta.
In 1565 “organs” (plural) were shipped from Mexico City to Yanhuitlán (transcription from an unidentified archive in Mexico City). The reference authorized Gonzalo de las Casas to supervise the transportation of “some organs” and specified the payment for the natives who carried them. (“En este día (11/11/1565) se díó licencia Gonzalo de las Casas, para que pueda llevar en indios unos órganos al Pueblo de Yanhuitlán, queriendo a ellos de su voluntad e pagándoles su trabajo.”)
In 1606 and 1607 a scribe from the Chocholtec community of Santiago Teotongo registered a payment from the community of San Miguel Tulancingo to five men for carrying an organ from Mexico City to Santa María Natividad Tamazulapan, one of the main Chocholtec centers. It also notes several payments towards the cost of the organ for which it seems all sectors (barrios) under Tamazulapan’s spiritual governance had to contribute. The transport of a clavichord is also cited. 9
The Codex Sierra of Santa Catarina Texupan; the organ and its cost are represented by symbolic images
SOUND AND MUSIC POST-CONQUEST
The Dominican friar Juan de Cordova compiled the first Zapotec-Spanish dictionary, published in 1578, while living in San Jerónimo Tlacochahuaya.
Cordova included a word for “organ,” implying that they were already being used widely under Dominican guidance. “Church organ” is translated as pijchije quítiguíba, a combination of the words for air pij, sound chije, leather quíti, and metal guíba. Additional suffixes indicated the terms for the artisans that made the organs and the musicians that played them. This string of words indicates how the natives perceived the organs: sound created by the bellows and the pipes. There is no reference to the appearance of the organ, which might have included the words for case, box, or wood, but instead the emphasis was entirely on its sound and how it was produced.
How might the natives have reacted when hearing the full sound of a pipe organ?
Wind instruments figured prominently in pre-Hispanic music, and the conch shell trumpet, often elaborately carved, was used in rituals to invoke the God of the Wind (it is still used in many Oaxaca towns to announce important events). In addition, indigenous flutes, similar to pan pipes, were common and groups playing them could approximate the sound of a pipe organ. But the organ was a much more powerful instrument, played by only one person with an assistant for the bellows. If the power of the sound reflected the power of the god being invoked, what better evangelizing tool could there be than an organ? It was a wind instrument like the conch shell trumpet and flutes made of bone, clay or wood, but with a volume of sound that was multiplied many times over by the number of pipes it contained. In contrast, the lugubrious tolling of an iron church bell would have been completely unfamiliar and perhaps terrifying. It is said that when some of the natives first heard it, they fainted. 10
A pictorial map from 1538, El Plano de Tzintzuntzan, depicts an organ in stylized form.
A group of indigenous men carry a small organ and drag a bell, objects symbolizing the Catholic church by its sounds. The drawing represents the relocation of the ancient Tarascan capital city from Tzintzuntzan to the new Spanish capital of Pátzcuaro, Michoacán. The organ is shown to be fully assembled, which would have been impossible for actual transport, and it even looks like a little church.
The map of Tzintzuntzan shows a group of men dragging a bell and carrying an organ to their new location
ORGANS AND THEIR CHURCHES IN THE 16th AND 17th CENTURIES
Organs proliferated in Oaxaca.
The most significant churches in Oaxaca City and the Mixteca Alta eventually had two organs. As in the Cathedral, the larger organ was played for the most important feast days and the smaller organ for the normal daily mass. They may have faced each other as in Santo Domingo de Guzmán and the Cathedral (before the repositioning of the current organ in the center of the choir loft), similar to the Cathedrals in Mexico City and Puebla. In 1646 a Dominican friar referred to the “organs” (plural) in the Santo Domingo church as the musicians prepared for the mass.
Alternatively, the more important organ may have been situated in the choir loft or a high side balcony, with the smaller organ on the church floor (Tlacolula, Yanhuitlán). Fray Burgoa describes the organs in Yanhuitlán in 1674: “the choir loft is extremely spacious with…one of the grandest organs of this kingdom, and another medium sized below for the festivities of lesser importance.” (“el coro alto es espaciosísimo con…un órgano de los mayores de este Reino, y otro mediano abajo para las festividades de menor solemnidad”). 11
Since organs deteriorate over time, the major churches founded in the 16th or 17th century would have had a succession of organs. In fact, most of the extant organs in Oaxaca today represent only the latest organ in a sequence. This is usually revealed in documents that cite payments for repairs of earlier organs. The components of a former organ, particularly the pipes or the chest, could be recycled into the new one. The current Cathedral organ includes some pipes from the 16th-century Santiago organ, and the Tlacolula organ (1792) from its 17th-century predecessor. Windchests in several Oaxaca organs were enlarged to include another register and thus enrich the sound.
