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Juan Navarro "Hispalensis" and Juan Navarro "Gaditanus"Author(s): Gilbert ChaseSource: The Musical Quarterly, Vol. 31, No. 2 (Apr., 1945), pp. 188-192Published by: Oxford University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/739508 .

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JUAN NAVARRO HISPALENSIS ANDJUAN NAVARRO GADITANUS*By GILBERT CHASE

HOMONYMS ARE thegremlinsf biography. hey creep ntothe mostserious eference orks, eaving trailof errorand confusion.heytrap heunwary iographerr historianntofalsepremisesndunfounded onclusions.n a word, hey ftenmakehim ookfoolish. nfortunately,am in a positiono cor-roborate hisfrom ersonal xperience. derive omeconsolationfrom hefact hat amnotalone nthispredicament:here reillustriouscholars o keep me company,for the homonym-gremlinsrenorespectorsfauthority.Why twoSpanishmusicians ftheI6thcenturyhouldbothbenamedJuanNavarrosamysteryhat cannot retendo solve.Perhaps he circumstancehat hisname svery ommon nSpainmayhavesomethingo do with t. However nscrutablehemys-tery,we must tleastgivecredit oa wiseProvidence orhavingplacedthe AtlanticOcean between hetwomusicians,s thoughemphasizingheir istinctdentitiesbythiswidephysical epara-tion.But men eldomprofit ythehints f a helpful rovidence.Let no manjoinwhat God hathputasunder. he warningwasignored.Human errorleapedblithelycross wothousandmilesof ocean andobstinatelyoinedthese womusiciansnto single,composite eing-or rather, on-being,ince such a compositecreature ever xisted utside hepagesof ourbetter eferencebooks.Thisfabulousreatureirstmergesntheform fa hypothe-sis from hepagesof RafaelMitjana's ruditemonograph,LaMusiqueenEspagne,"publishedn theEncyclopedie e la Mu-sique et Dictionnaire u Conservatoire.lhis is, in part,whatMitjana aysaboutJuanNavarro:"Scarcely nythings knownaboutthe ifeof thiscomposer, ut tmaybe supposed hathe*This paperis based on material resentedt a meeting f the SoutheasternChapter f the AmericanMusicological ociety n Washington, . C., on May 22,1943.1Part I, Vol. 4 (1920), pp. I983-84. i88

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9go The MusicalQuarterlytionhehadconcerninguanNavarro.Consequentlye wasfullyjustifiednwriting,n nesaitpresque iendela viede cetauteur.Little nough,ntruth, as known.Butsomethingadhappenedwhich nducedMitjanato supplementhismeagrenformationwithtemptingpeculation.n theBritishMuseum,Mitjanahadcome across a volumeentitled iber in quo quatuorPassionesChristi omini continentur. . octo Lamentationes:ratioqueHieremieProphetce.uncprimumn ucem ditus.Mexici.ApudDidacumLopez Davalos.Anno 1604.The name f thecomposeror compilerwasgiven s "F. IoannisNavarro".We canimaginethatMitjanamusthavebeen elatedwhenhemade hisdiscovery.Here was another ookby thefamousSpanish omposerJuanNavarro,whichhadevidentlyscaped heattentionfbibliogra-phers nd historians. nd printedn Mexico!Then itwas verylikely hatNavarrohadgonetoMexico, ndquiteprobable hathe haddiedthere. utMitjanawascautious. e merely uggestedprobabilities. e did not statecategoricallyhatNavarrohadgone o Mexico.Therewasonly ne"fact" hat e tookabsolutelyforgranted: hat heJuanNavarrowhopublishedheMexicancollection f I604 wasthe samemanwhoseworkswereprintedat Rome n I 59. Inthis emayhavebeenunwary. utheappearsas a model fprudencencomparison ith therbiographershorushed nboldlywherehe had trodcautiously.In all subsequenteferencesspeculationsturnedntodefiniteassertion. he composite, ybridJuanNavarro of Spain andMexicoappears ull-fledged.ake,forexample,hebiographicalnotein Riemann'sMusiklexikon, hereNavarro'ssojourn nddeath nMexicoare stated s establishedacts:1604wanderternachMexikoaus,wo er ein Buch homophonerassionen ndLamentationenublizierte1604) undgestorbenst.4 he samepatternsfaithfullyollowednGrove'sDictionary,mbroideredwith fewmoredetails. hus,Navarro'sdepartureorMexico sdefinitelylaced after 591 (on thecleverassumptionhathewentthere fter hepublicationf theRomevolume).Quotingfromthe article: "Navarro afterwardsemigrated o Mexico,where, n 1604,he published book of Passions nd Lamenta-tions."5t isalsostatedhathedied nMexico, fter 604.Appar-ently he deaofa posthumousublication asruled ut.4 H. Riemann,Musiklexikon (iIth ed., 1929), Vol. 2, p. 1251.5Grove'sDictionary f MusicandMusicians 3rded., 1927),Vol. III, p. 608.

