page_title: Tata Vasco (opera)
section_title: Background and performance history
hierarchical_section_title: Tata Vasco (opera) / Background and performance history
caption_attribution_description: Palacio de Bellas Artes opera house in downtown Mexico City
context_page_description: Tata Vasco is an opera in five scenes composed by Miguel Bernal Jiménez to a Spanish libretto with nationalistic and devoutly Roman Catholic themes by the Mexican priest and poet, Manuel Muñoz. It premiered in Pátzcuaro, Mexico on 15 February 1941. The opera is based on the life of Vasco de Quiroga, the first Bishop of Michoacán and known to the indigenous Purépecha of the region as 'Tata Vasco'. Considered one of Bernal Jiménez's most emblematic scores, the music incorporates native melodies, dances, and instruments as well as elements of Gregorian chant.
context_section_description: Described as a drama sinfónico (symphonic drama), Tata Vasco was the first and only opera by Bernal Jiménez and composed when he was 30 years old. It was to be part of the celebrations for the 400th anniversary of Vasco de Quiroga's arrival in Pátzcuaro and was set to a libretto in rhyming verse by Manuel Muñoz Mendoza, a Catholic priest, poet, and writer who lived in Morelia, the composer's native city. The world premiere was originally planned for 1940 at the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City but was postponed due to fears that it would "provoke religious controversy". Instead, it premiered on 15 February 1941 in a performance conducted by the composer in the ruins of the Franciscan monastery chapel in Pátzcuaro.
  The opera had its Mexico City premiere at the Teatro Arbeu on 15 March 1941 and in September of that year was performed to great enthusiasm in Morelia. It was performed in 1943 at the Teatro Degollado in Guadalajara and in 1948 had its Spanish premiere, when at the invitation of General Franco, a reduced oratorio version was performed in Madrid. Part of Spain's commemorations for the 400th anniversary of the death of Hernán Cortés, the Madrid performance met with considerable success. On 29 September 1949, eight years after its premiere, Tata Vasco was finally staged at the Palacio de Bellas Artes where it was given a run of two performances, both conducted by the composer. The opera was revived there in 1975, 1992 (in concert version), and in 2006 to mark the 50th anniversary of the composer's death.
  Tata Vasco was given two performances by the National Opera Company of Mexico at the Teatro de la Ciudad de Mexico in February 2010, the year which marks not only the bicentenary of the Mexican War of Independence and the centenary of the Mexican Revolution but also the 100th anniversary of the composer's birth.
caption: Mexico City's Palacio de Bellas Artes
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