The construction of churches and monasteries proceeded rapidly after the Conquest, then eased off for nearly a century due to the precipitous decline in the indigenous population.
The initial construction stages of the grand convents in Yanhuitlán, Coixtlahuaca, Teposcolula, Tejupan, and Tamazulapan in the Mixteca Alta, as well as Santo Domingo de Guzmán and Cuilapam in Antequera, arose from the initial building fervor. However, church construction throughout New Spain slowed down significantly as the native population was decimated by European diseases for which there was no immunity. New churches were no longer relevant for a population reduced by more than 90% in 1550, just a generation after the Conquest. The pre-Hispanic population of the Mixteca Alta, one of the most populated regions, declined from 700,000 in 1520 to 100,000 in 1569, then to 57,000 in 1590 and 25,000 in 1620, a drastic reduction. 12 The population in New Spain would not rebound until the mid-17th century and only then could church use and construction resume.
Santa María Tamazulapan, the two organ balconies face each other, the smaller from ca. 1720-1730 and the larger (unrestored) from 1840.
The church of Santo Domingo de Guzmán was sacked during the 1860s. The two organ balconies face each other (photo ca. 1900); the arched opening led to the bellows chamber behind the organ.
ORGANS AND THEIR CHURCHES IN THE 18th CENTURY
By the late 17th century and during the construction boom of the 18th century, churches usually had an organ.
The largest, most important churches usually had two or more organs. The larger was played for the important feast days, and the smaller for the daily masses. In the Cathedral and Santo Domingo, the seats of the Dominicans and the Dioceses, the two organs faced each other (before the organ’s relocation to the center of the choir gallery) in the same way that paired organs were located in the Cathedrals in Mexico City and Puebla. In 1646, a Dominican friar mentions the “organs” (plural) in Santo Domingo as the musicians prepared for the mass. The most important organ could also be situated in the choir loft or an elevated tribune with the smaller organ on the church floor.
Since organs deteriorate with time, churches founded in the 16th or 17th centuries had to replace their organs completely or partially if they could reuse some of the old pipes or the windchests in the new instrument (Cathedral, Tlacolula) , although in some cases they could recycle some of the pipes in the new organ. In fact, the majority of extant organs in Oaxaca represent the last organ in a sequence.
The organ was situated in the choir loft above the main entrance to the church or in a side balcony. Otherwise it sat on the floor. Access to the choir loft could have been by a winding stone staircase that continued up to the bell tower or by a stone stairway along the side of the church leading directly to the loft. Churches built of adobe could not support the weight of bell towers, so the bells hung in a separate structure in the atrium, and the choir loft was accessed directly from the church by a ladder. Organs were positioned sideways in the loft, usually against one of the side walls, so that the organist could see and coordinate the chant with the priest without turning his back to the altar. A centrally placed organ was impractical since it would have blocked the light from the upper window.
The size of the organ was usually determined by the size of the church and the available financing. A table organ may have been the sole instrument in a small church with few resources. However, there were some exceptions since organs were moved around, and several Oaxaca organs are disproportionately large for their churches. They may reach the roof of the choir loft or be positioned in a lower side balcony built especially for the organ to gain height if the loft was too low. In San Pedro Quilitongo, the dome over the choir loft was raised to accommodate an organ bought from a larger church, also dedicated to Saint Peter, as indicated by the carved iconography, two keys and the bishop’s miter, in the central pipe shade. In San Pedro Ozumacín, a balcony was built to accommodate the organ because it was too tall for the loft. As in Quilitongo, it came from a larger church dedicated to Saint Peter.
Churches were renovated, reinforced, or rebuilt, often because of earthquake damage.
Severe earthquakes in 1696 and 1714 resulted in the subsequent rebuilding of many churches in Oaxaca City and their organs. The majority of the existing older buildings in Oaxaca today date from the 18th century or later, replacing earlier buildings damaged or destroyed by earthquakes. The most grandiose organs in Oaxaca – the Cathedral (1712), the Basílica de la Soledad (1719), and Santo Domingo Yanhuitlán (probably around the same time) -- replaced the former organs after their respective churches were reconstructed or solidified. The Cathedral was finally rededicated in 1733 after years of ongoing work.
San Pedro Ozumacín, 2023
Access to the organ in Tlazoyaltepec
Peñoles, the organ is extremely tall and had to be left on the church floor after the new choir loft was built.
