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Stevenson
Spanish music in the Age of
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MAR 3 1970^"^"
SPANISH MUSIC IN THE AGE OF COLUMBUS
ROBERT ^TEVENSON
University of California
Los Angeles
SPANISH MUSIC IN
THE AGE OF COLUMBUS
MARTINUS NIJHQFF 1960 THE HAGUE
Copyright 1960 by JMartinus Nijhoff, The Hague, Netherlands
All rights reserved, including the right to translate or to
reproduce this book or parts thereof in any form
PRINTED IN THE NETHERLANDS
I have seen dawn and sunset on moors and windy hills
Coming in solemn beauty like old tunes of Spain.
JOHN MASEFIELD (Beauty)
KANSAS CITY (MO.)
Contents
List of Musical Examples ix
Preface XI
Political Synopsis xui
Spanish Orthography xv
Ancient and Medieval Beginnings i
Iberian Music in Antiquity j Isidore of Seville (c. 570636) : "Father" of Hispanic
Music 2 Isidore's Sources 5 Musical Instruments Mentioned in the Etymologies 6
Isidore's References to "Contemporary" Practices 8 - Music in the Visigothic Church
(589-711) 9 - Mozarabic Music (711-1089) 10 - The Antiphoner of Le6n (1069) 13 -
Music in Mohammedan Spain (712-1492) J7 - The Cantigas of Alfonso X 24 - Thir
teenth-Century Secular Monody 30 - The Beginnings of Polyphony in the Spanish
Peninsula 33 Llibre Vermeil 39 Nascent "Spanish" Style 44 Instruments in
Fourteenth-Century Usage 44 - Music and Learning in Medieval Christian Spain 47
Foundations of Spanish Musical Theory: 1410-1535 50
Vernacular versus Latin Treatises 50 Fernand Estevan (L 1410) 5.1 Ars mensurabi-
lis et immensurabilis cantus (c. 1480) 53 - Bartolome Ramos de Pareja (fl. 1482) 55 -
Domingo Marcos Duran (fl. 1492) 63 - Guillermo Despuig (fl. 1495) 73 - Crist6bal de
Escobar (fl. 1498) 83 - Alonso Spafton (fl. 1500) 85 - Diego del Puerto (fl. 1504) 85 -
BartolomS de Molina (fl. 1506) 87 - Gonzalo Martfnez de Bizcargui (fl. 1508) 88
Francisco Tovar (fl. 1510) gi - Juan de Espinosa (fl. 1514) 92 - Caspar de Aguilar
(fl. 1530) 93 - Juan Martinez (fl. 1532) 94 - Matheo de Aranda (fl. 1533) 96 - Sum
mary 100
Liturgical Music : 1470-1530 102
Early Liturgical Imprints Containing Music 102 - Missale Caesaraugustanum (Sara-
gossa, 1485) 103 - Missale Oscense (Saragossa, 1488) 104 - Antiphonarium et graduate
ad usum ordinis S. Hieronymi (Seville, 1491) 104 Processionarium ordinis praedicato-
vin Contents
rum (Seville, 1494) 104 - Manuale Toletanum (Seville, 1494) i5 - Missale Auriense
(Monterrey, 1494) 106 - Missale Caesaraugustanum (Saragossa, 1498) 106 - Missale
Toletanum (Toledo, 1499) 107 - Missale Giennense (Seville, 1499) i$ - Missale Tarra-
conense (Tarragona, 1499) and Benedictum (Montserrat, 1499) iog - Processionarium
ordinis S. Benedicti (Montserrat, 1500) iog - Hymnorum Intonationes (Montserrat,
1500) no - Missale Abulense (Salamanca, 1500) no - Musical Variants in Spanish
Liturgical Incunabula (Roman Rite) 112 - Missale Mozarabe (Toledo, 1500) 115
Cathedral Polyphony in the Fifteenth Century ng - Johannes Cornago (fl. 1466) 121 -
Bernardo Icart (fl. 1480) 124 - Johannes de Yllianas (fl. 1492) 126 - Juan de Anchieta
(c. 1462-1523) 127 - Francisco de Penalosa (c. 1470-1528) 145 - Other Composers of
Liturgical Music 162 - Juan Almorox (fl. 1485) 164 - Alonso de Alva (d. 1504) 164 -
Pedro Dfaz (fl. 1484) 167 - Pedro de Escobar (fl. 1507) 167 - Juan Escribano (d. 1557)
174 - Pedro Fernandez [de Castilleja] (d. 1574) 176 - Juan Illario J77 - [Juan
Fernandez de] Madrid (fl. 1479) .277 - Antonio Marlet (fl. 1506) 179 - [Fernand P6rez
de] Medina (fl. 1479) 180 - Alonso de Mond<jar (fl. 1502) 183 - [Pietro] Oriola 183 -
Alonso de la Plaja 184 - Juan Ponce (fl. 1510) 184 - Quixada i8g - Antonio de Ribera
(fl. 1514) i8g - Martin de Rivafrecha (d. 1528) 190 - Juan de Sanabria 193 - Juan de
Segovia 193 - [Alonso Hernandez de] Tordesillas (fl. 1502) 193 - Francisco de la Torre
(fl. 1483) 194 - [Juan de] Triana (fl. 1478) jp5 - Summary igg
Secular Polyphony during the Reigns of Ferdinand and Isabella 201
Peninsular Sources 201 - Manuscript and Printed Sources of Foreign Provenience 202 -
" Versos fechos en loor del Condestable" (1466) 204
Cancionero de la Biblioteca Colombina 206 - J. de Triana 208 - J. Cornago 218 - J.
Urrede 225 - Belmonte 227 - Enrique 23 1 - [Juan Pe"rez de] Gij6n (fl. 1480) 232 -
Hurtado de Xeres 232 - Juanes 235 - Pedro de Lagarto (fl. 1490) 235 - J. de Le6n 237
- Juan Fernandez de Madrid 240 - Moxica 242 - J. Rodriguez 243 - F. de la Torre
244 Anonymous Spanish Songs in the Colombina Cancionero 245
Cancionero Musical de Palacio 24g - Composers in the Palace Songbook 253 - Juan del
Encina (1469-1529) 253 - Francisco Millan (fl. 1501) 272 - Gabriel [Mena] (fl. 1511)
276 - Pedro de Escobar 27 g - F. de la Torre 281 - J. Ponce 284 - Other Composers
in the Cancionero Musical de Palacio 285 - Anonymous Spanish Songs in the Palace
Songbook 297 - Concluding Remarks concerning the Palace Songbook 302
Bibliography 307
Index 321
List of Musical Examples
Alfonso X
Alonso de Alva
Juan de Anchieta
Anonymous
Matheo de Aranda
Belmonte
Johannes Cornago
Cantiga VI : A que do bon rey Dauide 29
Cantiga CCXXVI: Assi pod' a Virgen so terra 30
Missa[sine nomine] Christe eleison a 3 [excerpt] 167
Conditor dime siderum a 3 139
Domine Jesu Christe a 4 142
Domine, ne memineris a 4 140
En memoria d'Alixandre a 4 246
A los banos del amor a 4 301
Lealtat, o lealtat a 4 205
Mariam matrem a 3 42
Nuevas te tray go, Carillo a 3 270
Olvyda tu perdition a 3 247
Que me quereis, caballero a 3 298
Que me quereys [el] cauallero (Francisco Salinas) 298
Counterpoint a 4 98
Pues mi dicha non consiente a 3 229
M issa mappamundi: Kyrie I a 3 123
Porque mas sin duda as 224
Qu'es mi vida preguntays a 4 (Jean Ockeghem) 220
x List of Musical Examples
Guillermo Despuig Exempla proportionum a 2 80
Domingo Marcos Duran Cum Sancto Spirits a 3 7 2
Juan del Encina Levanta, Pascual a 3 267
Mortal tristura me dieron a 4 269
Nuevas te traigo, Carillo a 3 271
Qu'es de ti, desconsolado a 3 247
Hurtado de Xeres No tenga nadie speranfa a 3 233
Pierre de la Rue Missa Nunqua fue pena maior: Kyrie I a 4 162
[Juan Fernandez de] Madrid Et in terra pax a 3 178
Sienpre cre$e mi serviros a 3 [excerpt] 241
[Fernand Prez de] Medina Sake Regina: Et Jesum a 5 182
Francisco de Penalosa Missa Ave Maria: Qui tollis a 4 [excerpt] 154
Missa Nunca fue pena mayor: Kyrie 7 a 4 163
Versa est in luctum a 4 159
Plainsong Benedicite omnia opera (Mozarabic) 118
Deo ac Domino nostro (Mozarabic) 119
Domine, ne memineris (Gregorian) 139
Exultet iam angelica turba (7 versions) 113
Juan Ponce Salve Regina a 3 186
Bartolom6 Ramos de Pareja Circular canon a 4 62
Johan Rodrigues Benedicamus a 2 38
Francisco de la Torre Dime triste corafon a 4 244
[Juan de] Triana No consiento ni me plaze a 3 211
Non puedo dexar querer a 3 216
Quien vos dio tal senorio a 4 214
Juste Judex, Jesu Christe a 3 197
Johannes Urrede Nunca fue pena mayor a 3 228
Carlo Verardi Viva el gran Rey a 4 248
Preface
FOR AID in preparing the present resum6 of Spanish music to 1530 I am indebted to so
numerous a company of friends that I must content myself in this preface with no more
than a token alphabetical list. In an earlier article - "Music Research in Spanish
Libraries," published in Notes of the Music Library Association, sec. ser. X, i (December,
1952, pp. 49-57) - Richard Hill did kindly allow me to itemize my indebtednesses to the
Spanish friends whose names make up two-thirds of the following list. The reader who
has seen that article already knows how keenly felt are my gracias.
Fernando Aguilar Escrich, Norberto Almandoz, H. K. Andrews, Higinio Angles, Jesus
Bal y Gay, Robert D. Barton, Gilbert Chase, R. Thurston Dart, Exmos. Sres. Duques de
Medinaceli, Charles Warren Fox, Nicolds Garcia, Julian Garcia Blanco, Juan Miguel
Garcia P&rez, Santiago Gonzalez Alvarez, Francisco Guerrero, Ferreol Hernandez, Ma-
cario Santiago Kastner, Adele Kibre, Edmund King, Luisa de Larramendi, Pedro
Longds Bartibds, Marques de Santo Domingo, Marques de Villa- Alcazar , Juan Montejano
Chico, B. Municio Cristdbal, Ricardo Nunez, Clara L. Penney, Carmen Perez-Ddvila,
Gustave Reese, Francisco Ribera Redo, Bernard Rose, Samuel Rubio, Adolfo Salazar,
Francisco Sanchez, Graciela Sanchez Cerro, Manuel Sanchez Mora, Alfredo Sixto Planas,
Denis Stevens, Jose Subird, Earl O* Titus, J. B. Trend, John Ward, Ruth Watanabe,
J. A. Westrup, Franklin Zimmerman.
Miss Mary Neighbour, who had placed me under obligation by preparing the type
script of two previous books (Music Before the Classic Era [London: Macmillan and Co.,
1955 and 1958]; Shakespeare's Religious Frontier [The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1958])
again graciously returned to my aid when I asked her to undertake the much more
difficult typescript of the present volume.
Finally, I thank the Del Amo Foundation (1952), the Ford (1953-54) and Carnegie
xii Preface
(1955-56) Foundations, the American Philosophical Society (1956), and the Comision
Fulbright de Intercambio Educativo in Peru (1958) for generous financial aid while
not only Spanish Music in the Age of Columbus but also its companion studies - "Crist6-
bal de Morales: A Fourth Centenary Biography" (Journal of the American Musicological
Society, VI, i [Spring, 1953]), "Crist6bal de Morales" (Grove's Dictionary of Music and
Musicians, Fifth Edition [1954]), "Crist6bal de Morales" (Die Musik in Geschichte und
Gegenwart], La Musica en la Catedral de Sevilla: 1478-1606 (Los Angeles, 1954), Cantile
nas Vulgares puestas en Mtisica por varios Espanoles (Lima, 1958), Juan Bermuda (Lima,
1958), and Spanish Cathedral Music in the Golden Age - were in preparation.
United States Educational Commission in Peru R. S.
Lima, Peru
February _r, 1959
Political Synopsis
c. 500 B.C. First Punic and Greek colonies.
210 P. Cornelius Scipio dispatched to drive out the Carthaginians.
197 Spain divided into two Roman provinces, Citerior and Ulterior.
ist cent. A.D. Seneca (3 B.C.), Lucan, Martial, Quintilian, Trajan, Hadrian born in
Spain.
409 A.D. Spanish provinces overrun by Vandals, Suevi, and Alans.
419-507 Visigothic Kingdom of Toulouse, incorporating Spain during Euric's
reign (466-485).
507-711 Visigothic Kingdom of Spain, with capital at Toledo.
568-586 Reign of Leovigild. Visigothic power reaches its summit.
587 Reccared I converted from Arianism to Roman orthodoxy. Rules till 601.
672-677 Wamba strengthens the state against the growing menace of the Sara
cens.
711-715 Moslem conquest.
718-737 Pelayo, a Goth, preserves Christian independence in the mountains of
Asturias.
756-1031 Omayyad dynasty at Cordova.
777 Charlemagne's invasion. Routing of his rear guard at Roncesvalles (778) .
791-842 Reign of Alfonso II (the Chaste), King of Asturias and Le6n. Erection of
the first church at Santiago de Compostela over the reputed bones of
St. James the Apostle.
912-961 Abdurrahman III, during whose caliphate the Omayyads reach their
zenith, Cordova (population 500,000) becomes the leading European
intellectual center.
1037 Ferdinand I of Castile conquers Le6n.
1085 Alfonso VI of Castile recovers Toledo from the Moslems.
xrv
1086
1087-1099
1144-1225
1158-1214
1179
1217-1252
1232-1315
1252-1284
1213-1276
1386
1416-1458
1454^1474
1474
1479
1492
1506
1509-1511
1515
1516
1516-1556
1519
1520-1521
1521-1529
Political Synopsis
Almoravids, a Berber dynasty, invited from Africa to subdue rising
Christian forces. Alfonso defeated at Zallaka.
The Cid (Rodrigo [Ruy] Diaz of Bivar) fights on one side and another,
eventually becoming the ruler of Valencia. (Cantuar de mio Cid, c. 1140.)
Union of Catalonia and Aragon under Ram6n Berenguer IV, Count of
Barcelona.
Almohades, dynasty at Cordova.
Reign of Alfonso VIII, King of Castile (married to Eleanor of England).
After various preliminary defeats at the hands of the Almohades, he
triumphs at the decisive battle of Las Navas de Tolosa (1212).
Portugal recognized by Pope Alexander III as an independent kingdom.
Ferdinand III, King of Castile and Leon (1230-1252). Recovers Cordova
(1236), Jaen (1246), and Seville (1248).
Ram6n LuU, foremost Catalonian intellect of the Middle Ages.
Alfonso X (the Savant), King of Castile.
James I (the Conqueror), King of Aragon. Reconquest of Valencia and
Murcia, Addition of Balearic Islands.
Peter the Cruel, of Castile, struggles with his bastard half brother,
Henry of Trastamara. Allies himself with Edward the Black Prince,
John of Gaunt (1340-1399), Duke of Lancaster, conquers Galicia in
pursuit of his title to the Castilian crown. Retires to England two years
later.
Alfonso V (the Magnanimous), King of Aragon. His conquest of Naples
(1435) recognized by the pope (1442). Italian Renaissance ideals control
his court. At his death, Naples passes to his son Ferrante (1458-1494),
Aragon to John II (1458-1479).
Henry IV of Castile, whose reign is marked by prolonged civil disorder.
Isabella, his stepsister and heir, marries Ferdinand, heir to Aragon, 1469.
Isabella succeeds to the throne of Castile.
Ferdinand becomes king of Aragon.
Fall of Granada. Discovery of America. Ea iudios a enfardelar.
Death of Isabella, who is succeeded by Joanna (consort of Philip the
Fair, Archduke of Austria).
Philip's death, followed by Joanna's retirement to Tordesillas, 1509
(d. 1555). Ferdinand takes control of Castile.
Campaigns in Africa, organized by Cardinal Ximenez de Cisneros.
Spain annexes Navarre.
Death of Ferdinand. Regency of Cisneros.
Charles I (b. 1500), son of Philip and Joanna, king of Spain.
Charles elected Holy Roman emperor.
Revolt of the Comuneros in Castile.
War between Spain and France. Francis I captured at battle of Pavia
(February 24, 1525) and forced to sign Treaty of Madrid, the terms of
which he at once breaks on being released.
Spanish Orthography
No present-day European tongue, when purely spoken, shows a more logical correlation
between uttered and written forms than Spanish. But this regularity did not yet prevail during
the centuries under survey in this book. Not only did usage fluctuate with the passing of time,
but spellings conflicted within even the same decade. When the fricative consonants z and 9, s
and ss, j and x, were differently pronounced in 1578 at centers so close together as Avila and
Toledo, it is not surprising that spellings took equally various forms throughoutlzs Espanas
during the Age of Expansion.
Because of these variants, some such introduction as Ramdn Menendez Pidal's "El
lenguaje del siglo XVI" (Cruz y Raya, September 15, 1933) will well repay the attention of
students seriously interested in Spanish Renaissance music set to vernacular texts. Among
the books that can serve as guides, Jaime Oliver Asiris or Rafael Lapesa's Historia de la
Lengua espanola (Madrid, 1941 and 1942), may prove as useful as any.
Several courses are open to a musical historian. He can imitate Asenjo Barbieri, who in
his 1890 edition of the Palace Songbook normalized the spellings of his c. 1300 source to
conform with modern usage and added accents throughout. Or he can take Isabel Pope's 1954
transcriptions of the Spanish song-texts in Monte Cassino MS 8ji N for his model,
diplomatically reproducing the originals. Or he can steer Higinio Angles' s middle course
(Monumentos de la Miisica Espanola, V and X), adding accents but not attempting to
modernize the spelling.
The Solomon's judgment which we have adopted has been to follow Angles insofar as
Palacio is concerned^ but to omit accents and to strive for diplomatic fidelity in copying all
other texts. For place-names we prefer the English forms (Saragossa for Zaragoza, Cordova
for Cdrdoba). For other well-known names (Ferdinand and Isabella] and titles (Duke of
Alva) we likewise prefer traditional English usage.
Ancient and
Medieval Beginnings
Iberian Music in Antiquity 1
AS EARLY as the first century of our era, the music of Spain had gained a reputation
elsewhere throughout the Mediterranean world for its frenzy. Strabo (c. 63 B.a-21
A.D.) describes the vigorous mountaineers of northern Spain who danced to the sound
of aulos and trumpet, leaping wildly into the air and then crouching low (Geography,
III, iii, 7). Silius Italicus (26-101 A.D.) alludes in his poetical account of Hannibal's
invasion to the noisy Galicians who enjoyed "howling the rude songs of their native
language," meanwhile "stamping the ground and clashing their shields to the beat of
the music" (Punica, III, 346-349).
Martial (c. 40-102 A.D.) - a Spaniard from Bilbilis (near Saragossa) - remembered
the grave music of the choros Rixamarum along the upper banks of the Ebro (IV, Iv,
16). But in Rome he heard nothing Spanish except the castanets of dancing-girls from
Cidiz (V, Ixxviii, 26; VI, Ixxi, 1-2). Both Pliny the Younger (Epistolae, I, xv) and
Juvenal (Satura XI, 162-176) echo his disapproval of their dancing. Juvenal readily
enough admits, however, that the tremolo of their hips to the wail of a chorus and the
rattle of castanets always excited wild applause.
QUINTILIAN (c. 35-95 A.D.), the best known Empire authority on education, not only
was born in northcentral Spain - at what is now Calahorra - but also spent his early
manhood teaching in his native province. Perhaps because of what he had heard at
home, he carefully distinguishes the art of music from the spontaneous musical ex-
1 On the pre-history of Iberian music, see Jos6 Subira, Historia de la mtisica espaftola e hispanoamericana
(Barcelona: Salvat, 1953), pp. 30-40. Also Adolfo Salazar, La Mtisica de Espafta (Buenos Aires: Espasa-
Calpe, 1953), PP- 20-21; plate opposite p. 17. The r&le of music in Iberian culture is discussed in Ramon
Men6ndez Pidal, Historia de Espafta: Espafta Prerromana (Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, 1954)* I* ui* 333-
2 Ancient and Medieval Beginnings
pression of the uninstructed (Institutio Oratoria, II, xvii, 10). Though every people,
even the most barbarous, has its own repertory of indigenous song, only civilized nations
cultivate music as an art. Essentially, the art is founded on the science of numbers
(musica ratio numerorum [IX, iv, 139]), whether applied to leaps in dancing (saltationi)
or the size of melodic intervals (modulationibus).
He continues with the warning that music can easily enough degenerate. Traditional
instruments are to be preferred, rather than twanging importations from Asia such as
spadicas (I, x, 31). The Greeks perfected the art. But numerous prominent Romans
have cultivated it - from Numa Pompilius, second king of Rome, to Gaius Gracchus,
the great tribune. Both Cicero and Plutarch assure Quintilian that
Gaius Gracchns, the foremost orator of his age, had a musician stand behind him during his
speeches with a pitchpipe, or tonarion as the Greeks call it. The musician's duty was to sound
the tones (modos) in which the voice was to be pitched (I, x, 27).
Music, the noblest of the arts (I, x, 17), is also the most useful for the orator to study
(I, x, 30). If the greatest warriors and statesmen from Achilles to Gaius Gracchus have
studied it (I, x, 9-30), and if Cicero wished every citizen the ability to play at least one
instrument (I, x, 19), then the ideal orator should have passed beyond the elements
to musical theory as taught by Pythagoras and Aristoxenus. Such an orator would be
able to recite the notes of the cithara and tell the intervals between them (citharae sonos
nominibus et spatiis distinxerit [I, x, 3]).
THE MANUFACTURE of musical instruments was a recognized profession in Roman
Spain - at least at Cordova, birthplace of the two Senecas and of Lucan. A funeral tablet
from Quintilian's century designates a certain Syntrophilus of Cordova as musicarius. 2
Another slightly later memorial tablet (found near Saragossa) preserves the names of
four different stringed instruments : chelys, fides, pecten, and cithara*
Isidore of Seville (c. 570-636): "Father" of Hispanic Music
WHETHER OR NOT the Apostle Paul redeemed his intention of visiting Spain, Christianity
had already taken vigorous root in the coastal cities before 100. Side by side with the
corybantic excesses of Priscillian, bishop of Avila (d. 385), the early Spanish church
gave birth to the still-sung hymns of Prudentius from Saragossa (348-c. 410). The
cultural life within the church naturally suffered when the Vandals and Alans overran
Spain. But in Spain as around Carthage it must have flourished if Augustine could have
so regretted the silencing of the hymnos Dei et laudes which Possidius reports in his
Vita Sancti Augustini (XXVIII).
Isidore of Seville, the first peninsular author who delved deeply into the liberal arts,
flourished two centuries later. Only he and Augustine among western church fathers
2 Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum, ed. E. Htibner (Berlin: G. Reimer, 1869), II, 314 (no. 2241).
* Carp. Insc. Lot. (Berlin, 1892), II, Supp. 939 (no. 5839).
Ancient and Medieval Beginnings 3
wrote anything of treatise-length on music. Born at Cartagena on the Mediterranean
coast and educated at Seville where his brother Leander was bishop, he assimilated not
only the scriptures but a remarkably wide store of classical learning as well. Unlike
Jerome and Gregory he seems to have welcomed all pagan knowledge not in conflict
with Christian dogma. In the paragraphs which he was to write on music he, for in
stance, invokes the authority of Virgil, Juvenal, and Propertius.
Sisebut, the Visigothic king who died in 621, commissioned him to gather summaries
of learning in the various fields recognized by classical Roman educators. Two years
after this king's death his erstwhile pupil Braulio - who was now bishop of Saragossa -
asked for a copy. Taken up with the cares of administering the Sevillian diocese in which
he had been elected bishop after his brother's death (599), he delayed sending the
collected summaries until 631 : even then forwarding only an unemended copy. The year
after his death Braulio divided these summaries into seven books. About 650 a new
edition divided sub titulis was undertaken at King Recesvinth's request. Three centuries
later the same material was divided first into 17 and then into 20 books (whence the
present title, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri xx).*
Since he believed that etymologies give the best clues to word-meanings he compiled
the terms used in the various arts and sciences with a view to studying their derivation.
His method came to enjoy such a vogue during the Middle Ages that every encyclopedist
quotes him - often so slavishly that for a mfllenium his learning can be said to have
circumscribed the bounds of Christian knowledge. Even before his Etymologies were
divided into the 20 books known today, the Carolingian encyclopedist Hrabanus
Maurus (776-856) copied everything that he had to say concerning music directly from
him. Four centuries later the Etymologies were still the quarry from which the influ
ential thirteenth-century encyclopedist, Bartholomaeus AngHcus, extracted all the
musical information to be found in De proprietatibus rerum (c. 1250). Bartholomaeus -
an English Franciscan who studied at Oxford and taught at both Paris and Magdeburg -
lived during the century of "Sumer is icumen in" and almost certainly was acquainted
with the music of the Notre Dame masters. Yet he still chose to copy his every musical
dictum from Isidore, transposing a paragraph here and omitting a sentence there, but
always hewing close to his source.
Almost a thousand medieval copies of the Etymologies survive today. 5 Isidore's
continuing influence in the late fifteenth century can be assessed not only by counting
the number of times the Etymologiae were reprinted, but also Bartholomaeus's re
cension. De proprietatibus rerum, as translated into English by John of Trevisa (1398),
was printed c. 1495 by Wynkyn de Worde. Reputedly the first book printed on English
paper, it was also the first in English to give any systematized musical information. Not
until 1562 was it replaced by an English imprint 6 containing any other musical lore than
4 Eduard Anspach, Taionis et Isidori nova fragments et opera (Madrid: Imp. de C. Bennejo, 193)* P- 55-
Anspach proved that much of the information concerning Isidore in present reference manuals needs revision.
5 Ibid,, p. vi.
6 Sternhold and Hopkins's The whole booke of Psalmes (London: John Day, 1562) contains an "Intro
duction into the Science of Musicke"; their The first parte of the Psalmes (Day, 1564) has a I3~page "Intro
duction to learne to sing" beginning at fol. A. ii.
4 Ancient and Medieval Beginnings
Isidore's as transmitted by Bartholomaeus. What is more, De proprietatibus rerum was
turned iirto Castilian and published at Toulouse as early as 1494- 7 In the original Latin,
Bartholomaeus was reprinted at least fifteen times before the century ended. ^
As if the number of such reprints did not clinch the proof, testimony to Isidore s
continuing influence from 1460-1600 can be taken from the numerous Renaissance
theorists who admiringly quote him. Even his fellow-Andalusian, the iconoclastic
Bartolome Ramos de Pareja for whom Guido was a dead letter, reserves a respectful
niche for him.* Domingo Marcos Duran, whose 1492 Lux bella was the first music
instructor published in Spanish, names him as the third decisive musical authority of
antiquity - Aristotle and Boethius making the other two.* Miguel de Fuenllana, in the
"Prologo al lector" which prefaces his Orphenica lyra (Seville, 1554), still bows to el
diuino Ysidoro as the ultimate musical doctor. Both he and Juan Bermudo take their
cue from him when they continue to type all musical instruments as either harmonica,
organica, or rhythmica. In the first 40 leaves of his Libra primero de la declaracidn de
instruments alone (1549), Bermudo rests his case on an Isidorean dictum no less than
seven times (fols. iov., u, isv., 17, lyv., 29, s8v.).
Not only in Spain but abroad also, he continued to be approvingly cited by theorists
from Franchino Gaffurio the Italian to Andreas Ornithoparcus the German. In his
Theorica musice (Milan, 1492), Gaffurio contends for music as a crucial subject in any
liberal arts curriculum because Isidore gave it so prominent a place in his scheme. 10
When arguing for the science of number as the only secure foundation on which to rear
any theory of music, he again appeals to Isidore's higher authority. 11 He can find no
better definition for dissonance than Isidore's (who called it a mixture of sounds that
reaching the ear together cause discomfort). 12 Ornithoparcus in his Musice active
micrologus (Leipzig, 1517) still looks to Isidore for a correct definition of accent. 13 He
moreover calls him for his star witness when advocating a melodically inflected - rather
than monotone - delivery of the psalms, epistles, and gospels appointed to be read in
churches. 14
In England, even after Reform, he continued to be cited as a prime authority in such
a book as John Case's The Praise of Musicke - the earliest Oxford imprint (1586) to deal
specifically with music. This book, dedicated to Sir Walter Raleigh, was written by a
fellow of St. John's College who was simultaneously canon of Salisbury. Case cites Isidore
first among the church fathers quoted in his central chapter : 'The necessitie of Musicke."
7 Fray Vicente de Burgos, El libro delas propriedades delas cosas trasladado de latin en romance (Toulouse :
Heinrich Meyer, 1494). The section dealing -with music (Delos instruments aadDelos sones) appears in Book
XIX, chapters 131-146.
8 Ramos de Pareja, Musica practica [Bologna: Baldassarre da Rubiera, 1482], ed. Johannes Wolf (Leipzig:
Breitkopf & Hartel, 1901), p. ySn. Also p. 45.
9 Domingo [Marcos] Duran, Lux bella [Seville: Quatro alemanes companeros, 1492], facs. ed. (Barcelona:
Ediciones Torculum, 1951), P- 16.
10 Franchino Gaffurio, Theorica musice (Milan: Philippus Mantegatius, 1492), fol. a vj recto.
" Ibid., fol. d i recto.
12 Ibid.> fol. c iiij verso.
13 Andreas Ornithoparcus, Musice actiue micrologus (Leipzig: Valentin Schumann, 1519 [2nd ed.]), fol. I ij
verso.
14 Ibid., fols. I ij verso and I iij recto.
Ancient and Medieval Beginnings 5
His Isidorean catena links passages from both the Etymologiae and the De ecclesiasticis
officiis:
The custome of singing in the church, was instituted for the carnall, not for the spirituall, that
they whome the wordes doe not pierce might bee moued with the sweetnesse of the note 15
Of the auncient custome of singers in the old church of the Jewes, the primitiue church tooke
example, to noorish singers, by whose songs the minds of the hearers might be stirred up to
god 16 Isidorus Archbishop of Hispalis in Spaine . . . maketh a difference betweene
Anthems and Responsories Responsories hee sheweth . . . were vsed in the Churches of
Italy, and were so called because when one sang, the quire answered him singing also 17 .
At the end, as at the beginning, Case appeals to one authority: "For conclusion of this
point, my last proofe shall bee out of Isidore." 18
Isidore's Sources
FAUSTINO AR&VALO, his eighteenth-century editor, found among his musical dicta
(Etymologiae, III, xv-xxiii) borrowings from no less than twenty such late Latin authors
as Augustine and Martianus Capella. 19 After even more careful sifting, Karl W. Schmidt
concluded in his 1899 doctoral dissertation that both Isidore and Cassiodorus copied
what they had to say on music from the same no longer extant Christian source. 20
W. M. Lindsay's edition of the Etymologies in 1911 and R. A. B. Mynors'sof Cassiodo-
rus's Institutiones in 1937 stimulated further quest for their common sources. Mynors in
particular took the trouble to list at p. 193 of his edition 65 parallel passages (bks.
1-3 of the Etymologies and bk. 2 of the Institutiones). The musical parallelisms extend
to approximately 30 printed lines among the 209 in the De musica chapters (Lindsay's
edition).
The evidence gathered in the 1911 and 1937 critical editions absolves Isidore of the
"crude and misleading paraphrases" imputed to him by H. E. Wooldridge at the turn
of the century. For that matter, it also proves that he did not pillage the Institutiones,
II, v, 6, for the names of all 22 musical instruments described in his De musica section -
to say nothing of those others mentioned in the De bello section of the Etymologies. 21
What Cassiodorus's De artibus ac disciplinis liberalium litterarum did provide him with
was a basic pattern over which to embroider in bks. 1-3 of his Etymologiae.
Both place music among the four mathematical disciplines in the upper half of the
seven liberal arts. Cicero and Quintilian had of course associated it with grammar and
15 John Case, The Praise of Musicke (Oxford: Joseph Barnes, 1586), p. 70.
i* Ibid., p. 93-
i' Ibid., p. 108.
i Ibid., p. 116.
i* S. Isidori Hispalensis Episcopi Opera Omnia (Rome: Antonio Fulgoni, 1797-1803), III [1798], pp.
132-143.
20 Karl Wilhelm Schmidt, Quaestiones de musicis scriptoribus Romanis, imprimis de Cassiodoro et Isidore
(Darmstadt: G. Otto, 1899). See especially p. 51.
*i Oxford History of Music, I (1901), 33n. New Oxford History of Music, II, ed. Dom Anselm Hughes (1954).
270;
6 Ancient and Medieval Beginnings
rhetoric in the three lower disciplines. The Carthaginian educator, Martianus Capella,
had in his De nuptiis fhilologiae et Mercurii (c. 439) lifted it to the apex of a new grouping.
Cassiodorus, slightly varying Martianus's new order, places it second (rather than last)
in the mathematical group. Isidore places it third. His arrangement (arithmetic, geo
metry, music, and astrology or astronomy) became standard in all medieval universities.
At the very outset of his musical sentences, Cassiodorus names his authorities:
Gaudentius, Mutianus, Clement of Alexandria, Censorinus. 22 In the last of his ten
chapters on music he invests himself with the authority of another five: Alypius,
Euclid (= pseudo-Euclid), Ptolemy, Albinus, and Apuleius of Madaura. Isidore, on the
contrary, begins with a definition followed by an etymology. He next invokes the names
of those who invented music and then launches into an exordium praising the art. Like
Cassiodorus he calls it a divine science, a mirror of the Eternal Mind, and a source of
healing. Both agree that "without music there can be no perfect knowledge." For both,
music comprehends harmonics, rhythmics, and metrics. But they disagree in their
classification of musical instruments. Cassiodorus divides them under three headings :
percussion, stringed, and wind. Isidore divides instruments other than the human voice
under two types: those sounded by wind blowing through pipes (organica) and those
sounded by the impulse of the fingers (rhythmica).
Musical Instruments mentioned in the Etymologies
JUST AS he gives more definitions of music than any previous Latin author, 23 so also
Isidore provides a fuller list of instruments. Not all their names can be translated with
any assurance of accuracy. Hints can be gleaned, however, from John of Trevisa's 1398
English translation, amended by Batman in 1582 ; from Alfonso de Palencia's Vocabu-
lario en latin y en Romance (1490) ; and from Fray Vicente de Burgos's Spanish version
(1494). The accompanying table shows the equivalencies to be found in these earlier
translations. Where an equivalency is italicized, some such modern Latin-English
dictionary as Lewis and Short's or Latin-Spanish as Terreros y Pando's has been
consulted.
acitabulum cup-shaped instrument of bronze or silver
(III, xxii, I) struck with a small spade-like hammer
barbitos lyre of Asiatic origin, not mentioned in rabel
(III, xxii, 3) Latin literature before the Augustan age,
22 Cassiodori Senatoris Institutiones, ed. R. A. B. Mynors (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1937), pp. 142-143.
23 Ernest Brehaut, An Encyclopedist of the Dark Ages (New York: Columbia University Press, 1912), p.
i35 n. 1. From this wealth, medieval encyclopedists could take their pick. Medieval theorists such as Odo
and Guido dissented, however, from his definitions of symphonia (= consonance, agreement of sounds [Etym.,
Ill, xx, 3]) and diaphonia (= dissonance, jarring of sounds). Charles Burney as long ago as 1782 (A General
History of Music, II, 133) prescientiy observed that Isidore was the last before the Dark Ages to understand
these terms correctly, ie. as opposites. F. J. Ftis understood Isidore by symphonia and diaphonia to mean
the consonance and dissonance of harmonic, rather than melodic, intervals (Biog. univ. des musiciens [Paris :
FIrmin-Didot, 1874], IV, 404).
Ancient and Medieval Beginnings
buccina
(XVIII, iv, 1)
calamus
(III, xxi, 5)
cithara
(III, xxii, 2)
classicum
(XVIII, iv, 5)
cornu
(XVIII, iv, 5)
cymbala
(III, xxii, n)
fides
(III, xxii, 4)
fidicula
(III, xxii, 4)
fistula
indica
(III, xxii, 3)
lyra
(III, xxii, 3)
organum
(III, xxi, 2)
pandura
(III, xxi, 8)
probably with strings of deeper pitch than
other lyres, and suited for the accompaniment
of tearful songs
war-trumpet, of horn, wood, or brass:
properly the "token" of the wild northern
barbarians who blew it as a signal for
assembly
general name for any pipe made of reed
lyre, with outlines shaped like the human
breast, strung classically with seven
strings
signaling-trumpet used in battle
bugle, made of horn
cymbals, hollow round metal plates,
struck together
lyre, especially one of the classical type
small stringed instrument belonging to the
lyre family
soft pipe, especially one blown by hunters
to charm unsuspecting harts
Indian zither
lyre, originating as a hollow tortoise-shell,
over which strings were stretched
general name for any instrument sounded
by blowing wind
syrinx, not bandores (like both Martianus
and Cassiodorus he classifies panduria or
pandura as wind instruments)
bozina (1494); trompeta
flauta (1494) ; flauta
pastoril, zampona
guitarra, solia aver siete
cuerdas (1494)
trompa
corneta, serpentin
finbalos, campanas (1494)
corde instrumentorum
(PL] 1490)
cithara: et fidicen cithare-
dus dicitur ( [L.] 1490)
flauta compuesta de muchas
canas
guitarra se dixo por la
diuersidad delas bozes
(1490) ;arpa (1494)
drgano
apud gentiles instrumen-
tum pulsationi aptum
(tL.]i49)
pecten a harp, with twenty or more strings
(III, xxii, 3)
8 Ancient and Medieval Beginnings
phoenice Phoenician zither
(III, xxii, 3)
psalterium psaltery, an instrument with latten or
(III, xxii, 3) silver strings stretched horizontally, struck
not plucked
sambuca pipe made of hollow elderwood branch
(III, xxi, 7)
sistrum a bronze tambourine, an instrument of
(III, xxii, 12) Egyptian origin; a rattle
symphonia hollow piece of wood enclosed in leather
(III, xxii, 14) beaten with small sticks: a favorite of
mendicant musicians
tibia bone-pipe, an instrument frequently
(III, xxi, 4) played in lamentation or mourning
tintinnabulum small bell, giving a tinkling or ringing
(III, xxii, 13) sound
tuba straight trumpet, as opposed to curving
(III, xxi, 3 ; trumpets such as the cornua, ending in a
XVIII, iv, 3) flaring bell
tympanum drum with leather head and sieve-like
(III, xxii, 10) belly, played with two small sticks
psalterio (1494)
sanbuga (1494)
tuba ([L.], 1490); laud 24
(1494)
sanphonia (1494)
flauta
cascauel (1494)
trompeta (1494)
atabal (1494)
Isidore's References to "Contemporary" Practices
THOUGH ISIDORE abstained from describing contemporaneous musical practices, his
writings have been ransacked for dicta from which inferences could be drawn. Because
he said, Nisi enim ab homine memoria teneantur soni, pereunt, quia scribi non possunt
(For unless sounds are held in man's memory they perish since they cannot be written
down), 25 some historians have contended that no system of musical notation had as yet
been invented in Visigothic Spain. 26 Ramos de Pareja when taking note of this dictum
as long ago as 1482 interpreted it to mean that for certain sounds, such as that of an
24 Isidore classified the sistrum as a percussion instrument but instead of describing it merely said : "The
sistrum is named from its inventress, for Isis, a queen of the Egyptians, is considered to have invented this
species of instrument" (tr. Oliver Strunk, Source Readings in Music History [New York: W. W. Norton,
I 95] P- 99)- Fray Vicente with no more information than this to go on, guesses sistrum meant lute, possi
bly because he thinks that the lute was originally an Egyptian instrument imported into Spain at the time
of the Moslem invasion.
25 Cf. Strunk, p. 93, n. 2.
26 tt^oAnglte, El Cddex Musical de Las Huelgas (Barcelona : Institut d'Estudis Catalans, 1931), I, 10,
n.4.
Ancient and Medieval Beginnings 9
aeolian harp, no written symbols exist; and that therefore these sounds must be carried
in the memory.27 Caffurio in 1520 took Isidore's statement to mean that the mere
notation of a musical sound cannot "preserve" it unless the significance of the written
symbols is remembered also. 28 However interpreted, the dictum loses its relevance to
the question of Visigothic notation when other early manuscript evidence is brought
into the picture. The Azagra Codex, a late ninth-century manuscript in the Madrid
National Library, 29 contains laments on the deaths of a Visigothic king, Chindasvinth
(d. 652), and queen, Recciberga (d. 657). Both laments are ascribed to St. Eugenius of
Toledo who died in the same year as Queen Recciberga. The music has not yet been
deciphered; but neums can be seen above several lines of poetry.
A second quotation often brought forward does, however, unequivocally refer to
contemporaneous musical usage:
In North Africa it is not the custom to sing Alleluias every day of the year, but only on Sundays
and on weekdays from Easter to Pentecost, to signify joy in the thought of a future resur
rection. But on the other hand here in Spain we follow a long-established local tradition when
we sing Alleluias avery day of the year, except fast-days and during Lent. For it is written:
His praise shall continually be in my mouth [Ps. 33(34) . 2b] .
De ecclesiasticis officiis (1, xiii, 3) 30
Isidore in the same passage draws an analogy between Spanish usage and the ancient
Jewish custom of singing alleluias at the ends of psalms. If the Hebrew psalmist could
sing alleluias because of his joy in contemplating the church to come, should not we now
rejoice in being members of it ? he asks.
No Visigothic liturgical practice more excites the astonishment of the musical
historian than the frequency of alleluias in both Office and Mass. Because Isidore played
so dominant a r61e in the councils which framed the liturgy his eagerness to justify local
custom suggests that he fully recognized the regional peculiarities of the rite but wished
to retain them.
Music in the Visigothic Church (589-711)
IN THE DOZEN decades between the recovery of Spain from Arianism (589) and the
Moslem invasion (711) the other principal leaders in the Visigothic church are nearly
always represented by their biographers as having composed chants. Leander, personal
friend of the future pope Gregory during their sojourn together in Byzantium (579-582),
multa dulci sono composuit (composed many fine-sounding things). 31 He added toth
27 Ramos de Pareja, op. tit., 7811. He gave Sibylline utterances as a sample of sounds for which no written
symbols are known. But he believed any conventional musical sound could be "written down."
28 Gaffurio, Apologia ... adversus loannem Spatarium ... (Turin: Agostino de Vicomercato, 1520), fol. Aiii.
29 H. Angles and J. Subira, Catdtogo Musical de la Biblioteca National, Vol. i (Barcelona: Institute Espafiol
deMusicologfa, 1946), pp. 3-4 (MSS 10029).
30 J. P. Migne, Patrologiae Cursus Completes [Latin fathers], LXXXIII (Paris, 1862), cols. 750-751.
31 Ibid., col. 1104. (Deviris illustrious, caputxli.)
io Ancient and Medieval Beginnings
musical repertory of both Office and Mass, composing with great skill and taste, said his
own younger brother, Isidore.
At the head of the Toledan school of composers stood Eugenius II (d. 657). This
school included as its two other most illustrious representatives Ildephonsus (d. 667)
who composed two masses, 32 and Julian (d. 690), who wrote a songbook containing
hymns and threnodies. 33 Conantius (d. 639), bishop of Palencia, melodias soni multas
noviter edidit (newly recast many tunes). 34 In Saragossa, Joannes and Braulio - two
brothers like Leander and Isidore - similarly succeeded each other as bishops. Like
Leander, Joannes was a composer. Like Isidore, Braulio was a scholar. Joannes, the
composer, in ecclesiasticis officiis quaedam eleganter et sono et oratione composuit (skilfully
composed both words and music for certain portions of the office). 35
Literary evidence bearing on the musical abilities of prominent Visigothic churchmen
is by no means the only kind which survives. The Antiphoner of Le6n contains chants
ascribed to Isidore (fols. 172 and 200), to Ildephonsus (fol. 88), to Julian of Toledo (fol.
n6v.), and to Rogatus of Baeza (fol. 281). Since the texts in each instance were written
previously, these ascriptions must therefore refer to the melodies.
THE EARLIEST extant Visigothic liturgical manuscript is a Libettus orationum. Con
taining prayers and collects to be said in the office as recited at Toledo (but with certain
local variants appropriate to Tarragona) it was probably copied around the year 710
and then carried out of Spain by some ecclesiastic fleeing before the Moslem invaders.
Eventually it was deposited at Verona. It does not contain music. But it so perfectly
tallies in every other respect with the Antiphoner of Leon that the music of the latter
must be presumed - like its prayers, readings, and calendar - to embody traditions of
the pre-Conquest period. 36 Indeed this Antiphoner, which is the most imposing Spanish
musical monument antedating noo, is today invariably regarded as a Visigothic
relic, even though copied towards the end of the Mozarabic period. For that matter,
nearly all Mozarabic manuscripts hark back to the Visigothic past.
Mozarabic Music (711-1089)
SOME THIRTY CODICES containing Mozarabic neums have been inventoried. 37 At least
five are conserved in Toledo cathedral, four each at the Benedictine Abbey of Santo
32 PL, XCVI, 001.44: duos missas in laudem [sanctorum Cosmae et Damiani], quas in festivitate sua
psallerent, miro modulations modo perfecit, quas missas notatas habemus.
33 IUd. t col. 449: [Conscripsit] librum carminum diversorum, in quo sunt hymni, epitaphia, atque de diversis
causis epigrammata numerosa.
84 IUd., col. 203. 35 2bid. t col. 201.
36 Dom Louis Brou, "Antifonario visig<5tico de la Catedral de Le6n" (review), Hispania Sacra, VII, No. 13
(*954) P- 229: "C'est done Tune des gloires de 1'Antiphonaire de Le6n de pouvoir offrir une correspondance
aussi parf aite que possible avec un livre liturgique e*crit pres de deux siecles plus t6t : aucun autre antiphonaire
latin ne peut revendiquer un tel privilege."
37 Casiano Rojo and German Prado. El Canto Mozdrabe (Barcelona: Diputaci6n Provincial, 1929), pp. 18-
39. In "Mozarabic Melodies," Speculum, III, ii (April, 1928), at p. 224 Prado gives the total of "Mozarabic
Ancient and Medieval Beginnings II
Domingo de Silos, the Madrid Biblioteca Nacional, and the British Museum, three at the
Madrid Real Academia de la Historia, two at the Paris Bibliotheque Nationale, and one
each at the university libraries in Saxagossa and Santiago de Compostela, the cathedrals
of Leon, Cordova, and Coimbra, the Madrid Royal Palace Library, and the Ruskin
Museum in Sheffield. Two Bibles, one formerly belonging to the Castilian monastery of
Cardena, the other to the monastery of Ona, contain Mozarabic neums. In 1915 three
leaves of an antiphoner were found in the Toledo parish church of Saints Justa and
Rufina.
Since the Roman rite officially displaced the Mozarabic during Alfonso VTs reign, 88
all of these surviving manuscripts very probably antedate noo. Mozarabic neums were
already thought hard to read at so important a center of liturgical music as Leon in
1069. The author of the rhymed preface to the Antiphoner of Leon (the music of which
was copied considerably earlier) admits as much. Why should they have been considered
so difficult? The Spanish Benedictines, Casiano Rojo and Germdn Prado, suggest an
answer. In their 1929 publication, El Canto Mozdrabe, they contend that Mozarabic
notation contained a greater variety of forms for each neum-type than any other known
system of plainsong notation. 39 The scandicus of the four-note type was written some
9 different ways, the punctum, a single note, 10 ways, the podatus, a two-note type, 13
ways, the clivis, a two-note type, 17 ways, and the torculus, a three-note type, 28 ways.
The Toledan neums, moreover, look as basically different from the notation used in
Leon and elsewhere in northern Spain, as does Pitman shorthand from Gregg.
The variety of forms for identical neum-types found in one and the same manu
script gave Rojo and Prado the right to believe that Mozarabic neums indicated much
more than merely pitch. Perhaps the different forms designated rhythmic distinctions.
Certainly when an effort was made around 1500 to revive Mozarabic chant the tradition
still alive in Toledo called for pronounced rhythmic distinctions.
THE ROSETTA STONE which should have opened the secrets of Mozarabic notation was a
Liber ordinum owned formerly by the renowned monastery of San Millan de la Cogolla
and now by the Madrid Real Academia de la Historia (Codex 56) . In this manuscript the
Mozarabic neums for 21 melodies - 18 for use in burial ceremonies and 3 for use in
Maundy Thursday foot-washing ceremonies - have been scratched out and Aquitanian
neums (staffless) substituted in the resulting empty spaces. A comparison of the two
neum-systems thus becomes possible insofar as some half of these melodies are con
cerned - they being found with their original Mozarabic neums in the Antiphoner of
Le6n, presently to be discussed, and in the Liber ordinum of Silos. Even so, many
difficulties remain unresolved. Only a limited number of neums are represented, the
liturical manuscripts known today" as 38. Obviously not all contain music. For an index of the "manuscrits
avec notation musicale" see Dom Marius Fe'rotin's Le Liber Mozarabicus Sacramentorum (Paris: Finnin-
Didot et Cie, 1912), col. 1061. Cf. also New Oxford History of Music, II, 83-84.
88 For an account of the "practical difficulty brought about in Spain in the eleventh and twelfth centuries
by the substitution of the Roman for the Mozarabic liturgy," see Casiano Rojo, "The Gregorian Antiphonary
of Silos and the SpamshMelody of the Lamentations," Speculum, V, iii (July, 1930), PP- 3<>6-37-
39 Rojo-Prado, p. 40.
I2 Ancient and Medieval Beginnings
Aquitanian version sheds extremely dim light on the problem of clefs, no rhythmic
inferences can be securely drawn, and the Aquitanian transcript only partially solves
the most tantalizing mystery of all - what pitch-distinctions to make within any given
Mozarabic compound neum or between any two disjunct neums.
If the melodies in question reveal no strikingly individual traits, at least their
transcription into Aquitanian neums proves that the monks of San Millan de la Cogolla
still hankered after the old Mozarabic burial melodies rather than new ones introduced
along with the superimposed Roman rite. This favoring of the old burial antiphons and
responds is not to be wondered at, however, since funeral customs in any culture are
among those which most stoutly resist any sudden changes.
The 21 melodies which alone of the extensive Mozarabic repertory can be brought
with confidence into modern notation include: 16 antiphons, 3 responds, and 2 preces.
The pair of penitential preces exemplify a litany-type peculiar to Spain. Since the verses
in the first start successively with the letters a, b, [cj d, e, f , and g, this preces appropri
ately bears the title Abecedarium in the San Milldn manuscript. The same preces -
though with small musical variants and not as rigorously alphabetical in its arrange
ment of verses - recurs in an eleventh-century French manuscript formerly conserved at
Albi in southwestern France and now at the Paris Bibliothque Nationale (B.N., lat.
776). Monks travelling from one monastery to another perhaps carried abroad still other
chants of Mozarabic provenience if only they could now be identified.
