Araujo, Juan de (1646–1712)

Juan de Araujo (b. 1646; d. 1712), Spanish composer active in Peru and Bolivia. Araújo was born in Villafranca de los Barros, Extremadura. He studied music in Lima, first with his father, and later at the University of San Marcos. It is possible that Torrejón y Velasco may have been Araujo's music teacher during the 1660s. For a while Araujo worked as choirmaster in churches in Panama, but around 1672 he was back in Lima, where he was ordained a priest and designated choirmaster of the cathedral of Lima, where he served until 1676. After spending some time in the area of Cuzco, in Peru, he traveled to Bolivia, where in 1680 he was appointed chapelmaster of the cathedral of La Plata, a position he retained until his death. In La Plata (now Sucre), one of the most influential and wealthy cities of the Viceroyalty of Peru, Araujo substantially expanded the musical library of the cathedral with Spanish and European religious music. He also formed several important boy choirs and during some celebrations conducted works for ten voices. He composed a number of pieces, including several religious works: a Passion, two Magnificats, three Lamentations, a Salve Regina, as well as religious hymns and other choral works, most of them now in the archives of the Sucre Cathedral and the seminary of San Antonio Abad in Cuzco. In more than 106 villancicos and jácaras, Araujo displayed a vivid wit in his adept utilization of the polychoral technique. The texts of the villancicos are taken from Spanish baroque poetry, usually accompanied by a harp. The collection of villancicos is now preserved at the Archives of the Musical Section of the Museo Histórico Nacional of Montevideo, Uruguay.

See alsoMusic: Art Music .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Robert Stevenson, The Music of Peru (1960).

Lauro Ayestarán, "El barroco musical hispano-Americano, los manuscritos de la iglesia de San Felipe Neri (Sucre, Bolivia), existentes en el Museo Histórico Nacional del Uruguay," in Yearbook of the Interamerican Institute of Musical Research, Tulane University, vol. 1 (1965); New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, vol. 1 (1980).

Additional Bibliography

Houmard, Charles James. "A Historical and Musical Analysis of the Villancico Los Coflades de la Eztleya by Juan de Araujo." D.M.A. diss., University of Texas at Austin, 1999.

                                         Susana Salgado