Music in Colonial Mexico Music in Colonial Mexico The Colonial Mexican Period lasted from 1521 to 1821 during the Vice-Regency of New Spain. The cultivation of European music began soon after the arrival of the Spanish, during the Late-Renaissance period of Western Music. Musical practices continually coincided with European tendencies throughout the subsequent Baroque and Classical music periods. It is important to note that while much music was fashioned in European style, uniquely Mexican hybrid works composed of native Mexican language and European musical practice, appeared as early as the sixteenth century, and throughout the colonial period. Much of the surviving music is sacred
Mexican War of Independence rule until the Hidalgo revolt of 1810. Elites in Mexico City in the seventeenth century did force the removal of a reformist viceroy, the Marqués de Gelves, following an urban riot in 1624 fomented by those elites. He attempted to eliminate corrupt practices by creole elites as well as rein in the opulent displays of the clergy's power, but ecclesiastical authorities in conjunction with creole elites mobilized urban plebeians to oust the viceroy. The crowd was reported to shout, "Long live the King! Love live Christ! Death to bad government! Death to the heretic Lutheran [Viceroy Gelves]! Arrest the viceroy!"