Robb Trust to host concert of sacred choral music, ritual dance Nov. 24

The John Donald Robb Musical Trust at The University of New Mexico will present ¡Música del Corazón! Sacred Choral Music and Ritual Dance on the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro on Sunday, Nov. 24, starting at 2 p.m. at Keller Hall on the UNM campus. The family-friendly event is free and open to all.

At 2 p.m., the event will start off with a pre-concert roundtable featuring a discussion of sacred choral music by Visiting Scholar Javier Marín-López and ritual dance by UNM Professor Emeritus Enrique Lamadrid, facilitated by UNM associate professor of Musicology Ana Alonso-Minutti.

Visitors will be able to meet members of the Robb Trust Board at the Robb Trust information table in the lobby.

At 3 p.m., the concert of sacred choral music with the UNM Concert Choir and Música Antigua de Albuquerque. After a break, the 2024 Robb Award will be presented to composer and educator Michael Mauldin.

¡Música del Corazón! Sacred Choral Music and Ritual Dance on the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro
Sunday, Nov. 24 · 2 p.m. roundtable discussion · 3 p.m. concert
Keller Hall · Family-friendly community event is free and open to all

The UNM John Donald Robb Musical Trust established the Robb Award in 2018. It is presented annually to musicians, individuals, or organizations from New Mexico that have made outstanding contributions in New Mexico in the areas of Music of the Southwest, music education, and contemporary music.

The program will continue with ritual dance with Matachines de la Merced del Cañón de Carnué.

During Spanish colonial times, the church was the patron of the visual, musical, and dramatic arts. The Counter-Reformation generously financed artists and composers to lend their talents to inspire Catholics with the spectacles of their faith. Sacred music echoed daily, resonating from the great stone cathedrals of New Spain to the humble adobe churches of New Mexico.

During the great Pueblo Revolt of 1680, churches and sacred art were destroyed in the northlands, along with all traces of the repertory of sacred music. However, evidence found along the Camino Real shows that music played a daily, vibrant role in the liturgical calendar, spanning from Advent to Pentecost. It flourished particularly during Christmas and Holy Week seasons, as well as in Marian feasts and celebrations of saints such as St. Francis or Santiago. UNM Concert Chorus and Música Antigua de Albuquerque draw from the music of the Camino Real from Mexico City north, as well as from the 18th-century California missions.

The calendar also featured seasonal autos sacramentales or sacramental plays, especially the Pastorela or Christmas shepherd's plays and La Pasión, the Passion of the Christ. Numerous other plays celebrated everything from Adam and Eve to the Virgin of Guadalupe.

All had their own distinctive music that offered a reprieve from the solemnity of the Mass. Sixty days after Easter, Corpus Christi provided an opportunity for even more celebration. Villancicos or carols were sung in Spanish and Native languages.

On such special occasions, costumed dancers appeared in the Tocotín, a ritual dance of Mexican origin. Its cousin, the Matachines dance, dramatizes the spiritual conquest of Mexico and celebrates the emergence of a new Indo-Hispano culture.

It was performed in and out of church from Mexico City to Santa Fe, spilling onto plazas and streets. The sones that still accompany the masked dance in New Mexico are the most ancient instrumental music in the land.

This program honors dancers and musicians from La Merced del Cañón de Carnué, the land grant in the mountains east of Albuquerque, especially since John Donald Robb visited there and recorded the songs on many occasions.

Find more details about the Robb Trust on the website. For more about the event, watch this video with Lamadrid.

Sponsors of this event are the UNM John Donald Robb Trust, UNM Fine Arts, UNM Music department, UNM Chicano Studies, UNM Latin & Iberian Institute, and the UNM Spanish & Portuguese department.

The UNM John Donald Robb Musical Trust supports the music and musical legacy of John Donald Robb, furthers his inspiring commitment to education, and advances the understanding of the music of the Southwest.