San Matias Tepetomatitlan in Tlaxcala Grotesque-painted pipe at the Basilica

But how did this happen? How did a society that once upon a time flourished and took pride in their splendid organs come to this state of utter disregard? In this age of striking technology and unparalleled common access to a wealth of information - more than one could even begin to comprehend in a lifetime - how can this be the present state of affairs in a country that borders the nation that symbolically represents power, technology, and wealth?

backdrop for this contemporary situation. We may either learn from its stories or ignore them and deepen and prolong the agonies for the next generations that could have at least begun to be remedied. So let us turn to history now, and see what progression of events led to this tragic situation of the organs in Mexico. Following the concise recount of political history, an examination of the characteristics of the existing instruments, both restored and in their natural state, will demonstrate the imminent necessity for organ restoration in Mexico.

Hernán Cortés first arrived with his small army of Europeans in Vera Cruz in 1519, and by 1524, three years after the conquest of Montezuma at Tenochtitlán, a school had been founded in Texcoco by one of 12 Franciscan Friars, Fray Pedro de Gante. One of the purposes of this multifaceted institution was to teach the natives European musical notation and technique, with a specific focus on the performance of liturgical music. The art of instrument construction was another skill taught at the school, and by the early 1530’s, perhaps as early as 1527, the first organs made in the New Spain were installed in the newly founded churches. The school in Texcoco flourished, and this great interest in European instruments in general caused officials in Mexico to publish guidelines in 1556 establishing which instruments were proper for use in church:

we urge all the clergy to install organs everywhere so that indecorous and improper

instruments may be banished from the church. The organ is the correct instrument

The Spanish crown strongly supported the guidelines of the council, sending in 1561 a cédula, or proclamation, to establish more firmly a limited number of liturgical musicians. The cédula, however, was probably not motivated by a genuine belief that organs were truly revered as the best instruments with which to praise God, but by more practical concerns. Liturgical musicians in Mexico were exempt from paying taxes, so one exempt organist would be preferred by the government over the exaggerated number of chirimía, clarion, comett, dulzaina, fife, flute, orlo, rebec, sackbut, trumpet, and viol players who were "making the poor shoulder the burden."

Between 1575 and 1596 it was documented by Fray Geronimo de Mendieta in his Historica Eclesiástica Indiana that Spanish organ builders supervised the natives during the creation of organs on Mexican soil, and that the natives were talented in both the construction of and performance upon these instruments at the monasteries and convents. A competition in 1567 between the Spaniard Manuel Rodriquez and the Indian Francisco was recorded in Diego

Basalenque's Historia de la Provincia de San Nicolás de Tolentiono de Michoacán and reported:

"So outstanding did he [Francisco] show himself (in improvising and playing a piece) that all the musicians were left gasping with admiration."

Although this seems to paint a pretty picture of music and Catholicism harmoniously entwining the European and native Indian cultures, much of the conversion was carried out by force. Prior to Cortés’ final major battle with the Aztecs at Tenochtitlán, Cortés staged a surprise attack on the natives of Cholula with a massive slaughter of six to ten thousand people near their grand pyramids. One pyramid was too large to be completely destroyed, so to represent the power of the Christian God over the religion of the natives, a church, which still stands today, was built on the remaining foundation. A shameful number of other accounts of cruelty were documented and brought to the attention of the Spanish crown, which responded by making a senseless attempt to justify the massacres by having the conquistadores read a proclamation in Spanish to the Indians before each battle that stated, "the resultant deaths and damages shall be your fault, and not the monarch's or mine or the soldiers" if the natives did not immediately submit to the Pope and the King. Even as late as the 18th century, legends came about that told of mortar being mixed with wine and the blood of the native Mexicans to build the church at La Valenciana.

In spite of the oppression, the tradition of organs and organ playing grew strong in Mexico, originating with imported instruments and players and branching into native constructions and organists. In 1810, however, the war for independence from Spain began, spurred by Padre Miguel Hidalgo’s Grito de Dolores. During the ensuing 11 years of civil war until independence was granted in 1821, the arts were basically abandoned as many people were left to fend for themselves. The political turmoil and general misery since that time left the country wholly unstable, and the arts never had a chance to fully reestablish themselves. No form of government was universally accepted, and the constant strife among those fighting for control was devastating. Churches were looted and vandalized. Precious pipe metal, mostly lead, was invariably melted down for use as ammunition. Another cause of the dilapidation was the series of mid-nineteenth century laws initiated by Lerdo in 1856 that progressively forced the loss of church wealth and property and eventually led to the governmental acquisition of ecclesiastical assets. No longer was any one person directly responsible or obligated to maintain and keep up the organs. Organ galleries were therefore unattended, allowing for any and all kinds of abuse - from inconsiderate souvenir-hunters to vicious vandals. This long history of neglect beginning around 1810 has led to the unplayable waifs whose remains lie unhappily in the dreary bowels of Mexico today.