The two preces in the San Millan Liber ordinwm were to be sung ''at the door of the
church'' just before the body was brought inside. 40 Other preces to be sung not in the
burial office but on the Sunday before Ash Wednesday, on Good Friday, and at other
penitential times, have been partially reconstructed. In every case preces meant not
just "prayers," but a musical type in which each strophe sung as a solo by the officiant
was answered by a short group-refrain. As such, the form has given rise to an extensive
scholarly literature beginning with studies published in 1913 and 1914 by Wilhelm
Meyer. He attempted to show that the Mozarabic preces were not an indigenous form
but were borrowed from France, just as was the St. Gall sequence. 41 His thesis lost favor
when it was discovered that both Julian of Toledo (d. 690) and Vicente of Cordova (fl. 820)
had composed preces long before Notker Balbulus met any monk fleeing from Jumi&ges. 42
Thirteen antiphons and three responds bring the number of burial pieces in the San
Millan manuscript to 18. Interestingly, the sentiment of the words is nowhere morose or
fearful, but on the contrary confident and robust. They show none of the stark dread of
penal fires so often found in later Spanish religion. Rojo and Prado classify ten of these
burial antiphons as Mode II and three as Mode III. They transcribe the foot-washing
antiphons in phrygian or hypomixolydian. According to them, none of these melodies
40 Ibid., pp. 74-75. Angles cites the first of these as an example of a preces sung in the Mozarabic Mass
(New Oxford History of Music, II, 87). He also reads the isth and I4th notes of the source-melody differently
from Rojo-Prado, p. 74, who give A-B instead.
41 W. Meyer, Die Preces der mozardbischen Litwgie (Berlin: Wiedmannsche Buchhandlung, 1914), p. 9. In
his introduction to this monograph he summarizes his previous article, 'tJber die rythmischen Preces der
mozarabischen Litttrgie* (1913).
42 Rojo-Prado, p. 64.
Ancient and Medieval Beginnings 13
was written in either lydian or hypolydian modes - these two being the modes which
with an added flat most often sound like modern major.
The Antiphoner of Leon (1069)
SCHOLARS of all nationalities - Angles, Brou, and Peter Wagner, to name only representa
tive Catalonian, French, and German scholars by way of example -have unanimously
declared the Le6n Antiphoner to be the most important monument of Spanish music
produced before the reconquest of Toledo in 1085. 43 The text, without neums, was
published in 1928 by the Benedictines of Santo Domingo de Silos (Burgos). A facsimile
of the original manuscript was issued at Madrid in 1953. The manuscript, which reaches 306
leaves, contains music over every page except those in the preface and calendar. The
main body was written c. 950, if the dedication to Abbat Ikilanus (917-960) is to be taken
seriously. 44 A miniature on the back of the first leaf shows a scribe handing the com
pleted antiphoner to the dedicatee. The manuscript contains 18 other miniatures, that
at fol. 27iv. of a royal consecration being one of the earliest of its class known. The
preface, which includes 130 lines of inflated Latin poetry, bears a much later date:
io6g. 45
This poem, like many of the chants in the Le6n Antiphoner, is ascribed to a definite
author: in this case Eugenius III of Toledo. Like most Mozarabs, he hankers after a
vanished past. According to him the old customs were always better than new
ones. In former times three choirs alternated in the singing of chant, one located
at the altar, a second by the pulpit, a third in the nave. This threefold division of
the whole body of singers accorded with St. Paul's division of the repertory into
hymns, psalms, and spiritual songs. The art of singing has decayed in these present
times, singers now inclining to sloth and other vices. Formerly singers respected their holy
orders, but not now. They sing discordantly and have forgotten how to interpret
properly the neums in their books.
ACCORDING to our poet, no single individual endowed the Spanish church with its
numerous beautiful chants. On the contrary, many holy men inspired by God made up
its dowry. "In that former age many individuals, enjoying a common inspiration,
composed chants in honor of the Almighty." His testimony is, of course, confirmed by
evidence scattered in the margins throughout the main body of the Leon Antiphoner.
43 See tlie Antifonario visigtftico mozdrabe de la Cathedral de Ledn: Edicitin facsimil (Madrid: Consejo
Superior de Investigaciones Cientfficas, 1953), "Proemio," unnumbered pages. See also H. Angles, "La
musica medieval en Toledo," Gesammelte Aufsatze zur Kultuvgeschichte Spaniens, 7. Bd. (Miinster in West-
falen: Aschendorffsche Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1938), pp. 11-12.
44 The dedicatory epigram at fol. Iv, and the phrase Librum IMlani abbati at fol. 6v. prove that Ikilanus
once owned the antiphoner. See Zacarias Garcia Villada, Catdlogo de los Cddices y Documentos de la Catedral
de Ledn (Madrid: Imp. Clasica Espanola, 1919), pp. 38-40. The musical tradition of the Le6n Antiphoner may
be as old as King Wamba (662) ; Wamba's antiphoner is cited in the Le6n (fol. 25 vb.) as its model. See Garcia
Villada, p. 40.
45 Latin poems at fols. 2V.-3 printed in Ferotin, Le Liber Mozarabici4s, cols. 918-921.
I4 Ancient and Medieval Beginnings
Allusion has already been made at page 10 to those chants which carry ascriptions in the
manuscript margins to such pre-Conquest fathers as Isidore, Ildephonsus, Julian of
Toledo, Rogatus of Baeza, and Balduigius of Ercdvica. The case for their authenticity is
strengthened by the fact that the same scribe who jotted the ascriptions copied both
text and neums. Medieval glossators elsewhere throughout Europe attributed the whole
body of Roman chant to Gregory I (d. 604) and of Ambrosian chant to Ambrose (d. 397) .
Mozarabic traditions of authorship deserve the more credence because famous names
are not constantly invoked. Indeed, several of the plunmis sacris virorum to whom
chants in the Le6n Antiphoner are ascribed were obscure persons, even by Spanish
standards.
With his eye ever on the past, our Antiphoner poet complains not only that the
threefold division of the choir has died out, but - worse still - that the whole body of
singers connexi nunc psattant exules a docmatu (now stand together when singing
praises, departing from right tradition) . But he hopes for the return of better days, when
singers who carefully meditate on every word they sing will win back many wandering
minds from vain things. Certain other of his preliminary injunctions compare inter
estingly with the early medieval performance-ideals mentioned by S. Van Dijk of
Oxford in his two articles, "Saint Bernard and the Institute* Patrum" and "Medieval
Terminology and Methods of Psalm Singing." 46 The following lines from Eugenius Ill's
poem can be pitted against Ekkehard II's prose injunctions in the Institute* Patrum.
Remove from the choir those with raucous voices,
Those who refuse to apply what they have been taught,
Those who burst their lungs and strain their throats,
Those whose breath miserably gives out,
Those who make an ugly noise like the braying of donkeys,
Those whose wretched voices sound like the howling of wolves.
Leave off such sounds and banish such voices,
For be assured that no sound abhorred by man can please God.
But seek after artistry so that you may please Christ,
And at the same time be found well pleasing in sight of men.
Throughout the main body of the Le6n Antiphoner such performance-directions as the
following appear: Dicentes voces praeconias (fol. 133) ; Imponit arcediaconus voce clara
hanc antiphonam (fol. I53V.) ; Imponit episcopus hanc antiphonam subtili voce decantando:
Ecce venit hora ut dispergamini (fol. i64v.) ; Imponit episcopus voce tremula (fol. i66v.).
In the first rubric, the deacons giving instruction to an assembly of catechumens (not
those to be confirmed, since confirmation in the Mozarabic rite was administered
immediately after baptism, and by a priest, not a bishop) are required to sing in aloud,
town-crier's voice. In the second, the archdeacon is advised to sing a Palm-Sunday an-
tiphon in a clear voice. In the third, the bishop chanting the following antiphon with
words from the Passion narrative : "Behold the hour cometh, yea is now come, that ye
Musica Discipline IV, 2, 3, 4 (1950), pp. 99-109; MD, VI, i, 2, 3 (1952), pp. 7-26.
Ancient and Medieval Beginnings 15
shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone" (John xvL 32), is
enjoined to sing this particular text sotto voce - doubtless for dramatic effect. In the
fourth, the bishop who sings Popule meus ("0 my people, what have I done unto thee ?
and wherein have I wearied thee" [Micah vi. 3]) is directed to begin the Improperia with
a tremolo in his voice - again surely with deliberate dramatic intent.
Fortunately, the Le6n Antiphoner is preserved complete. Beginning with November
17, the first day in the Mozarabic church year (St. Acisclus's Day), it carries through
without interruption to the following November 17, providing certain additional
chants at the end for the dedication of a basilica, consecrations of bishops and kings,
marriages, the ministry to the sick, and committals. Because it is not mutilated after
the fashion of other Mozarabic monuments the liturgiologist can go through it, making
a comparative study of "forms" in Mozarabic music. Such a study is the more necessary
because certain Mozarabic chant-types are uniquely Spanish while others, if not uniquely
so, bear names which can cause confusion. For instance, prolegendum = introit;
psallendum = gradual; laudes = alleluia; sacrificium = offertory; trenos = tract. The
two uniquely Spanish chant-types would seem to be the already mentioned preces and
the sono. But sono like selah in the Hebrew psalms is a term still too imperfectly under
stood to permit of secure definition.
The Antiphoner not only contains chants for the entire church year but (unlike
modern antiphonaries) for Office as well as Mass. Such ramifications of any chant-type
as the following can therefore be studied: (i) comparative position in the Hours and in
the Sacrifice; (2) choice of text - different or the same in Office and Mass; (3) syllabic
versus melismatic treatments of the text; (4) formal structure of the melodies; (5) use of
borrowed musical material.
THE laudes are one Mozarabic chant-type that has been exhaustively studied with just
such criteria as the above in mind. Dom Louis Brou, the Benedictine of Quarr Abbey
(Isle of Wight) who made the study, finds that laudes were omnipresent in the Mozarabic
Office and Mass : always occupying a climactic position. In the Office, laudes came at the
end, followed only by a hymn and closing benediction.*? The words were invariably
taken from either Psalm 148 or 150, the typical "alleluia" psalms. After the psalm-verse
of the laudes, set syllabically, the singers erupted into flaming melismas on the post
script-word always reserved for the ends of laudes (except in Lent), the word
alleluia Moreover this jubilus, insofar as the Mozarabic Office is concerned, always
flaxed on the second rather than last syllable - the "e" rather than "a".** As a rule
laudes in the Office were durchkomponiert, each carrying a notably individual stamp.
Their individuality needs stressing. Though often the words of one laudes were repeated
in another office, the music seems always to have differed. Perhaps the composers
wished to give each saint's office its own unique tinge.
As for their place in the eucharist, laudes climacticaUy closed the Mass of the Cate-
47 Dom Louis Brou, "I/AHeluia dans la liturgie mosaxabe," Anuario Musical, VT (Barcelona:
Institute Espanol de Musicologia, 1951)* P- 8-
48 Ibid., p. n.
i6 Ancient and Medieval Beginnings
chumens. They provided a musical coda to the homily expounding the Gospel for the
Day. But if their position made of them an lie missa est closing the Mass of the Cate
chumens, they also served as a transition into the Mass of the Faithful.
Though the word alleluia came after the scriptural verse in Oiiice-laudes it preceded
the verse in Mass-to^s. What is more, the scriptural texts of M.z,s$-laudes - though
still of a laudatory type - were not invariably chosen from Psalms 148 or 150, or even
for that matter from any psalm. 49 The jubilus in the alleluia, to make a further
contrast with Oiiice-laudes, came always on the last syllable, the "a". In 68 of the 76
Mass-/0mfe?, the luxuriant melisma on the final "a" in alleluia was again repeated on the
final (or penultimate) syllable of the scriptural verse which follows the alleluia/* As in
the Roman use, the Mozarabic composer on these occasions therefore worked out
a musical rhyme-scheme.
Fifty-two Mziss-laudes, outside Lent, can be grouped according to several well-
defined musical types. 51 One of these, the Ecce servus type of laudes-melo&y,
appears in Masses honoring masculine saints: Andrew, Eugenius, Cucufatus (Cugat),
Cyprian, Cosmas and Damian. Another, the L auda filia type, appears in Masses honoring
feminine saints: Eulalia, Justa and Rufina. A third type, the Lauda Hierusalem, is
again dedicated to masculine saints: John the Baptist, Columba, Emilianus. Twenty-
four laudes-mdodizs cannot, however, be classified under types.
If in the Visigothic liturgy the word alleluia dominates Mass- as well as Oiiice-laudes,
it appears even more frequently elsewhere in the liturgy as an interjection. A study of
its use shows that the single word alleluia was considered equally appropriate in an
Office for the Dead and in an Easter Mass. The alleluia outside laudes was always melis-
matically treated. Occasionally it stretched to spectacular lengths. Vocalises in the
Leon Antiphoner reaching such an extravagant number of notes as 300 are by no means
rare. On the very first page of the facsimile (fol. 29) such a melisma can be seen. The
scribe copied it in the outer margin, beginning the neums at the bottom of the page and
carrying them up to the top. In the first hundred leaves the margins of 34 pages have
been so used.
OBVIOUSLY neums that can be written from bottom to top of a page lack any heighted
implications. But patterns of neums occur. In the marginal alleluia copied at fol. 60 the
following musical structure can be easily enough detected: AA', BB', CC', D . . . (the
vocalise appears here over the second syllable of the word). This same melody recurs
elsewhere in the Antiphoner fitted syllabically to a text beginning Sublimius diebus.
Brou has found three other Mozarabic sequences based on such AA', BB', CC', DD'
alleluia-melismas 52 - a significant discovery since the Mozarabic codex, Toledo 35.7, in
49 Ibid., pp. 23-26. Six out of 76 alleluiatic verses sung at Mass (not in Lent) came from the New Testa
ment.
50 Ibid., p. 30. Mozarabic practice duplicated Roman but differed from Ambrosian in recapitulating the
jubilus-melisma.
" Ibid., p. 33-
52 Ibid., pp. 57-58; see also pp. 80-8 1. Brou's article, "Sequences et Tropes dans la liturgie mozarabe"
(Hispania Sacra, IV [1951], pp. 27-41), contains texts of all the sequences (pp. 28-37) together with facsimi-
Ancient and Medieval Beginnings 17
which he discovered the Alme Virginis sequence (fol. 45, line 15) belongs to the ninth
century. The sequence was therefore an established form in Spain a century before
Notker Balbulus.
Because long melismas of the AA', BB', CC', DD' . . . type so frequently occur in the
Mozarabic books it is not surprising to find that repeat-signs were sometimes used to
lighten the labor of copying. In the Le6n Antiphoner a stylized letter d looking like a
backward 6 with the ascender crossed (abbreviating denuo or dupliciter) is used 128
times as a repeat-sign. 53 In the Toledo manuscript-group a plus-sign at the end of an
incise indicates a repeat. Plainsongs incorporating such frequent doublets violate the
spirit of primitive Roman chant. Wherever they occur in manuscript collections of
Roman chant they usually discover themselves as late-comers of non-liturgical origin.
According to Brou:
In France, Spain, England, and elsewhere, all the sequelae (alleluia-vocalises) which can be
found seem not to belong to the original Gregorian repertory. Melismas extending to hundreds
of notes do not occur with the word Alleluia in the oldest Gregorian manuscripts, but on the
contrary the alleluia was always rather short. Outside Spain, then, not only were the sequence-
texts a manifestly late development but so also was the melodic scaffolding (the sequelae of
alleluias) to which the texts were added. In Spain, quite the contrary obtained. Mozarabic
liturgical manuscripts show a very considerable number of extended melismas (whether in the
case of the Alleluia or of any other word) and these melismas were an integral part of the
liturgy: they cannot be cut out without denaturing the liturgy Moreover, we have every
right to believe that they belong to the most primitive stratum of the ancient Spanish liturgy. 54
Music in Mohammedan Spain (712-1492)
CHRISTIAN SPAIN during the so-called Dark Ages produced in Isidore a scholar of uni
versal renown whose musical dicta were to be respectfully repeated a millenium later.
Music moreover in the Visigothic church enjoyed extraordinary prestige, even the princi
pal bishops priding themselves on being composers. Finally, a system of notating
Visigothic chant the complexities of which still baffle scholars was developed. What was
to be the status of the art in Moorish Spain ? If one considers the other arts -architecture,
for instance - it is of such Moorish rather than Christian monuments as the Cordova
Mosque (finished c. 1000 and at that time second in size only to the Kaaba in Mecca
itself), the tower in Seville called the Giralda (erected c. 1196), and of course the Alham-
bra in Granada (built between 1248 and 1354), that one thinks first. These abiding proofs
of Moorish cultural genius have inevitably caused historians of the other arts to seek out
similar evidences of accomplishment in literature and music. So long ago as the
eighteenth century such an effort was made by an exiled Spanish Jesuit, Juan Andres.
les of the manuscript sources. He continued his discussion of sequences in a review-article, "Le joyau des
antiphonaires latins'* (ArcMvos Leoneses, VIII, no. 15 [1954]* PP- 32-34)- Tlie melisma which served as a
model for the sequence Sublimius diebus (fol. iv. of the Le6n Antiphoner) forms part of the "Sono" of the
office A d matutinum found at fol. 60 in the Le<3n Antiphoner.
** Brou, "L' Alleluia . . .", p. 5-
M Ibid., p. 62.
x8 Ancient and Medieval Beginnings
In his Dell' origine, de progress* e dello stato attuale d'ogni letteratura (1782-99) he ad
vanced the then new theory that Provengal lyric poetry, notably that of the troubadour
period, flowered over a bed of Moorish precedents. 55 The theory that such a Moorish
poetic type as the zajal (= zejel) seeded a cognate Spanish type - the mttancico - is one
which still finds strong adherents today. 56
Since music and poetry were twin arts in the Middle Ages, such prominent Arabists as
Ribera and Farmer have contended that not only Moorish poetry but also Moorish music
exercised a decisive influence throughout Christian Spain. Clinching proof of musical
influence is, however, difficult to assemble. In the first place, no Moorish music ante
dating 1492, the year in which Granada was captured, survives. Quite possibly the
Spanish Moors did not practice notating their music but contented themselves instead
with improvising around traditional patterns. The earliest notated music extant
anywhere in the Islamic world for that matter cannot be dated earlier than 1250 - and
even it is nothing but a set of examples introduced into a theoretical treatise by the
inventor of "systematist tuning/' Safi al-Dm (c. 1230-1294), a native of Baghdad. 57
His examples are written in letter-notation with numerals to indicate time-values. In
contrast, four-line staff notation was already used in Galicia at Santiago de Compostela
(the most famous of medieval shrines) as early as 1140. To carry the contrast further,
Islamic music whether in Mesopotamia or Morocco never knew independent two-part
writing; but the 1140 Codex Calixtinus from Santiago de Compostela already contains
two-part melismatic organum.
WANT of written examples, then, is the first deterrent to our study of medieval Moorish
music. This lack is not remedied by an appeal to modern Moroccan music, which both
Ribera and Farmer reject as bastardized. The best that can be done in their absence is
to study the treatises either copied or composed in Spain. The most famous of such trea
tises was written by the Turk, Al-Farabi (c. 872-950), who as a youth was taken to
Baghdad, there to learn Arabic and to study under a Christian physician, Yuhanna ibn
Haylan. He read through Aristotle's extant works "more than one hundred times, but
said he could never read them sufficiently." After lecturing for a time at Aleppo he died
in Damascus. One of the most important extant copies of his masterpiece on musical
theory, the Kitab al-Musiqi, was made c. 1120 at Cordova and is now preserved (MS
906) at El Escorial, the monastery near Madrid founded by Philip II in 1563.
Al-Farabi early gained a name among Christian as well as Mohammedan scholars as
the foremost interpreter of Greek philosophy. His "Grand Book on Music," though
written in Arabic, utilizes Greek terms throughout. Even the word mustqi in its title
shows that the art discussed is not to be an indigenous Arabian one : for the Arabic word
55 Juan Andres, Dell' origine ... (Venice: Giovanni Vitto, 1783), II, 297-298. Esteban Arteaga, another
exiled Jesuit, counterblasted Andres's Arabian theories. See Le rivoluzioni del teatro musicale italiano, sec. ed.
(Venice: Carlo Palese, 1785), I, i62n,-i7in.
56 Ram6n Menendez Pidal, Poesia drdbe y poesia europea, 2nd ed. (Buenos Aires: Espasa-Calpe, 1943), pp.
17-18.
57 Henry George Farmer in "Arabian Music," Grove's V t I, i86a, wrote : "The earliest Arabian composer
who has given us notated compositions is Safi al-Dm. They are mostly examples to illustrate his theories ..."
Ancient and Medieval Beginnings 19
denoting "song" or "music" indifferently was ghind'. His influence can be proved not
only from the dissemination of manuscript versions, but by the more important fact
that when a Spanish Muslim such as Abu'1-Salt (1068-1134) 58 came to write his own
music treatise he paraphrased and re-arranged the "Grand Book." Abul-Salt's treatise
survives in a Hebrew translation (Paris, Bibliotheque Nationale, Fonds Hebreu No.
.1037). If possible, Abu'1-Salt, the Spaniard from Andalusia, leaned more heavily on
Aristotle than Al-Farabi, the Turk. Particularly is this shown in the arrangement of
material. Al-Farabi disposes his material into three books, preceded by an introduction.
Book I treats of the Elements, Book II of Instruments, Book III of Composition.
Abu'1-Salt takes Al-Farabf s twofold division of music into theory and practice as his
starting-point, but subdivides each of these according to the materia-forma dichotomy
recognized as the root of all Aristotelian philosophical concepts. If the materia of
theoretical music is notes and intervals, the forma is the groupings of these within
scale-systems. If the materia of practical music is musical instruments, the forma is the
shaping of melodies and rhythms to conform with the natural possibilities of such instru
ments as the qanun, barbat, tanabir, and rabab.
Hanoch Avenary of Tel Aviv thus summarizes Abu'l-Salt's contribution to musical
theory:
[His] arrangement does not agree with that of other Arabian scholars; it is rather in contra
diction to it. But it seems to have been the intention of the author when grouping his subject in
such a manner Abu'1-Salt obviously endeavours to follow more closely Aristotle's scheme
of classification. 59
The existence of a Hebrew translation shows that this late eleventh-century treatise
was appreciated in medieval Jewish circles; as does also the fact that in 1403 a Hebrew
philosopher, Profiat Duran, quoted a sentence from Abu'l-Salt's treatise. 60
Al-Farabi wrote at least one, and possibly two, other treatises which left a mark in
medieval Spain. 61 The first of these, Ihsa'al-ulum, exists in only one Western manu
script copy. Conserved at El Escorial (MS 646), the unique copy is dated c. 1310 (i.e.,
after Cordova and Seville had been retaken and the Moors driven back into the Kingdom
of Granada). This particular work was twice translated into Latin by linguists in the
employ of Raymund, archbishop of Toledo (d. 1151). John of Seville (d. 1157?) and
Gerard of Cremona (d. 1187) produced the two independent versions, both called De
scientiis. John of Seville's version, the older, was in turn incorporated, almost entire,
in a university text compiled by an archdeacon of Toledo, Dominicus Gundissalinus
(= Gundisalvus). His text - entitled De divisione <philosophie - reached England, and
Robert Kilwardby, archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1279) quoted it. Kilwardby, who had
taught at Oxford in Roger Bacon's time, begins a section in his compend, De ortu et
divisione philosophie, thus: "Musicam autem sonoram sic difinit Gundissalinus . . . ." 62
58 Farmer, A History of Arabian Music (London: Luzac & Co., 1929)* P- 221.
59 "Abul-Salt's Treatise on Music/' Musica Disciplina, VI, 1-3 (1952), p- 31. 60 JW&. p. 29.
H. G. Farmer, Al-Farabl's Arabic-Latin Writings on Music (Glasgow: The Civic Press, I934> PP- 6 37-
Dominicus Gundissalinus, De divisione philosophiae, ed. Ludwig Baur (Miinster [Beitrage z. Geschichte
der Philosophic des Mittelalters], 1903), P- 161.
20 Ancient and Medieval Beginnings
The second of Al-Farabl's two minor treatises, if indeed it be his, descends to us with
the title De ortu scientiarum. In this smaller work only four mathematical sciences are
treated, arithmetic, geometry, astrology, and music. But in the De scientiis, which is
indubitably Al-Farabfs, seven sciences are treated: optics, statics, and mechanics
being added to the other four.
The influence of Al-Farabi, or Alpharabius as his name was latinized, can be shown to
have traveled over all Europe between 1200 and 1500. In France Vincent of Beauvais
(c. 1190-1264) in his Speculum doctrinale, Jerome of Moravia (fl. 1240) in his Tractatus de
musica and pseudo-Aristotle (fl. 1270) in his like-named work, 64 all quoted him not
only in short snatches but at substantial length. A century later Al-Farabfs influence
was still so strong in England that the author of Quatuor principalia musicae (1351) 65
could repeat the whole blocs from Al-Farabi (via Gundissalinus) already used in pseudo-
Aristotle's Tractatus de musica. In Germany as late as 1503 Gregor Reisch (1467-1525)
still cited Al-Farabi in his Margarita philosopUca (Freiburg ed., fol. n viij), especially
deferring to him in Book V, chapter ii. As if these citations were not enough, his is still
brought forward as a name to be conjured with in the culminating Spanish treatise of
the sixteenth century, Juan Bermudo's 1555 Declaracion de instruments Osuna in
Andalusia being its place of publication. The influence of Al-Farabi thus at the end
came full circle and stopped in the very heart of what had for more than five hundred
years been Moslem territory.
Al-Farabi deservedly overshadows all other Arabian theorists - of whom Al-Kindl
(d. 873) would be the earliest and Ibn Sina (= Avicenna [980-1037]) the most widely
known. Even so, these others merit the attention of anyone concerned with the progress
of musical thought in Mohammedan Spain. In the century between Al-Farabi and Ibn
Sina, the second of whom treats of music in his Kitab a$-Sifa', several new rhythmic
schemes had come into vogue. The "possible" rhythmic patterns allowed by both were, it
is true, complex, extending to patterns of seven's (3 + 4 or 4 + 3), ten's (3 + 3 + 4), and
eleven's (3 + 4 + 4) , with accents sharpened by staccatissimo marks. But the "traditional' '
rhythms of Arabian music carried to Spain by such early virtuosi as Ziryab (d. 880?)
were, according to Al-Farabi, limited to seven distinct groups. These can be studied in
Baron Rodolphe d'Erlanger's La musique arabe (II, 40-48). The rhythmic patterns
recorded by Al-Farabi and Ibn Sina were always built up as combinations of indi
visible beats, often fast enough to warrant transcription as quavers in a brisk allegro. Le-
if p Y y Y \ f p y y y \
p t ? t * I P P y f y
68 E. de Coussemaker, Scriptorum de musica medii aevi, Vol. I (Paris : A. Durand, 1864), pp. 4b, loa.
64 CS, I, p. 253a, lines 9-15, 21-28, See Fanner, Al-Fdrabi's Arabic-Latin Writings, pp. 22-24, 2729.
65 CS, IV, p. 205a f lines 7-14, 22-30.
86 Bermudo, Dedaraci&n (Osuna: Juan de Le6n, 1555), fol. viii verso (col. i).
Ancient and Medieval Beginnings 21
gato and staccato "notes" were sharply differentiated, as were also accentuated versus
unaccentuated "beats." The light ramal involved, for instance, unaccentuated patterns
in fives, such as are shown on page 20. 67 The heavy ramal called, on the other hand, for
pronounced accents. Al-Farabi supplies examples which can be equated with the
following note-values: 68
I } y tj I
I Mt/M ififif i"C/ I re/ Ml
J?*t/t i CJLTLT lf*t/l
I jrtt* I It tt * l?"tf
SUCH HEAVILY ACCENTED PATTERNS as these last naturally inclined the Moors in Spain
to prefer plucked and percussive rather than suave instruments. The forty miniatures 69
in Alfonso X's Cantigas de Santa Maria (c. 1280) show 72 instrumentalists playing
every variety of instrument from organistrum to clackers. But when a Moorish player
is pictured he plays a plucked instrument, not a bowed or wind instrument: even
though the rebec, the albogon, and anafil, all shown in the miniatures, were as surely
introduced into Spain by the Moors as was the lute. Moreover Juan Ruiz, Archpriest
of Hita, explicitly affirms in his Libro de buen amor (1343) - a poem in which he shows
himself the most musically knowledgeable of medieval Spanish poets - that the Moors
preferred plucked and percussion instruments above all others.
The preference for bright and sparkling rhythms in their festive music gave the
Moorish zambra the reputation of being the liveliest music in the Spanish peninsula,
even after Granada was captured and the Moors were placed under rigid surveillance.
When L6pez de Gomara, an Andalusiau and Corps's personal chaplain, wished for
instance to call the music of a certain Aztec dance the liveliest and most exhilarating
that one could possibly hear, he was able to think of only one equivalent - the music of
the Moorish zambra, it being the most exciting music stay-at-home Spaniards could
have heard. 70
As for the repertory of instruments introduced into Spain by the Moors, the list
extends to more than twenty named types. Seville became the center of instrument-
manufacture during the eleventh century, and a proverb had it that when a Cordovan
musician died his instruments were sold in Seville but when a Sevillian scholar died his
7 d'Erlanger, La musique arabe> Vol, II (Paris: Librairie orientaliste, 1935) , pp. 4 2 ~43-
3 Ibid., II, 43-44.
Reproduced in Julian Ribera, La mtisica de las Cantigas (Madrid: Tip. de la Rev. de Archives, 1922), on
seven plates following p. 152.
Francisco Lopez de G6mara, La conquista de Mexico (Saragossa: Agustfn Millan, I55 2 ) x^
"Todos los que an visto este vayle dizen que es cosa mucho para ver. Y mejor que la zambra de los moros,
que es la mejor danca que por aca sabemos. 1 *
22 Ancient and Medieval Beginnings
books were sold in Cordova. 71 Al Shaqandl, a Sevillian (d. 1231), drew up the following
list of 20 instruments in contemporary vogue: 72
abu qurun = large drum; bandair = tambourine; buq = metal shawm; dabdaba = drum;
duff = tambourine; ghaifa = bagpipe; juwdq = flageolet; kaithara = guitar; khulldl =
kettledrum; nafw = trumpet; mra = recorder; qanun = psaltery; rabdb = rebec;
rSfa = rotte; shabbdba = small flute; ?fw / = metal clappers; tabl = small drum;
tunbur = bandore; 'ud = lute; zuldml shawm.
These, he said, were manufactured in Seville for export to North Africa, as well as for
the Spanish market. The emphasis on Sevillian instrument-construction is especially
interesting because Seville was the first city after the Reconquest to enact an elaborate
set of ordenanzas regulating the manufacture of instruments, a set published as early as
1502 and repeatedly thereafter. 73 Sevillian rules were in turn copied by those who framed
the first municipal ordinances in Mexico City. 74 According to Ibn Sa'id al-Maghribi (d.
1280), already in the thirteenth century there were available in Seville rule-books
explaining in precise detail how each instrument should be constructed.
However little else the Spanish Christian may have borrowed from Moorish music, he
certainly took such instruments as the lute, the rebec, and the naker. Their very names,
though indigenized in the English language before Shakespeare, are indisputably of
Arabian origin. Other instruments borrowed by Spanish Christians during the Moorish
occupation included these: 75
aduf e = al-duff = square tambourine
ajabeba (exabeba) = al-shabbaba = transverse flute
albog6n = al-btiq = metal cylindrical instrument with reed-mouthpiece and seven
finger-holes
anafil = al-nafir = straight trumpet four feet or more in length
atabal = al-tabl = drum
atambal = al-tinbal [Persian] = drum
canon [Ruiz, 1343] = qdnun = canon, a psaltery
panderete [Ruiz, 1343] = bandair = tambourine
sonajas de azofar [Ruiz, 1343] = sunuj al-sufr = metal castanets
The Spanish for "fret" (as of the lute) comes also from the Arabic : traste = dastdn.
MOORISH VIRTUOSI were prized by Spanish Christian monarchs. Sancho IV of Castile
(1284-1295) employed Fate as his chief trumpeter, Maomet as a player of the anafil,
71 Eleanor Hague, Music in Ancient Arabia and Spain [trans, of J, Ribera's La mtisica de las Cantigas]
(Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1929), p. 116.
72 Ahmed Ibn Mohammed Al-Makkari, Mohammedan Dynasties in Spain, trans, by Pascual de Gayangos
(London: Oriental Translation Fund, 1840), I, 59; also I, 365, n. 17. Corrections by H. G. Farmer in GD V,
V, 872b.
73 Jos6 Subira, Historia de la mfaica espanola e hispanoamericana, p. 219.
74 Francisco del Barrio Lorenzot, Ordenanzas de Gremios de la Nueva Espana (Mexico: Dir. de Talleres
Grificos, 1921), p. 85.
75 Miguel Asin Palacios, "Etimologlas Arabes," Al-Andalus, IX, i (Madrid-Granada, 1944), pp. 15-41. See
also Julian Ribera, Disertadones y op&sculos (Madrid, 1928), II, 143-144.
Ancient and Medieval Beginnings 23
Rexit as a player of the axabeba (cross flute), and in addition eight other named
Moorish musicians. 76 Pedro III (1276-1285) of Aragon employed Moorish trumpeters, as
did also such royalty as Jaime II (1291-1327), Juan I (1387-1395) and Juan II (1406-
1454). Shabbdba, qanun, and rabdb players attended Alfonso IV (1327-1336) and Pedro
IV (1336-1387), kings of Aragon. According to Menendez Pidal, an organized Moorish
school of minstrelsy existed in Jativa during the fourteenth century. 77 Pedro IV's
favorites, Ali Eziqua, player of the rabeu (= rabab), and Qahat Mascum, player of the
exabeba (= shabbaba), were both summoned from Jativa. 78
Moorish instrumentalists even enjoyed a temporary vogue in Christian churches, if
the 1322 legislation against further employment of Mohammedan musicians is accepted
as evidence. 79 The 1322 Council of Valladolid censured the prevalent custom of engaging
them to enliven vigils, and invoked severe penalties against churches which allowed
them to make a tumultum. Their vogue is the more interesting when one considers the
fact that never has there existed any such thing as "mosque" music - the only approach
to it being the long wailing call to prayer of the muezzin. When at Master Peter's
puppet-show in Don Quixote the Interpreter ignorantly refers to the "bells that sound in
the high towers of the Mesquits [mosques]/' Don Quixote reproves such foolishness:
"Master Peter is very improper in his bells; for amongst the Moors you have no bells." 80
(During his Algerian captivity Cervantes came to know Moslem music at first hand.)
Though Mohammed himself did not proscribe music, his immediate followers and
exegetes banned it. In consequence, music in Islam has always been a profane art. The
Valladolid fathers who sought to ban Moorish musicians from Christian churches knew,
of course, that no Spanish mosque would have tolerated their presence.
THE "PROOFS" of Moorish musical influence thus far cited can now be summarized:
(i) Arabian theoretical treatises were translated at Toledo and disseminated in the
peninsula and abroad; (2) Moorish instruments were borrowed by the Spanish
Christians and reached France and even England; (3) Spanish Christian sovereigns
patronized Moorish virtuosi. With these lines of evidence no one takes issue.
Much more strenuous claims have, however, been made. Briefly they run as follows:
I Organum was taught at Cordova in the eleventh century. This claim is founded on
a passage in the Philosofhia of Virgilius Cordubensis, putative eleventh-century
Cordovan philosopher, which reads: 81 "Seven masters taught grammar every day at
76 Ram6n Menendez Pidal, Poesia juglaresca y juglares (Madrid: Tip. de la "Rev. de Archives," 1924), P-
249.
77 Ibid., p. 139.
78 Ibid., p. 264.
79 Ibid., p. 138. For the pertinent decree of the Valladolid Council see Joseph Saenz de Aguirre, Collectio
maxima conciliorum omnium HispaniaeetNoviOrbis (Rome:]. J.Komaxek, 1694), III, 567 (paragraph 68).
80 Cervantes Saavedra, Segunda parte del ingenioso cavallero Don Quixote de la Mancha (Madrid: Juan de
la Cuesta, 1615), fol. loir. (cap. xxvi) : "Esso no, dixo a esta sazon don Quixote, en esto de las campanas
anda muy improprio maesse Pedro; porque entre Moros no se vsan campanas, sino atabales, y vn genero de
dulzaynas que parecen nuestras chirimias."
81 Latin original in Gotthilf Heine, Biblioteca anecdotorum, sive vetentm mwumentorum ecclesiasficorum
collect novissima (Leipzig: T.O. Weigel, 1848), pp. 241-242.
24 Ancient and Medieval Beginnings
Cordova, five taught logic, three natural science, two astrology, one geometry, three
physics; and two masters taught music, that art which is called organum ..." Specific
though this quotation sounds, its authority is suspect. The text of Virgilius's Phttoso-
phia from which the passage is excerpted survives only in a 1290 Latin translation. 82 The
reputed author makes errors so crude as to cast a shadow over all he wrote.* 3 No one
can be sure he was describing the curriculum in an eleventh-century Moslem rather than
Christian school. The phrase Et duo magistri legebant de musica may be genuine but Ae
ista arte quae dicitur organum a translator's gloss. No other "evidence" that the Moslems
knew polyphony has been produced.
II The music of Alfonso X's Cantigas, the great medieval collection of Spanish monodies,
shows pronounced Moorish traits. Since the Arabian literary type known as the zejel
resembles the estribillo-estrofa of the Cantigas** and since music and poetry were ad
mittedly interdependent in the Middle Ages, it is therefore asserted that the tunes of the
Cantigas must exhibit Arabian influence. This conclusion is drawn from a syllogism
with a distributed middle.
III The Spanish Moslems invented guitar tablature. This claim is founded on a passage
from a 1496-1497 manuscript preserved in a Gerona convento f which ascribes to a
"certain Moor" in the Kingdom of Granada the invention of an alphabetic system
designating finger-position. 85 The MS is in Latin, and the "anonymous" author purports
to have received his information from a Barcelona Dominican, Jaime SalvA.
The Cantigas of Alfonso X
PROGRESS in our understanding of Mozarabic music has been painfully achieved, and
will continue to be slow, until the neums in which it is written are better understood. The
study of Moslem music in Spain poses even more serious problems because no contempo
rary examples survive to guide the investigator. But the student of thirteenth-century
82 Ibid., p. 211.
83 H. G. Farmer, Historical Facts for the Arabian Musical Influence (London: W. Reeves, 1930), pp. 342-
343-
84 The evidence linking the zejel with the Cantiga-poetry is brilliantly set forth in R. Menendez Pidal,
Poes-ta drdbe y poesia europea, pp. 18 66.
85 Latin text in Rafael Mitjana, "L'Orientalisme musical et la nmsique arabe," Le Monde Oriental (Uppsala:
Akademiska Bokhandeln, 1906), pp. 210-212. Also in Marcelino Men6ndez [y] Pelayo's Historia de las ideas
este'ticas en Espana, rev. edn. (Santander: Aldus, s.a., 1940), I, 525-526. For the original text, both Mitjana
and Menendez y Pelayo had recourse to Jaime Villanueva's Viage literario a las iglesias de Espana, XIV
[Gerona] (Madrid: Imp. de la Real Academia de la Historia, 1850), pp, 176-178. In our century, no scholar
seems to have seen the MS from which Villanueva copied his text.
Although I follow both Mitjana and Mene"ndez y Pelayo in citing the Latin Sequitur ars de pulsacione
lambttti, et aliorum similium instrumentorum as "anonymous", Villanueva himself seems to have considered
the Latin to have been written by a Benedictine monk, Michael de Castellanis, who dwelt at San Marsal
hermitage atop a peak in the Montseny mountain range (province of Barcelona) . See Villanueva, op.cit., XIV,
175, 178. Further on Michael de Castellanis below at p. 66.
Ancient and Medieval Beginnings 25
Castilian and Galician music encounters less formidable hurdles. An abundant repertory
of monodic song survives; and even though the transcriptions made by such reputable
scholars as Pierre Aubry (Her Hispanicum [Paris, 1908], pp. 37-56) and Higinio Angles
(La Musica de las Cantigas de Santa Maria [Barcelona, 1943], II) differ, 86 especially in
details of rhythmic interpretation, still the issue of 423 monodic songs in the latter's
stout 1943 publication 87 now brings within reach abody of Castilian music which in extent
and in variety compares favorably with the total surviving repertory of Provengal song.
The ostensible author, as well as composer, of the entire collection, is Alfonso X,
"the Sage" (1221-1284), king of "Castilla, Toledo, Leon, Compostela, C6rdoba, Jan,
Sevilla, Murcia," and other parts of Spain (reigned 1252-1284). Alfonso - reputed
author of books on astronomy, precious stones, games, of a history of the world since
Creation, a Spanish history, not to mention a famous legal code, Las siete partidas - was
obviously aided in his various literary tasks by a corps of paid assistants. Even so, the
General estoria contains an explicit statement that the plan, conception, and supervision
were always Alfonso's. 88 He was an accomplished versifier from youth, as his thirty-odd
love lyrics in the Vatican Portuguese-Galician Cancioneiro testify. One will do well,
then, to believe his avowal that he wrote the texts of the 420-odd Cantigas de Santa
Maria (Canticles of the Virgin). Even the music may have been his. A miniature at the
head of the first cantiga in Escorial MS B. i.2 shows him dictating the music to a
professional scribe. Meanwhile seven singers - three clergy and four laymen - make
ready for a trial performance. Behind the laymen stand two string players, one in the act
of bowing, the other of tuning. On the opposite side (behind the clerics) stand two
players of penolas, small five-course plucked instruments. 89 If the evidence of the illumi
nation is taken at face value, Alfonso "composed" the music and prescribed the per
formance-media as well- which involved male voices accompanied by bowed and plucked
string instruments.
A comparison with the troubadour repertory can usefully be made, though of course
the Proven?al poets treated of an earthly and Alfonso of a heavenly love. Speaking at
the outset in the first person, Alfonso says he wishes to be the trobador of the Virgin
Mary, and to recount all the miracles accomplished through her intervention. He does
not consider his task complete until he has recounted 353 first-class miracles. To some
23 of these he or another member of the royal family had been personally a witness. 90
He initially committed himself to a scheme of only a hundred cantigas. The earliest
collection, finished c. 1275, ended with a line mentioning cen cantares.^ The manu-
86 The problems of transcription are exposed in F. F. Lopes, "A mtisica das 'Cantigas de Santa Maria* e o
problema da sua decifracao," Brottria, XL, i (Lisbon, 1945), PP- 49-?-
87 Actually only 414, subtracting the nine cantigas which are musical duplicates. See Angles, La musica de
las Cantigas, II, 31 (Introduction).
88 Antonio G. Solalinde, "Intervenci6n de Alfonso X en la redacci6n de sus obras/' Revista de FUologia
Espanola, II (1915), p. 286.
89 OrpJndola. See Ruiz, Libra de buen amor, line 1229x1.
* Frank Callcott, The Supernatural in Early Spanish Literature (New York: Institute de las Espafias,
J 9 2 3) P- 2 9 (number of miracles), and p. 31, n. 6 (miracles personally witnessed).
i Alfonso el Sabio, Cantigas de Santa Maria, ed. Marques de Valmar (Madrid: Real Academia Espafiola,
1889), I, [34].
26 Ancient and Medieval Beginnings
script of this first collection, though now in possession of the Madrid Biblioteca Nacional
(MS 10069) formerly belonged to the Toledo capitular library, and is therefore custom
arily referred to as the Toledo version (Tol). Two later versions, one containing 200
cantigas, the other 417, are conserved at El Escorial (T. i. i [E i] and B. i. 2 [E 2]).
A fourth version containing 104 cantigas exists, but is obviously incomplete, the spaces
for musical notation having been left empty. This unfinished copy belongs to the
Biblioteca Nazionale (MS Banco Ran 20) at Florence (F). E i is perhaps the most
lavishly illuminated of the group with a whole page of miniatures illustrating the action in
each cantiga. E 2, more complete than any of the other three collections, contains every
cantiga in E i and 100 of those from F ; but is less sumptuously illuminated than E i or F.
The chronology of E i, E 2, and F has been determined from internal evidence, E i
dating after 1275, F after 1279, and E 2 probably after I28i. 93 Thus, the final version -
the one considered by the Marques de Valmar in his 1889 two-volume critical edition of
the texts and by Angles in his 1943 musical edition to be the most authoritative - must
be accounted a work of Alfonso's last years. That he ascribed supernatural powers to the
manuscripts in which his cantigas were written is proved by the fact that when he lay
sick in Vitoria during the winter of 1276-1277 he ordered an unfinished copy (perhaps
Tol) to be placed on the affected part of his body with the result that he immediately
recovered (Cantiga 209). 94
The cantigas are so grouped that every tenth is a loor (praise of the Virgin), and the
intervening nine, narratives of miragres (miracles) . In direct answer to prayer the Virgin
restores the dead to life, cures bodily ailments, wards off threatened physical harm, and
recovers lost possessions. At times she even works such miracles as these without
waiting to be asked. Similarly, her very relics, image, or name occasionaly work
miracles without the necessity of her personal intervention. Sometimes the miracles
border on the extravagant, as when an unfaithful abbess is vindicated though still
unrepentant, or an unnatural mother saved from condign punishment (Cantigas 7 and 17) .
The locale of the miracles stretches from Syria (265) to Scotland (108). The most inter
esting of those set in England are Cantiga 6, retold by Chaucer as The Prioress's Tale,
Cantiga 226, recounting the legend of the engulfed cathedral, and Cantiga 85, in which
the Virgin plays the Good Samaritan to a Jewish traveller stripped by highwaymen.
Echoes of Cantiga 155 can be heard in Thomas Moore's Paradise and the Peri and of
Cantiga 103 in Longfellow's The Golden Legend. The earlier cantigas, especially those in
the Toledo MS, tend to range through more distant territory than the latter ones added
in the Florentine version. Every cantiga the composition of which can be dated after
1275 deals with some local miracle, and preferably with one in Alfonso's own ken.
THE LANGUAGE is a literary form of the Galician dialect. 95 Since Alfonso was the first
Spanish king to use Castilian for all internal state dispatches, he perhaps wrote his poetry
92 Evelyn S. Procter, Alfonso X of Castile (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1951), pp. 24-26. AngleVs E i is
Procter's E 2 and vice versa.
93 Procter, p. 46.
94 Copied in F, fol. IIQV.
95 Valmar, I, [171].
Ancient and Medieval Beginnings 27
in Galician (nearer Portuguese than Spanish) in deference to literary fashion. Galician
and not Castilian was the language of poetry. Indeed the only poet aside from Alfonso
whose name occurs in any manuscript of the Cantigas was the Portuguese, rather than
Castilian cleric, Ayras (= Arias) Nunes; 96 the latter's nationality being known because
of his contributions to the Vatican Cancioneiro (MS 4803) . Nunes's name, apparently
written in Alfonso's own hand, occurs between columns of Cantiga 223 in E 2. On the
contrary, when a painter is mentioned (Cantiga 577), he is a Castilian, Pedro Lorenzo.
Moreover, the copyist whose name appears at the close of Cantiga 402 (E 2, f ol. 36iv.) is
also a Castilian, Juan Gonsdlez. The latter's couplet imploring the Blessed Virgin to
remember him must be quoted because it is the only bit of Castilian poetry in the MSS:
Virgen Hen Auenturada
Sey de mj Remenbrada
. Johns gundisaluj.
The metrical scheme of the Cantigas is extremely varied, with lines ranging in length
from four to seventeen syllables. Long and short lines are sometimes mixed in the same
stanza, Cantiga 300 offering an instance. Stanzas range from four to ten lines. Such
exceptions as Cantiga 401 (ten strophes of 20 lines each) are very rarely enountered. If
the metrical scheme is prodigally varied, so also is the rhyme-scheme. Rhyme is oc
casionally replaced by assonance. Each cantiga, whether a loor or a narrative, begins
with a short refrain in the form of a couplet or quatrain. (Cantiga 139 begins with an
eight-line refrain; but no line contains more than a brief snatch.) The refrain (=
estribillo) is repeated between each stanza (= estrofa) and at the close.
The narrative poems move rapidly, at least by medieval standards, 97 and the
music is similarly taut and well-paced throughout the collection. A legend which
Gautier de Coincy may have told in 753 lines and Chaucer in 203, Alfonso tells in 136
lines (Cantiga 6). The drastic cuts to speed the action are interestingly paralleled in the
classic Spanish romances of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries - likewise intended
to be sung. Alfonso by no means considered his collection to be a private venture but
rather a public treasury, freely available to the various joglares (= jongleurs) who were
ubiquitous in Spain as in France during his century. Above all, he emphasized that his
cantigas were to be sung by the joglares, not said or read. 98 In his own words (Cantiga
172), "we made this song for the joglares to sing" :
Et d'esto cantar fezemos
que cantassen os iograres.
THE MUSIC can usually be barred in triple meter. Triple and duple sometimes mix in
the same cantiga. The notation of E 2 is mensural throughout; and whatever the
differences in interpretation, the neums always imply accented rhythms. Julidn
Ribera's transcriptions in La musica de las Cantigas (Madrid, 1922) differ from Angl&'s
Ibid., I, [148].
" ibid., I, [115].
s Ibid., II, 245 (last couplet of Cantiga CLXXII).
28 Ancient and Medieval Beginnings
not so much because he preferred the Toledo manuscript and Angles E 2, but rather
because Ribera was an Arabist without any special training in musical notation. He
moreover added accidentals with reckless abandon. The sources show only one acci
dental - Bb, which appears in 96 cantigas as a "key-signature," not counting its frequent
use as a temporary accidental in the other 327 cantigas.
Alfonso's favorite modes are quite obviously not the E-modes which Spanish
folklorists nowadays consider typical of peninsular music. By actual count he uses
them (E-final, or A-final with flat) in only 4 out of 100 cantigas. Instead, his favorite
modes are those with finals on D, G, and F. He affirms the modality of each cantiga
twice: at the final note of the opening refrain and at the final in the stanza. These two
finals are always identical. The following table shows the finals in 100 cantigas."
D (42) without flat 35, with 7;
G (28) without flat 23, with 5 ;
F (22) with flat 18, without 4;
A (5) with flat 3, without 2;
C (2) without flat i, with i;
E (i).
As for range, the melodies rarely go beyond an octave, In less than a tithe of the
cantigas does the range exceed a minor ninth and in none does it go beyond an octave
and a fourth. In almost half, the range does not even reach the octave. 100
The most usual melodic intervals are seconds and thirds. Fourths and fifths occur but
rarely. The estribillo frequently inhabits a lower range than the estrof a. Between estri-
billo and estrof a a dead interval of a major sixth or minor seventh sometimes intrudes.
Within phrases the downward fifth seems to be the most frequently used "wide" interval.
Telling instances of its use at ends of phrases can be found in Cantigas 15, 54, and 200.
The musical structure often proves to be more tightly knit than a mere da capo sign
might suggest. In the typical cantiga, Alfonso - or whoever else was the composer -
repeats the music of the refrain unaltered or with slight variants during the second half
of the stanza. Phrases are invariably clearcut, and are often symmetrically balanced.
Just as medieval Spanish saints'-tales deal only rarely with visions and dreams (though
with flesh-and-blood appearances frequently) : so the cantigas as a rule choose a brisk
and strictly matter-of-fact mood. Neither as poet nor musician does Alfonso ever become
a dreamy Eusebius.
Since the poetry contains a number of conceits, such as the ingenious play on the
words Ave and Eva in Cantiga 60 and the acrostic on the Virgin's name in Cantiga 70,
the music may well exhibit similar feats. These still await revelation. But the length of
time which elapsed before modern scholars discovered the acrostic made on Alfonso's
name in Las side partidas counsels patience while the search continues for musical
conceits to match the already known literary feats in the Cantigas.
9 * Cantigas 1-59 and 160-200 tabulated in this summary.
100 Ribera, La m&sica de las Cantigas, p. 127 (Introduction). Cantiga 127 in AngleVs edition spans an
octave and a fourth.