Churches in rural communities were constructed of adobe or stone with palm thatched roofs. Adobe walls might be reinforced or rebuilt with stone if the church was damaged during an earthquake and stone was readily available. Many small churches in the Mixteca Alta with significant 18th-century organs still had traditional thatched roofs well into the 20th century. The thatch covered wooden planks set on cross beams which usually extended in two planes, or sometimes three in basilica style, along the length of the nave. Thatch gave way to corrugated tin which in some communities was later upgraded to prefabricated panels of faux red tile (a government project) to cover the wooden roof underneath. In some churches the roof was entirely replaced with cement barrel vaulting. Choir lofts were built or replaced, although sometimes they were too low for the organ, which ended up on the church floor.
Santa María Peñoles 2003, adobe church with a corrugated tin roof
Peñoles 2022, the church exterior was cemented over and painted; the roof has corrugated sheets of faux red tiles provided by the state government.
Peñoles, wooden roof with cross beams in three sections, basilica style.
Who financed organ construction and maintenance?
The churches in indigenous communities relied on the support of religious brotherhoods or confraternities (cofradías), contributions from the community at large, or funding from private donors for the construction and maintenance of the organs. The Dominican scholar Fray Eugenio Martín Torres cites documents in the Archive of the Instituto Dominicano de Investigaciones Históricas that confirm the collaboration of the friars with the religious brotherhoods for organ-related projects. As an example, the friar responsible for the parish of San Andrés Zautla collaborated with the Brotherhoods of the Rosary (cofradías del Rosario) to finance the construction of the organ in 1726. In Santa María Petapa, a Zapotec community located in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, the head of the Souls Cofradía gave money to the organist “to buy metal in Oaxaca” … and to “fix the organ as well as possible” in 1754. This payment was authorized by the Dominican rector of the brotherhood. 13 The account book of the Cofradía del Señor de Tlacolula notes the payments for the construction and gilding of the monumental organ in 1791-1792; Dominican involvement was implicit.
The priest encouraged donations and had a voice in decisions regarding the organ, but the cofradía managed the money. Labels or plaques commemorating an organ’s inauguration or repair are rare, but they nearly always included the name of the priest, the head of the cofradía or the mayordomo, (the sponsor of celebrations for the major feast days), and the principal civil authorities.
Oaxaca’s economy flourished with the commercial development of natural resources.
The most lucrative product by far was the cochineal insect (“grana cochinilla”) used to make the costly but color-fast red dye that was used to color the uniforms of both the British “Redcoats” and Napoleon’s troops. 18th-century Oaxaca was a wealthy place indeed. The cofradías and private patrons focused their attention on the refurbishing and decoration, as well as the construction, of churches in their communities. Some of Oaxaca’s most outstanding organs, altarpieces, paintings, and interior decoration, as well as superlative musical activity, date from this period.
In the Mixteca Alta, fortunes were made from the cochineal, silk, and wheat trade as in the case of Nicolas Ruiz in Tejupan, who financed the luxurious organ in 1776 and at least one altarpiece. The interior decoration, new façade and choir loft, the organ, altarpieces, and many paintings in the Tlacochahuaya church were apparently funded with cochineal wealth. La Basílica de la Soledad was refurbished with an organ (1719) and its tribune (1718), the addition of a sacristy, paintings, altarpieces, and a sumptuous new church façade (1717-1718), thanks to the financing from the estate of the wealthy patron of church art, Pedro de Otálera, after his death. 14
Dominican monasteries and evangelizing centers were established throughout the state of Oaxaca.
One of these centers was founded in Santo Domingo Nejapa, located along the trade route to the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and an important crossroad of Zapotec, Chatino, and Mixe cultures. In 2001 during a routine visit to document the organ in San Bartolo Yautepec, the IOHIO discovered an outstanding collection of leather-bound books of Gregorian chant in a wooden trunk. The books, dating from the early 18th century, had been used in Nejapa, founded in 1548 and about a day’s walk from Yautepec.
An unexpected treasure in the collection was the workbook of the musician Domingo Flores, a native of Yautepec, where he wrote down the music he heard in Nejapa: sacred polyphonic works in Latin and lighter villancicos in Spanish and Zapotec. There would surely have been an organ to accompany the choral works and the mass, but it was not noted or relevant to the material in the Notebook. The transcriptions of the notations from the Notebook (Cuaderno de Domingo Flores) and an audio of the music were published in 2023.
THE EVOLVING STATUS OF OAXACAN ORGAN BUILDERS
Organ builders are identified in legal documents but rarely on the organs until the 19th century.
By the mid-17th century if not before, artisans in organ-building shops were cited in legal documents as organ builders (“maestro de hacer órganos”, “artifice de órganos”, “maestro del arte de organista”), although in some cases as carpinteros. In the documents the terms organ builder (organero) and organist (organista) are used interchangeably and in fact, organists were usually responsible for maintaining and repairing the instruments they played. The most significant documents are construction contracts, but organ builders were also cited in a census, will, or lawsuit. Shop assistants were referred to as “workers” (“oficiales”). Since all construction projects required a contract, organ builders were named, although unfortunately only a few contracts are preserved.