Former monastery at Yanhuitlán in the state of Oaxaca

As with every region, the organs of Mexico have a general set of characteristics that can be specifically linked to their locale, though there are always exceptions. To begin with, the organs are based totally upon Spanish style instruments from the 17th and 18th centuries. Flemish builders influenced the earliest of these instruments. Shortly after the close of Spanish dominance in the Low Countries, two schools of organ building developed in Spain, the Castillian school in the south and west and the Catalonian style in the northeast.

The Catalonian style of organ building relied heavily on the previous Flemish influence, resulting in an expansion in the development of Principal choruses. Color ranks were seldom made, and reeds, though existent, lacked the brilliance developed in the Castillian style. The purpose of this type of organ was to create a well-blending chorus of stops. This is very much akin to the German conception of reeds blending with the principal chorus, and the principal ranks creating a plenum ensemble.

feature the reeds en chamade on the organ façade by the middle of the 17th century. Joseph de Echevarría is credited as the innovator of horizontal reeds in 1677, though they may date from as early as 1620; contracts rarely specify whether the reeds are horizontal or vertical. Echevarría’s contract for the organ in San Juan Bautista of Mondragón from 1677 reads:

A curious but ingenious European development also swept through the Castillian organs more quickly than through the Catalonian ones, that of a divided keyboard, or medio registro, as early as 1600. This enabled the organist to play a solo line in one hand and accompany with the other hand on the same keyboard. Contrary to what one might expect, the specification for the bass of the medio registro can be higher than that of the treble. The specification of the organ in the Parish Church of the Magdalena in Tlatelulco demonstrates this concept. The bass needed to sound higher than the treble because of its lower range. Arabic numerals were never used to represent pitch designations; the name on the stop indicated at what pitch level it would sound. The designations are included here for easy reference. Spanish and Mexican organ-builders measured pipe length in "palmos" (palms of the hand) instead of feet; one palmo is equivalent to approximately 190 centimeters.

Almost all of the instruments in Mexico had one manual with no pedal division. The range on early keyboards was from C to c’’’; later instruments expanded that range by several notes in the treble. The bottom octave was often a short octave with no split keys. The largest organs, like the two in the Cathedral of Mexico City, both have two manuals with medio registro.

Cathedral of Mexico City, Epistle Organ

The Epistle organ (south coro) was ordered from Spain in 1688, arrived in three shipments in 1693, was attributed to the Spaniard Jorge de Sesma, and erected by Tiburcio Sanz in 1695. The Gospel organ (north coro) was built by José Nassare in 1735 and internally bears his dated signature.

His instructions for construction were to "make an exact copy of the Spanish organ, and then improve the Spanish organ to be exactly like his." Many complaints concerning the Spanish organ were logged, especially in relation to the wooden windchests shipped from Spain. The wood, exposed to the constant humidity from the boat trip and then to the extreme dry heat in the interior of Mexico became warped and cracked resulting in such drastic wind leaks that the organ was virtually unplayable. Nassare supposedly did made alterations to the Epistle organ, but evidence suggests the renovations were made prior to his construction of the newer instrument. The duplication of the rank names indicates stops at different pitch levels or in different placements in the nave or aisle façades or interior of the organ. The existence of pedals is unusual, even for such magnificent instruments. Jesús de Estrada, a Mexican historical organ specialist in the middle of the 20^th century and one known for omitting sources, indicated no pedal stops for the Cathedral instruments in his Música y Músicos de las Epoca Virreinal, according to Fesperman. Susan Tattershall confirms the lack of pedals in her specifications. Fesperman’s list of registers comes from Dale A. Flentrop’s restoration work of 1977, after José Perez de Lara’s work in 1817.

The organ cases of gallery organs were often basically shaped like a rectangle. The Oaxacan organs, however, had "hips" purely for aesthetic purposes.

Other organs, like this one from the Basilica de Nuestra Señora de Ocotlán, had a double façade making antiphonal effects very obvious to the listener. The only difference between the front and back façade was that the back pipes were not painted with grotesques.

