Set the house in order. Rulebooks for the good governance of music chapels in Novohispanic cathedrals during the eighteenth century

Abstract

During the Novohispanic period, the music chapels were important to promptly complete the Catholic ritual celebrated in the various viceregal cathedrals. The music had to agree with the grandeur of the great temples, and the musicians had to behave accordingly to the work they performed for the Church. The normative discipline that governed the entire ecclesiastical world for its proper functioning was not alien to those who dedicated themselves to the musical practice. Through the examination of five cathedral rulebooks from Mexico, Puebla, and Valladolid (Morelia), issued in the 18th century, I demonstrate how these legal instruments regulated the musicians’ activities within their workspace and were designed to increase worship decorum inside sacred spaces.