Paper labels stuck inside the cases of four 18th-century organs note the conclusion of their constructions, but only one names the organ builder. The relevant church and municipal authorities or the donor are identified, and in Ocotepec (1730), Tejupan (1776), and Sinaxtla (1791), the cost of the construction is also noted. Only the organ in Tlazoyaltepec (1724) identifies the organ builder, Marcial Ruis Maldonado (“gran chapusero” or “carpintero”). Perhaps he had a more dominant position in the Oaxaca organ world than his colleagues, since he had previously built an organ for the Oaxaca Cathedral, and the community was honored to have him build theirs. His recognition was unusual, whereas the anonymity of the builders of the other three organs was typical.
Sinaxtla: the donor’s name, Marcelo de la Cruz, the cost of the organ $750 pesos, and the inauguration date 1791, stretch across the façade; the organ builder is not named
Santiago Tejupan: portrait of the donor Nicolas Ruis and his wife Barbara with his patron saint, San Nicolas de Tolantino, painted on the side of the organ
In Tejupan not only do the names of the donor and his wife appear on the organ, but their portraits are also painted on the side of the case. In San Andrés Sinaxtla, the donor’s name, his wife’s name, the cost of the organ, and the date dominate the façade. In neither case is the organ builder recognized.
The anonymity of organ builders in the 18th century shifted toward recognition in the 19th century
The second label of the paired photos below cite repairs more than one hundred years after the 18th-century constructions. The organ builder is respectfully identified on the label of the Ocotepec repair in 1842: “Señor Maestro Don José Tomás Benavidis.” The label in Tlazoyaltepec in reference to Jesús Cano in 1871 is unfortunately illegible, so it is not known if he was similarly honored. Organ building was considered a trade in the 18th century because it involved manual work; by the 19th century, it was starting to be regarded as a profession. However, organ-builders were expected to produce a useful, well-functioning object, not a personal work of art. Most of the builders by this time appear to be Oaxacan.
San Dionisio Ocotepec: Organ constructed in 1730, organ builder anonymous; repair in 1842 by Tomas Benavides
Santiago Tlazoyaltepec: Organ constructed in 1724 by Marcial Ruiz Maldonado; repair in 1871 by Jesús Cano
The signature of the organ builder on or inside the organ was rare before mid-century.
Signatures in rather uneven script appear inside the organs in Santa María Tinu (“1828….Marcial Silvestre Velasges”) and Santo Domingo Nuxáa (“1809… J ysidro Baldibe”). A label at the back of the pallet box of the organ in Teotitlán de Flores Magón identifies the builders constructors of the windchest (“El secreto de este órgano fue hecho por los maestros D.n Gregorio Arroyo y D.n Joaquín Nieva el 12 de Agosto de 1839…”). It was customary in Europe for organ builders to sign their names in the most hidden place in the organ, i.e., inside the sealed windchest or el secreto, named for precisely this reason, yet rare in Mexico. Even though some Oaxaca windchests are sealed shut, most are accessible and include no written information, so the label in Teotitlán is unique. The town is located on the border of Puebla and Oaxaca and the organ shows it. The mechanics indicate a Puebla construction, while the case has Oaxaca-style hips. Whoever built the mechanism was the legitimate organero. Whoever built the case was considered a carpintero.
Official documents reveal personal details about the organ builders and their world.
1654. The will of Jerónimo Sánchez de Rivera, Oaxaca native and son of Oaxacan parents (perhaps mestizo?), cites him as an organ builder (“artífice de organos”). He and a colleague, Juan Flores identified as a carpenter, had an organ-building company which was contracted to repair, clean, and tune the organ of the Mexico City Cathedral (“aderezar, limpiar y templar el órgano de la Iglesia Catedral”) for $40 pesos. Over the course of three years Jerónimo embezzled $1300 pesos which he was unable to repay, and he eventually died sick and impoverished with many debts listed in his will. 15
Teotitlán de Flores Magón, label on the inside of the pallet box with the names of the organ builders and the date the organ was finished (1839)
One wonders where Jerónimo was trained in organ-building? He died as an adult in 1654, widowed with grown children, and may have been born around 1600. If he learned his trade in Oaxaca, it would confirm the existence of a workshop in the early 17th century. Alternatively, he could have moved to Mexico City as a young man and acquired his skills there, eventually establishing his own company.
