Repertoire

Of Gaspar Fernándes’ birth we know neither date nor place, but his name and later career data would put them at c. 1570, somewhere in Portugal. By 1590 he was serving as both singer and instrumentalist in the capela of Évora Cathedral; in 1599 he was engaged, first as organist, then as maestro for the Cathedral of Guatemala (now Antigua). Seven years later he left Guatemala for Puebla, wh ere he secured the position of maestro de capilla. There he remained active until his death in 1629, though, as already noted, in his declining years he was assisted by Juan Gutierrez de Padilla. Fern´ndes may not have been a composer of the first rank, but what he did compose has charm and ingenuity. He left behind a considerable quantity of ethnic and dialect villancicos, some of them in the Amerindian dialects spoken in the region around Puebla.