However, in the following period, Goetz fled to Santiago de Cuba, where his knowledge of languages gave him a place as the 'foreigners' priest.
[1] In Havana, choirmaster Lazo de la Vega was ailing and died.
After his death, four men sought the post: 28-year-old first violinist José Francisco Rensoli, singer Luis Lazo, maestro Cayetano Solis and the Catalan Cayetano Pagueras, a religious composer and first contralto.
Pagueras regarded himself as a maestro in four arts: plainsong, organ playing, counterpoint and composition.
After looking, listening and questioning, he wrote a first report to the town council full of acute assessments of key members of the choir: As a musician, he reduced the number of positions, moved young singers up in status and recommended that any reduced in rank should retake the exam, both theoretical and practical.