Francisco de Vidales

about

Francisco de Vidales (c.1630 - 1702) was one of the most distinctive voices of the Mexican Baroque villancico tradition, active during the second half of the seventeenth century. Born in Spain around 1630, he served first as a musician in the cathedral of Sevilla before crossing the Atlantic to take up positions in New Spain. By 1660 he was maestro de capilla of Puebla Cathedral, one of the richest and musically most ambitious centres in the Americas. Vidales became celebrated for his villancicos, written for Christmas, Corpus Christi, and other feast days, which fuse Iberian poetic forms with the rhythmic vitality and colour of colonial devotional culture. His texts make use of dialects, dramatic personae, and theatrical imagery typical of the period; musically they blend contrapuntal skill with the lively dance-inflected idioms of the Hispanic baroque. In 1676 he moved to Mexico City Cathedral, where he remained until his death in 1702. Only a portion of his large output survives, but enough remains to position Vidales as a leading architect of the New Spanish villancico and a central figure in the evolution of cathedral music in the Americas. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.

top songs

albums

Missa Mexicana

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Christmas Carols

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Celebremos el Niño: Christmas Delights from the Mexican Baroque

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100 Best Carols

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Missa Mexicana (The Harp Consort feat. conductor: Andrew Lawrence-King)

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The Harp Consort

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Dos Estrellas le Siguen

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Los que fueren de buen gusto, Jácara

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Missa Mexicana (The Harp Consort cond. Andrew Lawrence-King, 2002)

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The Christmas Album: Festive Music from Europe & America

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The Christmas Album

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Villancicos de la Colección Sánchez Garza

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