Ancient and Medieval Beginnings
29
The familiar subject-matter of Cantigas 6 and 226 - shown as accompanying ex
amples - has already been mentioned. The first tells The Prioress's Tale of the child who
sang praises to Mary after his throat was slit, the second the story of the church engulfed
one Easter and lifted out of the sea the next.
Madrid:
Bibl. Nac. MS 10069, fol. 14.
Cantiga VI
j n&?6svL-//e.j ere,
2
cte,.
[FINE]
[[Strophes]
1. POP end' a Sant 1 Es cni
2. A vi a en En gna
[3.- 17.]
-tu ra, que non men-te nen e
-te rra fiff a mo-lier men -gua
te
sa
rra
-da;
a uir-gen San ta IVIa ri-
mas fi-cou-lle d'el un fi-
a, con cjue
Ho con cjue
iu-deus an
foj mui con
gran 306
for ta-
rra por cjoe na ceo
-da, et log* a 5<xn-
le d
ta Ma-
* El Escorial B.i. 2 inserts another A (quaver-value in transcription).
Escorial MS B.i.2., fol. 206.
[Refrain]
Ancient and Medieval Beginnings
Cantiga CCXXVI
Jsss pod* a, ^> #e# so t&
[Strophes]
cPest* un mi* ra gre,.
a Gran Bre ta nna
per cjuont 1 a pren of 1 ,
foi ht? a sa zon
v/os con
un
8 ta
mo
re o ra $ran de,
es - tei ro de re li
o - y que San ta Ma
gi - on c|rotnol oou* y de
et creed 'a mi cjue ma-yor d es-te non vos pas-so con
de co na-^on 5er oi an a V/p-aen be ei ta sen
Thirteenth-Century Secular Monody
AT LEAST THREE laments for Spanish kings and one for an abbess survive from the
twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The kings thus commemorated were Sancho III of
Castile (d. 1158) ^w Ferdinand II of Le6n (d. 1188), 102 and Alfonso VIII of Castile (d.
1214). 103 The abbess was Maria Gonzdlez (fl. 1325) of the Royal Convent of Cistercian
Nuns known as Las Huelgas (Burgos). 10 * Each is in Latin. In none does the style
markedly differ from that of contemporary French monodic threnodies. No thirteenth-
century secular music with Castilian text survives. But the case is better in Galician.
The half-dozen secular pieces with Galician texts which survive combine words and
music by the trovador, Martin Codax. Long known as a poet because of his contributions
101 Angles, El Cbdex Musical de Las Huelgas, III, 390-391 (Item 172).
102 Jbid.. I, 356-357-
io Ibid., Ill, 388 (Item 169).
104 ibid., Hi, 389 (Item 171).
Ancient and Medieval Beginnings 31
to contemporary cancioneiros, he garnered added fame as a composer when musical
settings of six authenticated poems were discovered by a Madrid bibliophile in 1915. 105
Though of course their use of literary Galician unites them, Codax's poetry as well as
music differs sharply from Alfonso's. Instead of varied stanza-lengths Codax without
exception chooses a three-line stanza. Instead of beginning with a refrain Codax repeats
the third line of each strophe. Instead of a varied rhyme-scheme, he alternates double
i-o or a-o rhymes (or assonances) in the initial couplet of every strophe. Not only does
the third line of every tercet serve as a refrain, but also the second line becomes the first
of the second tercet following. This chain-repetition scheme places Codax's poetry in the
literary genre known as the cos ante (= cossante). lOQ
His poems seem to tell a connected love-tale. On the other hand, he writes his verse
not for himself but for his lady-love to sing. In the opening poem of the cycle she
apostrophizes the sea at Vigo : "Waves of the ocean that have borne him at his departure,
return him safely home again." In the second she asks her mother to join her at Vigo -
because he now returns, safe, and what is more a trusted friend of the king. In the third
she invites her beautiful sister to attend the church located beside the sea at Vigo, and
there to meet her beloved. In the fifth she urges all who truly know the art of loving to
come to Vigo and bathe in the sea with their amigos. The sixth, which lacks music in the
copy Pedro Vindel discovered in 1915, is a dance-song. In the seventh the cycle is
completed. Her lover has again departed and she stands desolately looking at the waves
that have borne him from her.
Some annotators have seen in this earliest of song-cycles only the joys and sorrows of
a Galician maiden whose lover must make his livelihood at sea. Others have read more
specific meanings into the series. Jos6 Joaquim Nunes, who edited the set in 1926-28,
feels that a mere mariner would not have returned from a fishing-trip "a friend of the
king" (second poem in the cycle) . Instead, Codax may have been a retainer of Ferdinand
Ill's in the expeditionary force which retook Seville from the Moors (1248). 107 Nunes
cites contemporary evidence to show that this king was as great a patron of troubadours
and jongleurs as was Alfonso X, his son. Codax could well have been one of the omes de
corte que sabien bien trovar e cantar (men at court who could worthily recite and sing) and
no mere
HIS MUSIC, though the pitches are easily enough read, poses more difficulties than
Alfonso's because the rhythmical scheme never becomes quite clear. According to
los F or details of its discovery in the wrappers of Cicero's De offidis, see Pedro Vindel, Las siete canciones
de amor: poema musical (Madrid : Pedro Vindel, 1915) PP- 5~8.
106 Jos< Romeu Figueras, "El cosante en la lirica de los Cancioneros musicales," Anuario Musical, V (Bar
celona: Institute Espafiol de Musicologfa, 1950), PP- i7~ 21 - See & so w - J- Entwistie's chapter in Bell-Bowra-
Entwisile, Da Poesia medieval portuguesa, 2nd ed. (Lisbon: Ed. da Rev. "Ocidente," 1947), entitled "Dos
'Cossantes' as 'Cantigas de Amor'/' pp. 75~99-
lo? j os < Joaquim Nunes, Cantigas d'Amigo (Coimbra: Imp. da Universidade, 1928), I, 2oin.
108 Isabel Pope in "Mediaeval Latin Background of the Thirteenth-Century Galician Lyric/' Speculum, IX
(1934), p. 15, identified Codax as a "jongleur probably connected with the court of Don Dinis of Portugal/*
He may have attended both kings. She shows a non-metrical transcription of Ondas do mar in "El Villancico
Polif6nico," Cancionero de Upsala (Mexico City: El Colegio de Mexico, 1944)* P- 3.
32 Ancient and Medieval Beginnings
Angles- "The six Cantigas d'amigo of the Galician troubadour Martin Codax conserved
with their music survive in a notation intermediate between square and mensural; the
copyist knew something, but not much, of mensural practice in his epoch and tran
scribed in such a confused way that he gives no clear idea of the [intended] rhythm. w
The modern transcriber encounters another obstacle: the lacunae which exist, not
merely because the forgetful copyist omitted filling in the black musical notation on his
red five-line staff (as in the sixth of the seven cantigas), but also because the Vmdel
manuscript through centuries of use as a wrapper for Cicero's De officiis became so worn
at creases that the musical notes were occasionally obliterated (third and fourth
cantigas). 11
What can be clearly established are these musical traits: (i) as in Alfonso's cantigas,
the G- and F~modes rather than E-mode (now popularly typed as Spanish) are used;
(2) as in Alfonso's cantigas, the melodic range is restricted - indeed even more so, since a
major sixth or minor seventh proves to be Codax's maximum; (3) phrases are clear-cut,
and cadences correspond exactly with line-endings in each strophe; (4) the lowest point
in the melodies occurs regularly in the refrain-line; (5) the caesura in the refrain-line is
clearly marked by some such change of musical stance as a shift from a lower to a higher
tetrachord.
The melody of Ondas do mar (Cantiga i) slightly resembles that of Alfonso's Cantiga
73. Since no agreement can be reached on the rhythms, the best that can be shown below
will have to be the pitches. So that they may be read more intelligently, those which
join each other in ligature have been italicized. Pitches shown as superscripts end
plicas. Empty space has been left after each pitch which in the original copy seems to
be intended for a note longer than the usual quaver. As will be at once seen, the music for
line 2 of each tercet recalls that for line i. Only in the refrain-line does he make any use
of the flat. Since this one flat sets an exclamation, he may even have introduced it here
for its Affekt.
GAc Bcdc cBAc BcdcBAB A AG
On-das do mar de Vi- go,
Ac Bcdc cBAc Bcdc dcBAB&AG
se vis-tes meu a- mi- go!
GAB^AK^GF GAc B cdcdccB AB A ^ G
e ai Deus, se ve- rrd ce- do!
Though Ondas do mar extends to only four tercets, Mandad' ei comigo (Cantiga 2)
reaches six. The melodies of both prove similarly melismatic, even if no ligature in
Cantiga 2 combines more than four notes. Again, he only slightly varies the music for
lines i and 2.
109 Angles, La miksica de las Cantigas, II, 59 (Introduction).
"o R. Mitjana in "Cancionero portico y musical del siglo XVII," Rev. de Fil. Esp., VI, i (January, 19*9),
p. i8n., said the parchment was indubitably thirteenth-century. He owned it in 1919.
Ancient and Medieval Beginnings
O O
BG AB Bd cB A BA G
Man-dad' ei co- mi- go,
AG AB Bd cBA G GF
ca ven meu a- mi- go:
GA B AG AG F G A B c B A B G
e i- rei, madr* a Vi- go.
The Beginnings of Polyphony in the Spanish Peninsula
THE EARLIEST two- and three-part music conserved in Spain consists of 21 short pieces
with Latin text copied at folios 131 and 185-190 of the twelfth-century Codex Calix-
tinus. 111 This codex, one of the best known Spanish MSS, belongs to the cathedral of
Santiago de Compostela (Galicia). Easily accessible transcriptions by Walter Muir
Whitehill (text) and Dom German Prado (music) may be found in the three volume-
publication, Liber Sancti Jacobi: Codex Calixtinus (Santiago de Compostela: Seminario
de estudios gallegos, 1944).
The polyphonic rather than monodic pieces give the codex its reputation in musical
circles - though actually more than nine-tenths of the chants in the MS are monodic.
Insofar as the polyphonic numbers are typed, they bear the following titles: Benedica-
mus, conductus, or prosa. At fol. 185 is to be found the most famous of these, Con-
gaudeant catholici, by "Master Albert of Paris." 112 Friedrich Ludwig in 1905 and again
in 1924 pointed to this three-part work as one of the earliest in existence. 113 It does not
purport to be Spanish, nor as a matter of fact need it be accepted as having been
originally written for three voices. Still its occurrence in the oldest polyphonic source in
the peninsula gives it special claims to attention. In The New Oxford History of Music
(II, 305-306) two transcriptions are printed, the first by Ludwig, the second by Hughes.
The latter version has been recorded in The History of Music in Sound (ii, side 14).
The Calixtine Codex lists the names of 15 pilgrims who composed specific chants.
Only one of these composers can however qualify as Spanish. Even he is but vaguely
referred to as a "Galician doctor." His contribution is a monodic Benedicamus, reworked
polyphonically by another composer elsewhere in the codex. 114 All the other contri-
111 The music is copied (both monody and polyphony) on the four-line staff. A transcription made by a
pilgrim who visited Santiago, Arnaldus de Monte (monk of Ripoll in Catalonia), bears the date 1173. Arnaldus
wrote the Calixtinus monodies in staffless neums. Angle's thinks the present Codex Calixtinus a later copy of
the book Arnaldus transcribed. See Huelgas, I, 60-62.
112 Jacques Handschin in "The Summer Canon and its Background," M usica Discipline*, V (1951), p. 95
identified Albertus as precentor of Notre Dame, 1147-1173. He bequeathed a missal, lectionary, antiphoner,
gradual, psalterium cum hymnis, two tropers, and two versaries to his cathedral.
us Huelgas, I, 60.
ii 4 Regi perennis (Codex Calixtinus, 1944 ed., II, 67). A monody at fol. I39r., Regi perennis earns a descant
by Gautier of Chateaurenault at fol.
34 Ancient and Medieval Beginnings
butors came purportedly from Chartres, Troyes, Bourges, Soissons, Chateaurenault, not
to name more distant and unlikely spots such as Jerusalem. 115
The musical contents are therefore more a subject for international study than for
local investigation. Some of the melismas at the ends of phrases in such a two-part
Benedicamus as the one entitled Ad superni regis decus (fol. 186) 116 have been said to
show peculiarly Galician traits. 11 ? But the very purpose of the codex precluded much
emphasis on locally Spanish customs or music. Designed as a panegyric of the Apostle
James, an apologia for the location of his shrine in Galicia, and a guide-book for tourists
coming like Chaucer's Wife of Bath from foreign lands, its whole atmosphere is essential
ly cosmopolitan.
When the compiler stops to dwell on merely local matters he never describes the
chants which the pilgrim will hear but insists instead on being useful by giving phrases
in the Basque tongue or up-to-date information on travel routes. 118 A brief account of
Santiago and its cathedral is given, it is true, 119 but none of the cathedral music. Such a
description would have been however most valuable, especially if its sumptuousness
matched that of the Romanesque building (begun in 1078) in which it was heard.
Moreover by rights it should have been if Santiago, as the compiler declared, was the
third great shrine of Christianity, Rome and Ephesus being the others.
Both monody and polyphony appear in the codex on four-line staves. In Albert of
Paris's three-part Congaudeant the scribe wrote the two slower-moving bottom voices
on the same staff, distinguishing them however with different-colored inks. As for the
plainchants, they are more often notated in F- than in C-clef . In the polyphonic pieces
G-clef is used in addition to F- and C-clefs, changes of clef within a line being rather
frequently called for. In one instance a single melodic line carries two clefs a third
apart. 120
The compiler of the codex made a careful attempt to cover the complete cycle of eight
church modes in his selection of plainsong antiphons. The polyphonic pieces, however,
are cast predominantly in the D-mode (9 examples) and G-mode (5 examples). What is
assuredly a mixed signature with Bb in the lower voice occurs once (Annua gaudia). 1 * 1
Three instances of the Bb as an accidental have been found in the polyphonic and ten in
the plainsong repertory. The plainsongs in Modes V and VI sound strongly "major."
Nine of the ten flats occur in plainchants labelled one or the other. Neither Peter
Wagner (Die Gesange der Jacobsliturgie zu Santiago de Compostela [Freiburg, 1931]) nor
German Prado (1944) attempted to solve the baffling rhythmic problems. These still
H5 Codex Calixtinus (1944 ed.), Ill, 51.
ii Ibid., II, 71.
117 Ibid., Ill, 50. Item 291 in Felipe Pedrell, Cancionero musical popular espanol (Vails: E. Castells, c.
1922), II, 207-208, a Galician dance-song to the bagpipe, reminded Dom German Prado of Ad superni regis
decus (Codex Calixtinus t II, 71). The top parts do tally.
118 Codex Calixtinus (1944 ed.), Ill, 38-39.
us Ibid., Ill, 41-42.
120 The chant in question, Ad honorem regis summi by Aime"ry Picaud de Parthenay-le-Vieux, may have
been sung in thirds after the fashion of cantus gemellus, thinks Prado (Codex Calixtinus, III, 54) . On the other
hand, the scribe may have changed his mind, erasing the C-clef rather carelessly.
121 Fol. i86v.
Ancient and Medieval Beginnings 35
await the kind of convincing solution that William Waite gave the Magnus liber organi
of Lonin in his The Rhythm of Twelfth-Century Polyphony (1954).
AFTER THE Codex Calixtinus - with its impressive bishops, archbishops, a patriarch, and
even a pope (Calixtus II) listed as composers of the music, with its Alleluia in Greek and
its Prosa S. Jacobi in a mixture of Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, and with its glamorous
repertory extolling the Apostle James, patron saint of Spain - the next principal poly
phonic source preserved in the peninsula may appear somewhat drab by comparison.
Actually, however, the Huelgas Codex, 122 which was labelled simply an early fourteenth-
century Troper when first discovered in 1904, is as important a document in its kind as is
the older and more spectacular codex.
The Huelgas Codex takes its name from Las Huelgas, the monasterio for Cistercian
Nuns founded c. 1180 on the outskirts of Burgos by the warrior-king Alfonso VIII ("de
Las Navas"). Lacking any famous relics, this convent never became an international
shrine drawing revenues from vast hordes of pilgrims. But it did become enormously
wealthy, largely because of royal donations. Alfonso VIII and his wife, Eleanor of
England (daughter of Henry II), were but the first of a long line of patrons who enriched
it beyond any religious house in Castile.
In such a convent one would expect to encounter relics of the highest musical culture.
Fortunately the French armies which sacked it during the Napoleonic era and the greedy
hirelings of Mendizabal during the later wave of expropriation left Las Huelgas its codex
~ which now enjoys the distinction of being "the one great monument of medieval music
still preserved in its identical place of origin."
The codex which reaches 168 leaves, has been transcribed, annotated, and its music
compared with examples from other contemporary polyphonic sources by Higinio
Angles in his three-volume publication now recognized as a scholarly classic, El Cddex
Musical de Las Huelgas (Barcelona: Institut d'Estudis Catalans, 1931)- The following
statistics may prove a useful introduction.
I The 186 items in the Huelgas repertory comprise 87 compositions a 2, 49 monodies,
48 compositions a 3, one a 4, and one without music. Two-part compositions, then
occupy almost half the manuscript.
II These items are broken down in Angl6s's edition under the following headings: 59
motets, 32 conductus, 31 Benedicamus (usually troped), 31 proses (= sequences), 30
organa (for the Mass), a Credo (same as that of Tournai), an exercise in solfege (no. 177),
and a textless monody (no. n).
III As for the 136 polyphonic pieces in Huelgas, Angles himself printed alternate
versions of some 46 from other MSS, besides listing concordances for 30 more. At least 38
122 Discovery was first announced by Dom Luciano Serrano in < Que es canto gregoriano ? {Barcelona, 1905)*
p. 140. See Angle's, Huelgas, II, xiii.
36 Ancient and Medieval Beginnings
of the 59 Huelgas motets appear in other contemporary sources. The high incidence of
Hu music in MSS copied abroad certifies the international character of the Hu reper
tory. 123 Motets of French provenience are the rule, but Handschin has advanced reasons
for believing that at least four may be of English origin (Items 101, 107, 121, 133). 124
IV As befits a source containing a predominantly international repertory, Hu proves
to have been copied in the main by scribes who had fully mastered the principles of ars
antiqua notation. 125
V Though the one composer actually mentioned by name in Hu, a certain Johan
Rodrigues, was obviously Spanish, not many of the polyphonic pieces can have been
peninsular in their origin. The weight of manuscript evidence proves that the ars
antiqua repertory radiated out from Paris and other French centers to such "peripheral"
areas as Spain and England.
VI When crossing the Pyrenees the ars antiqua motets underwent a "sea-change,"
the bones becoming coral and the eyes pearls: i.e., not one voice-part was suffered to
retain its originally profane text, but all were new-furbished with decorous Latin.
VII In other ways besides substituting sacred for profane texts the compilers of Hu
showed their staid disposition. Their favored rhythmic mode was, for instance, the
conservative first mode. 126 The repertory, especially if much of it was copied as late as
the death of the abbess Maria Gonzalez (c. 1335), seems old-fashioned by French
standards. Though such feats as opening a conductus in canon (Item 149), organizing
over a "ground bass" (Item 133), voice-interchange in a three-part Benedicamus (Item
40), mutation of identical melodic material by a change of rhythmic mode (Item 154), 127
and use of borrowed material in a supposedly "original" conductus (Item 156), 128 along
with others, can be found in Hu, still no feat can be localized as either typically Castilian
or a new departure at the time the manuscript was copied.
FOUR Benedicamus (Items 173, 174, 178, 183) and an Ave Maria (Item 156) 129 are
ascribed to the Spanish composer, Johan Rodrigues (fl. 1325), 13 in Hu. Two of the
Benedicamus are monodic, the other three pieces being for two voices. From a parochial
ly Spanish viewpoint the lively jottings of one of the anonymous scribes in upper and
123 Hu, I, 233-235.
124 Handschin (Musica Disciplina, V [1951]), p. 105.
"5 Hu, II, xviii.
1 2 Hu, I, 232.
127 M. F. Bukofzer, "Interrelations between Conductus and Clausula/' Annales Musicologiques, I (Paris:
Socie"te* de Musique d'Autrefois, 1953), pp. 98-100. The modal transformation to which Bukofzer calls atten
tion will be seen if bars 37~44 on Huelgas, III, 358 are compared with bars 71-84 on Hu, III, 360-361.
128 Bukofzer, op. cit., p. 98.
129 Angle's doubts Rodrigues actually wrote the Ave Maria ascribed to "him (Hu, I, 325) .
130 For Rodrigues's date, see Hu, II, xviii.
Ancient and Medieval Beginnings 37
lower margins of Hu are perhaps more interesting than the few pieces assigned to
Rodrigues.
The copyist in question admired Rodrigues, quoted him as an authority, and even
went to unwarranted lengths: ascribing to his idol the tenor of the last motet in Hu,
Mellis stilla though Angles proves it cannot have been his. 131 Rodrigues was a paragon
of wisdom according to the scribe; and if he edited a motet (Item 112) 132 it could be
sight-sung with confidence that its parts would fit. He evidently specialized in editing
tenor-parts, and taught his singers that upper parts sung without their tenor [i.e.,
lowest voice-part] were of no more value than a company of soldiers without a captain
(mas sin tenura non valemos mas que valen las compannas sin cabdiello o fcwfo). 183 If
doubt arose concerning the proper tenor - sometimes the tenor part is separated several
pages from the upper parts in Hu or missing altogether (Items 157 and 109) - the singers
could turn to him for aid: "sing this with the tenor which Johan Rodrigues corrected/'
says the copyist at the bottom of fol. io6v. (Item 108). Though his identity is not
disclosed by such remarks, he must surely have been music director in Las Huelgas. The
tenors which he "corrected" were not thereby improved according to Angles. 134 However
if the Hu scribe may be believed, Rodrigues could do no wrong.
The copyist on one occasion turned rhymester. With poetic license he caused the
conductus gloriosa Dei genitrix Virgo (Item 151) to speak thus in the first person: 135
Those with little knowledge should not sing me.
Let them not cause offense by their errors,
For I am a conductus and difficult to sing.
The ignorant who try me cannot avoid mistakes,
But first practice me, for none can successfully sing me at first sight.
As for Rodrigues's music, it must be immediately confessed that Angles discounts its
value, not considering it the equal of contemporary foreign models. 136 But "poor and
ill-favoured a thing" though Rodrigues's music may be, still a Touchstone might say
"it is mine own." The second of the Benedicamus (Item 174), a festive piece, is clearly
divided into eight four-bar phrases. What the upper voice sings in the first four bars the
lower sings in the next four, and vice versa. Since the first eight bars axe exactly
repeated four times, the structure is pellucid. The piece is C-Major music, despite its
date; and the tunes could be easily change-rung on English bells. The fourth Benedica
mus is shown as an accompanying example.
The voice-parts in Rodrigues's four Benedicamus never climb higher than e above
Middle C nor do they descend lower than Bib on the third line of the bass-clef. Since in
131 Hu, I, 345. But Angles thinks the two upper voice-parts may be by Rodrigues ([triple] segurament obra
del susdit) .
132 Hu, III, 211.
133 Hu, III, 205 (Item 109).
is* Hu, I, 265, 270.
135 Hu, III, 331 (fol. I4ov. in original manuscript).
186 Hu, I, 112, 265, 325.
Ancient and Medieval Beginnings
Benedicamus XXVIII
Virgin! matri
Huelgas Codex, fols. i63v.-i64.
JOHAN RODRIGUES
-o Pa-
-tri In hac^an eta na-ti-oi-ta te Do mf-
ma-m ta ti , In hoc son cfca 50-Iem-ni-ta te 6ra-ci
-no.
-05.
Let us bless the Virgin Mother who in this holy birth reconciles us with God the Father.
Let us give thanks during this holy festival to her through whom our human flesh is joined to the Godhead.
Hu are found a number of motets known elsewhere in versions a fourth or fifth higher,
Angles suspects that the musical examples copied in Hu under Rodrigues's direction
were intended for men's chorus. 137 The Las Huelgas choir in such a case would have
enrolled only adult male voices. By contrast, Santiago de Compostela cathedral choir
boasted boys' voices at least a century earlier - on the evidence of those Codex Calixtinus
rubrics which designate pueri as singers of specific chants. 138 It is interesting that this
distinction between the choirs of monasteries (Las Huelgas) and catedrales (Santiago de
Compostela) began to be made so early in Spanish music history. 139
187 Hu, I, 231-232.
138 Codex Cdlixtinus, III, 49, n. 4.
139 This same distinction held during the sixteenth century. The amount of music for equal voices in the
Morales and Guerrero repertories proves that choirs entirely composed of voces mitdadas were prevalent. When
Charles V retired to Yuste monastery, his choir though containing the finest voices in Spain was entirely
adult. The Escorial Jeronymite choir to which Philip II listened in his later years was similarly adult.
Ancient and Medieval Beginnings 39
The Benedicamus shown as an example is by no means as square-cut as Rodrigues's
In hoc festo. But a pair of four-bar phrases (the second answering the first) divides the
first half. Both monodic Benedicamus, like the example a 2 here shown, are in dorian
mode. The monodies do differ because of their larger proportion of bold skips, a rising
minor seventh occurring in one and a descending octave in the other.
Still another composition, a two-part Ave Maria, appears as Rodrigues's in Angles's
edition (Item 156). A conductus, it ends with a melisma (bars 66-76 in Hu t III, 375)
borrowed outright from the two lower voices of another conductus in Hu, the three-part
Mater patris filia (bars 89-99, Hu t III, 362). As a rule, a conductus implies newly
composed music. But as Bukofzer has shown, rare examples did incorporate borrowed
material. The Ave Maria conductus ascribed to Rodrigues contains just such a borrowed
section.
Llibre Vermeil ("The Red Book")
ONLY A FEW scattered polyphonic items survive in Catalonian MSS copied before 1300.
At the Paris Biblioth&que Nationale lat. 5132 (fol. io8v.) shows one such polyphonic
piece - a conductus a 2 copied during the late twelfth or early thirteenth century.
Entitled Cedit frigus hiemale, this joyous salute to Easter in virelai form was copied into
a Collectaneum at the Ripoll monastery of St. Mary's around 1200. Hans Spanke
published it in 1932 (Neuphilologische Mitteilungen, XXXIII, 20-22) and Angles again
in 1935 (La musica a Catalunya fins al segle XIII, p. 257) . Angles also at pp. 227-230 in his
1935 volume published the two sequences a 2 which survive at fols. ITV. and 20 in
Orf e6 Catala MS i, Marie preconio and Potestati magni maris. The MS from which these
two Marian sequences were drawn is a vellum Troparium of 27 leaves, copied shortly
before 1300. From the same source he extracted two troped Osanna's a 2. The first of
these (at fol. 5) begins Sospitati dedit mundum. The second (at fol. 5v.) begins Ad
honor em Virginis (La mtisica a Catalunya, pp. 243-245). Both belong to Marian masses.
The most important of medieval Catalonian musical sources was however discovered
a century earlier by the industrious Dominican savant, Jaime Villanueva. He it was
who in his Viage liter ario a las iglesias de Espafta, VII (Valencia: Imp. de Oliveres, 1821),
first advertised the existence of MS I at the Montserrat monastery library. What is more,
he dated the MS correctly when he assigned it to the middle of the fourteenth century.
He also understood at once that the varies tratados curiosos in this MS were gathered for
but one purpose, the edification of pilgrims visiting Our Lady's shrine at Montserrat. The
various songs, some with Latin, some with Catalonian, texts were meant to be sung and
danced by those who had climbed the steep 2910-foot ascent to this most famous of
Catalonian shrines; the formulas and prayers were meant to be said by them; and the
sermones y exhortaciones preached to them (Viage literario, VII, 152-153).
The Llibre Vermeil (as the MS is now commonly called) breathes throughout not only
^an air of popular piety, but also would seem to contain nothing but homegrown musical
bouquets. Montserrat, though an ancient enough shrine, never drew such large numbers
40 Ancient and, Medieval Beginnings
from abroad as Santiago de Compostela. Quite appropriately, then, the devotional songs
in the Llibre Vermeil do not pretend - as do those of the Calixtine Codex - to foreign
authorship. Whereas some dozen Calixtine musical items are ascribed to contributors
from such French cities as Bourges, Chartres, Soissons, and Troyes, none of the ten
Llibre Vermeil musical items is ascribed to any foreign author (or to any named author
whatsoever, for that matter). Two of the ten llibre pieces set Catalonian-language texts.
The rest set Latin texts. Whether in Catalonian or in Latin, every text in the llibre
either praises the Virgin, whose carved image St. Luke purportedly brought from
Galilee to Montserrat (some few miles above Barcelona), or "purges" the pilgrim about
to worship at her shrine.
Again, unlike the Calixtine musical items, the ten llibre pieces are not heterogeneously
scattered throughout the whole codex, but on the contrary are grouped together (at
f ols. 2iv.-26v.) . With the exception of the first llibre item, all the rest - monodic and
polyphonic pieces alike - are cast in measured rhythms. Otto Ursprung - who in 1921
published transcriptions of the entire llibre music at the close of his article, "Spanisch-
katalanische Liedkunst des 14. Jahrhunderts" (Zeitschrift fur Musikwissenschaft, IV,
136-160) - elected to use no less than five diverse time-signatures. For the polyphony he
employed C (Laudemus Virginem and Splendens ceptigera, both of which are rounds, for
three voices) ; \ (Stella Splendens, a dance-song a 2, in virelai form) ; \ (Inperayritz de la
ciutat ioyosa, a strophic 2-part song the seven stanzas of which celebrate Mary's attri
butes in Catalonian) ; and (J (Mariam matrem, a virelai a 5, only the upper voice-part of
which is texted). For the monody he used C (Los set gotxs, a responsorial dance-song, the
leader singing of Mary's seven joys en vulgar cathallan, the replying pilgrims singing the
Hail Mary in Latin) ; and f (Cuncti simus, Polorum regina y and Ad mortem festinamus,
each of which is again a responsorial dance-song).
AT THE HEAD of the ten musical items preserved in the Llibre Vermeil stands an "anti-
phona dulcis harmonia." Entitled Virgo Splendens (fols. 2IV.-22), this antiphon
differs radically from any of the nine successor pieces in the llibre. The differences are
worth naming, (i) Only Virgo Splendens is listed in the MS as an antiphon, and there
fore, properly speaking, a liturgical item. Laudemus Virginem and Splendens ceptigera,
the rounds a 3 which immediately follow at fol. 23 in the MS, are each listed as a caf a
(= chace [Fr.], caccia [It.], casa [Sp.], canon [Eng.]). Stella Splendens, the Latin virelai
at fol. 22v. is listed in the MS as a cantilena omni dulcedine plena ("song filled with every
kind of sweetness"). Los set gotxs at fol. 23 v. is called a Ballada (= ballata [It.]). Nothing
but Virgo is classified however under a liturgical type. Other unused liturgical types
would be hymns, responsories, and sequences. (2) Only Virgo is cast in unitary rhythm.
Each incise consists of 15 notes transcribable as quavers, followed by a last note worth a
crotchet. (3) In Virgo, each of the dozen incises halts invariably on a D-A incomplete
chord.
Virgo is the earliest known canon composed in the peninsula. To the left of the
opening four-line staff appears at fol. 21 v. this notation: Cafa de ij[obu$] vel tribus (two-
in-one, or three-in-one canon). When viewed as a canon a 2, leader-and-foUower voices
Ancient and Medieval Beginnings 41
always produce these harmonic intervals - unisons, thirds, fifths, sixths, octaves
(except for one fourth and two seconds). Since out of 192 harmonic intervals only 3 are
fourths or seconds, and even these three are introduced in conjunct motion, the composer
must be presumed to have disliked fourths or seconds when writing two-part counter
point. The rubric however reads, Ca$ a de ij[obus] vel tribus. Not only does performance
as a two-in-one canon, but also as a three-in-one, therefore fall within the composer's
purview. Realized in a three-in-one canon, the leader and his second follower do freely
wander about in parallel fourths. They also collide in sevenths and ninths. Then again,
they often move in parallel unisons. Either the solution of the canon a 3 suggested by
Ursprung (and earlier by Dom Gregori Suiiol in his article, "Els Cants dels Romeus,"
Analecta Montserratensia, I [1917], at pp. 119-120) must be presumed at fault insofar as
the third voice is concerned, or the composer considered that his rules for harmonic
intervals between first and second voices did not apply to harmonic intervals between
first and third voices. It should perhaps be noted in passing that Ursprung often dis
regarded the ligatures of the MS. His plainsong transcription (ZfMW, IV, 151) contains
material errors at "vir"-go and "cel"-so. The strait jacketing of such a melody in classic
neums gives it, moreover, a quite deceptive appearance. By comparison with Virgo
splendens (which because of its length cannot have been readily memorized by pilgrims)
the anapestic Laudemus virginem and Splendens ceptigera are such elementary canons
that an overnight guest could have learned words and music of both. Even when sung
a 3, only two notes ever sound at once - so elementary is the canonic concept. Ossia
texts appear below each of the two Marian texts in the MS. These optional lyrics voice
the pilgrim's sorrow for his sins. Clearly, these rounds are to be thought of not as art but
rather as "teaching material." Because they are part-music that the uninstructed can
have sung, Laudemus and Splendens enjoy at least however the merit of being the two
provably volkstumlich polyphonic items in the "Red Book."
Interestingly enough, all the polyphonic pieces in the Llibre Vermeil adhere to the D-
mode. No accidentals appear anywhere throughout the polyphony. Flats are needed,
however, in the upper of the two voices at the ninth note in Stella splendens; and in the
lowest of the three at the third note in Mariam matrem. The stitching of the phrases
throughout both Stella splendens and Mariam matrem produces a virelai pattern. On the
other hand, Inperayritz divides otherwise: abed ecef. In Inperayritz every phrase,
except "b" and "d," extends to five bars of (Ursprung's transcription) ; "b" and "d"
extend to only four bars. Each of the eight phrases ends on an octave, preceded by a
sixth (with flatted leading-tone in the top voice). In succession, the finals of the eight
phrases read thus : DAED ; AEAD.
Mariam matrem is according to Gregori Sunol el mes notable piece in the Llibre Ver
meil, and de major v&lua. Ursprung's transcription has been corrected by Angles. The
treble should, for instance, enter not on the fourth but on the second beat in meas. 23 of
his version. His time-values go askew in meas. 27, during which he omits a beat. But
that the upper two voice-parts were composed to fit the tenor can by no means be
doubted. A virelai-pattern emerges in each part; cadences synchronize in all voices.
Probably the slow-moving tenor was a cantus prius factus: though it is not likely to
42 Ancient and Medieval Beginnings
have been a branch pruned from an elderly Gregorian vine. Or at least Sunol, whose
acquaintance with the Gregorian repertory was exhaustive, could find no plainsong
prototype (Analecta Montserratensia, I, 167).
THE FOUR already-cited monodies in the Llibre Vermeil have attracted more critical
attention as a group than the part-music. All are dance-songs. Los set gotxs, Cuncti simus,
and Polorum regina are each headed in the MS, ' 'aball redon." Each was therefore meant
for singing while joyous pilgrims danced about the Virgin's image. Both Trend and
Reese have pointed to an interesting likeness between the first incise of Polorum regina
Mariam matrem *
Biblioteca de Montserrat: MS i, fol. 25.
TENOR
^
Jhe>-stc/J9 Cbrf stum ex
co/?
[FINE]
JIT
1. Ma r a s coli a-
[ STROPHES -5 FOLLOW]
TENOR JOL-
- 1 om de- fen de nos
Jhe-^utu-tum ne-
CONTRA
J N
J I J J
fb 5 i um
*JJ-J ^
ex au di
nos. Jam e stia nosto
jm *
Ancient and Medieval Beginnings
43
[D.C
* Praiss awd #rf<?Z the Virgin Mother Mary together with Jesus Christ. Mary, sanctuary of the ages, protect
us; Jesus, secure refuge, hear us. Be now for us scattered abroad an effectual shelter spread over the whole
world.
and the tune with words, Yo me yua mi madre, to be found at p. 306 in Salinas's De
musica libri septem (Salamanca, 1577). Possibly, then, Polorum regina was nothing but
another traditional f olktune baptized, like the Reading rota, with Latin words. Reese
noticed the unusual form of Los set gotxs - aaB for the introduction, and aa [| :b : || B for
each of the seven stanzas, that, like the telling of a rosary, recount the Virgin's seven
joyful mysteries. Since "B" in 05 set gotxs is the Latin Ave Maria, this one item in the
Llibre Vermeil should be classed as macaronic. Cuncti simus divides into symmetrical
four-bar phrases. Such symmetry, for that matter, can be discerned in all the llibre
dance-songs.
Reese not only prints the final monody from the llibre - Ad mortem festinamus - at
p. 375 in his Music in the Middle Ages; but also stresses its importance as the "oldest
known surviving example with music of a 'Dance of Death', that curious and mysteri
ous outgrowth of the period of the Black Death which ravaged Europe from 1347-48."
The Dance of Death took its origin in Spain, according to Angles - who in his "El Llibre
Vermeil de Montserrat" (Anuario Musical, X [1955], p. 68} calls attention to a fragmen
tary Latin example, without music, conserved at Toledo in an eleventh-century Visi-
gothic manuscript. In the Llibre Vermeil, a skeleton lying in an open coffin has been
drawn after the ninth and last strophe of the poem. The music itself, for all its dancing
rhythms and vaunting sequences, is not likely to have been intended for a jest in the
presence of death. As in the morality, Danza de la muerte (composed in twelve-syllable
octaves around 1400 on the theme of Death, the Great Leveller), the purpose seems
rather to preach terror and penitence.
In clearcut four-bar phrases, Ad mortem festinamus everywhere implies heavy
footfalls on first beats. The first bar of four always starts with a trochee. Each third bar
ends with a skip, or breaks into a running rhythm.
44 Ancient and Medieval Beginnings
Nascent "Spanish" Style
THE HUELGAS CODEX in addition to containing the marginal comments of a scribe who
was perhaps an overzealous admirer of Rodrigues, contains three extremely interesting
annotations written below the notes of the tenor part on folios I47V., 148, and I48v.,
manera francessa, hespanona, manera francessa. In these three passages, then, one finds
first "French style/' then "Spanish," then "French" again, definitely prescribed. The
exact differences between these national styles c. 1325 is a problem not yet solved.
Handschin and Bukofzer argue that the French at that date preferred the more advanced
rhythmic modes, whereas the Spanish clung to the first mode. But however the national
differences manifested themselves, it cannot be doubted that some sort of distinction
existed.
Still earlier (c. 1280) the English theorist, Anonymous IV, knew of a distinction
between Spanish and French methods of notation. The French notated rhythmic
patterns with considerable precision, whereas the Spanish, and also the English, were
content to let the singer's good sense and experience dictate the rhythmic mode (sedsolo
intellects procedebant semper cum proprietate et perfectione operatoris in eisdem, velut in
libris Hispanorum et Pompilonensium [Pamplona = northernmost Spain], et in libris
Anglicorum}^
Within Spain, especially where Moslem clashed with Christian, the Castilian was fully
aware of the musical differences separating his style from that of the Arab. Our best
fourteenth-century evidence for this assertion comes from Juan Ruiz, Archpriest of
Hita, who in quatrains 1513-1519 of his poem El libra de buen amor listed instruments
which were unsuited for Arab music, and by contrast those which suited the music of the
Christian Spaniard.
Instruments in Fourteenth-Century Usage
RUIZ, who occupies a place in medieval Spanish literature similar to that held by
Chaucer (d. 1400) in English letters, left a comparable source of musical allusions in his
El libro de buen amor (c. 1343). According to Clair C. Olson's study, "Chaucer and the
Music of the Fourteenth Century" in Speculum (XVI, 64-91 [January, 1941]), Chaucer
preferred vocal rather than instrumental music, 141 and mentioned no more than 21 142
of the at least 50 instruments 143 current in England during his epoch. The instruments
mentioned by Chaucer are listed below in alphabetical order so that they can be con
veniently compared with Ruiz's list :
bell, beme, clarioun, cornemuse, doucet, floute, giterne, harpe, horn, lute, naker, organ,
pype, rede, rote, rubible, sautrye, shalmye, simphonye, tabour, trompe.
140 CS, I, 345. Anonymous IV also tells (CS, I, 35oa) of a "certain Spaniard" who composed the hocket
a 3, In seculum (copied in Madrid MS 20486 [facs. publ. by Luther Dittmer in 1957], fol. I22V.; cf. Yvonne
Rokseth, Polyphonies du XHIe Si&cle, II, 2).
wi Olson, p. 91. 142 ibid., p. 74. 143 Ibid., p. 66.
Ancient and Medieval Beginnings 45
Ruiz, though he left a poem reaching only 6912 lines, and therefore a much smaller
body of verse than Chaucer, named almost twice as many instruments. Some notion of
their variety can be obtained from the next list (line-numbers from El libra de buen amor
are given in parentheses) :
albogue, pastoral recorder (i2isb, I5i7a) guitarra morisca, guitar, probably in the
albogdn, large recorder (i233a) modern sense (i228a)
anafil t Moorish trumpet (10960, I234a) harpa, harp (12309,)
ataribal (= atabal), kettledrum (12343.) latid, lute (12280, 15110)
atanbor, drum (8940, 8950, 8g8b, I227d) mandurria, bandore (i233d, I5i7a)
axabeba, transverse flute (i233a) odre$illo, bagpipe (looob, 12330, 15160)
baldosa, zither played with a plectrum (i233b) drgano, organ, portable (12320)
cano entero, large canon (i232a) pandero, tambourine (47od, 705d, ioo3b,
medio cano, small canon (i23oa) 12120)
canpana, bell (383^ 623d, 12220) panderete, small tambourine (i232a)
$anpona t syrinx (I2i3b, I5i7a) rdbt, rebeck (12293.)
caramitto, pipe made of reed (10000, 12130, robe morisco, Moorish rebeck (i23oa)
I5i7 a ) rota, rote (== rotte) (12300)
cascabel, sleighbell (723a) salterio, psaltery (13070, 15540)
fttola, citole (loigd, I2isd, 15160) sinfonia, symphony (i233b, I5i6b)
dutyema, shawm (i233a) sonajas de a$6far, metal clappers (i232b)
flauta, recorder (12300) tamborete, side drum (i23<xl)
gaita, cornemuse (i233a) trompa, trumpet (i234a)
gaUpe francisco, small French recorder (i23ob) vihuela de arco t bowed fiddle (i23ia, I5i6a)
guitarra latina t guitar, probably akin to a lyre vihuela de pendola, stringed instrument,
(i228d) played with quill plectrum (i22Qd)
As if the mere naming of 37 different instruments were not enough, he goes on to
characterize each instrument: the mandurria as "silly" and "whining," the rab& as
sufficiently "noisy" for such a traditional Arab tune as Calm garabi^ the tamborete as
the "indispensable" time-beater when instruments play in ensemble. He praises the
versatility of the vihuela de area, whose sweet sounds lull us asleep at one moment but
whose commanding voice awakens us to lofty thoughts at the next.
WHEN A CHORUS in an Easter procession sang motets (12320), they did not perform a
cappella but were instead accompanied by portable organs, says Ruiz. Though the
marchers did not yet sing their chanzonetas in the vernacular, still he insists that they
played as well as sang such chanzonetas as Mane nobiscum, Domine (12416). Almost
invariably - even in the golden age - Spanish religious music has been "played" - not
just sung. So closely have voices and instruments been associated from the beginning
that already in Gonzalo de Berceo (1180-1246) the verb organar can mean to sing:
"las aves que organan entre essos fructales" (the birds singing amid those fruit trees
[Los Milagros de Nuestra Sennora, 26a]). 145
144 Salinas cites this tune in De musica libri septem (Salamanca: M. Gastius, 1577), p. 339; but with Calui
vi caluijCalui araui for its title.
145 On the meaning of organar in Gonzalo de Berceo see Rufino Lanchetas, Gramdtica y Vocabulario de las
obras de Gonzalo de Berceo (Madrid: Sues, de Rivadeneyra, 1900), p. 535. For violero, see p. 787. The poem
46 Ancient and Medieval Beginnings
RUIZ'S POEM, though the most conspicuous, is by no means a unique fourteenth-
century source. In the anonymous Poema de Alfonso XI (lines 4O7a~409d) , the ' 'blandish
ing" lute, the bowed fiddle, rebeck, psaltery, guitar, the "Moorish" exabeba (= axabeba),
the small canon, cornemuse, harp, and "otros estromentos mil" 146 resound through
chamber, hall, and chapel of Las Huelgas - the medieval Westminster Abbey of Castile -
during the coronation ceremonies of Alfonso XI (1311-1350) - In the neighboring
kingdom of Aragon, John I (1350-1395), a composer i 47 as well as patron of poets and
performers, lavishly rewarded his instrumentalists. He not only sent favorite players as
far afield as Germany to study, but did his best to lure prominent foreign virtuosi to his
court. His retinue included players on such instruments as organs, harp, rote, xelamia
(shawm), bombarda, and cornamusa.u* He himself described the new exaquier as an
"instrument like an organ (i.e., keyed) but sounding with strings" (semblant d'orguens
que sona ab cordes [1388]). 149 In correspondence of the same year he mentioned Johan
dels orguens, the Fleming who played the exaquier: the latter was to bring along to Sara-
gossa "the book in which are noted the estamfiies and other things he knows how to play
on the exaquier" (lo llibre on te notades les estampides e les altres obres que sab sobrel
exaquier e los orguens). l A poem written to celebrate the birth of John II (at Barcelona,
1397) contains allusions to escaques (a cognate word for exaquier) and to the monicor-
^io. 151 At the baptism, these instruments (with harps) accompanied the singers.
A still more diversified list of instruments than any thus far alluded to can be found in
the Cancionero de Ramon de Llabia published c. 1490 by John Hurus at Saragossa. The
catalogue occurs in the poem by Fernan Ruyz of Seville, "Una coronacion de Nuestra
Senora/' 152 Because he mentions hocketing as a still current practice, he probably lived
in the fourteenth rather than in the fifteenth century. He names 35 different instru
ments, including the monicordio and escaquer (= exaquier). A half dozen instruments
mentioned in this source are not to be found even in the Diccionario histdrioo, which
Los Milagros is printed in Bibl. de Autores Espanoles: Poetas Castellanos anterior es al siglo XV, ed. Tomas A.
SAnchez (Madrid: Sue. de Hernando, 1921), Vol. LVTI. The quoted line occurs on p. 104; the poet imagines
that the birds sing in organum: "No one could ever hear better tuned organum, or more harmonious sounds;
some sang the fifth above while others doubled [below] ; still others sang the tenor which governs all the
parts, all moving when it moves."
148 Bibl. de Aut. Esp., ed. Sanchez, Vol. LVTI, p. 489.
147 Felipe Pedrell, "Jean I d' Aragon, Compositeur de Musique," Riemann-Festschrift (Leipzig : Max Hes-
ses Verlag, 1909), p. 240. John I wrote a letter January 4, 1380, in which he mentioned having composed a
rondeau a 5 and said he hoped to write a virelai and a ballade.
148 Ibid., p. 239. Further on the cornamusa (1357), laut (1392, 1402), rebeba (1313) = rabeu, rota (1383),
arpa (1384, 1385, 1382), naffiler (1371), guitarra (1424, 1429), exabeba (1338), xilimia (1308) = xalamia (1418),
at the Aragonese court in Francisco de P. Baldelld, "La musica en la casa de los Reyes de Arag6n," Anuario
Musical, XI (1956), p. 43. The rote-player Walter previously had served the king of England, p. 50; the
lutanist Salom6 a$on was Jewish (fl. 1392-1413).
149 Riemann-Festschrift, p. 233.
150 X"bid., p. 232. For his other musical correspondence, see Walter Salmen, "Iberische Hofmusikanten des
spaten Mittelalters auf Auslandsreisen," Anuario Musical, XI, 55.
151 Juan Alonso de Baena, El Cancionero de J. A. de Baena (Madrid: Imp. de la Publicidad, 1851), p. 209
(No. 227 : "Este desir fiso el maestro Fray Diego de Valencia de la orden de Sant Fran9isco").
152 R. Isnard, "Anciens instruments de musique," Revue hispanique, XLIII (June-August, 1918), pp. 559-
560. See also Cancionero de Ramon de Llavia (Madrid: Soc. de Bibli6filos EspafLoles, 1945), pp. 302-303.
Ancient and Medieval Beginnings 47
began publication at Madrid in 1933 with the intention of registering every known word
in the Spanish language.
Music and Learning in Medieval Christian Spain
SALAMANCA UNIVERSITY, though not as ancient as the Universities of Paris and Oxford
by half a century, was nevertheless the first medieval university with a chair of music. 153
Established by a royal rather than a papal charter, Salamanca received its letters patent
from Ferdinand III in 1243. Eleven years later his son, Alfonso X, extended its charter
and set the salaries of its professors in law, medicine, and the liberal arts. The chair of
music at Salamanca thus antedates the formal endowment of chairs at Oxford (1627) and
Cambridge (1684).
Alfonso X must himself have originated the idea of establishing such a chair, since
there was no foreign precedent for him to have followed. Juan Gil of Zamora (= Aegidius
Zamorensis), his biographer and close personal associate, said that he "composed many
exceptionally beautiful cantilenas/' 154 If he was as creative as the Cantigas suggest, the
idea of endowing a chair rightly occurred to him first, even though none existed as yet in
Italian, French, or English universities. He set the annual value of the chair at 50
maravedis (those of canon law and medicine were valued at 300 and 200 respectively).
The original deed of the William Heather music lectureship at Oxford provided a corre
spondingly low sum, only 17.6.8 a year.
In 1411 the reigning antipope, Benedict XIII - a Spaniard (Pedro de Luna) - granted
Salamanca unusual privileges. In listing its 25 endowed professorships he specifically
named the chair of music. Though the full list of thirteenth- and fourteenth-century
maestros en drgano has yet to be reconstructed, the earliest occupants whose names and
dates are known held cathedral appointments simultaneously.
OF THE THEORY texts by medieval Spanish clerics which survive one is a Breviarium de
Musica, by Oliva (fl. 1065), 155 monk of Ripoll, the principal center of early Catalonian
musical culture; the other an Ars musice by Juan Gil of Zamora (fl. 1265), the Franciscan
who tutored Alfonso X's son and heir, Sancho IV (1257-1295). Oliva wrote at the
request of a fellow-monk who wished instruction in the art of dividing the monochord.
Juan Gil, "doctor" but of what faculty is not known, wrote his treatise to comply with a
request made by the head of the Franciscan order, John of Parma. The latter adjured
him to write "briefly and simply" (brevius et puerilius [GS, II, 37 oa l)-
Gil is the earliest Spanish writer to dwell on the "affects" of the church modes. 166 But
158 Enrique Esperabe* Arteaga, Historia [pragmdtica e'interna] de la Universidad de Salamanca (Salamanca:
Imp. y Lib. de F. Nunez Izquierdo, 1914-1917), I, 22 : "Otrosi mando e tengo por bien que ayan vn maestro
en organo e yo que le [de] finquenta maravedis cada anno."
154 Marque's de Valmar, I, 126, n.i : ad praeconium Virginis gloriosae, multas et perpulchras composuit can
tilenas, sonis convenientibus et proportionibus musicis modulatas.
155 On Oliva see Angle's, La mdsica a Catalunya fins al segle XIII (Barcelona: Institut d'Estudis Cata-
, 1935), pp. 64-66.
