This book provides a fresh, comprehensive view of the musical life and its cultural context in Santiago, Chile, from its foundation in 1541 to the end of the colonial period, roughly in 1810. Combining the study of archival documents, secondary sources, and music scores, it deals with different aspects of musical life in the cathedral (Chapter 1), convents and monasteries (Chapter 2), private houses (Chapter 3), and public spaces (Chapter 4), considering, as well, the life and function of musicians as crucial agents in the music field (Chapter 5). Despite its focus on a particular city of Latin America, it raises this issue from a broad perspective that explores its links with other urban centers (especially Lima), within the globalizing framework of the colonial system. The idea of music as a “sweet penance, " belonging to a nun harpist in a convent of Santiago at the end of the eighteenth century, gives rise to the consideration of duality as an essential trait of the period and its music.