Art of the Americas

Aztec music

Music played an integral role in religious rituals among all classes of Aztec society. Instruments dating to 2500 BCE or earlier provide evidence for music culture in the region, but musical activity likely began much earlier. Music was used in the temples, palaces, and the homes of commoners to facilitate ritual activity. Musicians held a high status in Aztec society, and their education was extremely strict. Aztecs sang, and used percussion and wind instruments, but there is no evidence of string instruments in the Pre-Columbian Americas. The words of many songs survive across several codices, sometimes along with their composers' names, but there is no consensus on what additional markings in these manuscripts meant or exactly how the music sounded. Aztec musical culture influenced and was influenced by other Mesoamerican cultures through migration, trade, and invasion.

Also on this shelf

See also

• ▸Feathered Serpent
• ▸Holy Trinity Church, Dorchester
• ▸Cradleboard

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Text from Wikipedia; plate via Wikimedia Commons. Text CC BY-SA 4.0; plate freely licensed (see Commons). Source record. Images and catalogue data are reproduced from open-access collections.