156 Gerbert, Scriptores, II, 387-388.
4 8 Ancient and Medieval Beginnings
if the first peninsular to read an exact emotional meaning into each mode, he on the
other hand but follows in Isidore's footsteps when he describes at length the tuba,
buccina, tibia, calamus, fistula, pandorium, sambuca, symphonia, tympanum, c^thara,
psalterium, lyra, cymbala, sistrum, and tintinnabulum - to list their Latin names in his
order Halt apologetically he adds the names of three instruments of "recent" origin
(postremo inventa) : i the canon, guitar, and rabel. He distinguishes the canon under
two types, full and half size (cano entero and medio cano). He perhaps differentiates
canon from psaltery and guitar from cithara because he knows the canon, guitar, and
rabel to be Arabian instruments. In any event he does not confound them with Isidore's
ancient prototypes.
Unlike many medieval treatises, Juan Gil's can be closely dated. He says in his
introduction that he writes at his minister-general's request. Since John of Parma served
as head of the Friars Minor during only the decade from 1247-1257 Gil must obviously
have completed the Ars musice before being summoned to the royal household as tutor
to the future Sancho IV. John of Parma visited Spain on a tour of inspection late in
1248. His commissioning Gil's treatise, and the preservation of the manuscript in Roman
rather than Spanish archives, would both indicate that in the Ars musice we are dealing
with a treatise that epitomizes the best peninsular opinion on musical issues at approxi
mately the date the Salamanca chair was founded.
Though Gil claims only the merits of a compiler, he quotes his various sources - from
Aristoxenus 158 to John of Afflighem [Cotton] 159 - accurately and with discrimination.
His treatise may mean that Zamora - only 40 miles above Salamanca - enjoyed an even
older tradition of theoretical studies. Gil at the time of writing called himself "lector
insufficiens Zamorensis" but the insufficiens should be understood only as a token of
modesty. Not perhaps by chance did one of the most "learned" of Spanish Renaissance
composers arise also from Zamora, the celebrated papal singer, Escobedo.
JUST AS GIL'S treatise is preserved in a foreign archive, so an occasional foreign treatise
hints at Spanish practices. The Quatuor principalia, which is conventionally attributed
to the Oxford Franciscan, Simon Tunstede (d. 1369), 16 embodies such hints. According
to both the Quatuor principalia (CS, IV, 257) and Anonymous I (CS, III, 337) the minim
as a note-value was first used in Navarre, a kingdom which then lay south of the
Pyrenees with Pamplona as its capital. 161 The notational puzzles in music composed by
Jacomi de Sentluch (served John I of Aragon c. 1378-1382) and Gacian Reyneau (in the
royal chapel at Barcelona, 1398-1429) still today confound all but a handful of special
ists. 162 The ne plus ultra of notational complexity was reached according to Gilbert
Reaney in the two-voiced ballade of S. Uciredor (= Rodericus) copied into the Chantilly
d. t II, 388b.
158 Aristoxenus cited at s82b and 384!). In addition to Boethius and Isidore, Gil cites Solinus (375^) and
Constantinus Africamis (3Q2b).
1 59 Ibid., II, 376a, 377b.
160 Gilbert Reaney, 'The MS Chantilly, Muse"e Cond< 1047," Musica Disciplina, VIII (1954), P- 73
181 On minoratas and minimas see also Regnla XII, CS, I, 397b (Regula XII).
i 2 Reaney, p. 74. "The name Senleches is obviously a corruption of Sentluch . . ."
Ancient and Medieval Beginnings 49
manuscript (item 77) with the title Angelorum psalat tripudium. 1 ** Rodericus -identified
as the Rodriguet de la guitarra who served Alfonso V (1396-1458) before 1416 - posed
such rhythmical conundrums in his Angelorum psalat tripudium, though only cantus and
tenor are involved, that accurate transcription in modern note-values is probably not
possible. 164 For its epoch it is unusual, because the signature includes Eb and Ab- In
ionian mode, it might even be called a piece in Eb Major.
How high the level of musical erudition rose in late medieval Spain can also be
gauged from the foreign treatises circulating in the peninsula. Angles extracted two
from a miscellany of treatises bound together as MS 5-2-25 at the Biblioteca Colombina
in Seville, and published them in an article entitled "Dos tractats medievals de rmisica
figurada" (Festschrift fur Johannes Wolf [Berlin: Martin Breslauer, 1929], pp. 6-12).
The first treatise concords with so much of a Tractatus ascribed to Philippe de Vitry as
Coussemaker printed in his Scriptorum, III, 29-35 ; the second is a treatise copied at
Verona about 1420 by a Venetian Dominican, Bernardo di Santa Croce, from an original
by Nicolaus of Siena (with seven sentences at the end from Egidio de Murino [CS, III,
128]). Peninsular singers needed all the theoretical information that treatises such as
these could yield - and much more - if they were to cope with such difficulties as are
posed by the ballades of Jacomi (Fuions de ci [1382]) and Trebor (En seumeillant [1389])
commemorating events in the reign of John I of Aragon; or if they were to sing the
sacred pieces copied in the Barcelona-Gerona MSS that Hanna Harder and Bruno
Stablein analyzed in their "Neue Fragmente mehrstimmiger Musik aus spanischen
Bibliotheken" (Festschrift Joseph Schmidt-Gdrg zum 60. Geburtstag [Bonn: Beethoven-
haus, 1957], pp. 131-141). 165
183 Ibid., p. 79.
164 ibid. "Rodrigo de la guitarra" still served at the Aragonese court in 1424. See Baldell6, pp. 40, 43,
Men&idez Pidal quotes a letter of Alfonso V recommending Rodrigo to Juan II of Castile in 1417. A native of
Castile, Rodrigo returned home in August of the next year, but stayed only temporarily. Later (1421)
Alfonso made him Consol dels castellans at Palermo, with the right to collect imposts from Castilian vessels
touching that Sicilian port. For other details of Rodrigo's career, see Poesia juglaresca (Madrid: Institute de
Estudios Politicos, 1957), pp. 223-224; for names of Spanish guitarists contemporary with Rodrigo, p. 222.
165 The Apt composers, Taillandier and Pellisson, are represented in these neue Fragmente; also, Johannes
Alamanus (serving Pedro IV of Aragon in 1351).
Foundations of
Spanish Musical Theory:
Vernacular versus Latin Treatises
JUST AS the most famous Spanish Renaissance scholar, Juan Luis Vives (1492-1540),
wrote exclusively in Latin, so the two best-known Spanish Renaissance theorists,
BartolomS Ramos de Pareja (fl. 1482) and Francisco Salinas (1513-1590) published
exclusively in Latin. Also like Vives, they both spent much time abroad. Their choice of
Latin brought them recognition - not only in their own centuries, but later - which
peninsular theorists who wrote in Spanish have missed.
Only they, for instance, are mentioned in John Hawkins's five-volume General
History of the Science and Practice of Music (1776) or in Charles Burney's General
History of Music (1776-1789). Again a century later Hugo Riemann in his Geschichte der
Musiktheorie (Leipzig, 1898) mentioned Ramos and Salinas, but no others.
The vernacular treatises enjoy one advantage, however, that is denied the classics of
peninsular musical scholarship. They bear witness to music culture as it existed, not the
ideal culture of savants. When Martinez de Bizcargui (1508) contended that singers
should know how to read neums written on a one-line staff he gave the very best of
reasons: choirbooks except in cathedrals were - as a rule - copied on a one-line staff.
When Juan Bermudo (1555) described the various methods of conducting a group of
singers, with the hand alone, with a baton, or by a method he execrated, stamping one's
foot, he gave not always a pretty picture but at least a graphic one of music conditions
as they existed. When Luys de Villafranca reprinted a choice group of plainchants with
constant accidentals, he was not perhaps invoking a style that would be favored by
present-day plainsong specialists, but at least he was describing the highly chromaticized
readings which Sevillian singers gave the traditional repertory in 1565 .
Foundations of Spanish Musical Theory 51
Fernand Estevan (fl. 1410)
LIKE MANY of the vernacular theorists, Estevan was a practical church musician without
the university connections of a Ramos or Salinas. He lists himself in his Reglas de Canto
Piano I de Contrapunto, e de Canto de Organo (Toledo Provincial Library, MS R 329) as
sacristan of St. Clement's Chapel at Seville - a chapel later incorporated in the newly
rising cathedral as the Capilla del Sagrario. He gives an exact date for the completion of
his treatise: March 31, 1410. His title promises more, however, than the now-extant
section actually performs. The unique copy preserved at Toledo shows no signs of
maltreatment, except that the fourth of 51 numbered leaves has been removed. At the
end Estevan writes: "finished in the very loyal and noble city of Seville on the last day
of March in the year 1410 after Our Lord Jesus Christ's nativity." But even so, it can
be but Part I of the larger work advertised in the title, the first dealing with plainsong,
the second with counterpoint, the third with polyphony in the more general sense.
Plainsong theory did not remain static but on the contrary made considerable
progress between Gil and Estevan. The theoretical range was extended to include e 1 in
in the top space of the treble clef. 1 Meantime the gamma ut lost its prestige as the lowest
note in the Guidonian hand, the retropolis FL (space below bass clef) taking its place.
Only those hexachords built over GI, G, g ("hard"), C, c ("natural"), and F, f ("soft")
belonged to the systems of the classic Guidonian theorists. As a result B|? and bb could
be "sung" but not Eb, Ab (or Off), F#, and c#: because to have sung these other acci
dentals would have required the enlargement of the solmization system to include those
hexachords built over Bib, Eb (or E^), D, and A, respectively. But it was precisely these
"forbidden" hexachords which won acknowledgment in Spanish plainsong theory
sometime between Gil and Estevan. In the Reglas these "forbidden" hexachords are
called conjuntas (singular, conjunta).
In approving the frequent use of degree-inflection in plainsong, which in a practical
sense is what Estevan's ten conjuntas amount to (hexachords over Fi-retropolis, AI, Bib,
D, Eb, A, Bb, d, eb, a), he goes exactly counter to the learned opinion of foreign theorists
who treated the subject. Jacques de Li&ge, author of the most exhaustive of all medieval
musical encyclopedias, the Speculum Musicae (c. 1330), does mention, but reprobates, the
introduction of the C# or F# into plainsong (CS, II, 293). According to Jacques, who had
studied at Paris and had travelled at least as far as the south of France, 2 the introduction
into mensurable music of an f# (cantus), if above Btq (tenor), is right and necessary (CS,
II, 294, c. i) ; but never in plainsong. He calls any shifting to such hexachords as the
conjuntas "irregular or false mutation" (irregularis vel falsa mutatio), and denounces the
use of F# or C# in plainsong as "improper" license (CS, II, 294, c. i).
If such license was "improper" Spanish plainsong during the fifteenth and sixteenth
centuries - on the explicit testimony of every theorist from Estevan (1410) to Villafranca
- became licentious in the extreme. 3 Estevan not only acknowledges these other
1 Jerome of Moravia included 6* (CS, I, 21). Gil implied its existence (GS, II, 381)
2 Roger Bragard, "Le Speculum Musicae," Musica Discipline, VIII (i954)
s Estevan's tables of hexachords occur at fols. 6v and s8r.
52 Foundations of Spanish Musical Theory
accidentals but exemplifies their use at Seville in the singing of such plainsongs as
Sancta et immaculata, Emendemus in melius, Gaude Maria, Beatus servus, Jesu, Redemptor
omnium, In manus tuas, Domine, and Ad te levavi animam meam, in 1410. (Since all of
these plainsongs were to be at one time or another set in a polyphonic frame by such
Andalusian masters as Morales, Guerrero, and Navarro, knowledge of the long-estab
lished local tradition of accidentalizing can prove most advantageous to the student of
their works.)
Estevan himself realizes that classic plainsong theory ignored all accidentals except
Bb and its various octave duplicates. With rare historical acumen, he points to the
transpositions out of proper range which the codifiers of Roman chant had made in
order to avoid writing theoretically banned Eb's. Two examples which he mentions can
be seen in the 1950 edition of the Liber Usualis: Hodie scietis (short resp., p. 359) and
Haec dies (p. 783). The latter ends on A and - as Estevan observes - both have been
transposed up a fifth simply to avoid Eb's. He thinks it far better to square theory with
practice, and argues thus:
Without these [additional accidentals] many plainsongs do not sound well nor are they
melodious; and there is no way to remedy the situation even though using accidentals runs
contrary to plainsong usage. If someone protests that they were invented for counterpoint and
do not belong in plainsong, let it be replied that they do suit plainsong and are not only
appropriate but often necessary Many say also that such additional accidentals do not
properly exist and that they are "fictitious" music. Yet look at organs; you will find on them
these very accidentals because they are constantly called for in written [mensurable] music.
Accidentals, however, are not to be introduced into plainsong merely at random, but only
when manifestly needed. In accidentalizing, moreover, the singer ought not to continue using
the same accidental indefinitely, but should naturalize as soon as possible [fol. I2r.].
ESTEVAN follows Gil in assigning an "affect" to each of the eight modes. His list of
authorities begins with the inevitable Boethius; but continues with such fresher names
as Albertus de Rosa, 4 Philippe de Vitry (1291-1361), Guillaume de Machaut (c. 1300-0.
I 377)> J ean <k Muris (c. 1290-0. 1351), and Egidio de Murino (fl. 1389). The latter, an
Augustinian, wrote the principal treatise on late ars nova notation, Tractatus de di-
versis figuris* He on the other hand claims to owe the better part of his knowledge not
to any of these foreigners but to his own Spanish mentor, Remon (= Ramon) de Ca$io.
This person - probably a Sevillian predecessor - ''advanced the art considerably,
without derogating from the authority of former masters."
He made many new discoveries which he communicated to me out of kindness. In these he was
not anticipated by others, but demonstrated his own entire originality (fols. 2iv.-22r.).
Estevan sets down his rules for reading plainchant written on one line, clearly and
succinctly. His clues are those now conventionally accepted : look to see where the chant
4 According to Angles, "La notacidn musical espafiola en la segunda mitad del siglo XV," Anuario Musi
cal, II (1947), J 54 Albertus de Rosa was a fourteenth-century Spanish, theoretician. Duran also mentions
him.
6 Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart, III, columns 1169-1172.
Foundations of Spanish Musical Theory 53
ends and where the semitone occurs. The f inalis lies on the line in Modes II, VI, VIII, and
one step below in Mode IV. The confinalis (dominant) lies a third above in Modes I, II,
IV, V, VI, and VII, and a fourth above in Modes III and VIII. His rules take up con
siderable space, because he gives them twice, first in Latin, then in rromanfe. No other
peninsular theoretician succeeds better in clarifying the rules, except perhaps Martinez
de Bizcargui, who gives a full list of the neums peculiar to single-line chant (several
neum-types were found only in one-line chant, as Duran and Bizcargui both attest).
An accessible resume of Estevan's rules will be found in Gregorio Arciniega's mono
graph, "Un documento musical del afio 1410" (June and July issues of Tesoro S aero-
Musical, XVIII [1934]). Since as Solange Corbin has shown in her Essai sur la musique
religieuse portugaise au moyen age (Paris, 1952), the surviving medieval Portuguese
repertory consists almost entirely of one-line music, such rules as Estevan gives can
profitably be studied by others, as well as by Spanish investigators.
His treatise even if it does not go beyond plainsong is thus a genuinely interesting
document. The numerous musical examples further enhance its value. These extend to
69 staves, and without exception are copied on five lines. Other than a few Saragossa
liturgical books, Spanish Renaissance sources - in manuscript or in print - almost always
show plainsong on five-line (red) staves. As a result, Spanish plainsong rarely changes
clef in the middle of an example - an expedient frequently necessary in plainsong
copied or printed abroad on the four-line staff. In one other respect Estevan anticipates
later use. Since he already writes the accidentals F#, C#, Eb, and Ab (fols. gv. and s8r.),
he sets a precedent for the numerous printed accidentals to be found in Spanish litur
gical incunabula.
Ars mensurabilis et immensurabilis cantus (c 1480)
ESTEVAN repeats his own name almost to excess in his Reglas. By contrast, the next
treatise still remains anonymous - though it can be dated with considerable assurance.
Conserved at El Escorial library (C. iii. 23), the manuscript reaches 50 unnumbered
leaves, and ends with a statement that it was finished at Seville July 7, 1480. But on
the other hand the anonymous author cites n fifteenth-century composers at foL 3
who improved and advanced the art of music more in the forty years preceding 1482
than all previous composers had done from Jesus Christ's birth to 1440. The discrepancy
between the dates in first and last chapters forces us to believe that chapter one - which
is manifestly introductory - was (like many prefaces) written after, rather than before,
the rest.
The anonymous author does not name his own personal teacher as did Estevan. But
if he did not study with the most celebrated of fifteenth-century theorists, Johannes
Tinctoris (c. 1435-1511), he certainly shows the latter's influence. Bukofzer in his
"Uber Leben und Werke von Dunstable" (Acta Musicologica, VIII, iii-iv [1936],
104-105) pointed out such close verbal similarities to Tinctoris's Liber de arte contra-
puncti - the manuscript of which is dated October n, 1477 - that contact between our
54 Foundations of Spanish Musical Theory
anonymous Sevillian and Tinctoris can hardly be doubted. Tinctoris at that time was of
course residing in Naples as chaplain and singer to Ferdinand I (= Don Ferrante:
1423-1494) of the house of Aragon.
Instead of the eleven composer's names listed by our Sevillian anonymous, Tinctoris
in his Liber de arte contrapuncti (CS, IV, 77) gave the names of eight whom he considered
to have advanced music spectacularly during the previous forty years. Common to both
lists are the names, Dunstable, Dufay, Binchois, Busnois, Ockeghem and Guillaume
Faugues. But whereas Tinctoris completed his list with Regis and Caron, the Sevillian
anonymous completes his with Constans [de Languebroek (d. 1481)], Jehan Pullois (d.
1478), Johannes Urrede [== Wreede (d. 1481?)], Johannes Martini (d. 1492?), and an
Enrricus who seems to have been the highly praised Henry Knoep of Li&ge (d. 1490?)
chosen to succeed Caspar van Weerbecke in the Milanese court chapel c. 1473 6
(Eitner, QL, III, 341). At all events, both Tinctoris and the Sevillian anonymous unite
in lauding John Dunstable (d. 1453) as the English fountainhead from which gushed a
"revivifying" school of Franco-Flemish masters. Urrede, one of the composers found in
the Sevillian's list but not in Tinctoris's served the first Duke of Alva in 1476 and
composed music for his poem, Nunca fue pena mayor (see below, pp. 203, 228). Later -
1477-1481 - he became chapelmaster to Ferdinand V of Aragon. But no other composer
of those added by the Sevillian anonymous can be connected with Spain. The better
inference then has it that our anonymous visited the Spanish court at Naples c. 1480.
He brought back to Seville if not the music of Faugues, Pullois, and Martini, at least a
boundless enthusiasm for the music of the Franco-Flemings who flourished in Italy c.
1480. His eager zest for novelty presages the sixteenth-century Sevillian musical
outlook. Bermudo, the greatest Andalusian theorist, treads in his exact footsteps when
he compares "old" music to the "old" law, and "new" music to the "New" Testament
(Declaracidn [1555], 66r., 84v.).
The Sevillian anonymous quotes Isidore - as did everyone. His also quoting Nicholaus
de Capua (fl. 1415) strengthens the theory of a Neapolitan sojourn. From the latter's
Compendium musicale 7 he extracts three lines of poetry on the "great gulf that separates
a mere performer from the schooled musician who knows the theory of his art" - an
idea as old as Boethius. From Nicholaus he also probably takes the couplet on the
"bestiality" of singers who learn by rote instead of from the book. The rules on singing
bb's are not credited to Nicholaus in our Sevillian anonymous - but so exactly resemble
his as to suggest further borrowing.
At f ol. 2ov. our anonymous lists rules for copying one-line chant en cinco reglas (on
five lines), and warns against the drastic errors an ignorant scribe can compound. At fol.
23V. he ranges himself on the side of those who call the semitone from A-Bb the large
rather than small semitone. Only the maligned Martinez de Bizcargui among his imme
diate successors dared follow him on the "size" of the A-Bb as compared with Bb-Bkj
semitone. At fol. 34v. our anonymous cites the custom, peculiar to Spain, of singing
Emilio Motta, "Musici Bl]&CoTtedeg]iSfoTZQ,, >t Archiviostoricolombardo f XIV t u (June, 1887), pp. 330-332.
7 Adrien de la Page, Essais de Diphtherographie musicale (Paris: O. Legouix, 1864), p, 310 $eq. The Se
villian anonymous cites Nicholaus de Capua at fol. 51.
Foundations of Spanish Musical Theory 55
all the canonical hours not only in monastic houses and in cathedrals, but also in the
smaller parish churches - a custom, he declares, which ''makes necessary our knowing
the proper intonations for the beginning, middle, and end, of every canonical hour." 8
Bartolome Ramos 9 de Pareja (fl. 1482)
RAMOS DE PAREJA, the most renowned of fifteenth-century Spanish theorists, not only
made his reputation in Italy but stayed there long enough to publish Musica practica
(Bologna, 1482), and to gather about him a coterie of admiring disciples - headed by
Giovanni Spataro 10 - who upheld his reputation during the protracted controversy
aroused by his novel doctrines.
That he was from Baeza in the diocese of Jan, u and therefore an Andalusian like so
many of the other principal Spaniards of his century, is known from the colophons to the
two issues of his Musica practica - both of which appeared in I482. 12 His first teacher
qui me musices imbuit rudimentis 13 was the Spaniard, Juan de Monte (papal singer,
1447-1457), 14 whom he dared cite as the equal of such celebrities as Ockeghem,
8 For further information concerning the Sevillian anonymous and printed excerpts, see Luis Villalba
Mufioz, "Un tratado de mtisica in<dito del siglo XV," La Ciudad de Dios, LXX (Madrid, 1906), pp. 118-123,
531-543.
9 Variants: Ramis is the form Spataro adopted in his Tractate di musica (Venice: Bernardino de Vitali,
1531), chapters vi, xiv, xvi, xix. In ch. xiv, for instance, he alluded to mio Optimo preceptore B. Ramis. Ra-
mus is the form he used, however, in his Honesta defensio in Nicolai Burtii parmensis opusculum (Bologna:
Plato de Benedictis, 1491). In this Honesta defensio Spataro was, moreover, consistent in spelling the name
Ramus (il fonte detti musici il mio Ramus, fol. c ii). Occasionally, however, Spataro (1491) left out the Ramus,
mio Pareia fonte detti musici, (fol. d viii verso). Domingo Marcos Duran, the only fifteenth-century Spanish
theorist who refers to Ramos called him simply Bartholome" de Pareja. Ramos (= "boughs") is adopted in the
present text because it is nowadays the preferred Spanish spelling. "Ramis*' does not occur in Castilian.
10 Spataro's jousting with Burzio and Gaffurio in behalf of his Optimo preceptor e lasted almost thirty
years. For chronology of his dispute with Gaffurio see Knud Jeppesen's article, "Eine musiktheoretische
Korrespondenz," Acta Musicologica, XIII (1941), p. 21.
11 For a history of Baeza see Fernando de C6zar Martinez, Notidas y documentos para la historia de Baeza
(Jae*n: Est. tip. de los Sres. Rubio, 1884). Of special interest will be found the information at pp. 154-156
and 481. Ramos was evidently proud of his Baeza origin. Spataro (Honesta defensio [1491]* fol. d Vr.) alludes
to Ramos's birth in Biatia (= Baeza), "two days' journey distant from the ancient Roman settlement of
Italica."
1 2 For a discussion of the two editions see Albano Sorbelli, "Le due Edizioni deUa 'Musica practica' di
Bartolome' Ramis de Pareja/' Gutenberg Jahrbuch, 1930, pp. 104-114. The colophon of the "original edition"
begins thus: Explicit feliciter prima pars musice egregii et famosi musici domini bartolomei parea . . . ; of the
"second edition" thus: Explicit musica practica Bartolomei Rami de Pareia . . . Ramos originally intended
to publish his musical theories in three parts (i) Musica practica (2) Musica theorica (3) Musica semimathema-
tica (Sorbelli, p. 109). When he discovered that he would not be appointed Bolognese music professor he
abandoned such an ambitious scheme: as the difference in colophons testifies. That his disappointment
was intense may be inferred from Spataro's testimony (Honesta defensio); who said he had spent a decade
preparing Musica practica. Ramos preferred to dictate to his students and then to discuss his theories in
class sessions before resorting to the printed word, according to Spataro. See Federico Ghisi, "Un terzo
esemplare della 'Musica Practica' di Bartolomeo Ramis de Pareia alia biblioteca nazionale centrale di Firen-
ze," Note d'archivio, XII, 3-5 (May-Oct., 1935), p. 226.
13 Musica practica, ed. Johannes Wolf, p. 88.
14 Fr. X. Haberl, Bausteine fur Musikgeschichte, III (Die romische "schola cantorum" und die pdpstlichen
Kappelsdnger [Leipzig: Breitkopf und HSxtel, 1888]), pp. 37, 39-
56 Foundations of Spanish Musical Theory
Busnois, and Dufay. 15 That he lectured at Salamanca and there disputed with the
celebrated Pedro de Osma 16 on the meaning of the diatonic, chromatic, and enharmonic
genera as defined by Boethius can also be learned from his own testimony (Pars I, Tract.
II, cap. vi). 17 Before leaving Spain he wrote a now-lost music treatise in the vernacular. 18
In Spain or in Italy he became intimately acquainted with Tristano de Silva, 19 who
served for a time as maestro in the chapel of the Portuguese king, Affonso V (1432-1481),
and who wrote two treatises. 20 Ramos also knew Urrede, Ferdinand V's maestro, and
called him carissimus . . . magister (dearly-beloved master).
He journeyed to Italy before 1472, perhaps first settling in Florence. 21 Musica
fractica, on the authority of Spataro, took ten years to write. Sometime before 1480 he
removed to Bologna. There he lectured publicly without however actually occupying the
chair which Pope Nicholas V (d. 1455) had sought to create. 22 He found the mathemati
cal faculty - which was jealously opposed to the very existence of such a chair - ranged
against him. While Musica practica was still in the press (or shortly after publication)
he departed for Rome where he was still residing during I4gi, 23 a year when Spaniards
rode high in the saddle and Castilian was a fashionable language among the upper
classes. Spataro says that he was highly regarded in Rome, and that learned men in
every faculty resorted to him, esteeming him maestro delli maestri. His date of death
cannot be ascertained but probably belongs around 1500. Gaffurio in his 1520 Apologia
referred to him as long dead. 24 His doctrines remained a focus of controversy as late as
Salinas's De musica libri septem (1577).
15 Musica practica, Wolf ed., p. 84.
16 Pedro de Osma, cited as a musical authority in Marcos Duran's Comento sobre Lux bella, enjoyed
considerable academic distinction if he was the Pedro Martinez de Osma who was a member of San Bartolom
College in 1444, a leading professor of theology in Salamanca University for fifteen years (1463-1478), and
author of a famous commentary on Aristotle's Ethics (Liber Ethicorum, published at Salamanca in 1496).
Because of "errors" in his book on confession he was required to retire from his professorship to Alba de
Tonnes where he died in 1480.
Wolf ed., pp. 42-43.
Ibid., p. 42.
19 Ibid., p. 86. Silva is incorrectly identified as Portuguese (Tristao da Silva) in Joaquim de Vasconcellos's
Os musicos portuguezes (Oporto: Imp. Portugueza, 1870), II, 177. Ramos (op. cit., p. 14) distinctly says that
Silva was a Spaniard : Tristano de Silva Hispano familiarissimo nostro et acerrimi ingenii viro disputatione.
If the evidence of Fernando del Pulgax's letter Para el maestre de la capitta del rey de Portogal (Epistolario
Espanol, I, 58 [Letter 27]) be applied to Silva, he was a restless spirit who had roamed from royal chapel to
chapel throughout Europe while his mother remained in Spain. He had written Pulgar several times without
getting a reply. Though Pulgar addressed him as "Dearest Sir/' he advised him to remain in Portugal, and
to quit hankering after a still better place.
20 Vasconcellos, II, 177. According to Vasconcellos, Silva's Amables de mtisica was in JoSo I V's Lisbon
library. Cf. Diogo Barbosa Machado, Bibliotheca Lusitana, III (Lisbon: Ignacio Rodrigues, 1752), p. 765, c. i.
21 Albert Seay, "The Dialogic Johannis Ottobi Anglici in arte musica," Journal of the American Musico-
logical Society, VIII, 2 (Summer, 1955), pp. 91-92.
22 Sorbelli, pp. 106-107.
23 Spataro, Honesta defensio (1491), fol. c vii: "tu sai che lui e a Roma doue assai piu sonno. . . ."
24 Apologia (Turin: Agostino de Vitomercato, 1520), fol. A v recto [lines 22-23] : ". . . quanquam culpare
mortuos leue sit non responsuros. . . ". The Diccionario de la mtisica Labor (Barcelona: Editorial Labor, 1954
[II, 183 ib]), states that Ramos was still alive in 1521, but Gaffurio's Apologia bears the colophon date,
April 20, 1520. In a letter to Pietro Aron written in 1532, Spataro said that when Ramos moved to Rome he
fully intended to finish the theoretical portions of his treatise but that instead he gave himself up to wanton
Foundations of Spanish Musical Theory 57
Ramos opposed tradition in the following several respects:
I He rejected the method of tuning the diatonic scale which plainsong theorists since
Odo of Cluny (Enchiridion musices, c. 935) had taught. 25 This older method enjoyed the
advantage of uniformly tuning all fourths (G-c, A~d, B-e, c-f, d-g, e-a, f-bb, etc.) in the
stringlength-ratio 4:3, and all fifths in the stringlength-ratio 3:2. In order to achieve
these uniform ratios, earlier theorists were however constrained to sacrifice the 5:4
ratio for the major third in favor of 81 164, and the 6 15 ratio for the minor third in favor
of 288 .'243. All whole steps vibrated meantime in the 9 :8 ratio but the sung semitone in
the 256 .'243 ratio.
Ramos altered the older method in order to tune the major thirds c-e, f-a, g-b, and
their octaves in the 5 14 ratio. He also managed to work out his tuning system in such
fashion that the minor thirds A-c, d-f , e-g, and their octaves, conformed to the 6 15
vibration-ratio. What is more, he arranged his scale so that the semitones e-f , a-bb, and
bfcj-c 1 would vibrate in the 16:15 ratio rather than the Pythagorean 256:243 ratio.
In order to make these improvements, he was however himself forced to sacrifice cer
tain advantages inherent in the older system, taught by conservatives from Guido to
Gaffurio. In the first place, he was obliged to vary the size of his "perfect" fifths and
fourths. While A-e, c-g, d-a, e-bfc], f-c 1 , and their octaves all conformed in his system
with the 3 :2 stringlength-ratio required in classic theory, he on the other hand tuned
the remaining fifth in the diatonic scale, g-d 1 , slightly flat (40:27). As for fourths, he
tuned all of them in the 4:3 ratio except d-g - which in his system became a trifle larger
(27:20) than a mathematically perfect fourth.
Secondly, he was forced to vary the size of his major seconds. In his new system A-B,
d-e, f-g, and their octaves still conformed with the 9 : 8 ratio prescribed by the Pytha
gorean tuning theory and accepted by Guido. But not c-d, g-a, and their octaves.
These two major seconds were tuned in the 10:9 ratio, and were therefore smaller
seconds.
Thirdly, he was not quite successful in making all his minor thirds conform with the
6:5 ratio. Though A-c, d-f, and e-g did fit the 6:5 ratio in his new system, B-d and
g-bb were a trifle smaller (tuned in the ratio 32 : 27) .
Lastly, though his semitones e-f, a-bb, and bt^-c 1 were tuned in the very desirable
ratio 16:15, his bb-bfcj semitone could not escape being tuned smaller (in the ratio
135:128). According to the overtone series bb-bfcj ought, however, to be slightly larger
(15 :i4) than the btj-c semitone (16 .-15) .
In summary : Ramos in order to obtain three 5 : 4 major thirds and a like number of 6 : 5
minor thirds abandoned the centuries-old symmetry of the Guidonian hexachord
system. In his system the two major triads, c-e-g and f-a-c 1 , reached mathe
matical perfection (though not the g-b-d 1 triad). Likewise the three minor triads,
habits that brought on his death before he could ever finish: "and6 a Roma et port6 con lui tute quelle
particole impresse con intentione de fomirla a Roma; ma lui non la fornite mai; ma lui atendeva a certo
suo modo de vivere lascivo el quale fu causa de la sua morte" (quoted in Sorbelli, p. 107).
as For a description of Odo's method, see Strunk, Source Readings, p. 106.
58 Foundations of Spanish Musical Theory
A-c-e, d-f-a, and e-g-ty (though not g-bb-d 1 ). ExceUent as he felt his new system to be,
an adventurous singer tuning to his monochord, instead of Odo's or Guide's, would
necessarily have formed a small major second followed by a large major second when
singing ut-re-mi of the natural hexachord built on C; and exactly viceversa when
singing ut-re-mi of the soft hexachord built on F.
II Ramos himself realized that his novel tuning of the monochord 26 - which he pro
fessed to have devised for the benefit of the unlearned, but according to principles set
down by Boethius - laid the axe at the root of the Guidonian system. His second assault
against classic plainsong theory followed inevitably. He proposed (Pars I, Tract. I, cap.
vii) that the time had now come to do away with the whole tiresomely intricate solmi-
zation system, and to devise new syllables. These should cover not the hexachord but the
octave instead. They should begin with Ci (second ledger-line below the bass clef). From
this QL, the lowest note on keyboard instruments, they should rise to c 1 (middle space
on the treble clef). The syllables suggested, and which were to be repeated from octave
to octave, included these eight : psal-li-tur per vo-ces is-tas. The notes C or c would, accor
ding to his new system, be sung with either psal or tas, depending on whether the
melody ascended or descended afterwards.
The "Guidonian" hand (Pars I, Tract. II, cap. vii), as revised by Ramos, still served
to denote pitches; but the bottom of the index finger stood for C, the bottom of middle
and ring fingers for c (Middle C), and the bottom of the little finger for c 1 . Both sides of
the thumb served for the seven notes in the lowest octave.
In the older system mi always signaled that a semitone came next if the melody
ascended, and fa a semitone if it descended. In his new solmization system, no such pair
of syllables as mi-fa existed to herald the semitone. John Hothby (c. 1415-1487), the
famous English Carmelite theorist who studied Ramos's theories before returning from
Lucca to the service of Henry VII (1486), dictated his Excitatio quaedam Musicae artis
per refutationem in order to show the dangers of such a newfangled solmization system
and to expose Ramos's "errors." He objected to psallitur per voces istas on the grounds
that the semitone is sung the first time in the octave with tur - per (E-F) but the second
time with 'is - tas (Btj-c). 27
Ramos, perhaps anticipating such an objection, claimed for his system a compensating
advantage. Those two places in the octave where at the singer's discretion a semitone
might, or might not, occur (A-Bb and Bfcj-c) were each signaled by syllables ending in
"s" (A = ces, B = is). 28 He also liked his system because the singer changed from one
octave into another on syllables with the same vowel (the note C = psal or tas). 29 As for
the number of syllables - the Guidonian system calling for six and his for eight ~ he
thought eight numerologically just as "good" if not "better" than six.
Ramos, however, was not so sanguine as to fancy that solmization through the whole
26 Ramos's method: Strunk, pp. 201-204.
27 Wolf ed., p. 109.
28 Ibid., p. 20.
29 Ibid., p. 21.
Foundations of Spanish Musical Theory 59
octave would catch on quickly. Meanwhile he suggested that students ease their task by
singing A-c#-d with the syllables re-f a-sol rather than the proper syllables belonging to
the A-conjuncta : ut-mi-f a. 30 Similarly he recommended singing g-fjf-g with the syllables
sol-fa-sol, even though a semitone was involved. 31 He invoked the authority of Johannes
Gallicus, a Carthusian residing at Mantua, for the suggestion that singers abandon overt
mutation from one hexachord to a "conjunct" when sharping at cadences - the semi-
tonium subintellectum being secretly understood instead. 32
Ill As if the lse-majest of opposing both the Pythagorean tuning system and the
Guidonian solmization system were not enough, Ramos was so daring as to challenge
still other established musical doctrines. He, for instance, decreed that tritones were
not necessarily improper. In order to lend weight to so airy a dictum he again appealed
to the same Johannes Gallicus of Mantua mentioned above - this Carthusian being the
only Renaissance theorist in Italy whom he seems to have respected. Even so, he
found it necessary to wrest Gallicus's "corroborating" statement from its proper con
text when he wrote as follows: "To make a tritone, as Brother John the Carthusian
observed, is not the mortal sin that many believe it to be" 33 (Tritonum facere, ui frater
Johannes Carthusinus dicit [CS, IV, 372a], non est -peccatum mortale, ut multi credunt).
Another statement that similarly showed his daring because of its radical novelty
was the dictum that "consecutive fifths can be tolerated if one be a diminished fifth
and the other perfect : examples can be found in the song, Sois emprantis [by Tristano de
Silva] and in other old songs; such consecutives are permitted when the parts move
swiftly though not when the motion is slow." 34 The music of Tristano de Silva, like
that of such other fifteenth-century Spanish polyphonists mentioned by Ramos as Juan
de Monte and Luis Sanchez, is lost. The extant music of Pedro de Escobar, Martin de
Rivafrecha, and Juan de Anchieta, all of whom flourished in the immediately succeeding
generation (1500-1510) shows, however, that he breasted current practice in permitting
fifths, even when only two parts were sounding. But no other contemporary theorist
dared put such licenses as those for tritones and fifths in print.
RAMOS'S sturdy originality must not, however, be so stressed that simultaneously one
loses sight of the more conventional teachings in his treatise. Indeed he would not have
drawn about him a group of devoted disciples headed by Spataro, nor would he have
won Aron's accolade of having been "a most estimable musician, truly worthy of
veneration by every learned person" (Bartholomew rami musico dignissimo, ueramente da
so iud., p. 43.
31 Ibid. Even Gaffurio later admitted that in solmization many articulated "sol" below "la" when
singing a semitone (Practica musice [Milan, 1496], fol. ee iij).
32 Wolf ed., p. 44; see also p. 31.
33 Ibid., pp. 50-51.
34 Ibid., p. 65. Pietro Aron in bis Lucidario in musica (Venice: Girolamo Scotto, 1545), Libro secondo,
opp. VIII (fol.jv.), quotes Ramos's dictum concerning fifths and cites Tristano de Suva's antico canto chiama-
to Soys emprantis. However, it is not clear that Aron quotes Silva's canto in the accompanying music example.
The example would, in fact, seem to be an excerpt from Verdelot's Infirmitatem nosfram.
60 Foundations of Spanish Musical Theory
ogni dotto uenerato] 35 had he been merely a rebel against convention. Musica practica
even contains such formal bows to convention as the following: "But since we do not
wish to depart from ordinary practice, we do not allow the counterpoint to remain
static, even though it concords with the cantus firmus" (Sed quia ab usu communi discedere
nolumus ... [p. 67]).
As good a proof as any of his effectiveness when teaching conventional doctrine can
be seen in his Secunda pars idest contrapunctus. He begins (Tract. I, cap. i) with six
rules for writing note-against-note counterpoint. He cites these rules - which he ascribes
to the "ancients" - just as succinctly and precisely as does his archenemy, Franchino
Gaffurio. Here are Ramos's rules: 36 (i) begin and end with an octave, perfect fifth, or
unison; (2) avoid parallel octaves, perfect fifths, and unisons; (3) two, or even more,
successive thirds or sixths are acceptable; (4) if the cantus firmus repeats a note, the
counterpoint moves; (5) a major sixth should resolve to an octave, minor sixth to a
fifth; major third to a fifth, minor third to a unison; (6) insofar as possible the voices
should move in contrary motion.
Gaffurio in his Practica Musice (Milan, 1496, fol. dd i) extends the rules slightly:
(i) begin with a perfect interval; (2) if both voices are moving in the same direction,
two perfect intervals of the same kind cannot succeed each other; (3) up to four succes
sive thirds or successive sixths may be used; (4) perfect intervals, when not of the same
kind, may succeed each other: for instance an octave followed by a fifth; (5) two
perfect intervals of the same kind may succeed each other, if the voices cross; (6)
regardless of the type of intervals, contrary motion should be preferred to constant
similar motion; (7) perfect intervals are best approached in contrary motion, especially
at cadences; (8) an exercise should not only end with a perfect interval, but - if the
Venetian school of composition be followed - in a unison.
Comparison of the two theorists, one a progressive, the other a conservative, redounds
to Ramos's advantage when any problem so thorny as the use of musica ficta in counter-
point arises for discussion. 37 The forthright Spaniard never hesitates to pull the bud
off the prickly bush even if he must get scratched while doing so. The cautious Italian
usually waits until he can find a pair of gloves. But when nothing of a controversial nature
is under discussion, Ramos willingly enough echoes the past.
Though Johannes Wolf who ably edited Musica practica did not call attention to the
borrowing, Ramos in Pars I, Tract. Ill, cap. iii, 38 echoed word-for-word everything
that Juan Gil of Zamora had more than two centuries earlier written on the emotional
connotations of the eight church modes (GS, II, 386-388). For his source in this par
ticular instance, Ramos named Luis Sdnchez. But obviously Sdnchez was only a link in
a long transmission chain. Swept away by his enthusiasm for astrology Ramos argued a
little later in the same chapter that the stars actually settle the character of each of the
85 Pietro Aron, Toscanello in musica (Venice: Marchio Sessa, 1539), fol I (= 33) v. (lines 25-26). In the
context Aron is discussing the use of the sharp-sign. He quotes Ramos as having called it b quadro.
3* Wolf, ed., p. 65.
? Ibid., pp. 66-67.
38 Tbid., pp. 56-57.
Foundations of Spanish Musical Theory 61
eight modes. In his opinion the dorian received its character from the sun, the hypo-
dorian from the moon, the phrygian from Mars, the hypophrygian from Mercury , the
lydian from Jupiter, the hypolydian from Venus, and the mixolydian from Saturn. 39
Their astral influences accounted, he thought, for such diverse emotional effects
as anger (phrygian), punctillious tears (hypolydian), joy (lydian), and melancholy
(mixolydian).
Neither can he be accounted very original in what he wrote concerning musica
mundana, the authorities which he cited in discussing the music of the spheres being
Cicero, Martianus Capella, and Macrobius. As for numerology, he was heir to the
fancies of his time when he argued the relative merits of 8 and 6. Even his division of
Musica practica into three parts, the first part into three tractates, the first two
tractates into eight chapters and the third tractate into three chapters, shows
a highly schematic mind laboring to make the formal plan reflect his theory of
"good" and "bad" numbers.
He also reveals an old-fashioned streak when he delights in puzzle canons and volubly
lauds musical enigmas. Dufay's only achievement singled out for praise is his Missa
Se la face ay pale - because it contains the enigmatic direction: Crescit in triplo et in
duplo et ut iacet. He admires Busnois for having written a canon that can be sung back
wards as well as forwards. When he himself composes a canon he takes pride in having
illustrated a literary programme. He remembers canons of just such sort which he had
inserted both in a mass composed while he was lecturing at Salamanca and in a
magnificat (in one verse of which he had constructed a three-in-one "programmatic"
canon).
ALTHOUGH Musica practica does not contain such a programmatic canon, Albert Seay
has recently found one bearing the legend, Mundus et musica et totus concentus Bartholo-
meus Rami, and has published it in his article, "Florence: The City of Hothby and
Ramos" (Journal of the American Musicological Society, IX, 3 [Fall, 1956], p. 195). In
this case he wrote a perpetual canon to illustrate the idea: "Singers all share the vice of
never acceding to the request of friends when they are asked to sing and of never
stopping when they have not been asked" (Omnibus hoc vitium est cantoribus inter amicos
ut nunquam inducant animum cantare rogati iniussi nunquam desistant). To enforce the
"perpetual" idea, Ramos's copyist even makes a circle of the staff and pictures the four
winds blowing at the successive entering-notes in the canon a 4. 40
With characteristic lack of modesty he praises not only his Salamanca mass but admires
his own Bologna motet, Tu lumen, because it can be sung with the tenor moving
chromatically and enharmonically as well as diatonicaUy. Ramos's predilection for such
highly intellectualized feats was too much for Hothby, who reminded him that the time
39 For a translation of Ramos's remarks on the lydian and hypolydian modes see Edward E.Lowinsky,
"The Goddess Fortuna in Music," Musical Quarterly, XXIX, i (January, 1943)* P- 7 2 -
40 See plate 61 in Sandra Vagaggini, La miniature florentine aux xiv* et xv e sticles (Milan-Florence: Electa
Editrice, 1952). Gherardo (1445-1497) and Monte (14481528) di Giovanni del Fora did the miniatures.
Foundations of Spanish Musical Theory
Mundus et musica et totus concentus
Circular Canon a 4
Florence: Bibl. Naz. Cent.
Banco Ran 229, fol. inv.*
BARTOLOME RAMOS DE PAREJA
* inside the circular staff on which this clefless canon is copied appears the following legend :
Siue lidi/um in sinemeon / siue ypolidiu diagejugmenon p quatuor / quarto, 9 duca* renouddo / dulcem harmoniam /
intra diapason seizes melodid bene / modulddo
when composers deliberately confused performers had long passed. Gaffurio returned
to Ramos's Tu lumen motet as late as 1520, criticizing its unsoundness. 41
A MEASURED APPRAISAL of Ramos is difficult to come by. His fame rests on the novelties
in Musica practica. Yet, as can be more abundantly demonstrated than we have at
tempted, some of his views were so traditional as to seem old-fashioned to his con
temporaries. He vituperated his enemies while at the same time extravagantly lauding
his friends, especially if Spaniards. He condemned Guido as unlearned ("a better monk
than musician") 42 and scoffed at the ignorance of Guidonians in one paragraph but in
the next made an embarrassing number of grammatical blunders in his own use of the
41 Gaffurio, Apologia, fol. viii verso: dum Bononiae (illiteratus tamen) publice legeret adnotauit tenons hoc
ordine . . . (while he was publicly lecturing at Bologna, though he was himself an ignoramus, he notated
the tenor of his riddle-canon in the following way . . . [fol. ix verso] but incorrectly, for he was never able to
grasp the true meaning of the chromatic and enharmonic genera). The following additional quotations from
the Apologia clarify Gaffurio's objections: "Truly the diligence of antiquity overlooked nothing; yet you
[Spataro] seem ready to imitate the petulance and ingratitude of that teacher of yours, Ramos, who is just
as bad as you ... If Ramos, as you claim, borrowed the 5 : 4 and 6 : 5 consonances from Ptolemy, then he
was a thief since he did not acknowledge his debt Ramos railed against even Boethius; but that Boethius
was a skilled practitioner as well as theorist was acknowledged by Cassiodorus." For Cassiodorus's testimony
on Boethius's ability as a practical musician see his Epistola 40, in Migne, PL, LXIX, 570.
42 Wolf ed., p. ii ; also pp. 39-40.
Foundations of Spanish Musical Theory 63
Latin tongue. The paradoxes revealed in his own disposition explain why equally
intelligent theorists such as Aron and Gaff urio have extolled and denounced him.
What can be said of him when both the pros and cons are balanced, however, is that
he showed courage bordering on foolhardiness; that his mind was always agile; that he
relished controversy; that he never failed to make his own dicta as incisive as possible;
that he never soft-pedaled criticism of his foes, however well intrenched ; that he indulged
in name-calling; and that his attacks on Guido dead four hundred years, often as not
preluded bombardment of his immediate contemporaries. If he showed little of the
conventional piety found in other Spanish treatises of the fifteenth and sixteenth
centuries, it is on the other hand probable that only in such a rebellious spirit as his
would there have fermented the novel theories that made him famous. Had he been
more docile, he would not have been denounced by Gaffurio as an overweening and
vulgar upstart. But he also would not have been praised by Aron as "most worthy of
the respect of every learned scholar" nor would Fogliano and Zarlino have made his
divisions of the scale their own.
Perhaps no one has ever yet better defended him than his compatriot Antonio
Eximeno. At one time a professor of mathematics, Eximeno was himself adept enough
to understand not only the problems that Ramos undertook to solve but also the argu
ments of his opponents. He wrote thus: "Before Zarlino the Spaniard Bartolome Ramos
had already foreseen the necessity of sacrificing the perfection of certain fifths and
fourths in instruments of fixed tuning. This alteration of fifths and fourths was to be
the first step in the direction of modern temperament Although for his pains he
was attacked by both Burzio and Gaffurio . . . still in time the opinions of this Spaniard
- this 'author of paradoxes/ this 'prevaricator of the truth' - were to prevail over those
of his most embittered foes/' 43
Domingo Marcos Duran (fl. 1492)
DURAN, author of a 28-page Castilian plainsong instructor published at Seville in the
most famous year of Spanish history (1492), listed his name in the first edition of his
Lux bella as Domingo Duran: but in his next two publications as Domingo Marcos
Duran. In consequence, Otto Kinkeldey when discussing the earliest Spanish imprints
in his useful essay, "Music and Music Printing in Incunabula" (Papers of the Biblio
graphical Society of America, XXVI [1932], 96), suggested that two different Durans
were active during the decade after 1492. This supposition was a logical one; because in
Spanish the second name of three usually has the same significance as the last in English.
But Lux bella, originally printed by Quatro alemanes companeros at Seville in 1492, was
reprinted in 1518 by Jacob Cromberger of Seville - this time with the author's name
given in full: Domingo Marcos Duran. Only one Durdn can therefore have been re-
43 Antonio Eximeno, DubUo . . . sopra il saggio fondamentale pratico di contrappunto (Rome: Michelangelo
Barbiellini, 1775), p. 85. Eximeno was as bold and restless a spirit as Ramos. But he was at the same time
enough of a scholar not to call Ramos the inventor of equal temperament.
64 Foundations of Spanish Musical Theory
sponsible for Lux bella, the Comento sobre Lux bella (Salamanca, 1498) and the Sumula de
canto de drgano (Salamanca, c. 1507).
His biography like Ramos's, must be pieced together from his writings. His father was
Juan Marcos and his mother Isabel Fernandez. Both were natives of Alconetar (Garro-
villas) - which lies thirty miles west of the Portuguese border along the Tagus river. Like
the famous New World conquerors, Cort<s and Pizarro, he was thus an Estremaduran.
Born c. 1465, he may well have received his early musical instruction in the cathedral
choirboys' school at Coria (the diocese includes Alconetar). In any event, he dedicated
his first publication - Lux Mia - to the bishop of Coria, Pedro Ximeno.
Already in 1492 he held the bachelor's degree from Salamanca. When six years later
he published his second treatise, the Comento sobre Lux bella t he was a licenciado - the
intermediate grade between bachelor and doctor. In his preface to the Comento sobre Lux
bella (Salamanca, 1498) he remarks on the many years which he had spent at Salamanca
University studying not only music but the other liberal arts and philosophy. Because
he had found the pathway to knowledge strewn with pitfalls and impeded by crags, he
had published Lux bella and now publishes a commentary in order to fill in low places
and level off precipices for the benefit of novices who may follow. His Comento is dedi
cated to Alfonso III de Fonseca (1475-1534) - distinguished patron of learning, founder
of colleges at both Salamanca and Santiago de Compostela, archbishop of the latter see
from 1506-1524, and during his last ten years Spanish primate. 44
His chef-d'oeuvre, the Simula de canto de drgano, cannot be as exactly dated
as Lux bella and the Comento, the reason being that its colophon contains only
the following statement: 'This work, after being seen and examined, was ordered
printed by the very reverend, noble, and virtuous Alfonso de Castilla, rector
of studies in the very noble city of Salamanca/' Since however Alfonso de
Castilla did not become rector until the academic year, I502-I503, 45 the Sumula
certainly ought not to be classed as an incunabulum - despite its listing as such in the
Catdlogo Musical de la Biblioteca Nacional de Madrid (Barcelona, 1949), II, 119. A still
more obvious clue to its date ought to be its dedication to Alfonso de Fonseca, arch
bishop of Santiago and "mi senor," were it not that two Alfonsos de Fonseca succeeded
each other in the see of Santiago. The 1498 Comento can only have been dedicated to
Alfonso III; for had Alfonso II been intended, Durdn in 1498 would inevitably have
called him archbishop. He did not do so ; therefore he meant Alfonso III. In the case of
the Sumula, the dedicatee was still in all likelihood Alfonso III - who inherited the see
at the close of 1506 but remained three years longer in Salamanca before formally
entering Santiago (November 30, 1509). Even if not an incunabulum the Sumula must
44 Alfonso III de Fonseca was always a munificent patron of music. Like his successor in the primacy,
Juan de Tavera, he maintained his own private chapel, which included some of the best singers in Spain.
