On Tuesday December 12 at 7:00 PM the Society of St. Hugh of Cluny will be sponsoring a Solemn High Mass for the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe at the Church of the Immaculate Conception, 414 East 14th Street New York.
The music will be extraordinary: an orchestral mass and and selections from “Matins for the Virgin of Guadalupe” by Ignacio de Jerusalem, an 18th century composer from Lecce, Italy and Cadiz. He was active since the 1740’s in Mexico City, where he was chapel master at the cathedral. This will be a rare opportunity to hear this unique music from Spanish Mexico, a blend of European and local traditions! James Wetzel will direct and Charles Weaver will be among the performers.
After the Mass all are invited to a wine and cheese reception in the parish center.
Who was Ignacio de Jerusalem, the composer of the mass to be performed on December 12? Prof. Craig Russell, a leading expert on his music, provides more details:
Born on June 3, 1707 in Lecce, Italy, Ignacio de Jerusalem became an accomplished violinist and composer, eventually being enticed to move to Mexico through the efforts of Josef Cárdenas, the Administrator of the Royal Hospital of Indigenous Citizens in Mexico City. The Royal Hospital was a charitable institution and received its income through the ticket receipts of the major “Broadway” theater, the Coliseo. Cárdenas had argued persuasively that if the music resources at the Coliseo were made top-notch, then the income of the theater would flow in; Cárdenas embarked to Spain in 1742 and recruited a dozen impressive talents—the best of them being “the celebrated musical composer Ignacio de Jerusalem.” He directed the musical activities at the Coliseo upon his arrival, and by 1746 he was contracted by the Mexico City Cathedral to compose villancicos and instruct the children at the Colegio de Infantes (College of Noble Youths). His own son, Domingo, applied for entrance into the Colegio. In 1749 the Cathedral Chapter was frustrated to no end by the ineffectual leadership of the interim Chapel Master, Domingo Dutra. In 1750 they finally moved to resolve the issue by declaring the post vacant and having oposiciones (exams and contests) to determine the Chapel Master. The musical jurists—all trained in an older and more conservative style—were dumbfounded by many of Jerusalem’s solutions and compositions. They simply didn’t know what to think. On a split decision, they at last confirmed him as the new Chapel Master on November 3, 1750. The 1750s were bumpy years for Jerusalem: he became embroiled in a lawsuit with the tenant of the Coliseo, Joseph Calvo; Jerusalem’s wife, Doña Antonia de Estrada, moved out of the house and petitioned the Cathedral to garner some of Jerusalem’s wages; he attempted to squelch musicians from other parishes who were taking away some of the job opportunities from the Cathedral musicians; and he locked horns with the newly arrived Matheo Tollis de la Rocca who was a clear favorite of the vice-queen herself. By the last years of the decade, however, he had turned his ship around. He reformed antiquated notation practices by the Cathedral copyists, upgraded the quality of poetic texts that were to be set as villancicos, greatly expanded the size of the Cathedral orchestra, and composed at a prolific rate. By the time of his death on December 15, 1769, he had won the hearts and respect of his colleagues; he was eulogized by the Cathedral Chapter and was fondly remembered for many years after his death.
On December 12 the music will include excerpts from de Jerusalem’s Matins for the Virgin of Guadalupe. Prof. Russell describes it in these words:
Of course, you are probably wondering what makes Jerusalem’s Matins for Our Lady of Guadalupe important or worthy enough for a revival. What is it like? —Quite simply, it is fabulous! It is a glorious gem in the choral literature that resembles in scale, magnificence, and grandeur the operas of Alessandro Scarlatti, oratorios of Handel, or larger cantatas of Bach. It is chockful of varied styles, differing emotions, and multifarious moods. The main corpus of the composition features the full choir with orchestral accompaniment, and the styles run the gamut.
This mass will be celebrated for the soul of Msgr. Ignacio Barreiro, and is made possible in part by his generosity. He was at all times a great enthusiast of the history, art and culture of the Spanish-speaking world. Msgr. Barreiro died on April 13 of this year – we reprint his obituary:
Msgr. Barreiro was born in Montevideo, Uruguay, Oct. 22, 1947, the son of the late Antonio Barreiro Brunel and Margarita Blanca Carámbula Regules. Schooled in Uruguay, he obtained a law degree and joined the diplomatic service of his country, where he was eventually stationed at the United Nations in New York City from 1978-1983.
He entered the Seminary and College of St. Joseph (Dunwoodie) in 1983, and was ordained priest by John Cardinal O’Connor at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Nov. 22, 1987.
After parish work in New York, he entered the University of the Holy Cross in Rome, where he earned a licentiate and eventually a doctorate in 1997. In September 1998, he was appointed the first director the Rome bureau of Human Life International (HLI), founded in that year. In 2010-11 he briefly served as interim president of HLI. In 2004 he was named chaplain of his holiness by Pope John Paul II.
In April 2016, he became the parochial vicar at St. Mary’s Church, Norwalk, where he ministered especially to the Hispanic and other ethnic communities that make up the parish.
From the day of his ordination, Msgr. Barreiro was always an avid supporter of the restoration of the traditional rites of the Church, and was a regular celebrant of what is now called the Extraordinary Form.
We hope many of you can make it to the Church of the Immaculate Conception for this beautiful mass in honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe! (As always, there is no “admission” charge – other than what you may wish to voluntarily give to support the parish and the celebration of such liturgies.)
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