A Quechua Hymn Becomes the First Polyphony Printed in the Americas

In 1631, a pastoral manual titled Ritual, formulario e institucion de curas was issued from a press in Lima, within the Viceroyalty of Peru. Compiled by the Franciscan priest Juan Perez de Bocanegra, the comprehensive volume was prepared to instruct parish clergy in administering sacraments across native communities, presenting guidelines in both Spanish and Quechua. Bound within its leaves was a musical composition titled Hanacpachap cussicuinin, now rendered in modern orthography as Hanaq pachap kusikuynin. Set for four distinct vocal parts, this sacred processional hymn holds a singular position in historical musicology as the earliest surviving printed work of vocal polyphony produced in the Americas.

The publication allocated two facing pages for the musical notation. The upper voice parts, designated as tiple and tenor, were placed across page 708, while the lower parts, alto and baxo, were engraved on page 709. Beneath these musical staves ran the text of the first stanza, followed on pages 710 through 712 by the remaining verses of the hymn, which ultimately encompasses twenty strophes. Unlike the surrounding instructional prose of the manual, which consistently paired Spanish directions with Quechua renderings, the hymn itself was printed solely in the Indigenous language, without an accompanying translation alongside the musical lines.