Te, Joseph, celebrent: An examination and guide to Manuel de Sumaya’s works for the feast of St. Joseph at the Cathedral of Mexico City, 1714-1715

Abstract

This dissertation examines three Latin pieces written by Manuel de Sumaya for the celebration of the Feast of Saint Joseph (March 19th) at the Cathedral of Mexico City. It looks at his Mass, motet, and hymn through a Spanish and Novohispanic lens in order to situate Sumaya’s music making in its national and viceregal music context. The music is unpublished, un-transcribed, or otherwise difficult to find in performance editions, so it has previously seen very little scholarly attention. The dissertation includes a study of celebratory prescriptions for the feast at the Cathedral of Mexico City as described in primary source documents such as the Chapter Minutes (Actas de cabildo) and Diario Manual (a Mexico City Cathedral ordinal). It describes the relationships between text, texture, and harmony in understanding Sumaya’s compositional style. Finally, it offers historically informed performance practice suggestions on the topics of eighteenth-century Novohispanic diction, pitch and transposition, the composition of the music chapel, consequences of the dissertation’s examination of local practices and analytical exploration, and uses these to make suggestions for concert programming. Appendices to this document include a modern edition of verse five of the hymn Te, Joseph, celebrent, “Nobis summa Trias,” as well as a translation of the Diario Manual for the Feast of Saint Joseph and its related financial donations. I conclude that these works (most specifically the Mass) are a case study of the occupational pressures and rigor expected of the newly minted composer-priest in the first few years of adult employment at the Cathedral of Mexico City as he maneuvers for occupational advancement. More generally, this dissertation is a resource for understanding and performing music by Sumaya and his Latin American contemporaries.