ARCHIVE RESEARCH

THE ARCHIVE OF THE OAXACA CATHEDRAL

Among the many archives in the city of Oaxaca - ecclesiastical, judicial, notarial, municipal, and state - one of the most important for organ research is the Archive of the Oaxaca Cathedral (Archivo Histórico de Arquidiócesis de Antequera Oaxaca or AHAAO). It was here that IOHIO researcher Ricardo Rodys spent more than two years combing through church records dating from the 16th through the 20th centuries for references to organs, organists, organbuilders, and organ music. He found hundreds, nearly all of them related in some way to payments by the church for organ construction, organ repairs and materials, and special masses or to organists, organ technicians, and bellows pumpers for their work or their lack of work. He is currently compiling a study of the organ culture of the Oaxaca Cathedral, one of the most important music centers of New Spain.

THE SOR MARIA CLARA NOTEBOOK

A manuscript “Cuaderno de tonos de maitines de Sor María Clara del Santísimo Sacramento” (“Notebook of Psalm Tones for Matins of Sister María Clara of the Most Blessed Sacrament”) was registered in the AHAAO some years ago and published by Wayne Leupold Editions in collaboration with the IOHIO in 2005. It consists of a collection of short pieces or verses for organ and seems to have been compiled, though not composed, by a Oaxacan nun during the first half of the nineteenth century.

We are almost certain that these organ pieces were composed in Oaxaca by Oaxacans, in which case they would be the only examples of organ music documented to date by Mexican composers. These light, happy pieces are classical in character and very accessible to the listener. They were probable written down for teaching purposes, since liturgical organ was usually played by memory or improvised and for that reason so little of it remains. We also know that teaching music to young people was one of many responsibilities of a titular organist. To honor the memory of Sor María Clara, we regularly incorporate pieces from her notebook in our IOHIO concerts and encourage Mexican organists invited to play in our festivals to do the same.

Since the publication of the manuscript, Ricardo Rodys has discovered genealogical references which prove that Sor María Clara (or Clara Martínez Ramírez) was part of a dynasty of Oaxacan organists and organbuilders which originated in the late eighteenth century. What had been a routine research project suddenly turned into exciting detective work as one reference led to another.

Thus Rodys was able to discover that Clara´s grandfather had been the organist in the Oaxaca Cathedral starting in 1786, but previous to that had been in Tlacolula and other nearby communities such as Ocotepec and Teitipac (where the outer cases of the organs still exist). It seems likely that at some point he would have played the organ in the neighboring community of Tlacochahuaya as well. Clara´s uncle was also an organist in the Cathedral, her cousins were organbuilders, and her aunt had been an organist in the Conceptionist convent, just like Clara herself. (To read the complete article about Sor María Clara published in the Fourth Newsletter of the IOHIO, click here). Although most of the information was discovered in the Cathedral archives, the document which cites the profession of Clara´s uncle (“organista”) and of his four sons (“organeros”) appeared in the Municipal archives.

THE NOTARIAL ARCHIVE OF OAXACA

Dating from before the Reform Period (pre-1858), this important archive consists of notarized contracts for transactions between individuals and/or institutions. Since the hundreds of old books in this archive have not been catalogued for organ references, it is by sheer luck that one may stumble upon a contract made between church or municipal authorities and an organbuilder for the construction of an organ. These contracts refer to an organ still in existence or not, and often include detailed information about the organ, its disposition, the materials used in the construction and its cost. They are by far some of the most important references we have found.

Such was the case in a contract discovered by researcher Nora Sedeño in 2003 for the organ (later destroyed during the Revolution) in Santa Catarina Ixtepeji. The document indicates that the community wanted an organ exactly like the one in Santo Domingo de Guzmán (later destroyed during the Reform Period) and describes the organ in detail. Thanks to this reference, it was possible to recover information about two significant Oaxacan instruments no longer in existence.

Since none of the Oaxacan archives has been catalogued for organ references, we are especially grateful to our colleagues in the field of archive research, who generously share with the IOHIO references related to the organs which they come across in the course of their own research. For reports on previous IOHIO archive research, see Newsletters No. 1 p. 4, Newsletters No. 2 p. 11, Newsletters No. 3 pp. 5-6, and Newsletters No. 4 p. 11).