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License ftheCommissionereneral ftheFranciscans,appearingnJuanNavarro'sLiber... (Mexico,1604)

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Title-Page fJuanNavarro'sLibernquoquatuorPassiones hristiomini ontinenturMexico,1604)

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JuanNavarroHispalensisndJuanNavarroGaditanus 191Now letusgobacktoSpainfor moment,nsearch ffurtherinformationoncerningheSpanishJuanNavarro, eaving sidefor hepresenthe Mexican omplications.n 1933, woSpanishmusicologists,uanB. Elustiza ndG. Castrillo ernandez, ub-lished collectionntitled: ntologiaMusical; iglodeOro de larmusicaitzurgicaeEspana.ThisanthologyfSpanishacredmusiccontainedeveral ompositionsyJuanNavarro, ogether ithbiographical otice heddingmuchadditionalighton his life.6It appears hatNavarrowasborn nMarchena,ndnot nSevilleas stated yall other uthorities,ho deducedhisSevillian irthfromhecircumstancehat nthetitle-pagef theRomevolumehe iscalledHispalensis. t allevents,inceMarchena sa town ntheprovince fSeville, urcomposerould havebeenborn hereand stillbe called Hispalensis,meaningn thiscase from heprovince atherhan hecityofSeville.JuanNavarrowaschoir-mastersuccessivelytSalamanca,tCiudadRodrigo ndatPalen-cia (from I578). Accordingto the Actas Capitulares f theCathedral fPalencia,he died n thatcityon Sunday, eptember25, 58o. Thisdocumentaryroof egardinghedate fNavarro'sdeathworkedhavoc with hetheoryhathehadgoneto Mexicoandhaddiedthere fter 604. Moreover,tproved eyond pos-sibilityfdoubt hatJuanNavarroHispalensiswasnottheJuanNavarrowho compiled heMexicanLiberof 1604.This willbeevidentwhenwe haveexaminedheMexicanbookmoreclosely.Several opies f theLiber nquo quatuor assioneshristiDominicontinentur... areextant nAmerica.There arecopiesin theJohnCarterBrownMemorialLibrarynProvidence,heMorganLibrarynNew York, ndthelibraryftheUniversityofTexas-this list sbynomeanscomplete.tranks soneofthemostfamousmusicalimprintsf the New World.Musically tconsistsfplainsongettingsor heOffice fHoly Week-con-taininghefourPassions ndeight amentationsnda prayer fJeremiah.he bookcamefromhepress fDiegoL6pezDavalos,ofMexicoCity, n I604. As far s isknown, hisstheonlybookwithmusicprintednMexicoduringhe17th enturythere reseveralmusicalimprintsating romhe 6thcentury).7

6ElistizaandCastrillo ernandez, p.cit., . Ixxv.7Cf.Lota M. Spell, The FirstMusic-booksrintednAmerica",n The MusicalQuarterly, V (1929), p. 54. In this rticleJohannis avarro s describeds "choir-master f thecathedralnMexicoCity"-uponwhatauthoritys notstated.

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The MusicalQuarterlyIn theLicentiaOrdinarii ranted y authorityftheArch-bishop fMexico, heauthor f thisbook s referredo asFraterloannesNauarroGaditanus, rdinisMinorumegularisbseruan-tice, rouinciaeApostolorumetri& PauliMichhuacanensis..From hiswe learn hat rayJuanNavarrowasa native fCadiz,in Spain, hathe belonged o the Franciscan rder, nd thatheserved ntheProvince fMichoacan.A few dditional etailsmaybe gathered rom he icenciagranted y theGeneralCommis-sioner f theFranciscan rder, n whichFrayJuanNavarro sreferredo as Sacerdotey confessore la dichaProuincia, Vi-cariodechoro. hisestablisheshat e wasa priestnHolyOrders,anda member f thechoir.Turningnowto the icenciagrantedby theViceroy,Don Gasparde Zuiiiiga Azevedo,we read thefollowing: or quantoFray oan Nauarrode la Ordende SanctFrancisco,Vicariode Choro,mea hechorelaci6n ue el a com-puesto on muchadiligencia, cuydado nlibro ue contieneasquatro assiones. .8The words have tressedontain roof hatFrayJuanNavarroGaditanuswas stilllivingn I6o , theyearwhen he icenciawasdated, ince hedocumenttateshatheper-sonally equested ermissionohavehisbookprinted.inceJuanNavarroHispalensis iedatPalencia n I580, it sobvious hathecouldnot have askedpermissiono print bookat MexicoCityin i60o.Withthefacts nce establishedby documentaryvidence,tis easy to develophindsight.Why did Mitjanaassume hatafamousnd successfulpanishmusician, olding rominentosi-tions nhishomeland,houldsuddenlyecome relativelybscureprovincial riest n Mexico? And why shoulda master f thepolyphonic tylebringout a volumeconsistingxclusivelyfplainsong? ndwhy--but amnot nclinedopursue he ubjectfurther. yownglasshouse stoovulnerable.9Havingfallenntoerrormyself, prefero swallowmymortificationndto retiregracefullyrom hescene,with he atisfactionfhaving tlonglastclearedup themysteryndestablishedheseparatedentitiesofJuanNavarroHispalensisndJuanNavarroGaditanus.8"WhereasFrayJuanNavarroof theOrderofSt. Francis,Vicarof theChoir,hasmadedeposition eforemethathehascomposedwithmuchdiligencend careabookcontaininghefourPassions . ."9See "The MusicofSpain" (1941),pp. 259-260. utcf.alsotheSpanish dition(Buenos Aires, 1943), pp. 277-278.

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