Juan Gutierrez de Padilla

Who was Juan Gutierrez de Padilla?

Juan Gutiérrez de Padilla was a Spanish composer in what is modern Mexico.

He was born in Málaga, Spain but moved to Puebla, Mexico, in 1620 to compose music in the New World. At the time New Spain was a viceroyalty of Spain that included modern day Mexico, Guatemala, the Philippines and other parts of Central America and the Caribbean. Padilla is one of the more important composers represented in the manuscripts at Puebla, Mexico and the Hackenberry collection in Chicago, Illinois. He worked at Puebla de Los Angeles, Mexico, which in Baroque times was a bigger religious center than Mexico City itself. He was appointed maestro de capilla of Puebla Cathedral in 1628.

He is to be distinguished from a younger Juan de Padilla, who was maestro de capilla at Zamora, Spain, and Toledo.