See Antonio L6pez Ferreiro, Historia de la santa a. m. iglesia de Santiago de Compostela (Santiago: Imp. y.
enc. del Sem. Conciliax Central), VIII (1906), p. 42. For details concerning his elevation to the Santiago
archiepiscopate see L6pez Ferreiro, VIII, 9-14- He became archbishop at the same time that Alfonso
II de Fonseca became Patriarch of Alexandria, i.e., towards the close of 1506.
45 Enrique Esperabe" Arteaga, Histovia pragmdtica e* interna de la Universidad de Salamanca, II (1917),
p. 7.
Foundations of Spanish Musical Theory 65
be one of the very earliest Spanish imprints containing polyphony, its only certain
predecessor having been Diego del Puerto's Ars cantus plani . . . siue organici (Sala
manca, 1504). All circumstances considered, 1507 seems as likely a date as any for the
Simula.
Duran is next caught sight of in 1518 when he issues a second edition of his Lux bella.
This reprint carries not only a new dedication to Don Bernaldino Manrique de Lara, but
also a notice on the reverse of the title page stating that it has been "corrected and
amended." New paragraph headings and a prohemio increase its practical utility. The
issue of a second edition does not, however, reflect on the sufficiency of the original.
Rather, it proves the popularity of the first. Less than a half-dozen of the very numerous
Spanish Renaissance instructors won the testimony to their popularity of a reprint or an
enlarged edition.
Duran spent his later years as phonascus (choirmaster) at Santiago de Compostela
Cathedral. Alonso Ordonez succeeded him in 1530. He died around the latter year.
Paul Hofhaimer's pupil, Dionisio Memo, sometime organist of St. Mark's, Venice
(1507), and to Henry VIII (1516-1519), was paid 1000 silver reales on June 12, 1528, for
fixing the old large organs at Santiago de Compostela Cathedral and for starting the
construction of new ones. Memo resided in Santiago throughout 1529. Early in the
following year his task was nearly enough completed for Diego de Bejar, organist of
Astorga, to deliver it as his professional opinion (on April 19, 1530) that one of Memo's
new big organs was an excellent instrument. (Further details concerning Memo's
interesting term at Santiago de Compostela can be read in Antonio Lopez Ferreiro's
Historia de la santa a. m. iglesia de Santiago de Compostela, VIII [1906], p. 200. After
lavish gifts from Henry VIII, Memo - a Crutched Friar - had been accused of betraying
the royal confidence, and to save his life had fled to Portugal.)
Summaries of Durdn's Publications
I. Lux bella (1492 edition) contains nine pages of highly compressed text followed by
a page on which appears an ingenious circular diagram of the hexachord system. In all
three extant copies of Lux bella a 14-page tonarium showing the melodic formulas
appropriate to each of the eight church modes appears immediately after the text of
Lux bella. The music in the tonarium, like the music examples shown in the preceding
textual portion, was obviously not printed from movable type; all the examples would
appear to have been printed from metal or wooden blocks.
Durdn though offering only a beginner's manual lists his eighteen authorities with
scrupulous care. Moreover he always prints the appropriate name in the margin to
show the source of each dictum. Guido, and especially the Micrologus, serves as his most
frequent source. Among his other authorities Boethius, Franco of Cologne, Philippe de
Vitry, Jean de Muris, Maxchettus of Padua, and Franchino Gaffurio are of course easily
enough identified. Arnaldus - his most frequently-cited authority after Guido - may
have been the Arnaldus de Monte of Ripoll whose copy of the Calixtine Codex is dated
1173. He is less likely to have been the Arnaldus Villanovanus (d. 1312) credited with
66 Foundations of Spanish Musical Theory
having been Ramon Lull's teacher. 4 * "Durandus of Paris" cannot easily have been the
liturgiologist, Guillaume Durand (d. 1296), who was dean of Chartres. But Magister
Vincentius may quite well have been Vincent of Beauvais (d. 1264), whose Speculum
doctrinale (XVII, 10-35) enjoyed considerable vogue as late as 1500. Guillermus, cited
once in connection with the ambitus, finals, and dominants of the modes, may have been
Guillelmus Monachus (fl. 1460) (CS, III, 273-307) - <> r even GuiUermo Despuig (though
the latter 's Ars musicorum was not printed until 1495).
Of the two other theorists cited in Lux Mia, Goscaldus and Michael de Castellanis, only
the latter has been identified. Castellanis (fl. 1490) wrote a Tractatus de musica that
survived in MS (at the Capuchin convento in Gerona) as late as 1821 : in which year the
Valencian litterateur, Jaime Villanueva (1769-1824), saw it. 47 Castellanis, a Benedictine
educated at a house in the Toulouse province, completed part I of his now lost Tracta
tes at a hermitage atop a peak in the Montseny range on December 29, 1496. In part I he
treated of vocal music, in part II of instrumental. For a codetta he added his trans
lation into Latin of a tratadito by Fernando Castillo, a Castilian cutler then dwelling in
nearby Barcelona. Though a monk, Castellanis did not scruple at inserting remarks on
notes of smaller than minim-value by Rabbi Samuel Judah of Morocco. It is he also who
paid Moorish musical genius generous tribute in the preface to the Sequitur ars de
pulsacione lambuti (see above, p. 24, n. 85).
The text of Lux bella, which runs 36 lines to a page, is printed in Gothic with frequent
abbreviations. The style is cryptic and difficult to follow unless the reader has studied
other analogous Spanish treatises. The manual provides more of a list of "things to
remember" than an explanation of items in the list. But on the other hand for what
was probably a small sum Duran was able to offer a booklet which contained an astound-
ingly full list of subject-headings. If it is true that in such tightly compressed space he
restricted himself to no more than sentence-definitions, music students purchasing
Lux bella at least possessed a skeleton of musical knowledge. Those who wanted meat
on the bones could after 1498 buy the 76-page Comento sobre Lux bella.
Adequately to appreciate Lux bella, one should compare it with similar plainsong
instructors issued in Italy and Germany before 1500. Otherwise, its idiomatic traits can
be easily missed. Two manuals of equivalent size, one, Michael Keinspeck's Lilium
musice plane in the Ulm edition (Johann Schaeffler, 1497), and the other, Bonaventura
de Brim's Regula musice plane in the Brescia edition (Angelus Britannicus, 1497)*
suggest themselves for comparison. As in Lux bella the plainsong examples in each of
these foreign manuals are xylographically printed. The elements of music in all three
manuals are presented in as succinct and abbreviated a style as possible. The Keinspeck
46 Angles, El Cddex Musical de Las Huelgas, I, 22-23, alludes to a music treatise by Araaldus Vfflano-
vanus, which, he however had not seen. Villanovanus's works were condemned at Tarragona on November 6,
1316. See Roque Chabas, "Arnaldo de Vilanova," Homenaje a Mentndez y Pelayo, II (Madrid: Lib. de V.
Suarez, 1899), p. 368. Angles on the other hand also mentions Arnaldus de Monte (Hu, I, 60-62). Since
Duran identifies his Arnaldus as "de Alpes" in his 1498 Comento sobre Lux bella it seems all the likelier that
his theorist was "de Monte" rather than the Villanovanus whose works had been publicly condemned.
Viage literario a las iglesias de Espafta, XIV: Viage d Gerona (Madrid: Imp. de la Real Academia de
la Historia, 1850), pp. 175, 178.
Foundations of Spanish Musical Theory 67
is in Latin. So for that matter is the only previously published plainsong manual of
German authorship, the Flores musice (1488) by Hugo von Reutlingen. The Bonaven-
tura is in the vernacular. But Keinspeck does not therefore write a more learned manual.
Actually, Duran covers more ground than either Keinspeck or Bonaventura. He also
shows his university background even when treating the most elementary topics.
Neither foreign manual cites authorities. The number of pages of music examples in
each is distinctly less. Somewhat more than 15 pages, or better than half of Lux bella is
taken up with music. But less than a quarter of the Keinspeck or Bonaventura is given
over to music examples. The foreign manuals use four lines; the Spanish five. Keinspeck
specifies flats, but no other accidentals; Bonaventura flats and naturals. Durdn calls for
flats, naturals, and sharps.
The three most striking differences are these: (i) neither foreign manual recognizes
the existence of conjunctae [conjuntas]; (2) neither foreign manual supplies a large
repertory of intonations in each mode to cover the various classes of church festivals;
(3) neither foreign manual tells the singer how to read chant written on a one-line staff.
(1) Neither of the foreign plainsong instructors mentions any system of 13 ancillary
hexachords nor attempts to rationalize the use of subintellectas. Duran on the other hand
constructs a circular diagram with all 13 conjunct hexachords clearly numbered, from
Fi-retropolex (hexachord starting on F below bass staff) to &}>-retromedius (top space in
the treble staff). He states, however, that ten of the thirteen suffice for the ordinarily
required sharps and flats in plainsong. Odd-numbered conjuntas (Fi-retropolex, Bib,
Eb, Bb, eb) provide the needed Eb's and Ab's; even-numbered conjuntas (Ai, D, A, d, a)
supply F#'s and C# 's. Durdn's four rules telling when to shift into conjuntas repeat much
information already found in Estevan's 1410 Reglas, although in more concise form. He
ends with this singularly interesting statement: in order to allow for accidentalizing,
one ought to play [tocar] 48 without transposing - the obvious reason being that an
already accidentalized plainchant, if it were to be transposed, might easily call for more
sharps or flats than those available on contemporary Spanish keyboard instruments:
Bib, Bb, bb; Of, cfc cty; Eb, eb, e*b; F*, ft, P*; G* f g#, g 1 *. The foreign plainsong
instructors of the period, failing to mention the higher accidentals, also omit any
allusions to the instrumental accompaniment of plainsong.
(2) As for the repertory of psalm intonations, Keinspeck of Nuremberg gives five in
Mode I, one in Mode II, three in Mode III, three in Mode IV, two in Mode V, two in
Mode VI, four in Mode VII, and four in Mode VIII; or a total of 24 for ferial use. He
adds one in each mode for festal use. Bonaventura provides one in each mode for ferial
use, and another in each for festal' use. In contrast with this parsimony, Duran begins
with eleven variants of the Mode I intonation formula alone, and correspondingly
raises the number of formulas in the other modes. He also provides "regular" and
"irregular" Gloria Patri formulas for use with responsorios and responsetes, and for use
48 Lux bella,, foL 6: "Iten para que se faga coniunta: ha de tocar por la mayor parte en el signo do se
sefiala."
68 Foundations of Spanish Musical Theory
during the various hours. This prodigality can perhaps best be explained by referring
again to the Sevillian anonymous of 1480 who first mentioned the custom of singing
hours even in small parish churches as a peculiarly Spanish habit.
(3) Spanish parish churches c. 1492 still made use, moreover, of choirbooks in which
the plainchant was noted on only the one-line staff. Duran implicitly acknowledges
widespread use of such choirbooks when setting down rules at f ol. 3 for reading neums
written on the one-line staff - rules which he later expands in his 1498 commentary on
Lux bella.
Some other Spanish idiosyncrasies spring to view when Durdn is compared with his
foreign coetaneans. According to him, b[? and bfc] (also bty and b 1 ^) are different notes.
They bring the number used in plainsong to 22, not 20 as Keinspeck (fol. A iii v.) and
Bonaventura (fol. a ii v.) count them. Then again, he thinks that Modes I, II, IV, and
VI should be notated in F-clef (fol. 3) : but Modes III, V, VII, and VIII in C-clef .
Bonaventura, however, chooses F- instead of C-clef for Mode V. Keinspeck indulges in
double-clefs. He throughout prints both F- and C-clefs simultaneously - except at times
when one or the other would fall on a ledger-line.
II. In the Comento sobre Lux bella (Salamanca, 1498) Duran, after praising his dedicatee
and listing his own credentials, cites these reasons for the "worthiness" of music:
(i) it is the only art that accompanies us to heaven; (2) all except men of meaner
passions acknowledge its appeal; (3) the greatest philosophers of the past appreciated it ;
(4) music has powers to heal the sick, exorcise evil spirits, and even to soothe savage
beasts. Throughout this commentary we constantly see the schematic mind at work
organizing all musical knowledge under numbered headings.
He for instance lists 30 reasons why there are seven letters in the musical alphabet. To
prove the virtue of the number seven he cites the existence of seven (i) planets (2)
habitable climes (3) baptismal gifts (4) mortal sins (5) works of charity (6) joys of the
Virgin (7) sorrows of the Virgin (8) sacraments (9) articles of faith (10) Athenian
philosophers (n) celestial spheres (12) bodily members anointed at extreme unction (13)
orders culminating in the priesthood (14) petitions in the Lord's Prayer (15) days of the
week - and we have exhausted only half his list (fol. a iiij v.) .
The lowest note used in plainsong is the gamma ut (T) : to commemorate the Greeks,
Gregory, and Guido. The notes in plainsong are divided into graves, agudas, and sobre
agudas (low, middle, and high) : to commemorate the "threeness" in the Godhead. The
solmization syllables commemorate the virtues of the number six. The vowels in the
hexachord, ut, le, mi, ia, sol, la, are different except for fa and la, the "a" being twice
used in order to commemorate the virtues of the first letter in the alphabet, the name of
Adam, and the first vowel in Maria, P0ter, .4ve, and -41pha. The entire system of
hexachords, including deduciones and conjuntas can be reduced into the diagram of a
circle because Omega represents perfection and completion, and because the hexachord
system when carried through the entire hand doubles back on itself, like a circle.
These examples of his "reasoning" do not necessarily belittle the quality of his mind.
Foundations of Spanish Musical Theory 69
Rather they show how ardently he believed that everything, even the most inconse
quential musical fact, could and should be rationalized. Now and then his rationali
zations become sufficiently ingenious to serve as mnemonic aids.
The Comento for the most part deals with "practical" music. Some 21 exercises in
mutangas (shifting between the hexachords on G, C, and F) appear at fols. 8 and 9.
Though not always graceful as melody, these exercises do show how carefully students
were drilled in singing Bb's and Blq's in close succession. He believed in frequently
attacking a difficult musical problem and if necessary from a changed field position. He
struggled to define terms such as tones, modes, tropes, constituciones, and ptongos (fol.
10) ; and from fols. iyr. to 2or. grappled with the problems inherent in reading chant
written on only the one-line staff. His Comento, prolix as the Lux is concise, shows the
zeal of an infinitely conscientious pedagogue - one, moreover, who must footnote every
assertion. 49
As for notation on the five-line staff, he repeats his dictum from Lux bella that the
square note in plainsong with tails on both sides enjoys double the length of the ordinary
punctum, and adds that the two notes in a descending oblique ligature, if without left-
hand tail, should be sung in what would now be called dotted rhythm : f p
with the second note in the pair enjoying only a third of the time-value allotted the first.
Such rules as these show how strongly mensural theory influenced the singing of plain-
song in Renaissance Spain.
III. His Sumula de canto de drgano (c. 1507) ranks not only as the earliest Spanish-
language treatise entirely devoted to polyphony, but also as the finest treatment
published before Juan Bermudo's epochal Declaration de instruments (1555). In his
prologue he remarks that he has spent the twenty-five best years of his life in the arduous
pursuit of musical knowledge (fol. 5r. [pencil numbering, Biblioteca Nacional copy, sign.
I 2185]). His treatise justifies the labor of a quarter-century.
In previewing its contents (fol. 5r.) he promises that his Stimula will contain a dis
cussion of polyphonic writing in all its various branches. He will give a set of rules for
writing counterpoint or for improvising it at sight - organized according to the different
species del contrapunto.
[These rules] apply to playing as much as singing. For playing is the equivalent of singing. In
each case the written or improvised notes are the same, and there is no difference except that at
one time the music is sung and at another time played on an instrument (fol. 5r.).
At fol. 6v. he says that the alfado (oblique ligature) 50 with a left-hand descending
tail equals a breve followed by a breve. He adds that any ascending two-note ligature
49 His authorities in addition to those cited in Lux bella include Albertus de Rosa, Avicenna, Catholicon
de Musica (by Hugo of Pisa, bishop of Rouen [1249], d. 1268: see Roger Bragard, "Le Speculum Musicae,"
Musica Discipline VIII[i954], P- 3)> Egidio de Murino, Flares musice (by Hugo von Reutlingen[i286-i36o]),
Guillaume de Machaut, John "of London," Pedro de Osma (theological professor at Salamanca, 1463-1478,
d. 1480), Peter of Venice, and Bartolome* [Ramos] de Pareja.
so Guillermo Despuig called this ligature an alpha; see H. Angles, "La notaci6n musical espanola,"
Anuario Musical, II (1947), pp. 167-168.
jo Foundations of Spanish Musical Theory
with or without a left-hand descending tail equals the same. These rules duplicate those
Thomas Morley was to give in A Plaine and Easie Introduction to Practicall Musicke
(1597). 51 They conflict with Tinctoris's. The ascending alfado without tail should be
rendered as a long foUowed by a breve, according to the latter's Tractatus de notis et
pausis, Lib I, cap. x, regula iv (CS, IV, 43b). Durdn, on this disputed point, as on
others, always prefers in his Sumula to side with Gaffurio (Practica musice [Milan, 1496],
Lib. II, cap. v). 52
Just as his conscientious explanation of the notes in and out of ligatures deserves
praise, so also does he prove especially valuable when discussing ligatures with dots,
dots of augmentation, and dots of alteration; setting forth as he does the basic principles
and then illustrating them with no less than 32 examples (fols. iov.-nv.). 53
Sometimes his tarrying over a matter such as compds llano and compds partido not
only enables him to differentiate the lengths of bars but also to offer valuable infor
mation on so practical a point as the correct method of beating what would now pass for
\ (compds llano = four minims in the bar) and \ (compds partido = two minims in the
bar). As for compds llano, the singer begins on i when the conductor's hand touches
bottom, on 2 when the hand starts to rise, on 3 when it reaches top, on 4 when it begins
to fall (fols. nv.~i2r.). Compds llano, because more difficult, finds less favor with
singers than compds partido. In the latter the conductor's hand-motion, touching bottom
on i and top on 2, is easier for most singers to follow.
Similarly in his chapters on counterpoint (III-VII) the asides are often as useful and
revealing as the main argument. The rules for written counterpoint combine Ramos's
and Gaffurio's (see p. 60), and are therefore familiar enough. But his last aside in
Chapter IV has an individual ring: "When two, three, or four voices improvise counter
point [above a canto llano}, the conterpointing singers ought carefully to avoid clashes
of a second, seventh, ninth, eleventh, and so forth, 54 except when moving in passing
notes on weak beats (en diminution), or when creating a suspension (sincopa) or pre
paring cadences (ddusulas)" In Chapter V he tells the proper degrees on which to
cadence: final or confinalis in authentic modes, final or the fourth below in plagal. In
the next two chapters he proceeds with rules for improvising either above or below a
canto llano, and at the close of Chapter X sets out a table for the use of the beginning
singer who wishes to add counterpoints at sight. According to him, the singer ought
always to remain within the confines of a single hexachord while so improvising. There
fore his table groups the possible notes under three headings: notes possible when
singing in hard, in natural, and in soft hexachords. The singer presumably picks
the hexachord which best suits his voice-range. The table on fol. i8r. then acts
as a mechanical note-finder, and can be memorized just as a modern multiplication-
table.
51 Morley, ed. by R. Alec Harman (London: J. M. Dent, 1952), pp. 20-21 ; see especially n. 2 on p. 21.
52 Fol. aa iiij verso.
58 For a facsimile reproduction of cap. xix, see Jose* Subird, Historia de la m&sica espafiola e hispano-
americana, p. 169. The date, 1498, given by Subira, cannot however be accepted.
54 The interval of a fourth is not mentioned in this list of prohibited intervals, although the eleventh is
interdicted.
Foundations of Spanish Musical Theory 71
But the point which he insists upon (and now deserves underlining) is expressed in his
own words thus:
In this style [improvised counterpoint] the singer must rigorously adhere to his hexachord; for
even if the canto llano were to circle the entire hand [Guidonian hand = two octaves plus a
major sixth], the counterpoint should never on any account go outside the six notes of its
chosen hexachord [fol. ITT.].
He of course adds that when one plainsong ends and another begins the contrapuntist is
free to change hexachords.
Beginning at fol. 2ov. he assumes the r61e of vocal coach, setting down six pages of
vocalises in contrasting rhythms and on various vowels. Infinite practice is his watch
word to success. His exercises proceed from scales through only the six notes of a hexa
chord to the fifteen notes in a double octave. He expects all men-singers [fol. 22r.] to
vocalize from low GI up to at least g (two octaves). On the other hand, they do not
vocalize below GI. He also emphasizes the necessity of practicing distinctive rhythms,
and at fol. 22v. sets down examples using such galloping patterns as these (sung to a
six-note scale) iff f f f P T CT f tf T / PCf I"P H
To sing a discante, according to him, means singing a rhythmic (or rhythmic and
melodic) variant of a plainsong. For an example he contents himself with a natural
hexachord sung up and down in minims, ending on D. His discantes immediately follow.
Each plainsong minim suffers fracture into either two crotchets, or a dotted crotchet and
quaver, or a crotchet and two quavers. Thus, a discante of a minim, C, means something
such as a crotchet C followed by two quavers at the same pitch. Though the pitch in a
discante may on occasion rise a step above or descend a step below the plainsong
original, still a discante as illustrated in his examples never flowers into a counterpoint
above a given cantus firmus. At best, he allows it to become no more than embroidery
stitched over the plainsong original. As vocal embroidery it belongs with the other vocal
exercises in the Stimula, and not in the sections on contrapunto y composicidn.
At fol. 25r. he passes to a discussion of proportions. The proper mensuration sign for
three minims in a bar [compos] would be GS; for three semibreves in a bar (J; and for
three breves in a bar |, according to the Sumula. 3
AS AN EXAMPLE of their simultaneous use in a three-part composition, he gives the
following excerpt, the tiple (superius) being directed to sing three semibreves in the bar,
the tenor three minims, and the contra three breves. Since no source is listed for the
excerpt, Duran himself must be accepted as the composer. The modality and even
disposition of note-values resemble Urrede's Nunca fue pena mayor, to whose generation
he obviously belonged, even if there is no evidence that the two ever became personal
friends.
72 Foundations of Spanish Musical Theory
Cum Sancto Spiritu
Sumula de canto de organo, fol. 25.
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73
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Guillermo Despuig (fl. 1495)
GUILLERMO DESPUIG (= Guillermus de Podio), though at present somewhat neglected,
exerted far more influence on his immediate Spanish followers than did his notorious
contemporary, Ramos de Pare] a. Aside from Duran, no Spanish theorist before Salinas
(De musica libri septem, 1577) even so much as mentions Ramos. But the list of those
who extol Despuig reaches great lengths. Beginning with Francisco Tovar (Libro de
musica prdtica, Barcelona, 1510), and continuing with Gonzalo Martinez de Bizcargui
(Arte de canto llano e contrapunto e canto de organo, Saragossa, 1508), Juan Bermudo
(Declaracidn de instruments, Osuna, 1549 an d I 555)> Luys de Villafranca, Breuein-
strucidn de canto Uano, Seville, 1565), Martin de Tapia Numantino (Vergel de musica,
Burgo de Osma, 1570) 55 - not to proceed still further with such distinctly baroque
theorists as Andres de Monserrate (Arte breve, y compendiosa, Valencia, 1614) and
Antonio de la Cruz Brocarte (Medula de la musica theorica, Salamanca, I707), 56 Desptdg
wins nods of approval from a continuing succession of peninsular authorities. Martinez
de Bizcargui in 1528 summarizes their attitude : "He was a scholar expert in every field,
but especially in music." 57
Despuig differs from Ramos in several crucial respects. Insofar as biography is con
cerned, Ramos's is better known because Despuig - not so vainglorious - tells very little
about himself in either his Ars musicorum printed at Valencia, 58 or his In Enchiridion
de principiis musice discipline preserved in manuscript at the Bologna Liceo Musicale
(Cod. 159, fols. 134-190). However, the Ars musicorum clearly enough reveals him to
have been no mere underling but a personal friend of the dedicatee, Alfonso of Aragon
(c. 1440-1514), bishop of Tortosa from 1475-1513 and archbishop of Tarragona during
55 See Angtes-Subird, Catdlogo Musical de la BiUioteca National, II (Barcelona: Institute EspafLol de
Musicologia, 1949), pp. 220, 219, 164, 233.
56 Ibid., II, 128, 243.
57 "... tan experto hombre en todo y especial en la musica " Crist6bal de Villal6n (Ingeniosa com-
paracidn entre lo antiguo y lo presente [Valladolid: N. Tyerri, 1539; repr. Madrid: Sociedad de bibli6filos
espafloles, 1898], p. 178) was another who extravagantly praised Guillermo.
58 Jaime de Villa, a "molt pia" local Maecenas of Valencia, paid the expenses of printing; he paid also
for the printing of the 1493 Istoria de la Passid by Bernat Fenollar and the 1494 Hores de la Setmana Sano-
ta - both in the Valencian tongue, but neither relating to music.
74 Foundations of Spanish Musical Theory
the last year of his life. This bishop was a native of Valencia, and like ^ most other
bishops of his epoch was of noble birth, his father having been Duque de Villahermosa.
His musical tastes were therefore formed in an aristocratic environment. Despuig in his
last paragraph (foL LXV verso) seems to expect that the bishop will not only have
accepted the dedication but have read all eight books of his magnum opus. That
Despuig was a mature scholar when he wrote his Ars musicorum is apparent throughout
the work. That he studied in Italy cannot be proved but is strongly to be supposed, not
only on account of the preservation of his In Enchiridion in manuscript at Bologna, but
also because it seems to have been intended for use among students in the Spanish
college at Bologna. Juan de Vera, to whom In Enchiridion was dedicated, was one of the
more erudite Spanish clergy of the epoch, rising from a mere precentor's dignity in the
cathedral at Valencia to the episcopate - and eventually cardinalate, after Rodrigo
Borja (his fellow-townsman) became Pope Alexander VI.
From external sources a few further biographical hints can be gleaned. A second
copy 59 of his 1495 Ars musicorum preserved in the Madrid Biblioteca Nacional but
overlooked in the 1949 Catdlogo musical begins with a marginal notation (probably
antedating 1600) which states that de Podio (= Despuig) was descended from a dis
tinguished Tortosa family. Tortosa, on the eastern coast of Spain between Barcelona
and Valencia, seems then the likeliest place of his birth. As for ecclesiastical preferment,
Jaime Moll Roqueta discovered a notice in the Liber Collationum, LXXII (fols. 115-
u6v.) of the Barcelona obispado showing that a Guillermo Molins de Podio, priest and
prebendary of Barcelona Cathedral, was on 20 June 1474 beneficed in the royal chapel
of John II of Aragon. 60 This assignment probably lasted five years. The discovery
of one further proof of ecclesiastical preferment was made by Jos Ruiz de Lihory and
published in his La musica en Valencia (1903). 61 His evidence, found at the Valencian
Archivo del Reino, showed that a Guillermo Puig held a benefice in the parish church
of Santa Catalina at Alcira sometime between 1473 and 1483. Curial records made him
the son of Pedro Puig who was in 1477 a notary public at Valencia; and showed that
because he was only in minor orders, he had been temporarily forced out of his benefice
in 1479 by a competitor.
THE Ars musicorum, printed in Gothic, two columns to the page, and reaching 68 leaves,
chooses a more learned audience than any other treatise published in Renaissance
Spain, excepting that of Salinas. Proof is found in the fact that the 1495 Ars musicorum
and the 1577 6 musica libri septem were the only two published in Latin, while all
others are in Spanish. Despuig was not a little proud of his own ability to write correct
59 The two copies at the Biblioteca Nacional are listed under call numbers I 1947 an d I I 5 l8 - Tllis latter
copy bears on its first leaf the following notation: Guillermo Despuyg, familia antigua, y noble de tortosa.
No copy bore 1 1564/1 as its call number in 1954.
60 Angle's, "La notacidn musical espaflola de la segunda mitad del siglo XV," Anuario Musical, II (i947)
p. 158, n. 3. On the flourishing state of music at John's court see MME, I, 37.
61 La m&sica en Valencia: Diccionario Biogrdfico y Critico (Valencia: Est. tip. Domenech, 1903), p. 37 8 -
The anonymous author of the article on Despuig in the Diccionario de la musica Labor (Barcelona: Editorial
Labor, 1954 E 1 * 7 I 4b]) discounts this evidence.
Foundations of Spanish Musical Theory 75
and elegant Latin. Indeed after the usual compliments to his patron and formal bow to
the authority of Boethius he next strikes out against "other theorists" who dare write
on music but know so little Latin that they assign diatessaron, diapente, and diapason to
the feminine gender. This error in gender is of course exactly the mistake that Ramos de
Pareja made repeatedly in his Musica practica of I482. 62 Since on every disputed point
Despuig sides with tradition against Ramos, it seems quite probable that he has the
latter in mind when he lashes out against ignorant Latinists: especially if Despuig's
manuscript In Enchiridion conserved at Bologna be taken as evidence that he travelled
in Italy while the fires lit by his compatriot were still raging at full blast.
His Ars musicorum, on account of its learned language and of its length (eight books),
at once impresses the reader as having been an attempt at a definitive and exhaustive
treatise. Book I - comprising eighteen chapters - works systematically through such
topics as the origin of music, its proper definition, the meaning of consonance and
dissonance, the divisions of music (mundana, humana t et instrumental [I, vii]), the
proper classification of musical instruments (strings, keyed woodwind, brass and wind
without keys [I, viii]), typology of vocal music (plainsong, counterpoint, and polyphony
[I, ix]) ; and eventually reaches the topic which because of the space devoted to it
manifestly interests him more than any other in Book I : namely the proper size of such
controversial intervals as the semitone, the whole step, major and minor thirds, and
major and minor sixths (I, xvi-xviii). If one sentence were to be extracted as typical of
his attitude it might be this from I, vi : 63
The size of musical intervals can be judged by two distinct faculties: first, by that of hearing,
which recognizes the distances between high and low sounds; second, by that of reason which
measures such intervals by mathematical and scientific criteria.
Despuig throughout his entire treatise ranges himself beside those who believe that
music can be properly understood only by skilled mathematicians.
Book II begins with the question: shall the diatessaron (perfect fourth) be accounted
a consonance? After arguing the matter through three chapters he decides the case
affirmatively. In so doing, he anticipates Salinas (De musica libri septem, 1577, p. 56) -
although it must be confessed without displaying any of the latter's vast erudition in the
arguments which he advances. Despuig's best reason for accepting the perfect fourth as a
consonance seems to be merely the fact that it completes the octave. Counting intervals
from the tenor, the fourth above obviously does complete the octave when a fifth is used
below. But even so, Cornago, Madrid, and Torre, not to mention any other of Despuig's
contemporaries, conscientiously avoided the interval of a fourth between outer voices
62 Wolf ed., pp. 8, 49-50, loo-ioi.
63 Passage beginning: Musice igitur facultas duos hdbet iudicij paries. Andres de Monserrate in his Arte
breve, y compendiosa (Valencia: Pedro Patrick) Mey, 1614), p. 14, cites with approval another passage of
like tenor (III, 21) beginning Nisi de fonte Geometriae, Arithmeticaeque gustaueris, perfectus Musicus esse
non poteris. Monserrate who always cites the name as Guillermo de Podio (not Despuig) - seems to have
been a fanatical admirer. See other citations in his Arte breve at pp. 26 ("el grande Musico Guillermo de Po
dio"), 40-41, 54, 66-68, 78, 90-91, 95, 97. Monserrate's opinion is all the more interesting because he was
himself so well read in theoretical texts.
76 Foundations of Spanish Musical Theory
and the tenor: as reference to their examples in the Palace Songbook at once discloses.
Salinas in 1577 adduced an example from Josquin des Prez's Missa L'Homme arme Sexti
toni, in the Et resurrexit of which the bare fourth between only two voices is sounded at
the very beginning. 64 Whether Despuig could have found a Spanish example after
sufficient looking is, however, an irrelevant point. He differs from Salinas no more
conspicuously than in his willingness to rely upon reason, and reason alone, in deciding
all moot questions in musical theory. Not here nor at any other place does he feel it
necessary - as did Ramos and Salinas writing in Latin, and Bermudo, Santa Maria,
Tapia, and Montanos writing in Spanish - to buttress theory with examples from
respected composers.
In Book II, chapters iv, v, vi, he defines the diatonic, chromatic, and enharmonic
genera. For once his definitions do not materially conflict with Ramos's (Musica prac-
tica, Pars I, Tract. II, cap. vi). But he accepts none of his rival's tuning innovations,
preferring instead the Pythagorean system endorsed by all Guidonis sequaces (as Ramos
called the conservatives). When therefore in Book III he turns arithmetician, telling in
what proportions to divide the monochord, he merely repeats the ratios prescribed by
all orthodox theorists.
Like Gaffurio, 65 or any other Pythagorean tuner for that matter, he accepts "ten as
the symbol of truth," The significance of the number ten in Pythagorean theory was
widely understood in Despuig's generation. Indeed Raphael in his celebrated painting,
"The School of Athens/' identified Pythagoras perfectly when he showed an elderly
man in the foreground with no more than a tablet in hand on which is inscribed the
perfect number 10 - the fundamental numbers i, 2, 3, 4 being written beneath. So
significant were these fundamental numbers adding up to ten that Pythagoreans were
willing to accept surprisingly complicated ratios for all other intervals if only octaves
(2 :i), fifths (3 : 2) and fourths (4 : 3) were in every case exactly tuned. Ramos, as we have
already seen, willingly sacrificed the fourths, D-G and d-g, and the fifth, G-d, in order
to obtain three major thirds in the 5 ; 4 ratio, three minor thirds in the 6 : 5 ratio, and all
diatonic semitones in the 16:15 ratio - This sacrifice Despuig, Gaffurio, and other
conservatives for that matter, categorically refused to make.
As a result Despuig's major and minor thirds and diatonic semitones must be ex
pressed in the following ratios (f ols. xix verso - xx recto] :
major thirds = 81:64 (C-E, F-A, G-Bt}, Bb-d)
minor thirds = 32:27 (Ai-C, Bi^-D, D-F, E-G, G-Bb)
diatonic semitones = 256:243 (Bitj-C, E-F, A-Bb).
As for the chromatic semitone (Bb-Btj), his ratio of 2187:2048 66 results in a distinctly
larger interval than his 256 : 243 diatonic semitone. The Sevillian anonymous of 1480 and
* Werken van Josquin Des Pr4s t ed. A. Smijers (Leipzig: Fr. Kistner and C. F. W.Siegel, 1931), V, 118,
bar 82 (Salinas, p. 56, lines 5-8).
65 Theorica (1492), Lib. II, cap. viii.
68 On Gaffurio's use of the 2187 : 2048 semitone see Giovanni Spataro, Dilucide et probatissime demon-
stratione (Bologna, 1521), facs. ed., Johannes Wolf [Berlin: Martin Breslauer, 1925], foL a 5 verso.
Foundations of Spanish Musical Theory 77
Ramos in 1482 had, of course, decreed the chromatic semitone to be the smaller. Despuig,
when he recites orthodox Pythagorean tuning doctrine, establishes a precedent to be
followed by all Spanish theorists of the next generation, except Martinez de Bizcargui.
In Book IV he discusses the eight modes, at first abstractly. Only in Book V at
chapter xii does he actually recite the notes which may be used in plainchant, carrying
them up to P-. His decision to reduce the number of graves from the customary eight to
seven (thus equalizing the number of graves, agudas, and sobre agudas] caused the same
Martinez de Bizcargui who dared to disagree on the relative size of the chromatic and
diatonic semitones to censure him for a fault that he can be but rarely accused of -
reckless innovation (Arte de canto llano [Burgos, 1528], ch. 2). 67
Among Despuig's musical examples in Book V there is one plainsong (chapter xviii
[fol. 4iv.]) the crucial fifth note of which he decrees must without fail be sharped (i.e.,
naturalized). The chant in question is a Mass-introit sung on such days as February 5
(St. Agatha), August 15 (Assumption), November i (All Saints), and December 29
(St. Thomas) - Gaudeamus omnes in Domino, diem festum. In all presently-used liturgical
books, the fifth note in this extremely ancient (perhaps third century) introit is on the
other hand flatted (Bb), the first incise reading thus:
Whether the fifth note is to be flatted or naturalized poses a by no means academic
question. It was the first incise of this identical Gaudeamus-mtroit which Cristobal de
Morales was to use in 1538 as a tenor ostinato in his festal motet a 6 composed for the
Nice peace parley between Charles V and Francis I, Jubilate Deo omnis terra f* In turn,
Morales's motet was transcribed for vihuela by Enrfquez de Valderrabano in Silva de
sirenas (1547). Every time the latter could transcribe the tenor ostinato with Bfcj instead
of Bb he did so. When Victoria later parodied Morales's Jubilate Deo in his six-voiced
Missa Gaudeamus (1576) he called, however, for only the Bb. Despuig commemorated
ancient Spanish custom when signalizing the Bfc] - a custom still strongly observed in
1547 by Enriquez de Valderrabano. Victoria turned to the Roman tradition of acciden-
talizing this same chant when he composed his Missa Gaudeamus.
In Book VII, chapters x-xxxiii (with the exception of xviii, xxiv, and xxvii),
Despuig translates into Latin 69 the very material already available in Spanish at the
end of his In Enchiridion, the manuscript treatise now conserved at Bologna. 70 Were it
not fully known from other sources, a comparison of the two versions, Latin and Spanish,
would reveal at once that cantus mensurabilis (Book VII, ch. xxxvi [f . LV verso]} is the
67 "... donde el dicho guillermo no tuvo razon de dimimiir las ocho graues en siete y quitar la costumbre
segun de mucho tiempo aca sea ensenado ..."
68 Actually quintus-pzrt (II primo libra de motetti a sei voce [Venice: Scotto, 1549])-
69 Or viceversa. The Latin may just as well have been composed first.
70 Gaetano Gaspari, Catalogo della BiUioteca del Liceo Musicale di Bologna (Bologna: Lib. Romagnoli
dall'Acqua, 1890), 1, 159.
78 Foundations of Spanish Musical Theory
Latin for canto de drgano The examples in the Spanish manuscript version show a
greater number of notes in ligature, nine to be exact, than those in the printed Ars,
where five notes are the upper limit. The oblique ligature which Duran called alfado is
referred to as an alpha 72 in Despuig's Spanish text. Despuig follows both Tinctoris and
Gaffurio when he declares that the first note in a descending alpha (== alfado) without
left-hand tail properly should be a long and the second a breve; but disagrees with
Gaffurio when he says the two notes in an ascending alpha without left-hand tail should
likewise be rendered as a long followed by a breve. Despuig calls the ascending alpha
old-fashioned and a ligature "all moderns have rightly discarded." 73
He disagrees with Gaffurio not only on time-values in the ascending alpha but also on
a more important issue in mensural theory. Gaffurio taught that a note of ternary
time-value can be "imperfected" (i.e., diminished in time-value) by more than a third of
its original time-value. To be more specific, he claimed that a breve ordinarily equalling
nine minims in prolatio perfecta in tempore perfecto can by a clever flanking arrangement
of minims be robbed of almost half its ordinary time-value and reduced to the equivalent
of a mere five minims. A diagram from his Practica musice (Milan, 1496, fol. bb i verso)
will clarify his doctrine. Ordinarily with a mensuration sign of the dotted circle (prolatio
perfecta in tempore perfecto)
> r r r re r r r r
or in modern terms the breve equals
But at fol. bb iiij he asserts that a breve "imperfected" by minims flanking it in the
following arrangement (still presuming prolatio perfecta in tempore perfecto) :
will lose one-third of its total ordinary time-value to the first pair of minims and a
further ninth to the last minim. 74 In consequence, the modern equivalent of the above
four notes cannot be
ir*
but has to become instead
2
With Gaffurio, Despuig agrees that the second minim of such an initial pair doubles
71 Angles, "La notaci6n . . .", p. 171.
72 Ibid., p. 167.
73 Ibid., p. 168: "... porque meritamente [asendientes] son fuera Ian9adas por los modernos." Ramos
and Despuig both adhered to the LB rule for the alpha without left-hand tail. See Wolf ed., p. 79.
74 Practica musice (1496), fol. bb iiij : "... si duae ipsae minimae praecedentes imperficerent ipsam breuem
quo ad totum: cuius ipsae sint tertia pars per alterationem secundae minimae: tune sequens minima im-
perficiet ipsam quo ad tertiam partem propinquam a parte post: & secunda pars propinqua perfecta est.
Atque ita breuis ipsa integra nouem minimas continens : huiusmodi detractione : quattuor propriae quanti-
tatis minimas relinquit."
Foundations of Spanish Musical Theory 79
in time-value. He also agrees that such a pair "imperfecting" such a breve will rob it of
one-third its ordinary total value. But he vehemently denies Gaffurio the right to
diminish the value of any imperfected note beyond the limit of one-third its recognized
perfect value. Gaffurio subdivided such notes as maximas, longs, and breves into
components. The pars propinqua was the component of next lower value (i.e., pars
propinqua of a breve would be a semibreve). Going down the ladder he spoke of a pars
remota, then remotior, and, lowest of all, remotissimus. With Gaffurio's right to imperfect
the whole or any pars, Despuig does not disagree. What Despuig does violently contest
is Gaffurio's right to imperfect the whole and any of the residual paries.
To make his objection stick, he goes so far as to protest in both Latin and Spanish:
Porque aquella regla que ellos dizen: Omnis figura ternaria, quantum ad totum et quantum
ad partes, potest imperfici, ita copulatiue sumpta, falsa est; disiuncte autem, idest, secundum
totum uel secundum partes, es verdadera (For that rule which they repeat: "Every
ternary note-value can be imperfected both in the whole and in its parts," using the
conjunction and, is false; but using the disjunctive or:" . . . [imperfected] in the whole or
in its parts/' the rule holds true).
Purely academic though such a distinction between the doctrine of Gaffurio and
Despuig may seem, it would yet be worth recalling, because it indicates: (i) that Spanish
singers were accustomed to contending with all the notational intricacies of fifteenth-
century music; (2) that peninsular theorists never blindly followed the lead of foreign
theorists, even when so traditionally minded as Depuig; (3) that Ramos was by no
means the only fifteenth-century Spaniard who grappled with difficult problems.
Despuig in the last book of his Ars musicorum discusses proportions. Here again he
dares match wits with Gaffurio, 76 even when treating of admittedly treacherous topics.
He lucidly explains and illustrates not only the easier proportions (2 : i ; 3 : i ; 4 : i ; 6 : i ;
8 : i ; 16 : i) but also the more complex juxtapositions such as 3 against 2 and 4 against
3. 77 Jose Subira in his ambitious Historia de la musica espanola e hispanoamericana
(Barcelona: Salvat, 1953, p. 170) reproduces in facsimile fol. SQV. from Despuig's Ars.
The first example transcribed below is a modern solution of the rhythmic problem to be
seen on the page reproduced by Subira. The other four excerpts illustrate certain of his
more complex proportions. But Despuig's examples, cleverly constructed though they
always are, show him to have been more than an ingenious puzzle-maker. He somehow
manages to write music and not merely proportions, even when pitting a melody that
must be rendered in | (upper part) against one that must be transcribed in | (lower
part). Both he and Gaffurio compose all their exempla proportionum a 2, with the
proportions in the top voice. Gaffurio is the more catholic in choosing his modes, and
the more adventuresome in changing proportions within an example. To show his
Spanish devotion to plainsong, Despuig insists on paraphrasing a chant even in the
"proportioned" voice of such examples as the first and fourth below (Nunc Sancte nobis
"for ordinary Sundays").
w Angles, "La notaci6n . . .", p. 166.
76 Gaffurio's entire Book IV of the Practica deals with proportions.
w Despuig, Ars, fols. LVIII v. - LXI v. (easier) and LXII r. - LXIII r. (harder).
8o Foundatios of Spanish Musical Theory
Exemplum quadruple proportionis
Ars musicorum (1495), Lib. VIII, cap. vi, fol.
GUILLERMO DESPUIG
* *
Exemplum octuple proportionis
Ars musicorum, fols. 6ov.-6ir.
Foundations of Spanish Musical Theory
81
Exemplum sedecuple proportions
Ars musicorum, fol. 61 v.
Exemplum sesqualtere proportionis
Ars musicorum, fol. 621.
Foundations of Spanish Musical Theory
Exemplum sesqualtere sub proportione dupla institue
Ars musicorum, fol. 62 v.
^^
Foundations of Spanish Musical Theory 83
Cristobal de Escobar (fl. 1498)
NOT BECAUSE its intrinsic value exceeds that of every other early Spanish treatise but
because the unique copy was sold to the Prussian State Library in 1924 - and therefore
attracted the attention of Johannes Wolf - Cristobal de Escobar's eight-page Intro
duction muy breue de canto llano (Salamanca, c. 1496) came out in a modern reprint as
long ago as 1925, a quarter-century before any other Spanish treatise of its time was
reprinted. 78
Wolf in the 1925 reprint of the Introduction disavowed any attempt at analysis. He did
however remark that Escobar hews closely to convention. In Escobar's defense it must
at once be said that he would have defeated his own purpose had he tried to be original.
His aim (plainly stated in his first sentence) was purely didactic; his subject, the gener
ally accepted principles of plainchant. But even though his ambition was quite modest,
his few pages do at least reveal what were the most basic and fundamental elements in
the Spanish plainsong tradition just at the moment when the great century of church
music was opening.
In his tract he identifies himself as a bachiller. Since it was published at Salamanca
he probably was a bachelor of Salamanca University. Like Duran he insists on listing
his authorities by name, even though his plainsong manual can have been intended only
for beginners. Guido, as one might expect, serves as his classic authority. To identify
each of his ten Guidonian citations he offers this marginal comment: Guido prima parte
(each time adding an appropriate chapter-number). Once he adumbrates: Loduuicus
de Barcelona, in introductione latina Guidi prima parte. None of the chapter-numbers
cited after "prima parte" corresponds however with chapters in the Micrologus nor with
divisions in any other Guidonian work printed by Gerbert or Coussemaker. Did he
perhaps use some now-lost edition - or revision - of Guido made by Louis of Barcelona?
and was the latter the same theorist whom Ramos in 1482 cited as Luis Sanchez, an
authority on the emotion-producing qualities of each mode (see above, p. 60) ? Escobar
does not cite carelessly. His references to Boethius tally exactly, for instance, with the
conventional book-and-chapter divisions. Perhaps therefore he quoted his "Guidonian"
source just as accurately - but used a Catalonian recension.
Johannes Goscaldus 79 is the authority whom he cites oftenest after Guido. When
invoking Goscaldus's authority he refers to first, second, and fourth parts of an un
named treatise: giving in each case a chapter-number. These numbers show that there
must have been at least six chapters in each part - but parts of what treatise one cannot
now discover, the very name of Goscaldus being apparently unknown outside Spanish
7 Gedenkboek aangeboden aan Dr. D. F. Scheurleer ('s-Gravenhage: Martinus Nijhoff, 1925)* PP- 3 8 3~39i-
The unique copy of the Introduction passed through the hands of the Madrid antiquarian, Pedro Vindel.
For date and place of imprint see Francisco Vindel, El arte tipogrdfico en Espana durante el siglo XV:
Salamanca, Zamora, Coria y el reino de Galicia (Madrid: Relaciones Culturales, 1946) P- II6 *
79 Goscaldus may be a corruption of Godescalchus (= Gottschalk). Escobar does not record Goscaldus's
first name, but the Sevillian anonymous of 1480 gives it on fol. ir., in the following context: "Boecio, Guido,
Johannes Goscaldi, Philippus de Bitriaco ..." See Angles-Subira, Catdlogo Musical (Barcelona,
I. 167-
84 Foundations of Spanish Musical Theory
fifteenth- and sixteenth-century sources. Peninsular theorists cite him as an authority
of stellar magnitude. As to what he taught, and even in what order, something can be
inferred from Escobar's citations. Thus, one discovers that Goscaldus broached the
favorite Spanish topic of conjuntas (f#, c#, eb, ab) as early as chapter 2 in his "prima
parte." 80 According to him, the reason for sharping and flatting in plainsong is "neces-
sidad de consonancia." 81 But Goscaldus reserved for parte quarta capitulo quinto his
differentiation of the genera: diatonic, chromatic, and enharmonic. As for chromatic
genus Rubinetus said it ought no longer to be defined in Boethius's terms, but rather
taken to mean the intensiones (sharps) and remissiones (flats) which occur in plainsong
without Guidonian sanction. Relying on such authority, Escobar declares that the singer
who ascends through five scale-degrees in f-g-a-bki-c 1 sequence, but starting else
where 82 (for example, c-d-e-/#-g; d-e-f#-gf-a; g-a-b-^fr-d 1 ) makes use of the chro
matic genus. Or if the singer widens a diatonic semitone (for example, e-f [eb-f] ; a-bb
[ab-bb]) he also makes use of the chromatic genus.
Besides Goscaldus, Johannes Wolf calls three other authors cited by Escobar un-
bekannten; Blasius de Ro., Rubinetus, and Johannes Illarius. 83 As for the easily
identified half-dozen, these include in addition to the familiar trio - Boethius, Gregory,
and Guido, the following three: Remigius, Jean de Muris, and Marchettus. Interestingly
enough, half his sources after Pope Gregory I are theorists whose names do not crop
up in writings outside the peninsula. Evidently, numerous treatises circulated in Spain
c. 1500 which no longer survive. Salamanca or Alcald. de Henares university lecture-
rooms provided the milieu in which they found users.
Escobar resembles Durdn when he cites his authorities - even though writing only a
beginner's manual. He also follows in his footsteps when he stresses the importance of
conjunctas (= conjuntas). 84 He even names specific chants in which the first (Dicit
Dominus: Ego cogito [Liber usualis, 1950 edition, p. 1074]), third (Haec dies [L!7,p.783]),
fourth (Beatus servus [LU, p. 1203]), seventh, and eighth conjuntas should appear.
True, the LU versions of Haec dies and Eeaius servus, now omit the Eb and F# which his
third and fourth conjuntas require. But the LU vesions, classified respectively as Modes
II and III, end on "improper" finals. Transposed back so that they end not on the note
A but on the proper finals of D and E, the notes Eb and F# appear just as Escobar
said they would.
Again he resembles Duran (i) in giving a complete set of rules for reading plainchant
written on only the one-line staff 85 and (2) in codifying the rules for intoning at various
classes of festivals. He goes beyond Durdn in recognizing the possibile use of other
accidentals than Eb, Ab, F#, and C#. The conjuntas which would yield these others
8 <> Gedenkboek, p. 388.