1770s. Documents confirm the organ towns where Juan Martinez “Buena Vida” (1753 – 1795) lived and worked. His children were born in the towns of Tlacolula, Ocotepec, and Teitipac where he was presumably commissioned to play and maintain the organs. 16 One can assume that he played the Tlacochahuaya organ as well. In 1786 he was named principal organist in the Oaxaca Cathedral and founded the Martinez Bonavides dynasty of organists and organ builders which lasted nearly 100 years. He most likely engineered the sale of the organ from Tlacolula to Ocotepec in 1792, because he knew that the previous organ in Ocotepec was beyond repair.
Juan Martínez was the grandfather of the Conceptionist nun Sor María Clara del Santísimo Sacramento, who grew up in Ocotepec, her father José Nicolas’s town of birth. Either Juan or his other son José Domingo probably composed or oversaw the composition of the works in the Notebook of Psalm Tones for Matins, later compiled by Sor María Clara, when they were the principal organists in the Oaxaca Cathedral. (See Publications, Cicely Winter and Ryszard Rodys)
1776. The lawsuit against the estate of the organ builder Lieutenant Manuel Neri y Carmona (“maestro de hacer órganos”) in Santa Maria Natividad Tamazulapan in the Mixteca Alta reveals the specifications of the largest organ ever to be built in Oaxaca. He was commissioned by the municipal authorities to construct a monumental organ measuring approximately 9.2 m (30 ft.) high and 5 m (16.5 ft.) wide and including a chair organ (cadereta) for $3000 pesos in the space of a year and half. Unfortunately, he died seven months later and his 25-year old son José Manuel was ordered to complete the project. However, the authorities were not satisfied with his work, canceled the project, and sued the son’s estate for breach of contract (1780), so this huge instrument was never built. José Manuel had to cover the outstanding payments, and return all the finished parts, materials, and tools, including in addition a small finished organ in the family shop which the father had intended to sell. 17
Vestiges of the projected impact of this gigantic organ on the architecture of the left side of the Tamazulapan church are still visible today.
José Manuel Neri y Carmona, the son, went on to build the monumental organ in Tlacolula in 1791.
1866. Carvings on the façade of the Jalatlaco organ celebrate the organ builder Pedro Nibra. As a young man, he was clearly proud of his creation and wanted to show it off, even though he was out of step with the customary discretion of his colleagues. Unfortunately disagreements arose with the church council some years later, necessitating various repairs and modifications, as well as its blue painting, in 1880, and he may have been forced to swallow his pride. Pedro Nibra built the last Oaxaca-style organ in Santa Cruz Amilpas and his name and the date (1884) are simply written on the interior of the case.
Initials of Pedro Nibra on the Jalatlaco organ façade
Portrait hidden in the pipe shade carving of the Jalatlaco organ, probably of Nibra himself
1886. The contract for a refurbished organ by Jesús Cano confirms the buying and selling of organs. Cano was from the Mixtec community of Chachoapan near Yanhuitlán. He repaired and upgraded organs throughout the Mixteca Alta region in Tlazoyaltepec (1871), Ixtaltepec? (1872), and Yanhuitlán (1872), and built the monumental organ in Coixtlahuaca in 1876, one of the last two Oaxaca organs. A tuning by Don Pantaleon Cano is cited on the Yucucui organ in 1876, signifying a possible Cano family enterprise. Jesús refurbished an earlier organ from an unidentified community which he sold to Santa María Suchixtlan in 1886. The contract in the municipal archive for the organ’s purchase refers to him as a “carpintero” (certainly not his preferred term). This is the first reference to the trade in organs, which like fixing up and selling used cars, seems to have been common. 18
ORGANS AND RELATED INSTRUMENTS IN THE 19th CENTURY
Transporting organs became easier in flat areas but was an ongoing challenge in the mountains.
As roads and communication improved, communities in the relatively flat regions of the Oaxaca Valleys and the northern area of the state directed toward Puebla had an easier time importing organs or their components. The locations of two 19th century organ-building shops have been identified in Oaxaca City (the Nibra and Martinez families), and a shop is documented in Tamazulapan in the Mixteca Alta in the 1770s. There must have been many more, but so far no documentation exists to verify them.
However, most villages were still far away and transport depended on local or hired labor. The contract for the construction of an organ in 1864 in Santa María Reoloteca Tehuantepec, several days walk from Oaxaca City, offered the contractor the choice of having the metal, sheepskin, and wood for the organ carried by mule or human transport from his shop in Oaxaca City to the Isthmus. Although fine pieces may have been transported by humans to the outlying communities, bulk material, mainly better quality wood if the local pine was porous or pipe metal from Mexico City, was usually transported by donkeys or mules. Mules are still used for transport today in remote areas of the State where no roads exist. 19
The locations of two 19th century organ-building shops have been identified in Oaxaca City (the Nibra and Martinez families), and a shop is documented in Tamazulapan in the Mixteca Alta in the 1770s. There must have been many more, but so far no documentation exists to verify them.
