La dinastía Castro de organeros poblanos. La organería en las provincias mexicanas de Puebla y Tlaxcala en los siglos XVIII y XIX

Abstract

This paper begins with a brief overview of the organ in Mexico since the establishment of the Viceroyalty of New Spain in 1521, noting that the Mexican organ building can be classified broadly from Iberian models. In this regard, and as a starting point, chapter I briefly aboard the Spanish organ building to try to define broadly its influences, convergences and divergences on Mexican organ building. Closely linked to this, Chapter II describes the main trends on organ building in Vice-regal Mexico. The main objective of the thesis is the study of organ building of Puebla-Tlaxcala in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, which by its historical, political and cultural environment, allowed in this region of Mexico a strong development of one of the most splendid expressions of organ building in the country, characterized by rich quantitative and qualitative. In order to enable the intentions and objectives of my work, I made a systematic study of the major trends in organ building in the region, having performed a field study of the organs built by the leading organ builders of the era, with particular emphasis on the Castro family, who develop a leading role in Puebla and Tlaxcala throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, from the establishment in the city of Puebla, of his organ building workshop founded in 1738. I based the study of the structural characteristics of the organs built by the "Castro Dynasty", in part, from the analysis of the phonic composition, or tonal designs of their instruments, because it is a sound testimony that evolved for more than a century and a half (1738-1900), parallel to the last stage of Vice-regal Mexico, and the first years of independent Mexico in the nineteenth century. I also consider a very important task the study of organ cases plastic designs, as they present evidence of stylistic transition, influenced by a period of turbulent political changes in Mexico, which are manifested in the designs of their organ cases in strict connection with the tonal design of the organs. Finally, my research ventures in the analysis of instrumental performance practices of the period mentioned, taking as a platform the study of documentary sources including key music available in Mexico since the beginning of the colony in the sixteenth century, and its connection with the construction approach and aesthetic of “Castro” organs. My thesis includes a sound recording (CD) and visual (pictures) of some of the most representative organs built by the Castro family in the region of Puebla and Tlaxcala. This research related to the organ building of the Castro dynasty is pioneer of its kind. The project was formally started on the ground of my Master's thesis at the Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona (UAB), which laid a solid foundation to realize this long-range study, through this thesis.

Date of Award	5 Oct 2012
Original language	Spanish
Supervisor	Jordi Ballester Gibert (Director)