By Madison Kirkpatrick
A UCLA musicologist who specializes in Central America recounted moving stories of nuns who sang in convents in the 1600s, as he shared his latest research with a UC Santa Barbara audience last week.
Cesar Favila, professor of ethnomusicology at UCLA.
“For those who were involved, singing in the church was a special experience,” said Cesar Favila, who described convent culture and the role music played in it.
Favila’s current book project, Immaculate Sounds: The Musical Lives of Nuns in New Spain, addresses sacred music and its intersections with urban culture, gender, race, mysticism, and other fine arts in colonial Mexico. He visited UCSB as part of the music department’s Distinguished Lecturer Series.
In the talk titled "Sonic Thresholds in Colonial Mexican Convents: The Grates of the Cloister and the Lips of Nuns, or Who was Sister Rosa?" Favila spoke about Sister Rosa, a famous singer in the church of that era. Her voice was always meant to be anonymous, and those around her were unable to match her talents.
Rosa and other nuns would sing in the convent coro or choir, a grated threshold between the private and public areas, within which nuns could be heard singing by the laity who were in the main body of the church, but the nuns were not visible to them.
The Purisima Concepción Convent in Puebla. Photo by Cesar Favila.
Favila says convent musicians were allegorized as angels because they were physically positioned above the ground floor, because parishioners in the church could not see them, and because nuns were idealized as virgins, a status that the grates symbolically guarded—even if some of the nuns had lost their virginity.
The coros he discussed at UCSB included Santa Inés de Montepulciano Convent, Purísima Concepción Convent, and Santísima Trinidad Convent, all in churches dating from the 1600s with ornate features.
Those nuns who were musically talented could be given financial waivers to perform in the coro, but others were charged a fee to perform. Women who could not afford the fee performed menial labor in order to insert themselves into the convent. It was not until 1724 that a convent was established where finances would not be a barrier to entry.
Favila cited Julia Tuñón Pablos, one of the pioneering historians in studying women’s contributions to society. In 1999, she published an English language revision of her landmark “Women in Mexico,” based on biographies written by nuns to document their daily lives. These biographies usually begin with an anecdote of the nun’s childhood and her journey into nunship and humility. They almost always feature the nun living a long life and dying a hard death -- often by failing very ill or by committing suicide. “The nuns’ biographies were a source of closure,” said Favila.
In the Purisima Concepción Convent, a two-floor building, students took their blessings from the priest on the first floor. The nuns would chant in the building at noon. They would even silence the bells and shut the door to the bell tower to honor Christ’s death. “Bows, kneeling, and full prostration on the floor would also be part of these convent traditions. Nuns were required to kiss the floor every time they entered the building,” Favila said.
In convent music, voices were often doubled to provide acoustical depth to the music. Favila played a short composition from the by composer Juan de Lienas, an example of a musical score with multiple choirs.
The lyrics to a piece by Juan de Lienas, which Favila played for the UCSB audience. Please click on the image at the end of this article to hear a recording of this piece.
“My ears were made to listen and my mouth was made to speak,” wrote Sister Jacinta in her biography.
Favila did not shy away from discussing the erotic relationship between the nuns and Jesus Christ whom they spiritually marry. “Since the late 1700s, receiving the eucharist was a sexually stimulating experience,” Favila said. Nuns needed the eucharist to be initiated into the convent.
Favila also told a story of one famous nun, Sister Maria, who often had supernatural experiences. She once had a vision where she was received into heaven by the Virgin Mary and saints, and she spoke about this in her biography.
In another instance, Sister Maria was supposed to be in two places at once. She had never left her seat but had been seen by a fellow sister to go get her eucharist. Sister Maria was elevated, which she spoke about in her biography. This was viewed as a metaphor for heaven.
The traditional coro had strict guidelines to follow. According to Favila, “In no feast or occasion shall there be dances in either coro, and no plays…”
Favila admitted that nobody today knows exactly what the nuns sounded like. “The public is unsure. There is no music left from the convents, but we know they were performed in the cathedral,” he said.
Favila said that he became interested in convent music after being exposed to the topic during his undergraduate studies. He recalls seeing a book in his school’s music library about Mexican church music and so he immersed himself in the topic.
Madison Kirkpatrick is a fourth-year Sociology major and Professional Writing minor. She is a Web and Social Media Intern for the Division of Humanities and Fine Arts.