Juan Gutiérrez de Padilla

Biography

Juan Gutiérrez de Padilla (ca. 1590 – 1664) was a Renaissance-style Spanish composer and cantor, most of whose career took place in Mexico.

Life and career

Juan Gutiérrez de Padilla was born in Málaga, Spain. He received his musical education from Francisco Vásquez, who was the maestro de capilla of Málaga Cathedral. Padilla took up the position of maestro at the collegiate church in Jerez de la Frontera in 1612. While at Jerez, he unsuccessfully contended for the office of maestro at Málaga Cathedral in 1613, losing out to Estêvão de Brito. Padilla remained at Jerez until 1616, when he was appointed Maestro at Cádiz Cathedral.
Padilla moved to Puebla, Mexico, between 1620 and 1622. At the time New Spain was a viceroyalty of Spain that included modern day Mexico, Guatemala, the Philippines and other parts of Central America and the Caribbean. Padilla is one of the more important composers represented in the manuscripts at Puebla, Mexico and the Hackenberry collection in Chicago, Illinois. He worked at Puebla de Los Angeles, Mexico, which in the 17th century was a bigger religious center than Mexico City itself. Padilla was hired as a cantor and assistant professor at Puebla Cathedral under the maestro de capilla Gaspar Fernandes. After Fernandes' death, he was appointed maestro of the cathedral in 1629. By 1645, Padilla was overseeing 14 choir boys and 28 cantors. Some of the musicians under Padilla would themselves go on to become important figures in the music of New Spain, such as Francisco López Capillas. The Mexican composer Juan García de Zéspedes was a boy soprano in the cathedral choir under Padilla, and later succeeded him to the office of maestro in 1664.
He is to be distinguished from a younger Juan de Padilla, who was maestro de capilla at Zamora, Spain (1661–1663), and Toledo (1663–1673).

Recordings

Missa Ego Flos Campi; Stabat Mater on Victoria and the Music of Imperial Spain Mixolydian dir. Piers Schmidt. Carlton Classics 30366 00802 1989
Mirabilia testimonium; Lamentation for Maundy Thursday; Salve Regina on Masterpieces of Mexican Polyphony Westminster Cathedral Choir dir. James O'Donnell. Hyperion CDA66330 1989
Missa Ego Flos Campi, along with a number of secular works on Missa Mexicana The Harp Consort dir. Andrew Lawrence-King. Harmonia Mundi HMX 2907293 2003
Missa Ave Regina and motets. Streams of Tears The Sixteen dir. Harry Christophers. CORO COR16059 2008
Lamentation for Maundy Thursday on Lamentations of Jeremiah The Tallis Scholars dir. Peter Phillips. Gimell CDGIM 043 2010
Benjamín Juárez Echenique has recorded a Mass and two sets of Christmas villancicos for Urtext digital classics:

Padilla; Maitines de Natividad 1652 (Mexican Baroque, Vol. 7) Angelicum de Puebla, dir. Echenique Urtext UMA2011 46'07"
Padilla; Maitines de Natividad 1653 (Baroque Mexico, Vol. 1) Angelicum de Puebla, dir. Echenique Urtext UMA2004
Padilla; Missa Ego flos campi (excerpts) 1653 (Baroque Mexico, Vol. 3) Angelicum de Puebla, dir. Echenique Urtext UMA2005 1996