The transportation of an organ to Santa María Alotepec, located in the mountainous Mixe region, had changed little since the 16th century.
The late former organist, Don Federico Reyes, told us this story. The community ordered a large 8´ organ from a shop in Oaxaca around 1870. When it was finished, the entire village, including the organist’s grandfather, then a young boy, walked three days to Oaxaca to retrieve the pieces of the organ, then three days back again to Alotepec. This boy carried a few pipes on his back, sustained by a tumpline across his forehead. Once all the pieces were gathered in the church, the organ builder was summoned to oversee the construction of the larger wooden parts, using local pine of excellent quality from this mountainous region, and finally assemble the instrument. A contact from a neighboring town told me that transporting any item destined for the church by a beast of burden was a sacrilege. Even so, the extremely mountainous route with steep slopes may have been impossible for pack animals to negotiate, and the Mixes even to the present day transport goods on their backs supported by a tumpline.
The great grandson of Don Federico was told that his great grandfather played “Für Elise” on the organ for the wedding of his daughter, probably around the 1950s.
Santa María Alotepec, the organist Don Federico Reyes tells us about the organ and its transport to the village
The Period of the Reform Laws (1860s) and the consequential separation of church and state did not jeopardize organ construction.
Organs continued to be built during the 19th century, although perhaps not at the same rate as during Oaxaca’s more prosperous era. Around the 1820s, the Oaxaca economy began a slow decline when less expensive, high-quality synthetic dyes replaced cochineal. Most churches had an organ, and there may have been more incentive to maintain, repair, or refurbish the existing instruments than to order new ones; buying a used instrument was also an option. Reconstructions or upgrades of older organs seem to have been common and were often improvised; windchests and pipes that outlived the case could be recycled into later organs. Because of this, some Oaxaca organs are a hodgepodge of parts, and their construction is difficult to decipher. Even though the organ’s appearance changed considerably from colorful baroque to austere neo-classical beginning around 1790, its mechanical construction continued as before with only minor adjustments. (See Decoration, Construction)
After the separation of church and state during the Juárez era, the income generated for church projects was converted into tangible goods as quickly as possible to protect the capital from possible confiscation by the State. 20 The cofradías continued to raise money for organ and other church projects, and on the surface, it seemed that organ-building continued as before. However, seven organs remain that were built after 1840 by Oaxacan builders for communities in the central and southern part of the State. Nine organs still exist that were built by Puebla organ builders for communities near the northern border. Even taking into account the organs that have been lost, the proportion is still surprising, but the reason was obvious. The ecclesiastical jurisdiction of Puebla included the northern region of Oaxaca. It was far wealthier than the Oaxaca jurisdiction and was able to garner support for many new organs, including those built by the Castro family. Even in Coixtlahuaca, the Dominican friars from Puebla collected donations to maintain the church and finance the construction of the monumental organ by the Oaxacan organ builder Jesús Cano in 1876.
Community bands and commissions for local composers proliferated.
The IOHIO has discovered several collections of brass and wind band instruments imported from France beginning in the 1860s, the Hapsburg era, as well as boxes stuffed full of both sacred and secular band music manuscripts. These compositions were written specifically for a particular community, often by a venerated local composer. They may include special masses for the saint’s day celebration, Corpus Christi, or Holy Week. Imported bassoons and locally made double basses may have been used in the liturgy to reinforce the bass line of the organ or the choir.
Clavichords and square pianos found in remote villages attest to a vibrant musical culture that has sadly disappeared.
Clavichords are first mentioned in early 17th-century wills, inventories of property, or transport lists. Five of the seven extant clavichords in Mexico were discovered in the state of Oaxaca.
Santa María Pápalo, collection of 19th century band instruments imported from France
Two fine instruments are safeguarded in museums in Mexico City and Tepozotlán. Four basic table instruments were discovered in Santiago Lachiguiri by the IOHIO in 2001 in varying stages of preservation; the instrument pictured below is the best preserved of the group with strings and a keyboard. One more clavichord, missing strings and keyboard, was found in the Cuicatec village of Santa Maria Pápalo in 2012. All have 45-note keyboards and a short octave. The clavichords and square pianos could have been used for teaching, practicing, or entertainment in the church or other venues.
