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OLD RELIGIOUS MUSIC OF THE GARDEN OF CHRISTIANITY

Chilidugú the Jesuit Mission Song Bernardo Havestadt
(1714-1781)

(Letters to the concert on January 12-13)

is well known that music , And especially the song, was one of the most effective strategies for the evangelization of native peoples during the colonial period. All religious orders implemented a repertoire of songs whose text (the commandments, prayers and other major catechetical content) was set by the Council of Lima in the late sixteenth century, for all territories of the Archbishop of Peru, which were suffragan the Chilean bishops of Santiago and La Imperial, while the melodic material, ever changing, coming from the individual's own missionary tradition.

In Chile we have several sources Jesuits of the seventeenth and eighteenth containing such material, with varying degrees of explicitness about their musical content, but none as exceptional as that bequeathed us the Jesuit, of German origin, Havestad Bernardo (1714 - 1781), who, in his Tractatus sive Chilidugu chilensis tongue (1777), includes a collection of nineteen songs Mapudungun language.

Havestadt missionary experience in southern Chile in the mid eighteenth century, on either side of the Andes, made him a connoisseur of the Araucanian language, which allowed him to develop his monumental treatise began in Mapuche land, developed it in his retirement at school Order in Santiago, and ended up in exile in their homeland, where he returned after the expulsion order in 1767.

Havestadt catechetical texts adapted to the melodies he had learned during his childhood and youth in Cologne (Germany) home. These melodies have different origin: from medieval Gregorian hymns, congregational songs to German of the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. In this corpus is also called "melody or tone of Paraguay" that was used by Jesuit missionaries in the famous towns and Guarani reductions that the order remained in the territory Andes. Stand in this code are also two songs whose function is related to parliaments or huepines between winka and Mapuche leaders, evidencing the interest of the Jesuits in the Araucanía achieve a peace that would enable them to carry reductions ahead with plans that ultimately never materialized.

This code was applied to both the mainland and the island huilliche Mapuche in the Archipelago of Chiloé, where the result was so successful evangelist who became known as "the garden of Christianity" . Although designated as an instrument Havestadt accompanying these songs a keyboard instrument, organ and harpsichord, the truth is that, in practice, this code will be accompanied with instruments that were at hand. Already by the end of the first third of the seventeenth century, had reached the islands the Jesuit brother, and viola da gamba performer, Louis Berger with the special request of the superiority of introducing the music and the teaching of stringed instruments. This leads us to assume that a version like that on this occasion is presented could be possible. In general, these songs have a limited melodic range, which with short sentences, symmetrical and regular rhythm, make them easy to learn and group singing. There are, however, one or two songs that are beyond the mold, forming a material that can be addressed by more experienced soloists.

The Chilidugu song, as it is known today, is the only colonial catechetical directory in the Americas, which has been preserved in its melodic and textual components. After its premiere and recording in 1997, by a chorus of children in the community huilliche of Compu, Quellón, chaired by the late musician Gabriel E. Coddou along the entire Syntagma Musicum Usach of these songs have been covered and recorded in various latitudes. However, it is a repertoire closely associated with those children singing, as the current Molulco Huilliche choristers and children violinists Quinchao commune have been, perhaps always, the main audience and most genuine performers.

Víctor Rondón
Mission Song Musicologist Chilidugú editor

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