The Sweet Penance of Music: Musical Life in Colonial Santiago de Chile by Alejandro Vera (review)

Abstract

primary source material is translated from Dutch and German into English in the main text, but the original material is provided in footnotes. Although the result is a large volume whose footnotes occasionally take up a third of the page, this decision makes it possible for readers to quote the original versions of much material that will likely not be easily available again. Smith refuses to sum up Lohr’s extensive achievements in the final pages, and one can almost see Lohr nodding in approval with the humble text that describes her death. Smith makes a strong case for this almost-forgotten pioneer, and this biography should help Lohr receive more attention in the English-language literature. Lohr is not mentioned in Harry Haskell’s The Early Music Revival: A History (New York: Thames and Hudson, 1988), and currently does not yet have her own entry in Grove Music Online. It is the hope that this substantial volume might rectify this situation.