Santiago Lachiguiri, one of four clavichords found in the church
San Miguel Chicahua, tabletop square piano stored in a box
Santiago Ixtaltepec, tabletop square piano
Two square 19th century tabletop pianos are located in the Mixteca Alta. The instrument in San Miguel Chicahua with its 54-note chromatic keyboard seems to have been made in Puebla, as was the organ. The piano in Santiago Ixtaltepec is older, with a 45-note keyboard and short octave, and may have been made in the region. Luciano Bonavides, of the Martinez Bonavides organ-building dynasty cited above, tried his hand at building pianos, but without any long-term success. Imported pianos from the US, with candle holders on the façade, spread throughout Mexico in the late 19th century.
The end of the Oaxaca organ-building tradition
The last known Oaxaca-style organ was built in 1884 (Amilpas) and the last Puebla-style organ in 1891 (Tepelmeme). Most if not all of the later instruments from the 1880s and 1890s were built in the Castro organ-building shop in Puebla and destined for communities in the northern part of Oaxaca state. The demand for new pipe organs began to fall off, as wind band instruments imported from France filled in for religious events in the villages.
Oaxaca organ builders seem to have been resistant to innovations from Puebla or elsewhere and incorporated them slowly. Traditional organ builders did not build lengthened keyboards until 1840, although the organ in Concepción Buenavista, built in 1802 by Vicente Anaya (not Oaxacan) already had a 51-note keyboard. The Coixtlahuaca organ built by Jesús Cano in 1876 still had wedge rather than reservoir bellows. For whatever reason, the organ-building tradition died out in Oaxaca decades before it finally succumbed all over Mexico to the imported technology.
ORGANS, HARMONIUMS, AND ELECTRONIC INSTRUMENTS IN THE 20TH CENTURY
Harmoniums imported from the U.S. began to supplant organs during the 20th century.
They were built in all shapes and sizes and were cheaper, usually portable, and more easily repaired than pipe organs. Above all, the organist no longer needed an assistant to work the bellows, since the wind was generated by foot pedals. The large decorative cases of the harmoniums in the churches of San Juan Sayultepec and Santo Domingo de Guzman display wooden pipes painted silver to imitate an organ. Harmoniums still exist in or near the choir loft of almost every Oaxaca church. A few of the later models may function slightly, but the leather of their pedal-generated winding system is invariably cracked, while the case and keyboard may still be intact.
San Juan Sayultepec, the harmonium is disguised as an organ with wooden pipes painted silver.
Santiago Comaltepec, a small harmonium in a box
San Baltazar Yatzachi el Alto, a tiny harmonium
Santiago Tejupan, the harmonium has an unusually beautiful case
Once electricity was installed in Oaxaca, imported organs and eventually portable electronic keyboards took over.
Pneumatic organs are found in the churches of El Patrocinio (Schlag und Söhne ca. 1900) and Carmen Bajo (Walcker 1908). Electronic organs --Hammond, Johannes, Viscount, Wurlitzer, and more—proliferated. The investment at the time was enormous, but only a few of them are played regularly, many no longer function, and there are few technicians in Mexico who can repair them.
Portable electronic keyboards continue to be extremely practical in Oaxaca. The organist can use his own keyboard with the organ setting to play during the mass, as well as for private parties or events. Currently all types of keyboard instruments are used in the liturgy in Oaxaca: historic pipe organs, electronic stationary organs, and portable keyboards. The harmoniums are no longer used because no one can repair them.
Some pipe organs built or refurbished during the 19th century were still played up until the 1970s, even if they were only partially functional.
Organists played the mass in several towns near Oaxaca City (Jalatlaco before its restoration, Zaachila, Huayapam, Quiatoni, Tlalixtac) and beyond (Alotepec, Yatzachi el Alto, Yautepec) and sometimes their names were still remembered in the early 2000s. Two brothers, Isaac and David Victoria Carreón from San Andrés Sinaxtla in the Mixteca Alta, played the pipe organs in several neighboring villages in the 1950s and 1960s (Tiltepec, Yucucuí, Yanhuitlán?). They seemed to favor a pianistic, romantic repertoire, not unexpected at the time, and probably encouraged the drastic revision of the Sinaxtla organ in the 1950s to make it sound more like a piano. The lowest three pipes in the Sinaxtla and Tiltepec organs were roughly cut to eliminate the short octave. A few organs were apparently still playable during the 1970s, but none beyond that decade.
The official liturgical role of the pipe organ ends, along with the memories associated with it.
The Second Vatican Council 1962-1965 sounded the death knell for pipe organs worldwide. Just as the vernacular language, i.e. Spanish, replaced Latin for the celebration of the mass, so did vernacular instruments, mainly guitars, likewise replace the organ. Those organs not already displaced by a harmonium or an electronic instrument were left to deteriorate once it was no longer obligatory to maintain them. After this date and breaking precedent with centuries before, the church payrolls no longer included payments to organists, bellows pumpers, or organ builders. Many organs were sadly dismembered, although those that remained relatively intact ended up being prime candidates for restorations beginning in the 1990s.
