Music manuscripts from the 17th and 18th centuries preserved by the communities of Chiquito and Moxo Natives in the eastern part of Bolivia

The collections of Bolivian manuscripts come from the period of Spanish colonization. They can be categorized into three groups: a) music from Spanish cathedrals and parishes in America; b) music from convents; c) music from Christian missions or the so-called Jesuit and Franciscan reductions which survived only in Bolivia. Chiquito Natives preserved approximately 5500 pages of baroque music from Jesuit reductions from the period between 1690 and 1767 when Jesuit missionaries founded their missions among local populations. In turn, the music collection from reductions preserved among the Moxo Natives consists of over 7000 pages. The archive of these documents is one of the most unique and original collections of early music. 

The analysis of the surviving documents proves that conserved music originates from several sources. Some manuscripts contain music that was brought from Europe and performed in the missions, others include works composed by the missionaries, while the third group comprises works composed by local Indian musicians and composers. 
 

Prof. Dr. Piotr Nawrot is cofounder and artistic director of the International Festival of American Renaissance and Baroque Music “Misiones de Chiquitos” in Bolivia, which every two years gathers artists from over 20 countries around the world. Research relating to the collection of manuscripts consists in gathering, restoring, inventorying, and cataloging manuscripts and reconstructing music contained therein. Until now, 42 volumes of research and numerous articles have been published on the subject of the studied manuscripts and, by the same token, on the history of South American music and the role of Natives in musical life.