The music manuscripts in the Church of San Francisco de Quito: An undocumented collection

The Church of San Francisco de Quito, founded in 1534 by a Franciscan commission led by friars Jodocus Rickye and Pierre Gosseal, represents an important place not only in terms of culture and history, but also in terms of musical historiography. The church's library holds a valuable collection of thirty-eight music manuscripts dating from the sixteenth to the twentieth centuries. This article provides a description of the whole collection and sheds new light on the history of liturgy and plain-chant in Ecuador and Latin America. The article also includes brief notes about the collection's history, its connection with Iberian and Flemish roots, and some relevant liturgical feasts and repertoire.