The cases were often colorfully decorated, and many façade pipes were painted with grotesques.

The pipes in these instruments are almost always made of metal, though there are rare occasions where one may find the use of wooden pipes as shown here at San Martino, Apetatitlan. Wooden pipes are subject to rapid decay due to termites, woodworm, and the hot and dry conditions of the climate.

The horizontal reeds, though not ubiquitous, were very popular.

Accessory, or toy stops often appeared in the instruments. These included such devices as pajaritos, campanitas, cascabeles, and tambores. "Pajaritos" literally means "little birds;" the mechanism consists of several pipes inverted in water and is the most common of all the toy stops. The sound is a delightful twittering that closely resembles bird song. Campanitas and cascabeles are both bell stops, campanitas corresponding with the mechanism of the Northern European cymbelstern, and cascabeles being a rattle played by a paddle wheel. Tambores are drum stops. As in Spain, the stop consisted of two large wooden pipes slightly out of tune with one another.

Very little has been published or is known in general about the organs and their uses in Mexico. Many problems face builders when they try to restore instruments, and researchers are bombarded with countless delays. Susan Tattershall worked for over 10 years as an organ restoration agent in Mexico, and the stories she has related about difficulties, especially concerning money, would have caused anyone with less enthusiasm to simply abandon the project. In one case, she had not been paid for over two months and resorted to padlocking the organ gallery and leaving the church until she received a payment. The priest called her in to convince her to work for "the love of the Virgin," and she retorted that if he could get her bank, telephone, electric co-op to give Susan her home, phone, and current for "the love of the Virgin," she would be willing to work for the same.

Marilou Kratzenstein also experienced a great number of difficulties trying to research the use of the organs. She has related stories of trying to locate the Biblioteca Naciónal, the most important library in the city, the existence of which very few people even seemed to know. The lack of a computer database and illogical filing hindered even the most basic research. Another of her anecdotes illustrates the difficulty of obtaining access to a church to examine an instrument:

Such experiences are common. A tour of the organs in Mexico guided by Ms. Tattershall in 1997 led to the city of Tonanzintla. The tour group found the entire town drunk on the other side of the church. They refused to cooperate in unlocking the church, hinting that a little "dinero" might convince them. Ms. Tattershall decided she did not want to push her luck, though, because the citizens were known for not recognizing or heeding any form of state government. They also had a reputation for shooting people they did not like. The group simply left.

With such uncooperative people and a lack of standardized databases of important early documents, or any type of documents for that matter, research and restoration requires a great amount of patience and persistence. Without the perserverance, however, of wise individuals like Dr. Kratzenstein and Ms. Tattershall, the jewels that exist in Mexico may be lost forever.

Bibliography

Bibliography

A history beginning with a brief description of the arrival of Cortés, but explaining in greater detail the political uprisings after 1821.

(F 1231.5.B38)

The rendering of music on this historic instrument is wonderful, and the photography included in the cover jacket is excellent.

(Personal Copy)

The entire book traces the history of organs and their music according to region, and this particular section describes the organs and repertoire of pre-1700 Spain.

(Personal Copy)

Contains a survey of organs and technical characteristics including specifications and organ construction measurements.

(ML 550.07x)

The best source of photos, specifications, and history of organs in Mexico by a respected leader in the field.

(ML 565.F47)

A thorough description of the events that led to and followed Padre Miguel Hidalgo's Grito de Dolores.

(F 1232.H57 H441 1981)

Although this book was written primarily as a performer’s edition of music, it provides a concise history of Spain and their organs.

(Personal Copy)

Dr. Kratzenstein worked for a year in Mexico, researching the uses of the processional

organ. Her acquaintance with Susan Tattershall and vast knowledge of the characteristics of the organs in Mexico provides a first-hand contemporary account of their history.

Dr. Kratzenstein recounts in a colorful rendition both her experience as a researcher Mexico and the processional organs and their uses.

A long account of Cortés’ arrival and conquest of New Spain.

(F 1230.C835 M36 1993)

Traces the history of the organ in North America, beginning with the earliest organs arriving and spreading in "tin America. (Personal Copy)

An account of how restoration should be done and her efforts and problems in restoration. (Personal Copy)

Surveys the early instruments and includes contemporary issues about restoration. (Personal Copy)

An excellent resource for a history of the organ.

(Personal Copy)

Personal photograph, 1997.