81 Ibid. In discussing the ten conjunctas Escobar foreshadows our "circle of keys" concept.
82 Ibid., p. 387.
83 Bermudo cited Rubineto as an authority in his 1549 Declarari&n, fol. I2v. (Introduction). Illarius
the composer Ylario who is represented by two four-part motets (Conceptio tua and admirabile commer-
eium) in Tarazona Cathedral MS 2, fols. 286 v. - 287 and 274 v. - 275.
84 Gedenkboek, p. 389.
85 Ibid., p. 390. Rules in Latin on p. 391.
Foundations of Spanish Musical Theory 85
would have to begin on E and B. Since these are not yet received into plainsong theory,
he prescribes a remedy: 'The lack [of a sufficient number of con juntas] is compensated
for by using the fourth diapente-type [f-g-a-bfcj-c 1 ]/' 86 Beginning on D the fourth
diapente-type does of course yield G# just as beginning on A yields d#.
Alonso Spanon (fl. 1500)
ALONSO SPANON, a bachiller and therefore a university graduate like both Marcos Durdn
and Cristobal de Escobar, published his twelve-page Introducion muy vtil: y breue de
canto llano at Seville, probably in isoo. 87 Half of his booklet comprises text, the other
half plainsong intonations printed on pentagram in a single impression. In chapter x
Spanon tells how to read chants copied on only the one-line staff. In his last two
chapters he briefly expounds the differences between intonations for psalms, canticles,
gospels, epistles, lessons, readings from the prophets, and prayers.
Spanon's instructor, the second published at Seville, is dedicated to Juan Rodriguez
de Fonseca, bishop of Cordova; one infers that Spanon enjoyed some dignity in Cordova
cathedral. The dedicatee - first president of the Council of the Indies - is known by
every student of American history as the archdeacon of Seville who in 1493 helped
Columbus prepare for his second voyage, though he later opposed the discoverer.
Fonseca's name also figures prominently in the lives of CortSs and Magellan. What the
crusading Las Casas did not say of Fonseca but what Spanon's dedication as well as
Martinez de Bizcargui's later dedication (1517) reveals is that Fonseca was an intelligent
and enthusiastic patron of music. Rivafrecha was another musician who profited from
his bounty.
Diego del Puerto (fl. 1504)
THE Ars cantus plani portus musice wcata siue organici of Diego del Puerto, whatever
its imperfections, at least enjoys the distinction of being the first dated Spanish publica
tion which contains printed polyphony. A booklet of twelve unnumbered leaves, it
appeared at Salamanca on August 31, 1504.
In his introduction the author tells the names of his parents, Pedro Derrada and
Catalina Martinez del Puerto, describes himself as a sometime student in St. Bartholo
mew's - the oldest colegio mayor (1401) at Salamanca University, calls himself at present
a college chaplain and singer, qualifies himself as sacerdos and holder of a benefice not
requiring residence in Burgos diocese (St. Mary's at Laredo), and submits his booklet
to his dedicatee - Alfonso de Castilla, rector of studies in the university (1502-1503) -
8 Ibid., p. 389.
87 Pedro Bruns was the printer. The year 1498 is too early since Juan de Fonseca, the dedicatee, did not
become bishop of Cordova until October 12, 1499. See Pius Boniface Gams, Series Episcoporum Ecclesiae
Catholicae (Regensburg: G.v.J. Manz, 1873), p. 28.
86 Foundations of Spanish Musical Theory
with an extravagant expression of gratitude for favors already bestowed. He gives two
reasons for publishing his book: (i) he feels obliged to his "dear university for manifold
benefits" and therefore issues his compendium in testimony of his singular gratitude;
(2) after turning over the writings of numerous ancients and moderns he has prepared a
summary in parallel columns, Latin and Spanish, that he believes can be mastered in
breuissimo tempore.
Laudable as are his intentions, the author attempts more than he can reasonably expect
to accomplish in so restricted a space. Because he burdens himself with parallel Latin
and Spanish text his printer moreover is forced to use almost microscopic type. Some
idea of his widely dispersed interests can be gained from his opening sentence, in which
he promises to treat the following subjects: plainsong, counterpoint, polyphonic
composition in three and four parts, intonations of psalms and responds, method of
finding the date of Easter or any other movable feast in a given year, and even the times
when marriages may properly be celebrated. As if this were insufficient, he adds an
unadvertised page (fol. I2v.) on which he shows a diagram of the vihuela and gives
directions for tuning it. For a codetta to the coda he then tacks on an 8-line original
Spanish poem.
Puerto cites only one modern authority, Gaffurio. He arrives at conjuntas as early
as foL 3. He follows Crist6bal de Escobar in citing examples of plainchants re
quiring Eb's and F#'s. At fol. 4 he tells how to read plainchants written on the one-line
staff. On fol. 4v. he treats another favorite topic : when to sing Bb and when Bti in a
passage linking befabemi with the note F. At fol. 5 he hurriedly recapitulates the rules for
intoning psalms and responds, and gives examples of intonations in each mode. A
charming mishap unseats him just here. He or his printer forgets to include examples
for Mode VII. Two pages later someone blushes, and confesses: "Mode VII [intonation]
was left out by an oversight, but you will see it below" (Septimus tonus pro obliuione
dimissus fuit, sed infra videbis [fol.6]).
The differences between his 1504 intonations and Durdn's 1492 formulas can be
found chiefly in the qualifying accidentals. In Mode IV Puerto adds sharps before the
note B: to remind the singer that it must be naturalized. In two Mode VI Glorias - the
first, "regular de responsorios," the second, "de oficios" - he inserts the flat-sign
before the note B. In his first Mode V Gloria de oficios he twice changes the first three
notes A-B-c, called for by Durdn, to read F-A-c.
These variants are so minute as to be in themselves quite insignificant. But since
they are so small, they demonstrate the basic uniformity of the plainsong tradition
taught by Duran, Puerto - and for that matter by Escobar, Spafion, Molina, and Aguilar.
If one compares their intonation-formulas with those set down in Gaffurio's 1496
Practica musice printed at Milan, really notable differences begin however to show. The
formulas listed by Gaffurio 88 (Book I, chapters 8-15) never once exactly duplicate
Durdn's or Puerto's. Often they are quite distinct. Gaffurio's Mode VII intonation, for
88 Cf. John Hawkins, A General History of the Science and Practice of M-usic (London: Novello, Ewer,
and Company, 1875), I, 132-133.
Foundations of Spanish Musical Theory 87
instance, begins on d 89 instead of G, is much more melismatic at the mediation, and
ends on the note d instead of A. 90 Moreover none of his formulas provides for a flex
in the middle of the half-verse. The Spanish formulas on the other hand always show
a melodic dip at the flex. As a general rule, Gaffurio's are more melismatic both at
mediations and at endings. He himself called attention (fol. b iiij verso) to the
peculiarities that existed in Ambrosian intonations. His Practica musice formulas were
not Ambrosian, he said, but Roman. If so, the Spanish differed as much from the
Roman c. 1500 as did the Ambrosian formulas.
JUST AS Puerto closely follows his peninsular predecessors when treating plainsong, so
his doctrine resembles Dur&n's when he turns to counterpoint and mensurable music.
He scores his four-part polyphonic example for tiple (= soprano), contra altus, tenor, and
contra baxo (= bass). The movements in the bass continuously imply "harmonic"
thinking. Of the 13 skips, for instance, eight are of a fourth or a fifth. The example is
clearly divided into two halves, the first a "chorda!" prelude the second a "fugal"
exposition. The bipartite structure is emphasized not only by a double-bar and a change
of texture, but also by a shift from C to (Jin the middle of the example. 91 Both halves
continue in the same mode (III). Puerto does indulge in one old-fashioned mannerism.
He requires his bass to jump up an octave at cadences, crossing the tenor. He thus avoids
the appearance of consecutive fifths.
Bartolome de Molina (fl. 1506)
A bachiller en santa theologia and a friar minor, Bartolome de Molina published his Arte
de canto llano Lux videntis dicha (Valladolid: Diego de Gumiel, 1506) 92 not so much for
the general welfare but, so he says in his introduction, for the benefit of the clergy in a
particular diocese - that of Lugo in the northwestern corner of Spain. In dedicating his
24-page plainsong instructor to the bishop of Lugo, Pedro de Ribera, he makes a strong
appeal to local pride. He writes:
Since ignorance is the parent of every error, it ought stoutly to be resisted by all the faithful
and especially by the clergy whose duty it is to guide and enlighten those entrusted to their
care. Much more ought this city and diocese to combat ignorance both because of its ancient
glory as a metropolitan see and the regard in which it is held elsewhere throughout the realm.
Knowing your zealous desire that the humblest clergy should be informed and all faults
corrected, and realizing moreover that not knowing how to sing is a grievous fault - God
Himself having commanded that singers should inhabit the church and stand before the altar,
making sweet melody (Ecclesiasticus 47) - ...
* 9 Gaffurio gives an alternate beginning note: c. His Mode VII intonation appears on fol. c iij (Practica,
1496).
90 Gaffurio likewise gives a different ending for Mode I intonation from that given by Duran or Puerto.
91 Ornithoparcus in Musice active micrologus (Leipzig, 1519), explained: "hoc signum (J, huiusC, du-
plum est" (fol. FSV.), an explanation in agreement with Puerto's.
92 Copy in British Museum (k. 8. f. 2.), but not in Madrid.
88 Foundations of Spanish Musical Theory
His gesture was not made in vain, for at the close (fol. I2v.) the bishop added a com
mendation in the following terms : "Venerable father, having received and read what you
have written, we order it printed at our expense and freely given to all needy clergy in
our diocese; a candle is not to be hid but set on a hill, and yours burns brightly." 93
Molina's instructor follows the conventional division already noted in the Duran and
Spaiion instructors - six leaves of text and an equal number of music. His authorities
include not only Augustine, Bernard, and Guido, but also Arnaldus, Goscaldus, Rubi-
netus, Peter of Venice, and John of London [Hothby]. The latter five names are invoked
elsewhere in Spanish treatises - in Durdn's or Escobar's, for instance. Only Hothby's
name has on the other hand been often met with in foreign manuals.
Gonzalo Martfnez de Bizcargui (fl. 1508)
THE Arte de canto llano e contrapunto e canto de organo of Martinez de Bizcargui - first
published at Saragossa in I5o8, 94 reprinted in a corrected edition at Burgos in I5ii, 95 at
Saragossa in 1512 and I5I7, 96 at Burgos in a revised and enlarged edition in 1528 and
I535, 97 and at Saragossa in five successive printings of the enlarged dated 1531, 1538,
1541, I549, 98 and I 55 " - was b y aU odds the most successful plainsong instructor
published in sixteenth-century Spain. In addition to the ten issues listed above, the
Burgos revised edition of 1528 was counterfeited in a replica edition: a copy of which is
now in the Madrid Biblioteca Nacional.
At its 1508 maiden appearance in Saragossa it comprised but a modest quarto
booklet (printed in Gothic) reaching a dozen unnumbered leaves. Already in the Burgos
1511 imprint it comprised 19 leaves and in the anadida y glosada Burgos 1528 imprint
it reaches 36 leaves, thrice its original size. From the moment it first appeared, moreover,
its popularity extended beyond Burgos diocese. In the introduction to his 1528 anadida
y glosada edition the author refers to the popularity of his arte :
Many times I was importuned to write an instructor, and these frequent requests emboldened
93 Ferdinand Columbus, son of the discoverer, bought a copy of Molina's Lux videntis for only 8 maravedis
in Valladolid. He listed 25 November 1506 as its date of imprint: not as the date of purchase. Cf. Anuario
Musical, II, 29. Columbus's own entry can be seen in Catalogue of the Library of Ferdinand Columbus, facs.
ed. (New York, 1905), Item 3321.
94 Subira in his Historia de la musica espanola mentioned a "primera edici6n del afio 1504 o 1505" without
giving any bibliographical references (p. 279). A note in the British Museum copy of the 1508 edition, for
which ^95 was paid (sign. k.S.f. 22), refers to that edition as having been the first. Moreover there is nothing
in the text to support the idea that the 1508 was a reprint or revision. Its colophon reads: "Esta obra fue
emprimida enla muy noble y leal cibdad de Carragoca : por George Coci aleman. a.xxiij . dias del mes de Mayo.
Afto del nascimiento de nuestro saluador Jesu christo de rnill y quinientos y ocho afLos."
95 Copy in Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid (see Angle"s-Subira, Catdlogo, II, 218).
96 For whereabouts of the Saragossa imprints see Juan M. Sanchez, Bibliografia Aragonesa (Madrid: Imp.
Clasica Espafiola, 1913), I, 126, 241, 275, 292, 389, 399.
97 1528 edn. at Madrid (Angls-Subira, Cat., II, 220). Also a copy in the British Museum (k. 8. f. 21).
1535 edn. at Washington, D. C, (Library of Congress).
98 Data concerning 1538, 1541, 1549 editions in Madrid Bibl. Nac. MS 14035.254.
99 1550 edition in British Museum (k. 8. f. 7).
Foundations of Spanish Musical Theory 89
me to write an Introduction to plainsong, counterpoint, and mensurable music which has now
these nine or ten years been read everywhere in Spain.
As if the evidence of the frequent editions and the author's own testimony were not
sufficient to prove its immediate and widespread success, the attacks which the author
had to suffer from Juan de Espinosa of Toledo would clinch the proof. Espinosa's
Retractaciones de los errores et falsedades que escriuio gonfalo martinez de biscargui (Toledo,
1514) listed Bizcargui's "mistakes" one by one; but proved nothing so devastatingly as
the vogue that these "errors" already enjoyed in Toledo archdiocese.
There must obviously have been reasons for such success. One therefore asks (i) who
was Bizcargui? (2) how did his arte differ from its competitors? (3) why did it become so
popular?
HE BOASTS neither of his ancestry nor of his schooling. His dedications, first to Fray
Pascual de Fuenpudia and then to Juan Rodriguez de Fonseca, successive bishops of
Burgos, are couched in terms implying that he was chapelmaster in Burgos cathedral.
Since he flaunts no bachelor's degree, he cannot be presumed to have attended Sala
manca or Alcala de Henares universities. Nevertheless he had read widely, as his ci
tations from Aristoxenus, Ptolemy, Macrobius, Boethius, Isidore, and Guido show. He
does not, however, cite the recurring group of theorists invoked by Durn, Escobar, and
Molina. His late medieval authority is Jean de Muris. His modern one is Guillermo Des-
puig, whom he cites with such constancy as to suggest that he had studied with Despuig.
His attitude towards the Tortosan, though not as reverential as Spataro's towards
Ramos, is nevertheless extremely appreciative. He moreover seems to have known
certain writings of Despuig in addition to those still extant. After seven references to
Guillermo in the 1511 edition he adds Liber and caput numbers, not mentioning a title.
Only two of these book-and-chapter references, however, correspond with the printed
version of the Ars musicorum. Some other work by Despuig (he mentions a comento of
Guillermo in his 1528 enlarged edition) may therefore have served him as a source.
Gaffurio's name is conspicuously absent from any of Martinez de Bizcargui's citations.
As for his dates, he was still alive in 1541 when he published an octavo tonero of 23
leaves, the music being printed in black notes over red lines instead of xylographically.
The title-page of the exemplar in the Biblioteca de la Real Academia Espafiola is
missing, but the first sentence is self-explanatory: Intonationes segun vso delos modernos:
II que hoy cantan y intonan enla yglesia romana. \\ Corregidas y remiradas por Gonfalo
mar II tinez de Bizcargui : || Imprimidas enla noble || ciudad de faragofa. Ano de M. D. xlj.
HIS arte differs from other Spanish theory texts not because the topics are novel. Indeed
the subjects are conspicuously the same. But in almost every instance he carries his
explanations much further than any predecessor had attempted. Moreover he gives not
only clear, precise, and full sets of rules, but also he coaxes the student by giving reasons
for studying the more difficult topics: such as plainchant written on only one line.
Since chapter 34 in the 1528 edition provides as good an example of his "coaxing" as
go Foundations of Spanish Musical Theory
any, and since also the information is historically valuable, this chapter is abridged
below in a one-paragraph summary.
Not a few singers resent the effort that learning to read plainchant written on the one-line staff
involves. Granted chant copied on five lines is easier to read, still the principles of one-line
notation should be studied; for if a singer can read chant copied on one line he can certainly
read it off five lines. The reverse is by no means true. Indeed a singer is no more able to read
chant on the one-line staff after a year spent exclusively with five-line notation than he was
before he began. Even ten years with five lines will not help him. But those who have started
with one-line necessarily become masters of five-line notation. This is true because no one can
learn to read chant on one line without mastering the whole theory of plainsong. There is an
added reason for studying one-line notation. Everywhere in Spain from the southern tip to the
northern boundary there is not a parish church but owns books written on the one-line staff,
while five-line books are found only in cathedrals, some collegiate churches, and most ex
ceptionally in a parish church. Bishops and their deputies who examine candidates should
therefore insist upon ability to read one-line chant. It is too much to hope that parish churches
will soon replace their old chant books; most are too poor, especially here in the diocese of
Burgos. I admit that I prefer to teach the five-line staff, because it is easier to learn; but I
also believe in doing my duty.
Bizcargui differs from contemporary theorists not because he knows more but because
he gives fuller explanations of difficult topics and constantly coaxes the laggard pupil.
He does not disdain to substitute an easier term such as grados for a harder traditional
term, deduciones. He does not, moreover, disdain to give example after example illus
trating the same point, if only clarity be achieved. Then again he is bold where other
writers are timid. Escobar in 1496 wanted to say that other accidentals were used in
plainsong besides eb, ab, f# and c# (in addition, of course, to the traditionally added bb).
But he buried the statement at the end of a paragraph, and even then avoided giving
examples. Bizcargui, on the other hand, says in so many words : accidentals up to db and
d# are used. To drive home the point, he shows examples with eb, ab and db as printed
accidentals.
His directness and circumstantiality gained him readers and at the same time
provoked enemies. He offended his learned contemporaries most by asserting with
Ramos de Pareja that the diatonic semitone is actually larger than the chromatic. He
pleaded his own experiments with the monochord in justification rather than any
statement by Ramos. He knew that he disagreed with Guillermo Despuig on this
controversial issue, but had the courage of his convictions, founding them on la practica
que es la esperiencia dela cuerda. 10 **
If he seems to have been exceptionally honest and forthright, he was not on the other
hand contentious and truculent. He did not elevate his own convictions founded on
personal experience to the level of dogma -as did Ramos de Pareja. Instead, he invited
his critics to visit him in Burgos and to confer and test his experiments. For once, then,
popular success was the reward a theorist who insisted on retaining his own integrity,
who disdained the arts of the demagogue, and above all, who refused to water down his
doctrine for the sake of the indolent student.
100 1511 (Burgos) edition, fol. i2v.
Foundations of Spanish Musical Theory 91
Francisco Tovar (fl. 1510)
IN THE Libro de musica pratica (Barcelona: Johan Rosembach, 1510) 101 of Mosen
Francisco Tovar the scholastic tradition with its ingenious system of rationalization
reasserts itself with full vigor. As for Tovar's biography, he calls himself in the colophon
of his book a native of the small village of Pareja in the diocese of Cuenca. At fol. 33 v.
he mentions having many times disputed publicly in Sicily and also at Rome and
Saragossa. Since he now holds minor office in Barcelona Cathedral, he dedicates his
treatise to the bishop and chapter. Soon thereafter he was to become chapelmaster in
Tarragona Cathedral (1510), where he seems to have remained six years. His successor,
Juan de Alcala, was appointed in 1516.
Either in Rome or elsewhere - if homonyms do not play us false - he grew to such
terms of friendship with Francisco de Penalosa that he was chosen by the latter to present
to the Seville chapter Pope Leo X's 1518 brief, Dudum vos (entry in the Sevillian Adas
Capitulares, IX [1517-1519] at fol. 137 [May 26, 1518]). During the next two years a
Francisco de Tovar was cantor in Granada Cathedral; he became chapelmaster in 1521
and died at Granada on May 22, 1522.
His treatise at once makes it plain that he admires Guillenno Despuig as the prince
of "modern" theorists but despises Martinez de Bizcargui, criado del obispo de Burgos
(the bishop of Burgos's servant) as nothing but a vulgar upstart who offends every
learned musician by pretending that the diatonic semitone is larger than the chro
matic. 102 In Tovar's opinion Guido must still be called sapientissimo. Like a true scho
lastic, he therefore seeks a suitable reason for enlarging the Guidonian staff to include
ten lines (the double live-line system). Not the necessity of accommodating 20 letter-
name notes from GI to e 1 , but rather the desirability of commemorating the Ten Com
mandments, accounts for the expansion of the great staff to a double five-line system,
says Tovar. Plainsong begins on G to commemorate the Greeks. The interval from
A to e is a perfect fifth, the most consonant of intervals, in commemoration of the
consonance joining A dam and ve.
On the practical side he proves more helpful. He declares that upper voice-parts in
Modes I and II, VII and VIII tienen necesidad de addenda en sus clausulas (necessarily
accident alize at cadences). 103 Upper voice-parts in any of these four modos traen el
ssemitono sub intellecto (utilize the unwritten semitone). At cadences in Modes I and II
the written notes d-c-d must be performed d-c#-d. The written notes g-f-g similarly
must be sung g-f J-g. Sub intellectas being universally used, one cannot at cadences
101 This small folio contains 35 numbered leaves preceded by four unnumbered. The British Museum
copy shows handwritten music examples over the printed five-line staves, but in the Biblioteca Nacional
(Madrid) copy these staves remain empty. For further bibliographical details, see H. Angle's, La miisica
espanola desde la edad media (Barcelona: Bibl. Central, 1941), P- 56.
102 Francisco Tovar, Libro de musica pratica, fol. 12. Lest however Tovar be thought unduly harsh it
should be here added that even the progressive Bermudo joined him in excoriating Bizcargui. In his Decla-
racidn (1555) at fol. 68 he wrote: "If you think you can learn anything about the subject from reading
Bizcargui and other barbarous authors who call themselves theorists you are mistaken." Bermudo is here
discussing the size of semitones.
i 8 Tovar, fol. 34V. For criticism of Tovar's cadences see Bermudo, op. cit., fol. 8yv.
92 Foundations of Spanish Musical Theory
write B-c-B in counterpoint against d-c-d, nor e-f-e in counterpoint against g-f-g.
Although on paper the second interval in each group would appear to be a unison, in
actual performance it will sound as a dissonance (augmented unison) . Tovar's injunctions
confirm the thesis advanced by Charles Warren Fox in his paper on Spanish vihuela
transcriptions of polyphonic music: namely, that sharps were used much more frequent
ly than modern editors might suggest.
When categorizing Tovar's contribution to Spanish musical theory, his successor,
Martin de Tapia (Vergel de musica [Burgo de Osma: Diego Fernindez de Cordova,
1570], fol. 7QV.), called him vno de los principals que en musica en nuestro lenguage
scribieron ("one of the most important writers on music in our language"). Tovar's
Musica pratica did not go through ten editions but Tapia's allusions show it was still
regarded as an anthoritative text sixty years after publication. In the latter's opinion
Tovar was a mensural authority equal in rank with Tinctoris and Ornithoparcus. 104
Juan de Espinosa (fl.
THREE TREATISES by Juan de Espinosa survive : (i) Retractaciones de los err ores et false-
dades (Toledo : Arnaldo Guillermo de Brocar, 1514), an attack on Martinez de Bizcargui;
(2) Tractado de principios de musica practica e theorica sin deocar ninguna cosa atras (Tole
do : Brocar, 1520), a text covering the same ground as Despuig's 1495 Ars musicorum but
in Spanish ; (3) Tractado breue de principios de canto llano, a plainsong instructor of un
certain date printed in Toledo. The latter (copy in the British Museum) reaches 24
leaves in small octavo. Like Escobar's and Molina's instructors, it contains no music
notation. In his dedication to Martin de Mendoza, archdeacon of Talavera and Guada
lajara, he claims to have hit upon a new method (nueva manera) that has proved unique
ly successful at Toledo. The actual substance cannot however be rated as novel.
Espinosa in his 1520 Tractado reveals his first patron to have been the son of the
famous Marques de Santillana - Archbishop Pedro Gonzdlez de Mendoza of Toledo.
This ecclesiastic was primate of Spain from 1483-1495. After Cardinal Mendoza's death
he transferred from Toledo to Seville in order to serve another scion of the same
family, Diego Hurtado de Mendoza (archbishop of Seville, 1486-1502), in whose
household he remained until the latter's death. "All that I am I owe to the illustrious
Mendoza family/' gracefully acknowledges Espinosa in his 1520 Tractado. Among his
later protectors he seems to have counted Francisco de Bobadilla, bishop of Salamanca,
1511-1529. Bobadilla stirred him to write against Martinez de Bizcargui, he claims in
chapter 63 of his Tractado. Espinosa in 1520 was archpriest of St. Eulalia, a dignity
in Toledo Cathedral. Still later he occupied a canonry at Burgos. 105
104 Tapia, fol. io5v.: "Segun tres doctores . . . touar, jo. tintor.andrea." At fol. I2v. Tapia cites "Tobar,
Lux bela, Ciruelo" (for information concerning Pedro Ciruelo see note 141 below). The theorists who still
cited Tovar in the next century include: Pedro Cerone (El melopeo y maestro [Naples, 1613]), Andre's de
Monserrate (Arte breve [Valencia, 1614]), and Manoel Nunes da Sylva (Arte minima [Lisbon, 1685]).
105 Tapia, fol. 76v. : "Si algunos porfiaren a cantar siempre estos dos modos [V, VI] por B mol, quiten
la tercera specie de el Diapente que es de Fa, a Fa, Como pareze quitarla el reuerendo loan de espinosa,
Foundations of Spanish Musical Theory 93
Because he was such a conservative in matters theoretical it is difficult to believe
that he was the same Juan de Espinosa who composed two plaintive villancicos con
served in the great collection of secular song belonging to the reigns of Ferdinand and
Isabella, the Palace Songbook (nos. 4 and 202). On the other hand his dates and
aristocratic connections do not forbid such a supposition. Whether the composer and
theorist were one, the theoretical treatises deserve attention because his learning equals
that of any writer of his generation. He broke lances in contentions over adiaphora and
fell off his charger into the mire of name-calling, but he had mastered his Boethius.
Caspar de Aguilar (fl. 1530)
THE ONLY known copy of the Arte de principios de canto llano : nueuamente emendado y
corregido por Caspar de Aguilar is preserved in the Biblioteca Colombina (sign. 15-2-4)
but without date or place of imprint. Its date of publication must however be fixed
between 1530-1537 106 because of its dedication to Pedro Manrique, bishop of Ciudad
Rodrigo. (The latter's dates in the see obviously fix the outer limits of publication.)
The unique surviving copy of this 32-page arte cannot be a first edition since Aguilar
calls it "newly emended and corrected." In his dedication he expresses the hope it will
win his patron's favor, and that he will thereby receive encouragement to commence a
larger work. Probably, then, the author at the time of writing held a prebend in Ciudad
Rodrigo, some sixty miles southwest of Salamanca towards the Portuguese border.
He cites several Italian theorists, two of them not mentioned in prior Spanish
treatises - Niccolo Burzio (fol. 12) and Lodovico Fogliano (fol. 7). The latter's experi
ments may possibly have attracted his attention before any account was published. But
since Fogliano published nothing until 1529 (Musica theorica) it is more probable that
Aguilar became acquainted with his theories after that date. Not only Gaffurio but also
the less likely Marchettus of Padua fills up his Italian list. He gives unusually accurate
citations of all sources that he quotes. Since he is one of the few who seems to have read
Juan Espinosa's 1520 Tractado with care and since his allusions to Espinosa are unusually
complimentary, he may have been the latter's pupil.
His treatise contains a number of conventionalities. The diatonic (sung) semitone is
the smaller, he declares - thus siding with the traditionalists. He tends to oversimplify
Cristobal de Escobar's comments on chromatic genus. The following abridgment of a
paragraph on fol. I3V. shows a sample of his teaching. In his opinion any accidental,
even the time-honored Bb, implies chromatic genus.
The diatonic genus is used when singing in the hard or natural (G or C) hexachords. The chro
matic genus is used when singing in the soft (F) hexachord. All eight modes are sung in either
Canonigo de Burgos ..." Tapia here complains that Espinosa always added ficta Bjj's when singing lydian
and hypolydian plainsong melodies, thus destroying the individuality of those modes. Except for the last
three words, Tapia here - as throughout most of his Vergel - copied Bermudo verbatim, a. Declaraddn,
1555* fol 39 V -* c l- 2 -
106 AngleYs suggested date of publication (c. 1500) must be rejected. For Pedro Manrique's dates in the
see of Ciudad Rodrigo, see Gams, op. ctt., p. 66.
94 Foundations of Spanish Musical Theory
diatonic or chromatic genus. Modes I, II, III, IV, VII, and VIII require diatonic genus since no
accidentals regularly appear. Modes IV and V require chromatic genus because they regularly
make use of the soft hexachord with Bb .
This and several other passages of like tenor show that he believed in denaturing
Mode IV and V melodies: not simply to avoid tritones, but because he thought that
these modes could not exist without continuous use of the Bb. The doctrine that Bb's
should always be sung was not, however, generally taught in Spain. It does correspond
with the Ambrosian treatment of these modes at Milan in the early sixteenth century.
Aguilar's merits include: (i) accurate citations from authorities; (2) unhackneyed
quotations; (3) interest in simplifying the vocabulary of musical theory. 107 His defects
counterbalance his merits: (i) overcompression; (2) lack of musical examples; (3)
an occasional tendency towards provincialism or particularism.
Juan Martfnez(fl. 1532)
JUAN BERMUDO, the best informed Spanish theorist to write in his native tongue, did not
begin publishing until 1549. During the intervening two decades between Gaspar de
Aguilar's just described Arte and Bermudo's Libro primero de la declaracion de instru-
mentos (1549) some four Spanish-language instructors were published in the peninsula. 108
To 1532 (January 16) belongs a 20-leaf quarto printed in Gothic at Alcala de Henares
Juan Martinez's Arte de canto llano puesta y redmida nueuamente en su enter a perficion:
segun la practica del canto llano. lQg The popularity that it was to gain at home and
abroad caused it to be at least six times reprinted within 93 years. It was reissued in
octavo by the Sevillian printer Juan Gutierrez in 1560, "corrected and emended" by
Luys de Villafranca. It appeared at Barcelona in 1586 with a new title, Compendia de
canto llano. A Salamanca sixteenth-century reprint, of which only a fragment survives,
was discovered by Salva. 110 Three reprints were published at Coimbra during the first
quarter of the next century - in 1603, 1612, and 1625. The last of these was augmented
with various cousas muyto necessarias by Antonio Cordeiro, succentor in the Coimbra
Cathedral. Fortunately Cordeiro separated his additional "many necessary things"
107 At fol. XIV (cap. XXIV), Aguilar for instance proposes that divisiones be substituted for conjuntas.
IDS xhe only new Spanish, treatise published between 1535 and 1549 seems to have been Melchior de
Torres's gothic-print, 46-leaf instructor in plainsong and polyphony (dedicated to Gutierre de Carvajal,
bishop of Plasencia, 1524-1559) entitled Arte ingeniosa de Musica con nueua manera de auisos breues y com-
pendiosos sabre toda la facultad della. First published at Alcali de Henares in 1544, it was reissued in 1559
and in 1566 (Pedro de Robles and Juan de Villanueva). Torres was chapelmaster at Alcala. The title-page of
the 1566 edition carries the sentence, Agora nueuamente reformada y corregida por su mesmo autor ("Now
newly revised and corrected by the author of the same").
109 Bibliographical details in Eitner, Quetten-Lexicon, VI, 354, conflict with those given in Antonio Palau
y Dulcet, Manual del librero hispanoamericano, VIII (Barcelona: Libreria Palau, 1954-1955), p. 268 (item
154416). Because of the reprints, it is hard to guess which edition entered the library of the Creole architect,
Melchor Pe"rez de Soto, haled before the Mexican Inquisition in 1655. But its presence in his library proves
in what esteem it was held in the New World more than a century after its first appearance.
no Palau y Dulcet, VIII, 268.
Foundations of Spanish Musical Theory 95
from Martinez's original text. Each of these Portuguese baroque reprints bears for its
title Arte de Canto Chao, posta e[t] reduzida em sua enteira perfei$ao t segundo a pra[p\tica
delle, muito necessaria para todo o sacerdote, [e] pessoas, que haode saber cantar. 111 His name
is spelled "loao Martinz" on each Coimbra title-page. No claim is made however that
he was of Portuguese nationality. 112
On September i, 1525, the chapter appointed him master of the mo$os de coro (altar-
boys) in Seville Cathedral. 113 Unlike the singing-boys in numerous lesser cathedrals,
those at Seville were during the century divided into two groups: each ruled by a
different maestro. Mofos de coro sang plainsong, seises polyphony. He was hired to teach
the former, not the latter. 114 As a reward for merit his salary was on December 9, 1536,
raised from 9,000 maravedis and one cahiz of wheat to 12,000 and two cahizes. 115 The
Sevillian capitular act of this date denominates him racionero de los ninos de canto llano
(prebendary in charge of the children singing plainsong). His successor was the same
Villafranca who edited his Arte when it came to be republished at Seville in 1560.
Villafranca, however - as his own later publication record teaches us - was not for long
to remain content with the humble role of any mere editor. In 1565 he issued his own
original plainsong instructor.
MARTINEZ'S arte - even if six reprints were not known - could be proved to have enjoyed
both a wide and a long-continued vogue. Pedro Cerone at Naples in 1613 (El melopeo y
maestro, p. 336), Andres de Monserrate at Valencia in 1614 (Arte breve, y compendiosa de
las dificultades que se ofrecen en la musica practica del canto llano, p. 15), and Pedro
Thalesio at Coimbra in 1628 (Arte de Canto chao, com huma breve instrucfao . . . segunda
impressao, pp. 35, 39) each recognized his authority. Thalesio, appointed to the chair of
music at Coimbra on January 19, 1613, but himself probably of Spanish origin, 116
quarreled with him for claiming that so many as ten different accidentals can be in
truded in plainsong; namely, Bib, Of, Eb, F#, Ab, c#, eb, f#, ab, and c 1 *. According to
111 Manoel de Araujo printed the 1603 Coimbra edition; Nicolao Carvalho the 1612 and 1625. Copy of the
latter at the Library of Congress.
112 Fe'tis in his Biog. univ. des musiciens (Paris: Firmin-Didot, 1875), V, 479, criticized Diogo Barbosa
Machado (Bibliotheca Lusitana, II [Lisbon: Ignacio Rodrigues, 1747], p. 692, c. 2) for making of Martinez a
Portuguese. Barbosa Machado cited the Portuguese imprints but said nothing concerning Martinez's origins.
113 Seville Cathedral, Autos Capitulates anos de 1525-1526, fol. 66: Este dia sus me^edes res9ibieron
para maestro para ensefiar 010905 de coro desta santa iglesia a juan martinez clerigo desde primero de setien-
bre deste afio en adelante con el salario que tenia.
114 Fe'tis, op. cit. t V, 479, again erred when he proposed that Martinez for a time was mattre de chapelle
a re'glise cathddrale de Seville. Angles claims (DML t II, 1484) that Martinez held the title of maestro de los
seises at Seville Cathedral.
115 Seville Cathedral, A.C., 1536-1537-1538, fol., 7iv. As reason for the increase, the chapter noted lo
mucho que ha seruido en esta santa yglesia. The increase was to become effective January i, 1537. Since the
new salario was to last durante su vida e no mas (during his life and no longer) he was already old - one
may suppose - and surrounded with heirs who hoped for "consolation payments" from the cathedral after
his death. The original Spanish for this and all other Sevillian actas capitulates cited in the present volume
may be seen in my collection, La Musica en la Catedral de Sevilla, 1478-1606: Documentos para su estudio
(Los Angeles: Raul Espinosa, 1954).
116 Joaquim de Vasconcellos, Os musicos portuguezes (Oporto: Imp. Portugueza, 1870), II, 191. Thalesio's
"chapelmastership at Granada" seems however to have become confused by Vasconcellos with his chapel-
mastership at Guarda (northeast of Coimbra in Portugal).
g6 Foundations of Spanish Musical Theory
Thalesio, only the following accidentals are actually used: Bib, Of, Eb, F#, G#, and c#.
He denounced Martinez's octave duplicates on the ground that no chant covers so wide
a range. Thalesio furthermore claimed that, in Portugal at least, not Ab but G# was the
needed plainsong accidental. For still another matter, Thalesio emphatically disap
proved of his raising the controversial fifth note to Bfc| in the Gaudeamus omnes in
Domino introit - even though Guillermo de Podio, Gonzalo Martinez de Bizcargui, and
Juan de Espinosa had sided with him. 117 For Thalesio, such a Bb contravenes toda
razam, & arte.
Matheo de Aranda (fl. 1533)
MATHEO DE ARANDA published two treatises, both at Lisbon but both in Spanish. The
first (1533, 38 leaves) deals with plainsong, 118 the second (1535, 36 leaves) with mensurable
music. 119 Like Diego Ortiz, he therefore made his reputation with theoretical literature
published in Spanish but in a foreign capital. Somewhat more is known at present
concerning Aranda's early life in Spain than Ortiz's. He received his university education
at Alcala de Henares where, sometime before 1524, he studied music theory with the
"learned Doctor Pedro Ciruelo/' 12 It was Ciruelo who redacted the Cursus quattuor
mathematicamm artium liberalium, used throughout the century as a standard univer
sity text. Upon finishing at Alcald de Henares, he studied "practical music" in Italy.
Sometime before 1530 he emigrated to Portugal. In 1870 Vasconcellos, with his usual
abandon, gave the faulty impression that when Aranda published his treatises he
was serving as chapelmaster of Lisbon Cathedral. 121 Actually, however, the royal
printing privilege at fol. iv., of each tractado plainly states that he held the chapel-
mastership not of Lisbon but of the cathedral (erected c. 1200) at fivora, 122 72 miles
east of Lisbon. The dedicatee in each instance was the young cardinal-infante, Dom
Affonso (1509-1540), King Joao Ill's third brother.
Affonso had studied humanities with the celebrated Portuguese classicist, Ayres
117 Pedro Thalesio, Arte de Canto chdfo, 2nd edn. (Coimbra: Diogo Gomez de Loureiro, 1628), p. 39. For
Martinez's Bfcj, see the Portuguese edition of 1612 (enlarged by Antonio Cordeiro), fol. B6v.
118 Tractado d* cdto llano nueuamente compuesto por Matheo de ardda maestro en musica. Dirigido al muy
alto y illustrissimo senor don Alonso cardenal Infante de Portugal. Arpobispo de Lixboa. Obispo Deuora. Comen-
datario de Alcobafa.&c. The colophon reads: Fue impressa la presente obra en la muy noble ciudad de Lixboa
por German Gallarde: a veynte y seys de Setiembre ano de mil y quinientos y treynta y tres.
119 Tractado de canto mesurable: y contrapucto: nueuamete copuesto por Matheo de ardda maestro e musica.
Dirigido al mui alto y illustrissimo senor do Aloso Cardenal Infante de Portugal. Ar f obispo de Lixboa. obispo
Deuora. Comedatario d' Alcobaca. Colophon: Fue impressa la presente obra de Cdto mensurable y Contrapuncto.
En la muy noble y semfi leal ciudad de Lixboa por German Galhard Empremidor. Acabose alos quatro dias del
mes de Setiebre. De Mil <S* qnientos: y treynta y cico.
120 Tractado , 1533, prologue (fol. 2). Ciruelo held the chair of Thomist theology at Alcali. He was succeeded
by Miguel Carrasco in 1524. See Antonio de la Torre y del Cerro, "La Universidad de Alcala. Estudio de la
ensenanza ...", Homenaje ofrecido a Mentndez Pidal, Tomo III (Madrid: Ed. Heraando, 1925), p. 362.
Further on Ciruelo below at p. 100, n. 141.
121 Os musicos Portugueses, I, n. Angle's echoes Vasconcellos (DML, I, 94). He also falls prey to Vascon-
cellos's factitious title-pages (cf. Os musicos portuguezes, II, 246-247, with I, n, lines 26-30).
122 Manuel II, Livros antigos portuguezes, i48g-i6oo (London: Maggs Bros., 1929), I, 514-
Foundations of Spanish Musical Theory 97
Barbosa. 123 In 1517 he was named a cardinal by Leo X, 124 at the request of his father, King
Manuel I "the Fortunate" (d, 1521). In 1523, two years after his father's death, Dom
Aff onso was consecrated bishop of vora. At twenty he was in addition invested with
the archbishopric of Lisbon. Meantime, however, he continued to reside at vora. 125
An energetic ecclesiastic, he convened the important synod at Lisbon on August 25,
1536, during which the vestiges of the Sarum rite (introduced in the twelfth century by
Bishop Gilbert of England) 126 were at last swept away - thenceforth to be replaced by a
uniform use modeled on the Roman rite. 127
Affonso early during his vora episcopate insisted that those whom he patronized
must bear fruit. Aranda's 1533 prologuo plainly shows that he was working for a
prelate who expected results : "Many times the thought has struck me, most puissant and
illustrious prince, that no one can call himself an expert in any art or science, nor for
that matter consider himself even a teacher of the first rank, unless he writes; and by
his publications proves his competence in his field." Fortunately, Affonso was generous
with his proteges who did publish. So Aranda testifies in his 1535 prologo: "Your great
zeal that all shall study and become learned in music as in every other science, together
with your lordly favor and support of the art, have encouraged me to compose this other
treatise concerning music/' Since (insofar as is now known) no previous theoretical
works had been published in Portugal, both must be considered works of major histori
cal importance.
IN THE PLAINSONG instructor Aranda argues that the sung semitone is the menor, not
the mayor. He naturally despises Bizcargui. Doubtless he refers to him when he says
that in 1527 someone had again published a treatise who could not compose a note.
"Every year a new edition appears, each worse than its predecessor, the emendations
being poorer than the original." At fol. 35v., he quotes admiringly, on the other hand,
Bizcargui's archenemy, d reuerendo Joanes d'espinosa racionero en la yglesia de Toledo.
He couples Juan Espinosa's name with that of el reuerendo ribaflrecha 128 [sic] racionero
en la iglesia de Palencia. Such maestros en musica as Espinosa and Rivafrecha repre-
hendiesen aquellas personas: que careciendo de musica hdblasen en ella ("reproved those
who, lacking any musical ability, presume to talk about it").
123 Antonio Caetano de Sousa, Historia Genealogies, da Casa Real Portugueza (Lisbon: Joseph Antonio
da Sylva, 1737), III, 419. Ayres Barbosa, a fellow-student at Florence with the future Pope Leo X, became
the most renowned Portuguese classicist of his generation. Both studied simultaneously with Politian.
Appointed master of rhetoric at Salamanca University in 1495, Barbosa rose to a professorship of Greek
and Latin from which he was called home by Manuel I to tutor the two princes, Affonso and Henrique.
According to Caetano de Sousa, Affonso early became a favorecedor dos erudites a quern premiava con merces.
124 Damiao de Goes, Chronica do felicissimo Rei dom Emanuel da gloriosa memoria, reprinted from the
original edition of 1566-1567 (Coimbra: Acta Universitatis Conimbrigensis, 1949-1955), II, 142.
125 D om Affonso continued to reside at vora until just before his death. See Frei Luiz de Sousa, Anais
de D. Joao III, ed. M. Rodrigues Lapa (Lisbon: ULvraria Sa da Costa, 1938), II, 143 (pte. seg., cap. 2):
"Viera de Evora curar-se de certa infirmidade. . .".
126 Manuel II, op. dt. f I, 531.
127 Pedro de Mariz, Dialogos de Varia Historia (Lisbon: Antonio Craesbeek de Mello, 1672), p. 418:
em todo o Arcebispado se rezasse o offido Romano, & se deixasse o de Sarisbea, que de Inglaterra trouxera
128 Concerning Martin de Rivafrecha (= Rivaflecha) see below, pp. 190-193.
9 8
Foundations of Spanish Musical Theory
He does not so slavishly ape the learned discourse of others as to say nothing original
in his two treatises. At the close of his 1533 Tractado he, for instance, declares that
ligatures in plainsong must on occasion be broken, and that mere "use" is no excuse for
such "abuse" of the Latin language as is frequently to be found in Gregorian books.
With this complaint he anticipates the loud humanist outcry for revision of chant that
was to call forth a century later the now-deplored Medicean gradual (1614). Among the
more familiar features are the inevitable table - this one with numbers carried to seven
digits, expressing interval ratios; 129 and several examples showing what accidentals
should be added in plainsong. Like most Renaissance Spanish plainsong theorists, he
calls for copious sharps, as well as flats.
THE MUSICAL EXAMPLES in his 1535 Tractado de canto mensurable: y contrapuncto begin
at fol. 15 with four counterpoints against a Mode I given melody. These four note-
against-note contrapunctos exemplify such rules as the following: begin with 5ths,
8ves, or unisons; avoid similar motion to perfect intervals (violated once); 13 use
no more than two repeated notes (violated once) ; 1S1 no more than three parallel srds or
6ths; hold the counterpoint within the range of either the authentic or the corresponding
plagal mode; end the exercise with opposite stepwise motion to an 8ve or unison. At fol.
Counterpoint a 4
Tractado de canto mensurable y contrapuncto (1535), fol. i6v.
MATHEO BE ARANDA
129 Tractado, 1533, fol. C iiij verso.
is Tenor, mm. 11-12.
131 Tenor, mm. 24-36.
Foundations of Spanish Musical Theory 99
15 v. he offers still another four examples. These move in "fifth species" against a Mode
II c. f. His licenses in this "species" include an unprepared dissonant suspension (7-6)
at the cadence, the 7th having been approached stepwise from below. Once, he dissonates
with a passing-note 4th on the second half of the "bar." 132 His bass counterpoint de
scends frequently to Di. 133
At fol. i6v. he graduates to four-part counterpoint. The c.f. closely resembles the
Mode V Agnus Dei of Mass XVII (LU), beginning after the intonation. As mm. 8-9
in the accompanying transcription disclose, he likes the escaped-note leaping up a fourth
to a syncope, thence resolving with a dissonant ornament. He holds the "subdominant"
in reserve for meas. 12. At the close, the upward octave leap in the bass (crossing the
tenor) perpetuates a bygone fashion.
ARANDA continued as chapelmaster of fivora Cathedral until 1544 when, by a royal
alvard de nomeacao dated July 26, he was elevated to a professorship of music at the
University of Coimbra (with an annual salary of 60,000 reaes}.^ Founded at Coimbra in
1308, this university had moved back and forth between Lisbon and Coimbra until
finally placed by Joao III at Coimbra in 1537. Aranda held the post of lente de musica
during the last year spent at the university by the national poet, Luiz de Camoens. His
official duties included two hours of lecturing each day, one in plainsong, the other in
counterpoint. On February 12, 1546, by an acta do conselho ttniversitario, certain music
books (costing 7,000 reis) and another containing 20 masses (costing 2 cruzados) were
bought for use with his choir. 136 His death during early February of 1548 was six months
later attributed to insults that he was forced to endure because he was a foreigner. 137
His successor, Pedro de Trigueiros, was named April 16, 1548. 138 A year later, Aranda's
body was carried back to vora, and there buried by a fraternal religious organization
on June 2, I549. 139 (It was perhaps his brother who was the Diego de Aranda that
132 Contrapuncto para voz de tiple, meas. 8.
133 Mm. 2, 4, 7, 8, 12. Aranda does not balk at using sequences and repetitions. See tiple, mm. 1-2 = 5-6;
tenor, mm. 23-4 = 53-7; baxo, mm. 2-3 = 4-5.
134 For a three-part example, Aranda adds alto and bass beneath a Mode VII c.f. The contour of the c.f.
strongly resembles, however, that of the Mode I plainsong hymn, Ave maris stetta. In the penultimate mea
sure, he ascends stepwise in the altus to a syncope. This note at the outset dissonates with both the other
voice-parts.
135 Documents de D. Joao III> ed. Mario Brandao, II (Coimbra: Universidade, 1938), pp. 190-191.
Dated at vora, the alvara speaks of Matheus de Aranda as mestre da capeUa da see desta cidade.
136 Francisco Marques de Sousa Viterbo, A Litter atura Hespanhola em Portugal (Lisbon: Imprensa Na-
cional, 1915), p. 23.
13? Ibid. Juan Fernandez, a compatriot who had occupied the chair of rhetoric in Coimbra University
since 1529, complained on August n, 1548 d'insultos q Ihe tinham dirigido e nessa occasiao se dectarou q o
facto nao era novo e que por caso similbante morrera de pur a paixao o mestre de musica Matheo de Aranda.
("of insults which he had received, and declared that this was not the first time such had been received,
and that Matheo de Aranda, master of music, had died of pure vexation because of a like incident"),
138 Francisco Leitao Ferreira, Noticias chronologicas da Universidade de Coimbra, segunda parte: 1548-1551,
Vol. Ill (Tomo I), ed. Joaquim de Carvalho (Coimbra: Universidade, I944) P- 8 I - In GD (5^ edn.),
I, 188, Trend gave May, 1548, as the month during which Aranda died. Since his successor took office after
his death, he cannot have been alive during May.
139 Sousa Viterbo, p. 23. The supporting documentation was discovered by Gabriel Pereira who published it
in O ArMvodaSantaCasadaMisericordiad'Evora (Estudos Eborenses, Pte. 2), (vora: J. J, Baptista, 1888).
ioo Foundations of Spanish Musical Theory
beginning in 1531 served as organist first in Santo Antonio Monastery, Lisbon, and then
in Santa Justa; only to be readmitted as tangedor dos orgdos of Santo Antonio in June
of 1551.) 140
Summary
I In the half-century between 1482 and 1535, some fourteen competent Spanish
theorists published treatises. 141
II No one center attracted them all; but rather their treatises were issued in at least
eleven cities: Alcala de Henares, Barcelona, Bologna, Burgos, Lisbon, Salamanca,
Saragossa, Seville, Toledo, Valencia, and Valladolid. Their own spheres of activity were
even more widely dispersed.
III Comparison of texts published in Spain with those abroad shows that an independent
and consistent Spanish plainsong tradition existed, stemming perhaps from earlier
peninsular theorists whose works are now lost (e.g. Albertus de Rosa, Arnaldus, Gos-
caldus, Lodovicus of Barcelona (= Luis Sanchez [?)], etc.
IV Unlike university-trained theorists abroad, Spanish university graduates wrote
numerous plainsong instructors.
V Among the topics which they made peculiarly their own, conjuntas 142 and tonos de una
regla stand out prominently.
140 Eduardo Freire de Oliveira, Elementos para a historia do Municipio de Lisboa, i. a parte, I (Lisbon:
Typographia Universal, 1882), p. 562. ("Carta regia de 7 de junho de 1551.")
141 The count could be augmented were one to include such borderline theorists as Pedro Ciruelo (d.
1548) of Daroca, whose Cursus quattuor mathematicarum artium liberalium was published in 1516. See above,
p. 96, n. 120. This university textbook of the liberal arts was reprinted at Alcald in 1526, 1528, 1577, and
was still in standard use at Salamanca University in 1593 when Bernardo Clavijo was a candidate for the
music chair. The four mathematical disciplines in Ciruelo's order culminate in music: arithmetic, optics,
geometry, and music.
