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The short Office of None (usually recited rapidly, in the afternoon) seems to have been taken over in some Spanish and colonial churches by confraternities or by convents of nuns for special services. A number of settings of the Psalm Mirabilia testimonia survive in Mexico and in Spain (e.g. Valencia). They often bear such titles as ‘Salmo de Nona para las Religiosas de Madalenas’. Padilla’s Mirabilia happens to survive in a convent choirbook (Holy Trinity, Puebla) now in the National Institute of Fine Arts, Mexico, as well as in the Puebla Cathedral ‘Padilla Choirbook’. The setting of the Versicle and Response (Deus in adiutorium) is clearly paired with the Psalm and they have common endings in the music of the doxology. Padilla sets these texts with real verve and his declamation of the words is resourceful and lively. The choirs call, answer and combine in great splendour.

from notes by Bruno Turner © 1990