Francisco López Capillas

Francisco López Capillas (1608–1674), known also as “López of the Chapels,” was a Mexican composer and theologian born in Mexico City. He is considered one of the most prolific composers of sacred music in Mexico during the Baroque era. Biography He was born Francisco López, the son of Bartolome López, potentially a royal notary, and María de la Trinidad. He was admitted into the Mexico City Cathedral choir in 1625, where he studied early European Gregorian chant and organum under organist and choirmaster Antonio Rodriguez Mata. During this time, it is likely that he enrolled at the University of Mexico and received a bachelor’s degree in theology in 1626. The period of his life between 1626 through 1641 is not well understood, however by 1641 he had found employment as an organist, dulcianist, and cantor at La Catedral de la Puebla de los Angeles, under the directorship of Juan Gutiérrez de Padilla. Puebla at this time was overseen by the Archbishop Juan de Palafox y Mendoza, who greatly supported the city’s emergence as a cultural and intellectual haven through various development and infrastructure projects, including the construction of new chapels and cathedrals in the village