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 lacquerware produced a wider variety of designs, often based on the exuberant vegetation of the region. Lacquerware went through fashions. For example, in the mid 17th century, wood oval trays with scenes from Don Quixote were very popular. However, by the end of the colonial period, the upper class clientele for lacquered furniture were able to buy this and many decorative items from Europe, limiting Mexican lacquer work to small boxes and other trinkets. In 1810, the Mexican War of Independence broke out and for the next eleven years, the lacquer industry waned, along with most other handcraft production, until it