To combat but not to arms

In January 1761, the Royal and Pontifical University of Mexico held a poetry contest in honor of Charles III. Part of this celebration included the performance of an ode for voices and orchestra with music by Ignacio Jerusalem, the Italian-born chapel master of Mexico City Cathedral. This essay considers the words and music of Al combate, Jerusalem’s ode, in the context of international Enlightenment music genres as practiced in the Spanish world. Al combate emerges as an erudite artwork in which the Mexico City elite imagine themselves as Grecian muses in a politicized allegory that blends traditional and modern aesthetics.