Hernando Franco’s Circumdederunt me: the First Piece for the Dead in Early Colonial America

Abstract

This article presents a study and edition of the four-part motet Circumdederunt me by Hernando Franco (ca. 1530-1585), a musician born in peninsular Spain who worked as chapelmaster in Portugal, Santo Domingo, Cuba and Guatemala before being appointed to that role at the Cathedral of Mexico (1575-1585). Although several scholars have long known that settings of Circumdederunt me were freely composed as extraliturgical motets for performance during the mass, they had not recognized them as specific elements of the Liturgy. Nonetheless, this text was performed in Spain and Latin America as an alternative invitatory for the Matins for the Dead, either before or in place of the standard Roman prescribed invitatory, Regem cui omnia vivunt.

Este artículo presenta un estudio y edición del motete a cuatro voces "Circumdederunt me" de Hernando Franco (ca. 1530-1585), un músico nacido en la península ibérica que trabajó como maestro de capilla en Portugal, Santo Domingo, Cuba y Guatemala antes de ser nombrado para ese cargo en la Catedral de México (1575-1585). Aunque varios estudiosos han considerado que las versiones polifónicas de "Circumdederunt me" fueron libremente compuestas como motetes extralitúrgicos para su interpretación durante la misa, no las reconocieron como piezas específicos de la liturgia. No obstante, este texto se interpretó en España y América Latina como un invitatorio alternativo para las Matinas de los Difuntos, ya sea antes o en lugar del invitatorio romano estándar prescrito, "Regem cui omnia vivunt".