One of the brothers Victoria Carreón playing the organ in Tiltepec (1958)
Photo: Fundación Bustamante Vasconcelos
Memories of the organ have also been lost in their communities. During the early years of the Instituto de Órganos Históricos de Oaxaca (IOHIO) beginning in 2000, a few local people still remembered hearing the organ and the particular organist who played it when they were children. Or else they could recall hearing about the organ from their parents or grandparents. Men would laugh over their boyhood memories of being scolded by the priest for swinging from the bellows poles or grabbing and blowing pipes from the organ. Since then a generation has passed and personal stories related to the organs and the world they were part of have almost disappeared.
The current challenge is to create new memories of the organ’s sound and its impact on the spirit by playing and hearing the organs as much as possible. Their deep, rich sound lifts the spirit as no other instrument can, and these memories must keep the organs alive.
REFERENCES
1. José Antonio Guzmán Bravo, Los Primeros Órganos Tubulares en México (ANUARIO MUSICAL No. 70, enero-diciembre 2015) p. 44.
“Los primeros órganos que llegaron de Castilla a Nueva España en el siglo XVI, desarmados y embalados en cajas de madera, contenían las piezas numeradas y ajustadas a una Memoria, para poder después armarlos en su lugar de destino. Rara vez transportaban los tubos ya hechos, porque se podían conseguir muy buenos metales y tender las hojas y láminas de metal para hacerlos en la Nueva España. Algunos medios registros de tiple o flautados característicos se importaban como modelos. También se transportaban herramientas variadas, moldes y mecanismos delicados. Las cajas generalmente se realizaban en México sobre el diseño tipológico del órgano. A veces traían el estaño de Europa, suponiéndolo más fino, así como secretos, largitorias, molinetes y otros mecanismos, incluidos los teclados, que a poco se comenzaron a hacer aquí con gran calidad.”
2. Op. cit. p. 44.
3. Robert Stevenson, Music in Mexico (Thomas Y. Crowell Company, New York, 1952), p. 51.
4. Fray Francisco de Burgoa, Geográfica Descripción, Tomo II (Editorial Porrúa S.A.1989), pp. 218-219.
5. Stevenson, op. cit. p. 63,
6. Stevenson, op. cit. p. 68, translated quote from Juan de Torquemada, Veinte i un libros rituales i Monarquía Indiana (Madrid, 1723), III, 214.
7. Padre José Antonio Gay, Historia de Oaxaca, 3° ed. (Editorial Porrúa, México 1986), pp. 189-190.
8. Archivo Histórico de la Arquidiócesis de Antequera Oaxaca, Parroquial / Disciplinar / Fábrica espiritual, caja 2, exp. 7, Libro de cuentas 1563-1604, ff. 201r, 202v, 208v.
9. Sebastian van Doesburg, personal communication, reference from the municipal archive in San Miguel Tulancingo, 1592 - 1621,
10. Moisés Rosas, lecture presented at the conference “La Restauración de Órganos en Latinoamérica” during the First Organ Festival of the Instituto de Órganos Históricos de Oaxaca, November 2001 (unpublished).
11 Burgoa op. cit. Tomo 1, p. 296.
12. Cook Sherburne y Woodrow Borah, The Population of the Mixteca Alta, 1520-1960 (University of California Press, 1968), pp. 22-24.
13. Fray Eugenio Martín Torres O.P., “The Dominicans and the Oaxacan Organs” (Newsletter of the Instituto de Órganos Históricos de Oaxaca, No. 3, March 2004), pp. 6-7.
14. Selene del Carmen García Jiménez, La imagen de la Soledad de Oaxaca: Origin, Patrocinio, Culto Social y Discurso Político, 1682-1814 (Tesis de doctorado en Historia, Colegio de México, Ciudad de México, 2017), pp. 195-196.
15. Efraín Castro Morales, Los órganos de la Nueva España y sus Artífices (Puebla: Gobierno del Estado, Secretaría de Cultura, 1989), p. 17.
16. AHAAO, op. cit., microfilm, libros de matrimonios 1768-1776, 1786-1799, 1799-1813.
17. Archivo Histórico Judicial de Oaxaca, Teposcolula, Civil, Legajo 44, exp. 7, 1780
18. Archivo Municipal de Santa María Suchixtlán, Oaxaca, 1886.
19. Archivo Histórico de Notarías de Oaxaca, cited in Ryszard Rodys y Lérida Moya Marcos, Los Órganos Oaxaqueños y sus Artífices, 2014, pp. 41-43.
20. Sergio Navarrete Pellicer, Ritual sonoro en catedral y parroquias (México CIESAS, 2013), p. 313.