At fol. 72 Ciruelo begins somewhat as follows. "Boethius was himself a redactor who brought together
many things from various authorities. Let us ask ourselves first whether the theories of these authorities
concord with the common practices of musicians who sing and play instruments. To answer without involving
ourselves in useless argument: the theorist and the practical musician use a different language. The theorist
for instance speaks of a diatessaron, diapente, or diapason; the practical musician on the other hand refers to
these same intervals, as a fourth, a fifth, or an octave .... Music does not include disputes concerning the
physical properties of sound or of audible voice; does not attempt to find out whether music is a substance
in the air or something travelling through the air and colliding with another body; nor does it seek to dis
cover whether sound consists of an unbroken stream or of successive particles. These disputes belong to
physics; or better, to metaphysics .... Music, on the contrary deals with such ascertainable facts as the
proportions which determine intervals."
At fols. 72-93 he reprints the Elementa musicalia of Jacques Le Fevre d'taples, a work first published
at Paris in 1496 and reprinted there in 1503 and 1514.
142 This emphasis on conjuntas distinguishes early anonymous Spanish treatises (e.g., R 14610 at the
Madrid National Library, an imprint antedating 1534, but without author, publisher, or place of issue)
just as much as the ascribed treatises. For a contemporary foreign plainsong manual that endorses conjuntas
with true "Spanish enthusiasm" see Pietro Cannuzio's Regule florum musices (Florence: Bernardo Zuchetta,
1510), a copy of which is bound in with Biblioteca Colombina MS 5-5-20 at Seville.
Foundations of Spanish Musical Theory 101
VI In the mensural treatises, Spanish theorists showed themselves at home with the
more intricate problems of the epoch, often propounding solutions which were original
and even epoch-making.
VII In the same treatises, Guillaume de Machaut, Dunstable, Dufay, Ockeghem, and
later composers of international repute are familiarly mentioned.
VIII Such fifteenth-century Spaniards as Juan de Monte, Tristano de Silva, Ramos de
Parej a, Domingo Marcos Duran, Guillermo Despuig, and Diego del Puerto, can be
proved from evidence in the mensural treatises to have been not merely theorists but
competent composers as well.
Liturgical Music:
I470-I53
Early Liturgical Imprints Containing Music
THE EARLIEST Spanish book on the date of which incunabulists agree - the Manipulus
curatorum printed by Matheus Flandrus - appeared at Saragossa in 1475. Only a decade
later the first Spanish imprint containing music appeared in the same city. Since but
a single copy of the 1485 Missale Caesar augustanum printed by Paul Hums survives, and
since the unique exemplar in the Saragossa Cathedral Library was not brought to light
until 1917, the existence of such an early Spanish liturgical imprint containing music has
not been as widely advertised as it deserves. 1
A total of at least fourteen Spanish liturgical incunabula survive containing music.
Half of these are found in unique copies. That still others which contained music
were printed before 1501 can hardly be doubted. Data concerning one missing incunabu-
lum that must have included music - a Missale Compostellanum printed by Juan de
Porras in an edition of 750 copies at Salamanca in 1496 - has been for instance gathered
from the contemporaneous diary of events in Santiago de Compostela Cathedral kept in
the Adas Capitular es of 1495 and 1496.2 If not a single copy of an edition of 750
survives then it is hardly surprising that other liturgical imprints are found in unique
copies.
Of these fourteen extant liturgical incunabula containing music only one, moreover,
is described in the Catdlogo Musical de la Biblioteca National de Madrid, II. 3 On the
other hand, some forty liturgical books printed in sixteenth-century Spain are described
1 For data concerning its discovery see Franciso Vindel, El arte tipogrdfico en Zaragoza durante el sigle XV
(Madrid: Direcci6n general de relaciones culturales, 1949)* pp. 59-6.
2 Francisco Vindel, El arte tipogrdfico en las ciudades de Salamanca, Zamora> Coria y en el reino de Galicia
(Madrid: Relaciones culturales, 1946), p. 117.
8 Angle"s-Subira, Catdlogo, II, 28-29.
Liturgical Music 103
in the same catalogue. The present review of Spanish liturgical incunabula containing
music can therefore serve as its supplement. Among the other cogent reasons for now
undertaking such a review these can be advanced: (i) the earliest imprints set the
pattern for those to follow; (2) printed at the expense of local bishops, these books show
what was considered the basic, irreducible musical minimum in local parishes; (3) these
books reveal the variants in local musical traditions which prevailed from diocese to
diocese; (4) they prove that Holy Saturday was the most important day, musically
speaking, in the church year; (5) in isolated instances early Spanish liturgical books
contain printed naturals or sharps as well as flats, a somewhat surprising fact since only
plainsong was included; (6) where diamond-shaped notes (not in descending series),
single square notes with two stems, and single squares with right-hand descenders
combine to make rhythmic patterns - as in the Toledo books - measured chant rather
than plainsong in free rhythm must have been sung.
Missale Caesaraugustanum (Saragossa, 1485)
ALFONSO of Aragon, who underwrote the expense of the first Spanish imprint containing music,
boasted royal blood - his father being Ferdinand V. His rearing conformed with the precepts
in Ruy Sdnchez de Ar^valo's Vergel de los Principes, a treatise on the education of princes
written by the dean of Seville Cathedral in 1455. From early adolescence he surrounded himself
with virtuoso instrumentalists and singers. 4
For the task of editing the music he selected Martin Garcia Puyazuelo (1441-1521), a canon
of Saragossa Cathedral who had started life as only a shepherd boy, had learned the alphabet
from travellers through his native valley of the Ebro, and music as a boy-chorister in the
cathedral. 5
The missal, which reaches 350 leaves, contains 16 pages of music (fols. igi-igSv.). Only
punctum, clivis, podatus, and strene enter the scribe's repertory. He copies the nenms over
printed red four-line staves. The printed liturgical text underlines the staves. One page of the
music is reproduced in facsimile in Francisco Vindel's El arte tipogrdfico en Espana durante el
siglo XV: Zaragoza (p. 58) ; quite evidently the words were printed without much forethought
for the spacing of the neums. The rest of the music consists of eight Gloria-intonations, a lesser
number for the Credo, three settings of the Sursum corda for various degrees of solemnity, two
Lord's Prayers, nine prefaces (Easter, Ascension, Pentecost, Christmas, and other feasts), and
a tenth for all Lady Masses. The last leaf lists seven formulas for the lie missa est and three for
the Benedicamus Domino. Not only the order, but also the music itself shows dose resemblances
to that in use contemporaneously at Barcelona - if the music at fols. 211 and 212 in a handsome,
handwritten fifteenth-century missal scd'm vsum barch'n now owned by The Hispanic Society
of America sufficiently attests Barcelona use.
Immediately preceding the music section can be seen printed texts of 16 sequences - three
for Christmas Masses, one each for Circumcision, Epiphany and its octave, Easter, Ascension,
Pentecost, Trinity Sunday, Corpus Christi, Transfiguration, and four others for use between
4 Felix de Latassa, BiUiotheca antigua de los escritoves aragoneses {Saragossa: Medardo Heras, 1796), II,
374: "Tubo novilisima Casa, Varones sabios de diversas faciiltades; . . . Capilla de estremados Musicos,
y Cantores. . ." This Alfonso de Aragdn (1470-1520) was not the same person as the Alfonso de Arag6n
to whom Despuig dedicated his 1495 Ars musicorum.
5 Ibid., II, 379-380. Born at Caspe, he rose from humblest origins to a canonry at 39. In 1512 he was named
bishop of Barcelona.
104 Liturgical Music
Easter and Ascension. In the Huesca missal of 1488, to be described next, music not only for
the still current Victimae paschali but also for the now obsolete Ascension and Pentecost
sequences, Omnes gentes plaudite and Sancti Spiritus adsit nobis gratia, has been copied on
parchment leaves pasted at the beginning and end of the exemplar owned by The Hispanic
Society.
Missale Oscense (Saragossa, 1488)
THE HUESCA of 1488 is identical with the Saragossa of 1485 in every respect except these:
(i) ten new preliminary leaves of Huesca calendar have been substituted for the ten old leaves
of Saragossa calendar; (2) a new pastoral letter by Juan of Aragon and Navarre, 6 bishop of
Huesca, has been inserted in place of the old letter of Alfonso of Aragon; (3) a new final leaf
with a colophon dated June i, 1488, and mentioning John Hums of Constance rather than
Paul Hums as printer replaces the previous colophon dated October 26, 1485.
Antiphonarium et graduate ad usum ordinis S. Hieronymi (Seville, 1491)
THOUGH it has usually been said that Lux bella of 1492 was the first Sevillian musical imprint,
the present i66-leaf combination antiphoner and gradual precedes it. In both cases the printers
were the same four-man group, Quatro companeros alemanes ("Four German associates" - Paul of
Cologne, John Pegnitzer of Nuremberg, Magnus Herbs de Fils, and Thomas Glockner). Only
one copy of this book printed on vellum for use among the Jeronymite order survives; 7 and
it is defective. Conserved at the Paris Biblioth&que Nationale, it differs from the usual Spanish
liturgical incunabulum in showing music on nearly every page. Only one other contains as
much - the 1494 Processionarium ordinis praedicatorum. These two imprints also invite com
parison because of the similar appearance of the music on the page (red tetragram, infrequent
use of compound neums), because both were printed at the behest of powerful Spanish orders
for use in religious houses rather than for secular use, and because both testify to the elaborate
musical routine which was a part of the daily life in those houses. Both were printed at Seville,
but the Processionarium by a different printers' association, Meinard Ungut and Stanislaus
Polonus.
Processionarium ordinis praedicatorum (Seville, 1494)
MORE COPIES of this processionarium survive than of any other Spanish incunabulum of
whatsoever kind. Over 100 copies were discovered in one Dominican house in 1912,8
placed on sale, and disseminated throughout the world. Any student of Spanish music
printing has therefore in all likelihood seen at least one copy. In respect of its preser-
6 Juan de Arag6n y Navarra (1457-1526), son of Charles Prince of Viana, and grandson of John II, king
of Aragon, took possession of the Huesca see in 1484. The lineage and upbringing of most fifteenth- and six
teenth-century Spanish bishops was princely. The art and music with which they surrounded themselves
reflected their own personal tastes. See Latassa, Bibliotecas antigua y nueva, additions by Miguel G6mez
Uriel (Saragossa: Imp. de Calisto Ariflo, 1884), I, 118-119.
7 F. Vindel, El arte tipogrdfico en Espana durante el siglo XV: Sevitta y Granada (Madrid: Dir. Gen. de
Relaciones Culturales, 1949), p. no.
8 Ibid., p. 181.
Liturgical Music 105
vation, the processionarium is therefore in a different class from its companion musical
incunabula.
This processionarium can be usefully compared not only with the Sevillian 1491
antiphoner, but also with an exactly contemporaneous (1494) processional 9 for the use
of the same order, the Dominicans - but of the Lombard congregation - published in
Venice by Joannes Emericus, a German printer. The Seville processional reaches 114
leaves, 10 quarto-size; the Venice 122, octavo-size. As for differences, the Seville music
is much more opulently printed, with more space between the lines of the red tetragram,
bigger neums, fewer ligatures, and with more careful spacing of the words. Then again,
the rubrics telling what is to be done at such and such a moment tend to be more
explicit.
The Seville processional inaugurates a printing custom observed in nearly all later
Andalusian musical imprints: bar-lining of the words. The double bar-line in this
processional indicates a shift from cantor to chorus. Neither of these refinements
captures the fancy of the Venetian printer. Instead of the double-bar, the Venice copy
contains printed directions, cantor, chorus, and occasionally duo cantores. In the Hunting-
ton Library copy of the Venice processional a contemporary hand has also written orga
(organ) and cho (chorus). 11
The Seville begins with Purification, then skips to Palm Sunday, after which it
follows the major events of the church year through Assumption (August 15), omitting
however Corpus Christi. Music for the latter is included in the Venice processional. Holy
Saturday is much more largely treated in the Seville book, only two leaves being
devoted to this day in the Venice book. Seville also contains a Liber generations for both
Matthew and Luke, various responds for feasts not found in Venice, and a respond to be
sung "in time of war against the enemies of the faith," Congregati sunt. The martial
spirit still current in Spain, where the Moors had been finally subjugated only two years
previously, required a type of military expression in the Seville processionarium which is
significantly absent from its Venice coetanean. 12
Manuale Toletanum (Seville, 1494)
THE FIRST dated Toledo incunabulum of any dimension - the Confutatorium errorum printed by
Juan Vazquez - came out as late as 1486. In Seville, on the other hand, a sizable Repertorium
quaestionum super Nicolaum de Tudeschis (237 leaves) reached print as early as 1477. The
tardiness in luring a first-class impresor meant that the first liturgical book for use at Toledo
which contains music, the Manuale seu baptisterium secundum vsum alme ecclesie Toletane, had
to be printed at Seville (by Tres companeros alemanes).
9 Processionarium ordinis fratrum predicaiorum. The Seville processional lacks a title-page.
1 Vindel, p. 178, cites 114 as the number of leaves. But the Huntington Library copy once owned by the
Duenas de Zamora seems to be complete with two less.
11 Although portatives were also in constant use at Seville during processions, none of the three copies
which we have seen of the Sevillian processionarium shows such hand-written annotations.
12 Venice has the complete music for a Missa pro defunctis not in Seville; also a hymnary (fols. 52V.-64)
missing from Seville, Both include an Officium sepulture fratris defuncti.
io6 Liturgical Music
A copy is preserved at El Escorial, apparently unique. 13 The manual, which according to the
preface was printed for the benefit of local diocesan clergy, is a miscellany of 76 leaves designed
to satisfy the parish priest's most basic needs. The music printed on red tetragram is, like the
primer of the Christian faith in the same manual, extremely simple. This manual does, however,
precede all other Spanish imprints in providing music for a nuptial Mass.
Missale Auriense (Monterrey, 1494)
OSTENSIBLY, Juan de Porras and Gonzalo Rodrigo de la Passera printed the Orense missal at
Monterrey, a Galician hamlet lying just above the Portuguese border. Two copies survive -
one at the Madrid Biblioteca Nacional 14 and the other in Orense Cathedral. This 278-leaf
Gothic-type missal is however so sumptuous a printing achievement that almost certainly the
major part of the work on it was done in Salamanca rather than in Monterrey. 15 Since all
Porras's other books were printed in Salamanca, since no other book with Monterrey as its
place of imprint survives, and lastly since Porras was definitely at Salamanca when in 1495
the Santiago de Compostela cabildo commissioned him to print 750 missals, it seems likely the
Orense missal was also printed, except perhaps for a few leaves, in Salamanca where printing
began as early as 1480.
Though the music is too small to be read easily from any distance, at least the neums are
actually printed and not merely hand-copied over a printed set of staves - in this case red
pentagram rather than tetragram. Words are usually bar-lined, except in the case of mono
syllables. Puncta with two tails and the clivis with the second note a diamond frequently
occur. Neums first appear as late as the verso of folio clxx. The fourteen pages of music include
chants for the Lord's Prayer, various prefaces, lie missa est, and Benedicamus.
Missale Caesaraugustanum (Saragossa, 1498)
PRINTED by Paul Hums like the 1485 Saragossa missal already described, this 1498
missal 16 heads a large family of handy quarto-size missals issued at Saragossa before
1550. Indeed so distinctive of Saragossa did the small portable missal become that the
bibliographer can now safely guess the place where any such Spanish missal was
published before 1550. The Madrid Biblioteca Nacional alone owns seven such, handy
Saragossa missals: 17 1498, Paul Hums (1 323) ; 1511, George Coci 18 (R 929) ; 1522, Coci
(R 6096) ; 1531, Coci (R 14465) ; *532, Coci (M 218} ; 1543, Coci (R 6118) ; 1548, Coci
(R 6643}. Of these the 1498 and 1522 form a pair since they are "local use" missals, so
designated in their title and confirmed in their contents. The quintet of 1511, 1531, 1532,
13 Vindel, El arte . . . Sevitta y Granada, p. 194.
14 Signature: I 1128.
15 Vindel, El arte . . . Salamanca . . ., p. xxvii. One other liturgical book was reputedly printed in Monter
rey - a Manuals Bracarense (1496, Joannes Gerlinch) for use in Braga diocese (Vindel, op. cit., p. 285). No
known copy, however, survives.
is Size: 9^" x 6f" (x 2j").
17 The AngleVSubird Catdlogo, II, refers to the 1552 Missale Caesaraugustanum (sign. M 557) as the ear
liest Saragossa missal containing music.
18 On Coci see Henry Thomas, "The Printer George Coci of Saragossa/ 1 Gutenberg Festschrift (Mainz:
Gutenberg-Gesellschaft, 1925), pp. 276-278.
Liturgical Music 107
1543, and 1548, are each entitled Missale Romanum. Fray Pedro de la Vega, editor of the
"Roman" missals, belonged to the Jeronymite order. He came to Saragossain 1510, was
elected prior of Santa Engracia convento in 1522, again in 1528, and general of his order
in 1537. In his "Roman" missals he succeeded "so admirably with the size, print, and a
hundred other niceties that they were eagerly bought throughout all Spain," reports
Jose de Sigiienza in his Tercera parte de la Historia de la Orden de San Geronimo (1605
[bk. 2, ch. 41]).
The 1498 missal reflects again the personality of Alfonso of Aragon, archbishop of
Saragossa. At his expense the first folio-size missals of 1485 had been printed. These
being evidently exhausted he entrusted the revision and reissue of the missal to Do
mingo Tienda. The impression took some ten weeks, n September-23 November. The
music, on red tetragram as is the rule in Saragossa books, everywhere bespeaks careful
printing: the neums are always beautifully registered, words bar-lined, and ligatures so
spaced as to avoid any misinterpretation of the beginning- and ending-notes for a
specific syllable.
The Madrid copy of the 1498 missal reaches 359 leaves, of the 1522 missal 326 leaves.
Proportionately, more music fills up the latter. The music carried over from 1498 to
1522 is printed identically except that in 1522 right-hand tails are added to indicate
accented syllables. Liberal flats (as accidentals) have been added in both. The im
portance of music in the Saragossa use is inferred from the decision to print 101 pages of
music in the 1522 missal. 19 The 1498 missal shows but 72 of music.
The relative importance of Holy Saturday can be judged from the fact that 15 pages
of music are included in the 1498 missal for that one day alone. Good Friday, for
purposes of comparison, is musically less important - only ten pages being allowed.
Easter itself is in the 1498 book, for that matter, less important (as always in Spanish
books, musically speaking) than Holy Saturday.
Missale Toletanum (Toledo, 1499)
THE 324-leaf Missale mixtum alme ecclesie toletane 20 issued by Peter Hagenbach on
June i, 1499, survives as the earliest Toledo liturgical imprint. But its preface witnesses
to an earlier printed missal, the copies of which were all destroyed by order of the
archbishop to whom it was dedicated, Francisco Xim6nez de Cisneros. Absent in
Granada when the earlier issue appeared, he immediately called for a revision when he
saw a copy on his return.
This missal therefore illustrates a classic bibliographical principle: the dedicatees
determined the character of these liturgical imprints. Xim&iez de Cisneros was a scholar
of the first order, but an ascetic. The 1499 missal, as we now know it, exactly mirrors his
character. In the first place, it carries marginal references, not to be found in any other
Spanish missal of its generation and anticipatory of usage after the Council of Trent.
19 Total number of leaves in B.N. (Madrid) exemplar: 326. The reason for reprinting the 1498 missal was
its "disorder" and lack of index, states the author of the 1522 colophon (fol. ccc iii).
Copy in Madrid Biblioteca Nacional: sign. I 1137 (olim I 978).
io8 Liturgical Music
These marginal references tell in each case the precise scriptural locations for gospels and
epistles read at Mass. Moreover this is the first Spanish missal with an adequate index.
The printing refinements obviously cost considerable sums, not to mention the use of
vellum. Yet this Toledo missal, unlike others of its epoch eschews illuminations. In the
lone picture adorning it, the Virgin confers special graces on Isidore. A half -century later
when Juan Martinez Siliceo ruled as Spanish primate (1546-1557), a Toledo-use missal
not nearly so carefully executed insofar as text or music is concerned was printed at
Alcald de Henares (1550). 21 It, by way of contrast, was filled with pictures of undraped
adult angels. They may be correctly pictured as far as theology is concerned. But they
do not add an ascetic tone to the missal.
The 1499 editors seek by every means to ensure correct performance of the printed
chants. Exceptionally wide spacing between lines of the pentagram and correspondingly
large neums make for a new legibility. The following musical refinements call for notice :
(i) printed flats; (2) right-hand stems to designate accented syllables; (3) words half
bar-lined; (4) sentences bar-lined; (5) changes from cantor to chorus double bar-lined;
(7) diamond-shaped notes (not in descending series) used to denote rapid utterance;
(8) punctum with two stems, both up or both down, used to denote double time-value.
Neums appear at a total of 107 pages, one-sixth of the book, with the chants for Holy
Saturday taking up 34 of these 107 pages.
Missale Giennense (Seville, 1499)
PRINTED by Ungut and Polonus, this missal for use in Jan diocese 22 contains 262
numbered leaves. Again the most ''musical" day in the church year proves to have been
Holy Saturday. For this one day 19 pages of music are printed 23 in the Ja<n missal. Of
these 13 are full pages of music. That this emphasis on Sabbato Sancto was distinctively
Spanish is proved by comparing the Ja6n 1499 missal with the 1498 Braga missal, the
latter printed in Lisbon by Nicholaus de Saxonia. 24 Four staves are provided on one
page 25 for Holy Saturday music in the Braga missal: no more. Indeed the textual
21 Missale secundum ordinem primatis ecclesie Toletane (Bibl. Nac. Madrid: sign. R. 6052).
22 Incipit missale secundum morem et consuetudinem sancte ecclesie Giennensis; printed by order of Diego
de Deza, bishop of Jae"n. The latter, a Dominican, was the principal opponent of Pedro de Osma, and suc
ceeded him as Salamanca theological professor in 1477. The copy seen by the present author, apparently
unique, belongs to the Huntington Library. Karl Haebler in his Bibliografia IbMca del siglo XV, segunda
parte (Leipzig: Karl W. Hiersemann, 1917), pp. 125-126, wrote: "Not a single copy of this book is known,
but that it was printed cannot be doubted." In the Archivo de Protocolos at Seville was found the will of
the printer, Meinard Ungut (d. December, 1500), in which he deposed that the bishop of Jae"n still owed him
100,000 maravedises ( 267 ducats) for 400 copies printed on paper and 12 on vellum. See Archivo hispalense,
t. II (1886), pp. 297-298, for further details concerning the careers of Ungut and Polonus in Seville.
23 On ten of these pages the four-line red staves have been left blank for the Litany (fols. Ixxxix-xciii
verso) .
24 For bibliographical data see Haebler, Bibliografia Ibfrica (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1904), pp.
207-208. A copy of the Missale Bracarense is in the Huntington Library.
25 The exemplar at the Huntington Library unfortunately shows only empty staves. This missal was the
first published in Portugal. Like the Jae"n, it ends with a "manual" partly in the vernacular.
Liturgical Mitsic 109
matter for the whole day consumes only 8 pages. But the Jaen missal assigns 36 pages to
this one day. Both books contain a like total number of leaves: Jaen 262, Braga 230.
As for Sundays, Palm Sunday towers musically above all others in the church year as
observed at Jaen.
Missale Tarraconense (Tarragona, 1499) and Missal e Benedictum (Montserrat, U99)
TWO MISSALS were printed in Catalonia in 1499. The first, issued by John Rosembach in
Tarragona - one of the most ancient of all Catalonian sees, contains printed staves over which
music was to have been copied by hand. 26 The other, a Missale secundum consuetudinem
monachorum congregationis Sancti Benedicti de ValladoUd, was printed by John Luschner at
Montserrat. 27
Processionarium ordinis S. Benedicti (Montserrat, 1500)
ISSUED like the preceding by Luschner, this Benedictine processional bears as its full
title, Processionarium secundum consuetudinem Monachorum congregationis sancti
Benedicti de Valladolid. A total of 130 copies on vellum and 300 on paper are known to
have been printed, but of these only three vellum and one paper seem to have survived -
the solitary paper copy having come into possession of The Hispanic Society in New
York. Music printed over red tetragram is to be found at 108 of the 112 numbered leaves
(front and dorse).
Comparison of this processional with, for instance, the 1494 and 1519 Dominican
processionals published at Seville, or the Jeronymite 1526 processional published at
Alcala de Henares 28 reveals many illuminating differences: (i) in the arrangement of
the contents; (2) in the relative importance attached to various events of the church
year; (3) in methods of notating the chants; (4) in the exclusion or admission of certain
melodies of peninsular origin such as, for instance, the Spanish melody for St. Thomas
Aquinas's Pange lingua gloriosi; (5) in the actual notes prescribed even when the chants
prove to have been essentially the same; (6) in the addition of accidentals. Certain of
these differences can be ascribed to the religious orders themselves for which the books
were printed. Others may even reflect the liturgical variants that flourished from
diocese to diocese in which the books were respectively printed. The differences which
26 A. copy is in The Hispanic Society, New York City. Further on Rosembach's activity as a music printer,
see Jordi Rubi6, "Una carta inedita catalana de Timpressor Joan Rosenbach de Heidelberg," Gutenberg
Festschrift (1925), pp. 408-411. In The Hispanic Society paper exemplar (parts i and 2) two short chants
have been actually notated - the Ecce lignum crucis in pt. i at fol. XCII verso (Good Friday) and the Venite
et accendite in pt. 2 at fol. XII verso of the Sanctorale [February 2]. As in the other Spanish missals, Holy
Saturday (with n full pages of red four-line staves) musically outranks all other days in the church year.
Exultet iam angelica turbo, consumes fols. XCIIII verso-XCV verso in pt. i. Dominica in ramis palmarum also
outranks all other Sundays (8 pages).
27 For further details see F. Vindel, El arte tipogrdfico en Cataluna durante el siglo XV (Madrid: Rela-
ciones culturales, 1945), pp. 228-230.
28 Incipit liber processionum secundum ordtnem fratrum predicatorum (Seville: Jacob Cromberger, 1519);
Incipit liber processionarius secundum consuetudinem ordinis sancti Pairis nostri Hieronymi (Alcala de He
nares: Miguel de Egufa, 1526). Copies in The Hispanic Society.
no Liturgical Music
are most enlightening for our purposes have to do with points (3), (4), (5), and (6) in
the above enumeration.
Luschner's processional introduces ligatures sparingly and knows no way of showing
a held punctum of double time-value. Moreover his processional does not trouble to
distinguish parts for soloist or soloists. Like Cromberger he bar-lines his words, but the
correct placement of syllables proves trickier because of his infrequent recourse to liga
tures. Luschner's chants, even when fundamentally the same, tend toward longer
melismas, wider ranges, and more profuse embellishment. As a typical example the
Collegerunt pontifices (Luschner, fol. 24; Cromberger, fols. gv.-io) deserves study. No
melisma of the extravagant kind concluding the Benedicamus for Trinity Sunday
(Luschner, fol. 56v.) with its 36 notes on one syllable is anywhere to be encountered in the
Cromberger. Furthermore Luschner abhors recto tono recitation; and in a chant such as
IngrecLiente Domino (fols. 24V.-25) introduces inverted mordents on such a word as
"resurrectionem" to escape repeating the same note six or seven times (Cromberger,
fol. 13 v.). Because Luschner's melodies, even when fundamentally the same, tend to
stray out of bounds he frequently finds himself forced to change clef in the middle of a
chant. If his melodies range more widely and freely, and if his book devotes much more
impartial attention to the different feasts of the church year than do either Crom-
berger's or Eguia's, Luschner's on the other hand omits such characteristically Spanish
melodies as the "more hispano" Pange lingua (Cromberger, fol. 48, and Eguia, fol. 36v.)
and Sacris solemniis (Cromberger, fol. 48v. ; Eguia, fol. 39), both of which figure largely
in the works of Spanish sixteenth-century polyphonists from Penalosa to Navarro. If,
lastly, comparison be made of the Luschner with the Eguia, such added refinements as
these are to be found in the 1526 processional: (i) mensural notation of hymns; and
(2) rather frequent use of the natural as a precautionary accidental.
Hymnorum Intonationes (Montserrat, 1500)
OF THE 406 copies of this 48-leaf hyinnary known to have been printed, only one exemplar
seems to have survived ; and it was conserved in the private library of D. Pablo Font de Rubinat
(Reus, Catalonia) when last studied. 29 The hymni dominicales take up the first 15 leaves,
the hymni sanctorales the rest. Even the melodies associated with such familiar texts as the
Ave maris stetta and Verbum supernum depart from any found in contemporary Andalusian or
Castilian liturgical books. The collection is stripped of accidentals; then again, the jaunty
triple meter in which hymns were sung elsewhere throughout Spain is nowhere hinted at in the
notation.
Missale Abulense (Salamanca, 1500)
JUST AS THE 1499 Toledo and Jaen missals were printed at the order of bishops newly
introduced into their sees and eager to improve liturgical standards, so also the Avila
missal of 1500 was printed at the express order of Alfonso Carrillo de Albornoz, newly
29 El arte tipogrdfico en Catalwfta, p. 240.
Liturgical Music 1 1 1
translated to the see of Avila in 1498. But in contrast with the sobriety of the Toledo and
Jaen books, one printed for the austere Franciscan, Ximenez de Cisneros, and the other
for the Dominican champion of orthodoxy, Diego de Deza, the Avila missal spills
precious spikenard on every page. Not much is known of the personality of Carrillo de
Albornoz, who was bishop of the Sicilian see of Catania before translation to Avila. But
his name suggests that he belonged to the noble Carrillo de Albornoz clan which had
produced a primate and numerous other prelates.
The printing, executed on vellum in the Madrid Biblioteca National copy (sign. 1 1044
[olim I 2016]) by the Salamanca printer, Juan de Porras, reaches a level not exceeded in
any other Spanish liturgical incunabulum under present survey. Even so, the bishop in
his introductory letter to the dean and chapter of Avila Cathedral complains that the
printing had been negligently done and that time had been wasted in assembling vellum.
If many copies of this 265-leaf missal, the dimensions of which are 15 inches by 10 by 5,
were printed on vellum it is not surprising that the assembly of sufficient membranas
took time. The coloring of the border designs, which include as diverse elements as
griffins, unicorns, turbaned Moors, and full-blown roses, would also have taken time.
Indeed the last 50 leaves of the surviving exemplar in the Madrid Biblioteca National
lack coloring, though the designs have been executed and gilding added.
As for the music: words are bar-lined, neums are printed over red pentagram, F-clef
is used preponderantly, clef position changes in the middle of a staff where necessary to
avoid ledger lines. But what is novel in the music is the frequent use of the natural-sign.
The sign is given in the shape of a modern natural, 30 not as a sharp, and is placed
directly before the note to which it refers. Only one other early Spanish printer of
liturgical books, Miguel de Eguia of Alcala de Henares, added more natural signs than
Porras. The naturals added in the Porras 1500 missal and the Eguia Processionarium
secundum consuetudinem Ordinis Sancti Hieronymi (1526) 31 occur usually in dorian or
lydian chants. The printing of naturals in supposedly unaccidentalized plainsong would
not be so noteworthy were these naturals mere "cancellations" of previous flats in the
same chants. Such is not the case in either the Avila missal of Porras or the Jeronymite
processional of Eguia.
Printed naturals or sharps do not characterize plainsong books published c. 1500
outside Spain. Perhaps only the Spaniards sang bemol so habitually that naturals were
needed to correct the habit. 32
80 Lacking, however, the right descender.
31 For bibliographical references see P. Benigno Fernandez, Impresos de Alcald en la Biblioteca del Escorial
(Madrid : Imp. Helenica, 1916), p. 24 (Item 26). The defective copy of this vellum processional now conserved
in the New York Public Library lacks the last 62 leaves. These are found in El Escorial library: see Fernan
dez, op, dt. f p. 24. The Colombina French chansonnier affords another more famous example of a MS which
must be completed with leaves conserved in a foreign library.
32 The Spanish theorists were not the only ones who recognized the national tendency to "weep in flats."
Even poets made mention of the national flatting habit. As early as 1405 the poet Alfonso Alvares wrote
this quatrain (Cancionero de Baena [Madrid: M. Rivadeneyra, 1851], p. 115):
Los ynogentes cawten chanzonetas
Dando loores a Ssanta Mary a
En musyca fyna, dulge melodia,
Mudando bemoles en primas 6 quintas.
II2 Liturgical Music
Musical Variants in Spanish Liturgical Incunabula (Roman Rite)
TO APPRECIATE the monodies found in these various Spanish incunabula, and to assess
their musical distinctions, some one chant common to several books should be studied.
The Holy Saturday chant Exultet iam angelica turba sung at the blessing of candles can
be found in these five different Spanish incunabula: (i) Dominican processional
published at Seville, 1494; (2) Saragossa 'local use" missal published in 1498; (3)
Toledo missal, 1499 ; (4) Jaen missal published at Seville, 1499 ; (5) Avila missal published
at Salamanca, 1500. Despite the variants, these five different versions at once reveal
themselves as essentially the same melody. If its peninsular origin cannot be proved, at
least it can be called a distinctively more hispano chant. The melody to which these
words were sung in Italy, as shown in the 1497 Missale Romanum published by John
Hertzog at Venice, is on the other hand an entirely different chant. To make the
case as clear as possible, the 1497 "Roman" melody for Exultet iam angelica turba is here
shown immediately below the five Spanish incunabula melodies. The "Roman"
melody is austere, restrained, syllabic. The Spanish melodies are florid, expansive, more
richly hued. Not until after the Council of Trent did the "Roman" version replace the
Spanish version in peninsular local use missals. The earliest missal printed in Spanish
dominions, but reproducing the Roman version of this chant, may possibly be a
Missale Romanum printed for local use in the archdiocese of Mexico by Antonio de
Espinosa in 1561. The seventh melody shown below is therefore extracted from the
Espinosa missal (fols. I04v.-io5r.), the earliest printed in the New World.
The first lesson learned from studying Spanish liturgical incunabula is, then, the inde
pendence of the peninsular musical tradition. Secondly, one learns that within the
national tradition there was room for individual variation from diocese to diocese.
The two melodies published at Seville show, for instance, very close resemblance. The
Toledo melody, however, pursues its own way at cadences. The Avila version is the
only one prescribing bfc|'s each time the high note of the chant is reached. Were it possible
to give an interpretation of the semimensural notation on which all scholars would
agree, the comparison of local variants could be pushed much further. All scholars will
at least accept this premiss: the notation in the Toledo 1499 and in certain later Sara
gossa missals 33 does imply measured rhythm.
IN CONSIDERING local Spanish variants from diocese to diocese we should remember
that not only music but also text itself often differed. Even the wording of the canon
of the Mass differed at Toledo, Salamanca, and Saragossa. As an example, the wording
of the first sentence after the consecration of the wine differs in early books published
for each use. 34 At Toledo, moreover, the Agnus Dei preceded the mixing of corpus cum
33 The Saragossa Missale Romanum published by Coci in 1543 deserves special attention. It can hardly
be doubted that such notation as that found on the last two staves of fol. LXXVII implies measured rhythm.
34 in the Toledo missals of 1499 and 1512, the first published at Toledo, the second at Burgos, the word
eiusdam is inserted between sancta and Christi but is not to be found in the Salamanca missal of 1562 nor
in the missals printed at Saragossa in 1511, 1531, or 1532. The Salamanca missal omits Dei between domini
and nostrii the Toledo and Saragossa missals include Dei.
Liturgical Music
Exultet iam angelica turba
Processtoaarium ordtnis praecticaforwn (Seville, 1494)
8
ul-tet torn on ge If ca tor
Missale. Ca&araLugustenwn (Sorocfossa , 1498)
ba ce lo rum:ex-ul-tentc/i-vi-na my
M. //tj^fcuc* \*A*.IS*?I*J cx^ty <t^n.(.tft<Mn. \\jvu wywjjv*. , |*r^uy
" Be ul tet- fam an-qe . li to. tor ba ce lo rum-'ex-ul-tentdi-vi-na rn
tet- fam an-cje-
tfissale. Toletenum (TbI edo, 1499)
ba ce lo rum:ex-ol-tentdi-vi-na rny-
ul-tet iam an-ge If-
\\\*) 1499)
R-ul-tet iam an ge li ca tun-
ftiss&te A6ulens& (Salamanca, 1500)
ba ce lo rum:ex-ul-tentdf-vi"-na my-
-ca toi
ba ca lo rum:ex-ul-tentdi-vi-na rny-
Missale, Romaaum (Venice, 1497)
f
EJ
|
Ex ul tefciaman-ge li ca tur ba
Missale f&manufli (Mexico City,156J)
ce lo rom: ex-ol tenldi-vi na my-
8 Ex ul tetiaman-ge. li ca tur ba celo rom: ex-ul tertdi-vi pa my-
sanguine, while it came after the mixing at Salamanca and Saragossa. If differences are
found in the canon, then obviously they are present to an even greater degree elsewhere
in these uses. In the Toledo calendar, for instance (and the Mozarabic rite restored by
Cardinal Xim6nez de Cisneros is not here under consideration, but rather the Roman
rite), Sundays were numbered after the octave of Corpus Christi. But in the books
examined from Salamanca and Saragossa Sundays were numbered after Pentecost.
The saints who received special honors also differed notably. The feast of Ildephonsus
(January 23) was, for instance, celebrated at Avila with the same degree of solemnity
as Circumcision and Ephiphany, but was omitted entirely in the Saxagossa calendars of
1511 and 1531. In compensation Saragossa diocese observed April 16 (Eighteen Martyrs
of Saragossa) and November 3 (Passio martyrum Caesaraugustanorum) as major feast
days.
The differences are emphasized not for their own sake, but to show how real the variants
Liturgical Music
Seville
> ste
r j a: et proton*! re-gis vi-cto-pi a tu-ba in-to-
H a: etprotan-ti re-gis vi-cto ri a tu-ba in-to-
Toledo
.1499
Seville
-Ste-
ri a: etpn>taivti.re-gi$ vi-cto-rf a tu-ba in-tp-
ri a: etprotan-ti re-gb vf-cto-n a tu-ba j'n-to-
-ste-
rf a: tprotan-ti re-gis vi-cto-ri-
i tu-ba in~to-
Venice
8 -ste
ri-a: etprotanti re^is vi-cto ri a tu-fca. in to-
.**
. Mexico-
city -
1561
8
ste
- ri- a: et pro tanti re*9is vi-cto ri a tu ba inH-
* Bt| though not specified except in the 1500 Salamanca print should be sung, the rules of the Spanish
plainsong theorists requiring the natural when in a descending scale passage [7 fa tjmi is succeeded by re
peated a's.
** E is misprinted in the original.
were until uniformity was achieved through the decrees of the Council of Trent. Each
local center nursed its local traditions, each needed its own books, each proudly observed
certain local liturgical and musical customs. The central national tradition was the
theme on which each local diocese constructed, as it were, its own canonic variation.
AS FOR THE RUBRICS found in connection with such a chant as the Exultet iam angelica
turba, they differed also. These variants will not be recapitulated here; but the rubrics
never failed to prescribe a dramatic rendition. One instance only: at Avila just before
the singing of this chant the officiating deacon entered the choir and announced in a
low voice: "Behold the Light shed by Christ." All replied: 'Thanks be to God." Then a
second time the deacon repeated: "Behold the Light shed by Christ/' but louder. The
chorus replied, "Thanks be to God." A third time the deacon repeated: "Behold the
Light shed by Christ," this time with maximum force. The chorus replied a third time,
and then broke into the jubilant chant : "Now the whole angelic host of heaven exults in
Liturgical Music
ville
1494
8.
net so.
lu ia ris. 6ao-de-at -se tel lus tarvti Ju-mi-nis ir-rcL-di-a-taL
"-netsa lu to
ris. Gamfe-at se tei-los tan-ti. lu-mi-nb ip-ra-dr-a-ta
eviile
1499
-netsa-
-lu-ta
Gao-dfratse tfil Iu5 tan-ti lu-mHiis ir-ra-di-a-ta
los tan-ti fu-mHie fwttdi-a ^ta
- net so. lu tot ris . Gou-de at et teWus ton* is in ra di a to.
,
F -FF
8- netsa lu ta-
ris.
6ou-de-at, tel-tus tan-tb ir ra di a ta -
the divine wonder, and the trumpet sounds for such a kingly victory and deliverance;
Earth rejoices in the bright rays of such a Light . . .". This tendency to dramatize the
chant may ill accord with present-day plainsong doctrine, but also may explain why
Spanish Renaissance composers favored plainsong themes as did composers of no other
nationality.
Missale Mozarabe (Toledo, 1500)
FRANCISCO XIMENEZ DE ciSNEROS (1436-1517), Queen Isabella's confessor, archbishop of
Toledo after 1495, and sponsor of the most ambitious publishing venture undertaken in
his generation - the six-volume Complutensian Polyglot (Alcald de Henares, 1514-1517),
has often been credited with a gesture which he actually did not make: namely, the
restoration of the Mozarabic rite in Toledo. What he did do was to sponsor publication
of a 48o-leaf Missale mixtum secundum regulam beati Isidori dictum Mozarabes (Toledo:
u6
Liturgical Music
Seville
JJJJJJJJJ*
ful 30 n-bus:et e-ter-ni re<jis splendors lu-stra
. } to-ti-us
ful go ri-bus;et e-ter-ni regfesplenclore lu-stra-
-ta, to-ti-us
Toledo
ful 90-*n-bus:et e-ten.ni re-^tesptemiore il lo stna-
td, to-ti-us
Seviila
Salamanca
ri-bus : et e-ten-ni re^issplendore i Wu-stra.-
ta , to-ti-us
ful-go rf-bus:et e ter-n? real's 3plendo-r. iJluJtna
to-ti-us
J '
ful-go - ri-bus: et e - ten-ni re-jis splendo-re il-Iu stra - tct.
to ti'-us
Peter Hagenbach, 1500), 35 to endorse the copying of various cantor ales, and to endow
the Mozarabic chapel in Toledo Cathedral.
The Mozarabic rite though generally discontinued after 1085 had never wholly died,
six parishes in Toledo having been permitted to continue using the Mozarabic liturgy.
In the introduction to the 1500 Missale Mozarabe Alfonso Ortiz, canon of Toledo to
whom Ximenez de Cisneros had entrusted the editing, specifically mentions the rectors
of three of these Mozarabic parish churches as his "editorial aides." The three churches
were those of Saints Luke, Justa and Rufina, and Eulalia, and their parish priests were
Geronimo Gutierrez, Antonio Rodriguez, and Alfonso Martinez.
Ortiz claims to have availed himself of help "from those most learned in the rite
[Gutierrez, Rodriguez, Martinez] here in Toledo/' He furthermore promises that what he
has gathered from dispersed sources he has collated; that he has expunged errors, and
has carefully considered all doubtful points in order to ensure an accurate missal.
Anyone who is familiar with the Complutensian Polyglot or even with the 1499 Missale
85 Biblioteca National Madrid exemplar: I 15. The Hispanic Society in New York also possesses a copy.
Liturgical Music
117
Seville
1494
Saragassa:;
1498- -
Toledo
(499
Seville
1499
Salamanca
1500
or bisse sen-ti ab a-mi-^sis se ca-li
or bisse sen-ti at a-mi-sis se ca-li
or-bis se sen-ti at a-mi-sis se ca If
nem.
nem.
or bis se sen-ti afc a-miVsis
-<j 1 nem .
or-bis se servti at a-mi-sis se ca-
-.gi-nem.
Venice
1497
Mexico
or~bts se sen ti-ab a-mi-sis se ca !i g
nem.
i
or-bis se ^en-tt-ot a mksto-se ca li 31-
nem.
Toletanum will agree that XimSnez de Cisneros was the most painstaking scholar among
the hierarchy of his century. Such an inflexible perfectionist as he would have demanded
no less accuracy, finish, and care in the Mozarabic missal than he expected in every
other publication that he endorsed.
Since it was through his initiative that the Mozarabic chapel was founded in the
primatial cathedral, 36 the music in the 1500 missal (and in the Mozarabic cantorales
copied at his instigation) doubtless reflects the tradition still alive in the Mozarabic
parishes c. 1500. Was this tradition contaminated with such a variety of outside
influences as to be wholly corrupt? This question has been argued extensively. Any
final answer must necessarily be delayed until more is known concerning Mozarabic
chant in its golden age.
86 Xim&iez de Cisneros provided an endowment for 13 chaplains, a sacristan, and two acolytes, his in
tention being that the Mozarabic Mass and office should be sung daily. An interesting contemporary account
of a Mozarabic Mass in Toledo Cathedral beginning at six on Monday morning, June 27, 1502, is preserved
in an account of Philip the Fair's first Spanish tour. See Edmond Van der Straeten, La musique awe Pays-
Bas (Brussels: G.-A. Van Trigt, 1885), VII, 155-156.
u8
Liturgical Music
ONE principal objection taken against the music of the 1500 missal is its excessive
amount of arabesque. In no other Spanish liturgical book of its date do we encounter so
much fioriture. The embellishments follow such unmistakable rhythmic patterns as
these :
t
*t
The copyist in his endeavor to record rhythmic distinctions finds that he must use
crotchets and quavers, as well as diamond-shaped notes without tails, single squares,
and oblique ligatures. He also resorts to the long-outdated plica.
The tessiture of the solo melodies in this Mozarabic missal differ radically, moreover,
from what is required in other Spanish missals printed c. 1500. In the Song of the Three
Children (Benedicite) shown below, the soloist sings high #'s frequently and high g's con
stantly. Only a virtuoso tenor can have met the overweening vocal demands.
On the other hand, a chant in which the congregation participates, such as the Lord's
Benedicite omnia opera*
Missale mixtum secundum regulam beati Isidori dictum Mozarabes
(Toledo, 1500), fol. ccxxii verso.
. .
A-men.
In the transcriptions
Liturgical Music
Deo ac Domino nostro
Missale mixtum . . . Mozarabes, fol. ccxxvii verso.
119
stro
le-su Chri sto fi-
-li o De-
CIUI
esb in
ce-
-Ii5
8
df-
lau des df gnas cjue gra-tia$ re fa ra-mus.
Prayer (fol. CCXXVI) traverses a comfortably medium range. The Pater noster with its
congregational Amen after each petition differs from such solo chants as the Benedicite
not only by its range but by its syllabic simplicity. A still lower range, indeed a range
suitable for basso profondo, characterizes chants which the presbyter rather than
deacon is to sing. For instance at fol. CCXXVII (verso) the "officiating priest with
folded hands bowing towards the middle of the altar" sings a chant, Deo ac Domino
nostro, which hovers around low B's, A's, and G's. From gamma G the melody rises only
to b a major tenth above. Even its lower range does not however interdict arabesque.
Again a much more highly trained soloist would be required than in the case of chants
printed in any other early Spanish missal.
The skips never bridge a wide gap. A fifth is unusual, and a fourth rare. Accidental-
izing is unheard of. Scalar runs up to a fifth are common. Distinctive rhythmic and
melodic patterns recur frequently enough in the solo chants to impose a strict unity. The
tracery of the embellishments soon becomes as stylized as a Mudejar initial.
In summary, the solo chants in this Mozarabic missal show the following traits: (i)
arabesques (2) rhythmic vitality (3) contrasting tessiture (4) diatonicism, especially as
exhibited in short scalar runs (5) extremely obvious repetition of rhythmic and melodic
patterns. Finally, marked contrast is to be observed between the simple syllabic music
when congregational participation is expected and the difficult melismatic music for
soloists. 37
Cathedral Polyphony in the Fifteenth Century
NO MASSES or motets by Spanish composers who flourished before mid-century have
37 The Lord's Prayer "according to Mozarabic use" has been reprinted in the New Oxford History of Music,
Vol. II (1954), P- 82 - Ttie response to the fifth petition should be, however, not "Amen" but "Quia Deus es."
Cf . the 1500 Mozarabic Missal, fol. CCXXVI. The recorded version (The History of Music in Sound, ii, side 3)
belies the original by omitting all responses but the last Amen.
I20 Liturgical Music
thus far been inventoried.38 Nevertheless, evidence can be brought forward proving that
polyphony flourished, at least in the major centers, throughout the entire century.
At Toledo, for instance, there existed as early as 1418 a choir school where at cathedral
expense boys were trained to sing polyphony. Their repertory included chanfonetas de
sancta maria e de Ihesu christo with words in Spanish, and therefore obviously with
music by Spanish composers. In this same year the cathedral owned at least two organs,
employing a Fray Giraldo to keep them in repair.
(1) As for the choir school in which polyphony was taught, the following document
copied from the Libro de gastos del afro de 1418 conserved in the Archive que fue de la
Obra y Fdbrica (Bibl. Nac. MS 14033-74) states the case plainly enough:
On Wednesday, May 18, 1418, Alfonso Martinez, cathedral treasurer, paid Brother Jota,
Franciscan the sum of four florins due him for a book of polyphonic music, purchased for the
use of the cathedral boys in the [choir] school who are learning to sing polyphony. Each gold
florin equals 51 maravedis. 39
(2) As for the chanfonetas which were sung in the cathedral, the same Libro de gastos
yields the following information (Bibl. Nac. MS 14043) :
Pedro Sdnchez, singer, music copyist, and illuminator of books, received 720 maravedis on
December 24, 1418, due him for a book in which he copied both text and music of [Christmas]
songs honoring the Virgin and Christ, and misereres, for the choir to sing. 40
(3) As for the organs, the same Libra de gastos records payment on July 4, 1418, of
1000 maravedis to Fray Giraldo "que tiene de auer del adobo que fizo delos dichos or-
ganos" (due him for fixing the organs) .
IF FOR ONE YEAR, such concrete proof that polyphony flourished can be found, equally
convincing proof can be brought forward from the same Toledo Libros de gastos for later
years in the century. Information from these account books has not yet, however, been
assembled in any really systematic fashion. When it is brought together, the historian of
Spanish fifteenth-century polyphony will perhaps begin his account with names of
peninsular composers who stayed at home rather than with records of those who like
Cornago made their reputations in Italy.
8 Cornago, at least at the present moment, seems the earliest Spanish composer from whom so large-scale
a work as a mass survives (incipits printed in Denkmdler der Tonkunst in Gsterreich, VII, 43).
39 Mercoles diez e ocho dias de mayo de 1418 afios dio e pago alfonso martinet rracionero a frey Johan
frayle profeso dela orden de sant francisco quatro florines del curio de aragon que ouo de auer por rrazon
de vn libro de canto de organo que del conpro puntado para por donde aprendan los mocos cleri^ones el
canto de organo en la escuela, por los quales dichos quatro florines de oro le dio e pago a rrazon de a cin-
quenta e vn maravedis por cada florin que montaron docientos e quatro maravedis.
Earlier choirboys' schools at Santiago de Compostela and at Barcelona are noticed below on p. 235 (note So).
