Juan Bautista Sancho

Who was Juan Bautista Sancho?

Joan Batista Sanxo, or Juan Bautista Sancho, composer and scholar. He brought to California some of the first samples of 18th-century European music, including sacred plainchant, sacred polyphony, as well as opera excerpts and instrumental arrangements with basso continuo. In 1803, he arrived in Mexico from his native Majorca and, in 1804, he settled in Mission San Antonio, where he remained until his death in 1830. He co-wrote a curious Interrogatorio, reporting on the conditions of the natives, their social customs, their local flora, and even their music. He also compiled vocabularies of several of their languages. As a composer, his Misa en Sol and Misa de los Angeles are among his best works.