4 <> Pero sanchez . , . que ouo de auer por rrazon de vn libro que escriuio e fizo e punto de chan9one[n]tas
de sancta maria e de Ihesu christo e misereres para el choro . , . -
Liturgical Music 121
Johannes Cornago (fl. 1466)
THE EARLIEST SPANISH monarch to patronize arts and letters with true Renaissance
enthusiasm and bounty was Alfonso the Magnanimous (1416-1458), king of Naples,
Sicily, Sardinia, and Aragon. On October 12, 1455, this Maecenas sent an Aragonese
noble residing at his Neapolitan court on a confidential mission to Rome. The com
missioning document refers to Johannes Cornago as a Franciscan residing in Rome on a
300-ducat annual pension granted by Alfonso. 41
After his death, Cornago became the chief almoner of Don Ferrante, Alfonso's son and
successor to the Neapolitan crown (ruling with interruptions from 1458-1494). As
holder of this office, he dispensed royal charity. On April 3, 1466, he received 10 ducats
and a taxi to pay for the cost of altering certain garments in the royal wardrobe which
Ferrante proposed to give away on Maundy Thursday to 34 poor persons. On the same
April 3 he also took in trust 25 ducats to bestow as alms during the king's adoration of
the true cross on the following Good Friday. 42
Like most Spaniards from Martial to the present, Cornago after his Italian sojourn
seems to have yearned to spend his later years in Spain. At all events, his name crops up
in a list of Ferdinand Vs court chapel singers during I475. 43
HIS THREE-PART MASS conserved in Trent Codex 88, a folio of 422 paper leaves, bears
this heading: Prater Johannes Cornago la missa: Signum: de lo mapa mundi Apud
Neapolim: et la missa de nostra domina Sancta Maria (fol. 276v.). In this mass he ex
ploits both parody and tenor techniques. Kyrie I, Et in terra pax, Patrem omnipo-
tentem, Sanctus, Agnus I and Agnus II movements illustrate his use of the first tech
nique. He threads both cantus and contra in the duets which begin each named move
ment with identical melodic material. What this repeated melodic material consists of
is shown in the first two bars of the accompanying example, a transcription of Kyrie I.
With slight changes of time-values this duet reappears in identical pitches at the
beginnings, then, of every major section of his mass. It shares also the character of a
tenor mass, however, because in every movement in which the tenor sings, 44 this
voice-part quotes the same tune. The ditty that goes with the tune reads : Ayo (= aggio)
visto lo [or la] mappa mundi et la carta de navigare ma chi chi me pare la la piu beUa la piu
bella de questo mondo (I have seen the map of the earth and mariner's chart, which seem
to me the most beautiful things in the world). These very words are themselves written
beneath the tenor part towards the close of both the Qui tollis and Et resurrexit
41 Camillo Minieri Riccio, "Alcuni fatti di Alfonso I. di Aragona," Archivio storico per le province napo-
letane, VI (Naples: Stab: Tip. del Cav, Francesco Giannioi, 1881), p. 437.
42 Nicola Barone, "Le Cedole di Tesoreria dell* Archivio di Stato di Napoli dall* anno 1460 al 1504,"
Archivio storico per le province napoletane, IX (Naples: Federico Furchheim, 1884), p. 209.
48 MME, I, 24. This date needs reconciliation with the year to which his mappamundi Mass is credited,
1480. Trent Codex 88 places fri in Naples at the time of writing it.
44 The tenor does not sing in the Pleni or Benedictus movements, both of which are marked "duo" in the
manuscript.
I2 2 Liturgical Music
movements. Though the words are not written below in any Kyrie, 45 Sanctus, or Agnus
movement - only the Gloria and Credo movements being actually polytextual - still the
same Ayo visto melody is itself everywhere alluded to by the tenor in the less wordy
movements as well.
The title of the mass yields a clue to its date. On November 18, 1480, a certain Gio
vanni di Giusto received two-and-a-half yards of Holland linen on which to trace a
mappamondo** The age of discovery was dawning, and already navigators had sailed
far enough beyond the Azores to discover the Cape Verde islands (1456). This flush of
explorer's enthusiasm accounts for the commission given Giusto by Don Ferrante. The
popularity of such a song as Ayo visto shows how widespread must have been the
enthusiasm which later found vent in the discovery of the New World. Coupled with
this zest for exploration a real missionary zeal seems always to have fired the courts
which patronized navigators. This mass itself bears a twofold title, the second stamping
it as a mass of the Virgin.
Cornago has set the two Osannas with different music, the first in triple the second in
duple meter. He also has polyphonically set all three parts of the Agnus. For a variety
of reasons this mass seems an altogether remarkable performance and one well worthy
of being published at the earliest possible moment. 47 His other extant liturgical work,
Patres nostri peccaverunt (Monte Cassino MS 871 N) should also be published - especially
since it is the earliest Spanish polyphonic lamentation, ihreni being a genre of liturgical
music in which the Spaniards were to excel during the next century. 48 The text is from
the Prayer of Jeremy (Lamentations 5:7). This would be not only one of the very
"earliest polyphonic settings of a passage from that source" 49 by a composer of any
nationality, but would also be Cornago's only work originally for four voices still extant.
WHERE in the Palace Songbook, the Colombina Cancionero, and Monte Cassino MS
45 In Denkmaler der Tonkunst in Osterreich, VII (1900, ed. by G. Adler and O. Koller), the words "Ayo
iusto" were printed in roman beneath the tenor-part of the Kyrie; this was an editorial error. The second
word, moreover, should have read "visto".
46 N. Barone, op. cit., p. 406. See also Andre* Pirro, "Un manuscrit musical du XV siecle au Mont-Cassin,"
Casinensia: Miscellanea di studi Cassinesi (Montecassino, 1929)* I, 206.
4' This cannot be well done from microfilm because of the seepage of the ink from one side of the paper
to the other.
48 Andreas Ornithoparcus repeated the opinion voiced by most sixteenth-century theorists when he wrote
thus (1516) : "diuers nations have diuers fashions, and differ in habite, diet, studies, speech, and song. Hence
is it that the English doe carroll; the French sing; the Spaniards weepe; the Italians, which dwell about the
Coasts of lanua [Genoa] caper with their Voyces; the others barke: but the Germanes (which I am ashamed
to vtter) doe howle like Wolues." (Liber IV, cap. 8 [quoting Gaffurio], p. 88 of John Dowland's Ornithoparcus
[1609]; fol. M 2 of Valentin Schumann's 1517 Leipzig edition.)
A confirming opinion was given by Paride de Grassi (II Diario di Leone X, ed. by Pio Delicati and M. Ar-
mellini [Rome: Tip. della Pace di F. Cuggiani, 1884], p. 66) when he described Tenebrae during Holy Week
of 1518. He said: "Three lamentations were sung, the first by the Spanish singers being filled with pathos,
the second by the French being learnedly sung, and the third by the Italian singers being sweetly sung."
The best known work by Morales is a "lament", Lamentdbatur Jacob. Of Victoria, vos omnes (Lamen
tations 1.12) if not the most famous is certainly performed as often as anything that he wrote. Morales's
Lamentations were still sufficiently in vogue in 1564 to make simultaneous commercial publication by two
Venetian printers feasible.
Gustave Reese, Music in the Renaissance (New York: W. W. Norton, 1954). P- 57".
Liturgical Music
123
Missa mappamundi
Kyrie I
Trent Codex 88, fols.
JOHANNES CORNAGO
5
ifypie
TEW OR
Kyrie
rff if g r
CONTRA
Kyrie
* Because of the deterioration of the MS the next eight notes in the cantus cannot be clearly discerned.
871 N, canciones a 4 ascribed to Cornago seem to survive the fourth voice-part has
been added by some other composer. The other composer in the Colombina example was
Triana; in the Monte Cassino example, Ockeghem. The popularity of Qu'es mi vida was
doubtless considerable if so celebrated a master as Ockeghem (c. 1420-0. 1495) could
J24 Liturgical Music
have become interested in adding a fourth voice. In alphabetical order Cornago's eleven
surviving secular songs are listed below as a complement to his biography. His poets
- insofar as they are known - were f ellow countrymen (Diego de Castilla and Mossen
Pedro TorreUas) active at Naples shortly after mid-century either at Alfonso V's or
Ferrante's court. Although musical analysis must be deferred to pp. 218-225 below, the
wide vogue of his songs can be inferred from the geographic spread of the manuscript
sources: (i) Florence: Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale, Magliabechiana XIX, 176; (2)
Madrid: Biblioteca Real, sign. 2-1-5; b) Monte Cassino: MS 871 N; (4) Paris: Biblio-
theque Nationale, MS f. fr?. 15123 [Pixerecourt Chansonnier]; (5) and (6) Seville:
Biblioteca Colombina, sign. 5~*-43 and r-^S. 50
The numeral (or numerals) after each item in the following list refers to the source
(or sources) : Donde stas que non te veo (3) and (6) ; Gentil dama non se gana (2) and (6) ;
Moro perche non dai fede (i) (3) (4) and (5) ; Mori* merce gentile (3) ; Non gusto de male
estranio (3) ; Qu'es mi vida preguntays (3) 51 and (6) ; Porque mas sin duda creas (6) ;
Pues que Dios (2) 52 and (6) ; Segun las penas me days (3) ; Senora qual soy venido (6) ;
Yena con poco saber (3).
Bernardo Icart (fl. 1480)
EDMOND VAN DER STRAETEN, the first to collect documented data concerning Icart,
suggested that he originated in Belgium. Icart's name (spelled Hycart) occurs in a list
of chapel singers at Ferrante's Neapolitan court in 1479 immediately above Tinc-
toris's; 53 it appears again in 1480, on October 27 of which year he received an allowance
of approximately three-and-a-half yards of blue cloth for a choir gown. 54 Tinctoris was
certainly a Fleming. Icart's national origin was unknown, but since other evidence
showed him to have become an eminent artist Straeten inferred that he came from a
strongly musical environment. Huickart, close enough to Hycart, occurs as a Flemish
family name. 55
Actually, however, no evidence, other than the fact that Icart and Tinctoris follow
each other in Neapolitan lists and that Huickart is a Flemish family name, has been
brought forward. He may quite as well have been Catalonian. Certainly the name
Icart, as Angles has pointed out, 56 is common enoughin Catalonia, the most distinguished
s Bibliographical details, except for items (i) and (5) in MME, I, 95-103, 117, 118, 103-106.
si Angle's suggests that Ockeghem added the fourth voice (found in both sources) during his Spanish
visit of 1469. See MGG, II, 1681. But Preguntays no vos la quiero negar should not figure as a separate item
in Cornago's repertory. The text lacks the first three words, Qu'es mi vida. Ockeghem threw out Cornago's
contra, adding two of his own in its place.
52 Palacio shows two versions, the second "arranged" by Madrid. Like Ockeghem, he expunges Cornago's
contra and adds a new voice in its place.
53 La musique aux Pays-Bos avant le XIX* siecle, IV (Brussels: G.-A. Van Trigt, 1878), p. 25.
54 Ibid., p. 29.
s Ibid., p. 63. Straeten would have Icart specifically from Brabant.
36 M ME, I, 24 and 136. Isabel Pope, though well aware of AngleVs suggestion, does not yield to it in her
definitive study, "La musique espangole a la Cour de Naples dans la seconde moitie* du xv* siecle," Musique
et Pofcie au XVI 9 Siecle (Paris: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 1954)* P- 4 2 -
Liturgical Music 125
carrier of the name probably having been the Barcelona Jesuit, Francesc Icart (1572-
1610), who wrote various devotional tracts. 57
Ferrante's court musicians were of tener Spanish than Flemish, as Straeten admits. 58
Francesco Florimo asserts that he rose from being a mere singer to maestro di cappella
at the Neapolitan court. 59 Florimo also supposes him to have been five years younger
than Tinctoris; and considers the theoretical work of both to have been more important
than their few compositions that survive.
Icart's theoretical knowledge gained him the respect of even the exacting Gaffurio,
who in the company of the exiled doge of Genoa had settled in Naples at the end of
November, 1478. Some years later Gaffurio supervised the preparation of a short sketch
of his personal life. In it he mentions his reasons for settling at Naples, his efforts
towards preparing his first theoretical book for the press, and also the famous men whom
he had met at Naples. The clarissimi musici with whom he consorted were Tinctoris,
Icart, and Guarnier. 60
A pair of lamentations a 3 ascribed to "Ber: ycart" were published in 1506 at Venice
by Petrucci in his Lamentationum Jeremie prophete Liber primus, the Icart pair coming
immediately after one by Tinctoris. His other extant sacred works are found in the
so-called Bonadies Codex, preserved at the Biblioteca Comunale in Faenza (Cod. 117) .
This manuscript contains six items by Icart : three Magnificats (even verses) 61 -one a 3,
the rest a 4; and three movements of a Mass a 4 (Kyrie, Et in terra pax, Qui tollis). 62
In the Pixerecourt Chansonnier (which also contains Cornago's Moro perche non dai
fede) can be seen a picaresque item at f ols. 62V.-63 entitled Non toches a moi car son trap.
The composer's name is spelled thus: "b. ycart." The chapurrado text, a gibberish of
French, Italian, and nonsense phrases, is copied under all four voice-parts. The structure
resembles that of a villancico, with the nonsense phrase "nichi, nichi, nioch" recurring
at the end oi both the estribillo and the coplas. 63
5 7 Diccionari Encyclopedic de la Llengua Catalana (Barcelona: Salvat, 1931), II, 929. This Icart was a
novice-master at Tarragona and Gandia.
Straeten, IV, 31. See the musicians hired, for instance, in 1481. At least six of the nine were Spanish.
59 La scuola musicale di Napoli (Naples: Stab. tip. di Vine. Morano, 1881), I, 67; also p. 74.
60 Alessandro Caretta and others, Franchino Gaffurio (Lodi: Ediz. dell' Archivio Storico Lodigiano, I95 J )>
pp. 21 and 22. Gaffurio's reference to Icart occurs in the Latin Vita written by Pantaleone Malegolo and
revised by Gaffurio in March of 1514.
61 Gino Roncaglia, "Intorao ad un codice di Johannes Bonadies" (Reale Accademia di Scienze, Lettere
ed Arti, Modena: Atti e Memorie. Series V, 4 [i939]) PP- 35-3^, reported two; but there are three (fols.
6v.-7, 7V.-8, 44V.-45). In the first, Icart's tenor follows the outline of the plainchant verse, Et misericordia
eius for Assumption. See the Jeronymite processional (Alcala de Henares, 1526), fols. 99^-100, for the florid
original. In all three of Icart's magnificats the music for verses 2 and 8 is the same; also for verses 4 and 10, 6
and 12. Throughout the first magnificat, the tenor for every polyphonic verse is identical: thus in effect
serving as a 26-note ostinato. In the third, the tenor for verses 2 = 8 substantially duplicates that for 6 = 12.
62 The two other composers of vocal polyphony in this codex were John Hothby, the celebrated English
Carmelite theorist (d. 1487), and Joannes de Erfordia, a fourteenth-century Franciscan. Icart's Kyrie, Et in
terra pax, and Qui tollis not only share a common modality (VI), but a tenor cantus firmus that recalls the
Kyrie of Mass XIV, transposed down one step (Jesu Redemptor). In both Gloria movements the tenor enters
so late as the second half ("Domine Deus" in Et in terra; "Tu solus" in Qui tollis). Fermatas crown the block
chords to which " Jesu Christe" is sung in the Et in terra. Not only are these Gloria movements bicinia during
their first halves; but the texting of the top part alone suggests that Icart intended them as instrumentally
accompanied sections.
63 Cf. Alonso's La tricotea, mentioned below at p. 286, n. 198.
126 Liturgical Music
Johannes de Yilianas
YLLIANAS (= Hillanas, Lianas, de ylianas, lanas, llanes), a native of Aragon - whence
his name, Johannes de Aragonia 64 - was, prior to his reception into the papal choir,
"chapelmaster to the bishop of Barcelona." So reads the citation after his name in
October, 1492, one month after his entrance into the choir. Which bishop of Barcelona,
however, is uncertain. Gonzdlez Fernandez de Heredia, bishop from 1479 until the
middle of 1490, was followed by Pedro Garcia. Later Roman documents refer to him
as an Augustinian canon; 65 probably he was already an Austin canon before leaving
Spain.
When he entered the papal choir it comprised twenty singers, among whom the most
illustrious was Josquin des Prez. The productive composers - aside from Josquin -
were Bertrandus Vaqueras (= Beltrame Vacqueras) and Marbriano de Orto. The next
Spaniard to enter following Yilianas was Alfonso deTroya (c. 1500), 66 a composer however
of whom only three short part-songs now survive. At least another pair of Spaniards
entered before the death of Alexander VI, last of the Spanish popes.
Yilianas joined in September of 1492, one month after Rodrigo Borja's election, and
was the first Spaniard to be added to the papal choir in more than a decade. Indeed at
the moment he entered there was none other among the twenty singers who can un
equivocally be so claimed. Vaqueras's name is Spanish, and the bassca (basco?) after
his first name in a St. Peter's register of 1482 67 means possibly that he like Anchieta
was a Basque. But leaving aside Vaqueras, the papal choir immediately prior to
Alexander's VTs accession contained no identifiable Spaniards. At Alexander's death in
1503 it enrolled at least three. Yilianas in 1509 stood not only third in seniority but also
found himself one of six Spaniards in a choir of twenty-one members. 68
Five years later he had become so senior as to be dean. In the same year (September
22, 1514), Leo X permitted him to cede a 24-gold-ducat pension which he currently
enjoyed on the fruits of St. John of Casteneto monastery in Calabria to a ly-year-old
relative named Michaeliangelo de Yllanes, who was already in orders. 69 Pope Leo,
always so generous to his singers, also exerted himself to obtain absentee benefices for
Yilianas in Cuenca (August 5, 1513) and Osma (September n, 1516) dioceses. His
64 Fr. X. Haberl, Bausteine fur Musikgeschichte, III (Die rdmische "schola cantorum" und die papstlichen
Kapellsdnger bis zur Mitte des 16. Jahrhunderts [Breitkopf und Hartel, 1888]), p. 68.
65 Herman- Walther Frey, "Regesten zur papstlichen Kapelle unter Leo X. und zu seiner Privatkapelle,"
Die Musikforschung, VIII/2 (1955), PP- 184-185.
66 Haberl, Bausteine, III, 59.
67 Ibid., p. 50 n. (1482.2). In 1918 Mitjana definitely identified Vaqueras as Spanish. See Estudios sobve
algunos musicos espanoles del siglo XVI (Madrid: Sues, de Hernando, 1918), p. 203, n. 2. Grove's Dictionary,
5th edn., VIII, 649, follows suit. Bukofzer alludes in a posthumous article, "Three Unknown Italian Chan
sons of the Fifteenth Century," Collectanea Historiae Musicae, II (Florence: L. S. Olschki, 1957), to a
composer whose nickname - in two Italian MSS of late fifteenth-century origin - was Le petit Basque or Le
pitet basque (p. 109).
6 Haberl, Bausteine, III, 60 (1508).
69 Leonis X. Pontificis Maximi Regesta, ed. Joseph Hergenroether (Freiburg i/B: Herder, 1884-1891 ),,
V-VT [1888], p. 731.
Liturgical Music 127
income from the Cuenca rectorate (and probably from other sources) enabled him to
retire early in 1518, after a quarter-century in the papal choir.
He is the earliest assured Spaniard whose music still survives in the papal archive.
But his untitled Missa a 4 in Capp. Sist. MS 49 at the Vatican Library awaits publi
cation. 70
Juan de Anchieta (c. 1462-1523)
Part I: Biography
THE LIVES of only a few Spanish composers have been as assiduously investigated as that
of Juan de Anchieta. This interest in his biography hats of course been stimulated by the
eminence which he achieved in his lifetime and the fame that he enjoyed for at least a
century thereafter. He was music master to the son of Ferdinand and Isabella, Prince
John, who until his untimely death in 1497 was the bright hope of the newly united
nation. Both as singer in Isabella's court chapel and as music master to the young
prince he travelled widely, in the meantime extending his reputation throughout the
whole peninsula. So solidly did he ground it that in 1577, a half-century after his death,
Salinas in De musica libri septem could still refer to him (VI, vii [p. 312]) as "a composer
of no mean repute," and could think it worth his while to cite the time on which his
Ea iudios a enfardelar Mass had been based. Even more lasting was the popularity of
Anchieta's villancico, Dos dnades, which Francisco de Quevedo (1580-1645) cited in his
Cuento de Cuentos 71 as still frequently sung in 1626, though then regarded as old-
fashioned. Cervantes himself paid tribute to this same villancico when he mentioned
its being sung by Caniazo in his comic tale, La ilustre fregona.
But it is by no means Anchieta's musical reputation alone which has stimulated
research in his biography. Rather it is the fact that he was closely related to so famous a
personage as Ignatius Loyola - his mother and the grandfather of the saint being sister
and brother - that has decisively influenced research. What is more, Adolphe Coster
was able to show in an article published in 1930, "Juan de Anchieta et la famille de
Loyole" (Revue hispanique, LXXIX, 175 [June, 1930], 322 pages) that the relationship
between Anchieta and the founder of the Society of Jesus was a dramatic and important
influence in the latter's early life. Many of Coster's discoveries bear on Anchieta's career
after he retired from court, to be sure. Yet they all help to illumine the character of a
composer whose importance in his epoch can scarcely be overstressed.
70 Bausteine, II (BiUiographischer und thematischer Musikkatalog des papstlichen KapettarcMves im
Vatikan zu Rom), p. 142. The only two named composers in this codex of 138 leaves are Vaqueras with two
masses and Yllianas (Hillanas) with one. The other eight masses are anonymous. This codex dates from
Julius II's pontificate (1503-1513). See Bausteine, II, 21.
71 Francisco de Quevedo Villegas, Obras completas, ed. Luis Astrana Marin [2nd edn.] (Madrid: M.
Aguilar, 1941), I, 793, col. 2 : "< Y aqueUos majaderos mtisicos que se van cantando las ires dnades, madre ..."
This reference* occurs in Quevedo's introduction; but see also I, 794* col. 2 : "se iria con el cantando las tres
dnades, madre . . . ".
7 a Cervantes Saavedra, Novelas exemplayes (Brussels: R. Velpio y H. Antonio, 1614), p. 357.
128 Liturgical Music
Since the whole body of biographical discoveries has now swollen to unusual size, the
basic facts must here be digested into a chronological table.
1413 Marriage of Lope Garcia de Lazcano and Sancha Yanez de Loyola, 73 grandparents of
Juan de Anchieta the composer, and great-grandparents of Ignatius Loyola, the
founder of the Society of Jesus.
0.1442 Birth of Urtayzaga, seventh daughter of preceding couple.
0.1460 Marriage of Martin Garcia de Anchieta and Urtayzaga, parents-to-be of Juan de
Anchieta.
0.1461 Birth of Pedro Garcia de Anchieta, 74 elder brother of the composer.
0.1462 Birth of Juan de Anchieta, probably at Urrestilla, 75 a small village one mile south of
Azpeitia.
0.1463 Birth of his sister, Maria L6pez de Anchieta.
1489 Engagement as chaplain and singer to Ferdinand and Isabella, February 6, with annual
salary of 20,000 maravedis.
During summer composes a 4-part topical romance, En memoria d'AUxandre
celebrating the military prowess of Ferdinand and Isabella.
0.1492 Composes a mass based on a popular ditty, Ea iudios a enfardelar, now lost but known
to have existed in 1577 when Salinas made allusion to it.
1493 Salary raised from 25,000 to 30,000 mamvedis by a royal cedula dated August 30; 78
tutors Don Juan.
1495 Maestro de capilla (musical director) in newly erected household of the crown prince,
Don Juan, aged 17. 79
73 Adolphe Coster, "Juan de Anchieta et la famine de Loyola," Revue Mspanique, LXXIX, No. 175
(June, 1930), p. 51. The birthdate of Urtayzaga (c. 1442), Lope Garcia de Lazcano's posthumous daughter,
and also the presumed date of her marriage to Martin Garcia de Anchieta are given on p. 54.
7* Ibid., p. 58.
75 Ibid., pp. 57-58. Further information concerning Juan de Anchieta's birthplace is found in Bibl.
Nac. (Madrid) MS 14020.170 ("Biografia del Reverendo Sefior Johannes de Anchieta, Rector de Azpeitia,
Abad de Arbas, Prestamero de Villarino, Can6nigo de la Santa Iglesia de Granada, Capellan y cantor de
sus Altezas los muy cat61icos Reyes Don Fernando y Dofia Isabel y Maestro de capilla del Principe Don
Juan/' a 43-page biography assembled from various archives by P. Eugenio de Uriarte at Asenjo Barbieri's
expense in 1884), p. 6.
76 Francisco Asenjo Barbieri, Cancionero musical de los sighs XV y XVI (Madrid: Real Academia de
Bellas Artes de San Fernando, 1890), p. 21.
77 During the spring of 1489 Ferdinand while besieging Baza entertained an embassy of two Francis
can monks sent from Palestine by the reigning sultan. The words of Anchieta's romance express the
Spaniards' faith in their sovereigns' ability eventually to retake the Holy Sepulchre itself.
78 Barbieri, p. 21, states: "se le aumentaron otros 5,000 maravedfs," which would lead one. to suppose
his new salary was only 25,000. However the accounts gathered by Barbieri from Simancas ("Quitaciones
de Casa Real" pLegajo 85]) show that before 1493 his salary had already been raised to 25,000.
Coster, p. 67.
Liturgical Music 129
1497 Marriage of Don Juan in the spring ; death in early autumn.
c. 1497 Appointed a canon in the newly established cathedral of Granada, but without obli
gation of residence, holding this dignity approximately two years. 80
1499 Named an absentee benefice-holder in Salamanca diocese : with the title of prestamero de
Villarino (worth 180 ducats annually) ; 81 takes possession during June, by proxy. 82
0.1500 Named Rector of San Sebastidn de Soreasu parish church in his home town of Azpeitia,
this appointment being in the gift of his 6i-year-old cousin, Beltrin de Onaz, 83 the lay
patron (father of Saint Ignatius Loyola [b. 1491]) ; but continues to reside at court,
discharging his parish duties through a vicar.
1503 Given a five-months' paid leave of absence from the court (receiving 12,500 maravedis
for his time spent on leave). 84
1304 Death of Queen Isabella, November 26; Anchieta remains in the household of Dona
Juana, her daughter and heir, probably travelling as far as Flanders 85 with Joanna and
her husband, Philip the Fair (d. 1506).
1506 Acting within his rights as rector of San Sebastidn parish church, Anchieta intervenes in
a local Azpeitia affair during March, 86 continuing however to employ a vicar, Domingo
de Mendizdbal, to discharge ordinary parish duties.
Philip the Fair dies suddenly, September 25, aged only 28.
1507 Continues presumably in Dona Juana's household after Philip's death; salary raised to
45,000 maravedis 87 at which level it remains through the year 1515 ; Ferdinand becomes
regent of Castile on account of his daughters incapacity and rules both Castile and
Aragon until his death on January 23, 1516.
1508 Anchieta's brother, Pedro Garcia de Anchieta, acts as intermediary in collecting certain
sums due from the Villarino
1510 Anchieta tries to overstep his rights as Rector of San Sebastidn, 89 and comes into sharp
conflict with Martin Garcia de Loyola, elder brother of Inigo = Ignatius, and lay
patron after the death of Beltrdn de Onaz, their father (d. 1507).
Royal cedula of October 30 90 issued in Madrid requires Anchieta to resign his pre-
80 Bibl. Nac. MS 14020.170, pp. 7-8. Coster, op. cit., p. 66.
81 Coster, p. 86.
82 lbid.> p. 68.
83 Ibid., p. 70. Coster fixes the approximate date as 1498.
84 Barbieri, p. 22. Coster, op. cit., p. 71.
85 Bibl. Nac. MS 14020.170, p. 13.
86 Jbid.
87 Barbieri, p. 22.
88 Bibl. Nac. MS 14020.170, p. 13.
89 Coster, p. 92.
90 Eugenio de Uriarte in his manuscript biography (Bibl. Nac. MS 14020.170, pp. 15-17} quotes this
royal cedula in full; Coster seems not to have had access to it, although it throws abundant light on An
chieta's character. Anchieta had first complained at the local level, then in Valladolid, always determined
Liturgical Music
tensions at naming a successor, controlling an parish revenues, accepting the vows of all
professing nuns.
1512 Pay voucher signed by Ferdinand in Burgos, April 15, names him capelldn y cantor de la
reyna Juana nuestra senora. 91
1515 Two younger Loyola brothers, Pedro L6pez and Inigo, join in an assault on Anchieta
during the carnival season (February 20). 92 Inigo attempts to save himself from
punishment by flight but is detained in an ecclesiastical prison at Pamplona.
1518 Juan de Anchieta's nephew, Garcia de Anchieta, named his successor in the San
Sebastian de Soreasu rectorate by Martin Garcia de Oiiaz y Loyola, the lay-patron;
shortly afterwards, however, the nephew is assassinated by unknown hands and Pedro
L6pez, brother of Martin Garcia de Ofiaz and Inigo, succeeds as rector. 94
In this year Juan de Anchieta, composer, is mentioned for the first time as "abbat of
Arbas" (or Arbos), 95 his proudest title during his remaining years.
15x9 On August 15, the young king Charles issues a cedula at Barcelona, declaring Juan de
Anchieta too old (57 years of age) to reside at court, but confirming him in his former
annual salary of 45,000 maravedis, paid until Ferdinand's death in 1516; Anchieta is
henceforth permitted to reside wherever he pleases. 96
1520 Court pay voucher, October 23, lists him as "ill in his house" at Azpeitia. 97
1521 In April Anchieta secures a rescript from Pope Leo X permitting him to transfer the
income from the Villarino benefice to a new foundation of Franciscan sisters in Az
peitia; 98 they respond by naming him manager of business affairs and assuring him a
privileged burial location in their convent church.
On 27 August Martin Garcia de Ofiaz, lay-patron of S. Sebastidn parish church, offers
to vindicate his "rights". But the cedula accommodated him in no way. His claims to a fourth of the parish
tithes, half of the altar collections, right of choosing both clergy who actually discharged parish duties,
right of receiving vows of friars and nuns, were all dismissed: "en el qua! dicho pleyto los dichos presidente
e oydores dieron sentencia en que absoluieron al dicho martyn garia de onez de las / p. 16 / demandas contra
el puestas sobre lo susodicho por el dicho juanes de ancheta." Anticipating further trouble the cedula ended
thus: "si algund derecho el dicho juanes de ancheta o otra persona pretende thener a lo susodicho lo venga
a pedir e demander ante los del consejo a quienes pertenes?e el conos9imiento dello. los quales vos oyran
breuemente en cumplimiento de justi9ia. fecha en la villa de madrid a treynta dias del mes de otubre de
mill e quinientos e diez afios.
Yo el rrey."
i MME, II, 4.
92 Coster, pp. 94-95-
93 Ibid., p. 113-
94 Ibid., p. 120.
95 Ibid., p. 112. Coster's contention that Anchieta obtained his Arbas dignity before the rectorate of San
Sebastian is not supported by the document quoted on the same page (footnote i). He equates Arbas with
Arbos. But in the codicil to his will Anchieta mentions Jorge de Valderas, living in Le6n, as collector of
the revenues. Arbos lies between Barcelona and Tarragona in Catalonia, geographically remote from Le<5n.
96 Ibid., pp. 123-124..
9 ? MME, II, 16.
as Coster, p. 141.
Liturgical Music 131
them a gift of land, but they in thanking him warn that he cannot secure privileges
exceeding those promised to Juan de Anchieta. 99
1522 Juan de Anchieta, having outlived both his brother and sister, signs his will on Feb
ruary 19; 10 in it he leaves specific directions concerning his interment in the convent
church of the concepgionistas which he has so richly endowed; he also establishes annual
Masses for the souls of his principal benefactors, Ferdinand and Isabella; he mentions
Don Juan cuyo maestro de capilla yo fui (whose chapelmaster I was); he leaves 400
ducats in trust for his namesake, another Juan de Anchieta, 101 such sum to be used for
the expenses of the latter's education and marriage; after payment of all debts, the
remainder of his estate is willed to his niece, Ana de Anchieta, still a minor.
1523 On July 26 he adds a codicil 102 itemizing various debts he still owes in the total amount
of 189 doblas de oro; he lists among his liquid assets 188 doblas de oro, which he says are
kept in a chest hi the house where he lies sick ; 103 he tallies up the sums still owed him by
various debtors: 24 doblas de oro; he names among those who still owe him money a
certain Acelayn to whom he had advanced dos doblones de oro que son quairo doblas que le
empreste en flandes 104 (two gold doubloons, which equal four doblas, loaned to him in
Flanders).
On July 30 he dies, and his body is carried to the parish church where he was formerly
the rector; 105 the Franciscan sisters dispute his burial in the parish church, because his
99 Coster did not know of this transaction. As copied in Bibl. Nac. MS 14020.170 (pp. 20-22) the Es-
critura de donacidn y concordia between Martin Garcia de Ofiaz y Loyola and Fray Bernardino de Salcedo,
provincial of the Franciscan order and director of business affairs for the Religiosas Beatas de la Tercera
OrdJn, reads in part as follows: "la dicha Reuerenda senora [head of the house at Azpeitia] con su conuento
le hazian gracias por el beneficio tan grande e donacion . . . ecepto que si el Reuerendo senor Johanes de
Anchieta Abad de Arbas se quisiese enterrar delante el altar mayor se le sera con9edida y tenga bien de aqui
una sepoltura ynsigne delante el dicho altar mayor . . . por razon de la dotacion de la primera rrencada,
pero el resto de las sepolturas que quedasen de la dicha rrencada primera a la man derecha e man izquierda
de la dicha sepoltura del dicho Reuerendo senor abad dauan al dicho martin garcia pa su enterramiento con
sus desgendientes perpetuamente . . . ". Anchieta was not the only aggressor in the conflict.
100 Coster, op. cit., p. 153. The will is reprinted in full at pp. 287-291, but unfortunately not the codicil.
101 Concerning thia hijo natural of his last years, see Coster, op. cit., pp. 161-162, 290. Concerning an elder
son, Martin Garcia de Anchieta, see Coster, pp. 95 (n. 2), 115 (n.), 118, 162 (n. i).
102 Ibid., p. 160. The codicil - twice the length of the will - must be read in the manuscript biography
(Bibl. Nac. MS 14020.170, pp. 27-37).
IDS Xhe value of the dobla =* castellano was fixed at 480 maravedis in 1480, but rose in apparent value
with the influx of gold from the New World. In cash "en mi area" Anchieta possessed on July 26, 1523, the
equivalent of at least 100,000 maravedis. In 1526 when Morales accepted the chapelmastership at Avila his
animal pay was fixed at 37,500 maravedis (= 100 ducats). See also note 22 above for a suggestion concerning
the purchasing power of 100,000 maravedis.
104 Probable dates for the Flanders journey: 1504-1505. Joanna rejoined her husband in Brussels during-
March, 1504. Queen Isabella died November 26, 1504. Ferdinand immediately dispatched Juan de Fonseca,
the same bishop to whom SpafLon and Martinez de Bizcargui dedicated treatises, with a message of recall
to his daughter in Brussels. Anchieta's service to Queen Isabella having ended with her death, he would
have continued with the chapel singers of the House of Castile, and therefore may very well have accompanied
Fonseca. Joanna gave birth to Mary in Brussels on September 15, 1505, and sailed with her husband on
January 8, 1506. Their entourage included 1500 armed knights and a brilliant array of singers (including
such celebrities as Pierre de la Rue and Alexander Agricola). After Philip's death in September the only
official document which she could be induced to sign was a pay voucher for her husband's Flemish musicians.
i 5 Coster, p. 161.
132 Liturgical Music
will is thereby violated; but Pedro L6pez (rector and brother of the future saint) carries
the day against them. 106
On August i Ana de Anchieta formally takes possession of her uncle's house, she and her
mother (widow of Juan de Anchieta's elder brother) having already resided in it for over
a year; the inventory of movables itemizes two bound song-books, another parchment-
bound song-book, three history-books, a dictionary, and a devotional book, 107 none of
these having been specifically mentioned in the will of the preceding year.
c.1530 Death of Pedro L6pez de Ofiaz y Loyola, 108 rector of San Sebastian (brother of Inigo).
1535 Return of Inigo to Azpeitia ; final settlement of strife between the clergy of San Sebastian
and the concefgionistas. By terms of the agreement which Inigo persuades both parties
to sign on May 18, Juan de Anchieta's gift of his Villarino pension to the Franciscan
sisters is confirmed, but they in turn give up all claim to his body. 109 Against Anchieta's
will his body is thus allowed to rest forever in the parish church of San Sebastian, close
to the very spot where his nephew had been assassinated in 1518.
THE DATA thus far assembled does not however tell anything concerning his own early
education. How he obtained sufficient background to prepare him at the age of 27 for
one of the most coveted musical posts in the kingdom, that of a singer in Queen Isabella's
chapel, can only be guessed. Coster surmises that he may have studied at the University
of Salamanca, 110 though admitting that he can find no documentary prop to support
such a guess. Certainly Anchieta never used either of the titles that had he completed a
university course he would have acquired - bachiller or licenciado.
Still, this is an interesting surmise. The Salamanca music professor (catedrdtico) from
1481 until 1522 was Diego de Fermoselle, an elder brother of the famous dramatist, poet,
and musician, Juan del Encina. The latter was himself a university student c. 1484,
graduating Bacchalarius in legibus (see below, pp. 254, 264) . Anchieta if a Salamanca
student in the 1480'$ would have been surrounded with the best musical talent in Spain.
Or if another guess is desired, one might enroll him as a youthful chorister in the palace
choir of Henry IV of Castile and presume that he received instruction from some royal
only did he nullify Anchieta's will by refusing him burial in the convent church of Anchieta's
choice, but also he refused any special honors at his interment. He even went so far as forcibly to eject
Anchieta's residuary legatee, Ana de Anchieta, from her uncle's house. St. Ignatius was not proud of his
priestly brother, whose other misdeeds were numerous, and never once mentioned him by name nor told
that he had been a priest. See Coster, op. cit., p, 163, n. i ; p. 196.
107 Bibl. Nac. MS 14020.170, p. 40: "Yten, dos libros enquadernados de canto, y otro libro de canto cosido
en pergamino : otros tres libros, donde hauia las tres partes historiales : otro libro, que se llame vocabulario :
otro libro, que se llame Suma Rosela."
los Coster, p. 169.
109 Ibid., p. 210.
no Jbid., p. 59. The only two fifteenth-century Salamanca music "professors" whose names are preserved
in university archives were Fernando Gdmez de Salamanca (1464-1465) and Martin G<5mez de Cantalapiedra
(1465-1479), neither of whom seems to have been a composer. See Enrique Esperab6 Arteaga, Historia
pvagmdtica I internet, II, 249 and 262.
Liturgical Music 133
chapelmaster. 111 But without documents, any guessing is as hazardous as the oft-
repeated attempts to unravel the life story of his famous literary contemporary,
Fernando de Rojas.
When Isabella married Ferdinand she did not give up her queenship in Castile. Her own
household remained always separate and distinct from her husband's. Anchieta was not
to become a singer on Ferdinand's Aragonese rolls, even after her death. The greatest
honor conferred upon him by Isabella was of course the appointment as maestro de
capilla to the crown prince, Don Juan, c. 1495. 112 Even if easily available elsewhere 113
a famous contemporary account of Anchieta's services to the young prince must here be
repeated.
My lord, the Prince Don Juan, was naturally fond of music and well versed in it, though the
quality of his voice was not as remarkable as his persistent desire to sing: to gratify which
desire, Juan de Anchieta, his music master, and four or five youths, members of his chapel choir
with beautiful voices, one of which with a fine high voice was named Corral, used to join him in
the afternoons, especially during summers, and the Prince would sing with them two or three
hours, or longer if he cared to ; he sang the tenor part and was very skilled in the science of
music. In his own quarters he had a hand organ, other organs, clavicordios, virginals, plucked
vihuelas, viols, and flutes, and he actually knew how to play all these instruments. 114
This interesting extract comes from the Libro de la cdmara real del principe Don Juan
by Gonzalo Fernandez de Oviedo (1478-1557) - who was one of the five boy chamber
lains chosen by Queen Isabella to serve in her young son's mimic court (1493). Since
the adolescent prince sang tenor Anchieta would have sung bass. To have taught Don
Juan how to play such a variety of instruments as Oviedo lists, Anchieta must ob
viously have been himself something of a performer on most of them. Long after Don
Juan's death he remembered the blue-eyed, red-haired, oval-faced young prince with
devoted affection, as the 1522 reference in his will testifies.
While chapelmaster to the prince, and while chapelsinger for Queen Isabella until
1504, he travelled constantly. The court journeyed to Santafe in 1491, Granada in 1492,
Barcelona in 1493, Valladolid, Segovia, and Madrid in 1494, Alfaro and Tortosa in 1495,
Burgos in 1496, Granada in 1499, Seville and Toledo in 1502, Alcala, Segovia, and Medina
del Campo in 1503. Queen Isabella died in the latter city on November 26, 1504. After
attending her remains to Granada he was in all probability dispatched with other
members of the Castilian royal household to Flanders, there to attend the new sovereign,
Joanna, whose consort was the handsomest king in Europe, Philip the Fair.
in The constitutions of Henry IV's royal chapel are reprinted in MME, I, 57~5^- The corps of singers
included both clergy and laity. A lay singer who came to the choristers' desk wearing his sword was fined
twice and the third time cut off the payroll. Henry IV's chapelmaster in 1465 was Joanes Curiel, but the
latter's length of service is not known. See E. Van der Straeten, op. cit., VII, 187.
112 Coster, p. 67.
H3 Gilbert Chase, The Music of Spain (New York: W. W. Norton, 1941), p. 36.
II 4 Spanish original in Libro de la camara real del prin$ipe Don Jttan . . . compuesto por Gongalo Fernandez
de Ouiedo (Madrid: La Sociedad de Bibli6filos Espafloles, 1870), pp. 182-183. Oviedo composed this account
for the young prince, later to be crowned as Philip II. "Menistriles e diuersos musicos" from which the ex
tract is taken was written in 1548.
134 Liturgical Music
The codicil to Anchieta's will testifies to a Flemish sojourn. If 1505 is accepted as the
probable year, then he spent at least a few weeks in Southern England during the
return journey (January 15-April 15, 1506). 115 At all events, his pay vouchers prove
him to have been chaplain and singer from Isabella's death onwards not in Ferdinand's
household, but in that of his eldest daughter, Joanna, heir to the Castilian kingdom.
This "mad" queen, like her brother, Prince John (d. 1497), ardently loved music.
It is not to be doubted that Anchieta accompanied her husband's catafalque from
Burgos where he died, September 25, 1506, on its famous journey that ended in Torde-
sillas. Moreover, it was in 1507 that his salary was raised from 30,000 to 45,000 maravedis.
The obvious conclusion must be that he continued in her entourage when she retired
into virtual seclusion to mourn her husband. All who have written on her mental
condition agree that she was troubled by an obsession, but one which did not prevent
her from conversing in Latin when she chose, 116 or from continuing to enjoy music
which was from childhood "una de sus distracciones favoritas." 117
The chronicler Alonso de Estanques describes her condition from October, 1506,
onwards thus :
After the death of her husband she began to lead a very sad life, withdrawing into solitude and
obscure retirement. She brooded without saying a word and without wishing any company,
except that at various times she took delight in performances of music, to which art she had
been extremely addicted since early childhood. 118
In this removed world Anchieta must be thought of as having brought such solace as
music offers. His Ash Wednesday motets, one for three male voices, Domine, non secun-
dum peccata nostra, the other for four, Domine, ne memineris, cannot be dated, but by
virtue of their musical content epitomize Joanna's bereaved world after her husband's
death. From February, 1509, until her own death at the age of 75 she remained in
Tordesillas, near Valladolid. Here he must surely have served, if the evidence of such a
pay voucher as that of April 12, 1512, 119 is accepted. Ferdinand, her father, governed
as regent until 1516, and distributed salaries; but Anchieta was "cantor de la reyna
Juana nuestra senora."
No more remarkable tribute can be brought forward than the royal cedula Charles,
son of Joanna, issued at Barcelona on August 15, 1519, confirming the composer in
his salary of 45,000 maravedis for life. After Ferdinand's death some official had proposed
that Anchieta was worth only 25,000. Charles ordered his salary restored to its former
level on account of "los muchos e buenos servicios que el dicho juanes nos ha hecho"
(the many and excellent services which the said Juan has rendered [our royal house]).
115 Antonio Rodriguez Villa, La Reina Dona Juana la loca: Estudio histdrico (Madrid: Lib. de M. Murillo,
1892), pp. 133, 138.
116 Juan Luis Vives, A very frutefull and pleasant boke called the Instruction of a Christen Woman, tr. Richard
Hyrd (London, T. Berthelet, c. 1529), fol. E: "dame Joanne, the wyfe of kynge Philippe, mother vnto
Carolus, that now is, was wont to make answere in latyn and that without any studie..."
117 Rodriguez Villa, p. 10.
118 Ibid., p. 225.
i" MME, II, 4.
Liturgical Music 135
At 57 Anchieta according to this royal cedula was "too old" to reside at court. But
Charles was only 19; he had arrived from Brussels speaking only a few words of Casti-
lian and came surrounded, as was his father while in Spain, by Flemish favorites.
Anchieta's age need not have kept him from playing Falstaff so much as chronic
illness. In any event, the pay vouchers for 1520 list him as ill in his house at Azpeitia. 120
Though crowded with local events the rest of his life may be conveniently summarized
as a series of vain attempts at raising his own family to equal dignity with the Loyola
clan. He died hoping that the provisions of his will would be respected. But once his
own forceful and commanding presence was removed the fortunes of the Anchietas
declined, his legatee was moved out of his house, and even his burial wishes were flouted.
Such luster as was later to be added to the name was shed by a collateral descendant,
Jose de Anchieta (1533-1597). Ironically, Jose made his reputation as a member of
the very society which the most illustrious of the rival Loyola clan was to found in
1534-
Part II: Checklist of Juan de Anchieta 1 s Compositions
bone Jesu, one of the five motets attributed to Anchieta in the Cancionero musical de
Segovia (a manuscript discovered by Higinio Angles in 1922) was printed in Ottaviano
Petrucci's 1519 Motetti de la Corona, Libro tertio, as item 14, Petrucci attributing it
however to the better-known French composer, Loyset Compere (c. 1450-1518). If this
motet actually belongs to Anchieta, then it would be his first printed work. But if not,
then he would seem to have gone unpublished in his lifetime.
Asenjo Barbieri was the first modern editor to bring out any of his works, sacred or
secular, when in 1890 he published the Cancionero musical generally known as the
Cancionero de Palacio, this collection containing four of his Spanish part-songs. Juan B.
de Eliistiza and Gonzalo Castrillo Herndndez in 1933 were the first to print any of his
sacred music with Latin text, publishing in that year two motets and a Salve Regina as
the opening works in their Antologia musical. Higinio Angles followed suit in 1941 with
his La musica en la corte de los Reyes Cattilicos: Polifonia ReLigiosa, a collection which
begins with a complete Missa by Anchieta, followed by the Kyrie, Gloria, and Credo
of a Missa de beata Virgine.
Angles was the first who called attention to the wide peninsular distribution of
manuscript copies; several of Ancbieta's extant compositions are preserved in more
than one source. Alphabetically listed according to the places where conserved, the
known sources are as follows: (i) and (2) Barcelona: Biblioteca Central MS 454 and MS
681; (3) Coimbra: Biblioteca Geral, MS de musica 12; (4) Madrid: Biblioteca Real, sign.
2-1-5; (5) Segovia: Archivo musical, MS without signature; (6) Seville: Biblioteca
Colombina, sign. 5-5-20; (7) and (8) Tarazona: Archivo musical, MS 2 and MS s; 121 (9)
Valladolid: Parroquia de Santiago, MS s.s.
i* Ibid., II, z6.
121 Bibliographical details in MME, 1, 112-115, 134-135, 118-122, 95-103, 106-112, 129, 122-123, 124.
136 Liturgical Music
Works with Latin text
Conditor alme siderum, 3 v. (Segovia, fol. 169.) 122
Domine Jesu Christe qui hora diei ultima, 4 v. (Coimbra, fols. igiv.-iga ; Segovia, f ols. 94^-95 ;
Seville, fols. i8v.-ig 123 ; Tarazona MS 2, fols. 279^-280; Valladolid, fol. 95.) 124
Domine, ne memineris, 4 v. (Segovia, fols. 97^-98.) 125
Domine, non secundum peccata nostra, 3 v. (Segovia, fol. i68v.) 126
Libera me, Domine, 4 v. (Tarazona MS 2, fols. 2i8v.-2i9.)
Magnificat, Tone I, even verses, 3 v. (Segovia, fols. 146-147^; Tarazona MS 2, fols. 24v.-
26.) 12 ?
Magnificat, 4 v. (Tarazona MS 2, fols. 55V.-58.)
Missa [quarti toni], 4 v. (Tarazona MS 3, fols. zyiv.-iSi.) 128
Missa Rex virginum [De beata Virgine], 4 v. Only the Kyrie, Gloria, and Credo movements.
(Barcelona MS 454, fols. 38v.-4i; Segovia, fols. 63^-67 [Credo and Gloria]; Tarazona MS 3,
fols. 209V.-2I5.) 129
[0 bone Jesu, 4 v. (Segovia, fols. IOOV.-IOL) 13 ]
Salve Regina, 4 v. (Barcelona MS 454, fols. 6ov.-62, MS 681, fols. 77V.-79; Seville, fols. 7v.-u;
Tarazona MS 2, fols. 232V.-234.) 131
Virgo et mater, 4 v. (Segovia, fols. 95v.-g7; Seville, fols. nv.-i2; Tarazona MS 2, fols. 277v.-
278.) 132
Works with Spanish text
Con amores, la mi madre, 4 v. (Palace Songbook, no. 335 [fol. 231].)
Donsella, madre de Dios, 3 v. (Palacio, no. 404 [fols. 265^-266].)
Dos dnades madre, 3 v. (Palacio, no. 177 [fol. 107].)
En memoria d'Alixandre, 4 v. (Palacio, no. 130 [fols. 76^-77].)
122 Four-bar fragment transcribed in Rudolf Gerber, "Spanische Hymnensatze um 1500," Archiv fur
Musikwissenschaft, X, 3 (1953), p. 171. The composer Marturia, whose setting of Conditor alme siderum
(a 3) appears in the Segovia MS below Anchieta's at fol. 169 would have been a Spaniard, according to
Gerber.
123 Transcriptions: Elustiza-Castrillo Hernandez, Antologia musical (Barcelona: Rafael Casulleras, 1933),
pp. 1-4; present text, pp. 142-144.
124 The index in Antologia musical (p. XXIII) erroneously describes item 53 in the Valladolid codex as
Pasiones, and lists Anchieta as the composer. Unfortunately, however, the sole Anchieta item in this MS
is the Domine Jesu Christe motet at fol. 95, and even it is incomplete for want of the leaf on which were copied
cantus and tenor. The composer's name appears at the head of fol. 95 thus : <(> ancheta.
125 Transcription in the present volume at pp. 140-142.
128 Transcription in Albert Cohen, "The Vocal Polyphonic Style of Juan de Anchieta/' New York Uni
versity Master's Thesis (May, 1953), pp. 81-82.
127 Cohen, pp. 86-92. For a facsimile of the first Tarazona opening, see MGG, I, cols. 1383-1384.
128 MME, I, 1-34 (parte musical).
Ibid., I, 35-54-
180 Ottaviano Petrucci, who in his Motetti de la Corona, Libro tertio, No. XIIII (Fossombrone, 1519),
attributes this motet to Loyset Compere (repr. Van Ockeghem tot Sweelinck, ed. A. Smijers [Amsterdam:
G. Alsbach, 1942], pp. 116-118), inserts an extra measure (74). The last three measures (79-81) differ, the
"Anchieta" closing on C, rather than G, chord. Otherwise the versions are identical. H. E. Wooldridge
(OHM, II, ii, 95 [1932 edn.]) highly praises this motet. He Likes it precisely because it looks forward to tonic-
dominant harmony.
It again comes up for discussion in Ludwig Finscher, "Loyset Compere and his Works," Musica Disciplina,
XII (1958)* PP- 123-124. Finscher discovers its appearance in Barcelona MS 454 (fols. I35V.-I36) with an
attribution to Penalosa; and in both Orfe6n Catalan MS 5 (fol. 69) and Coimbra MS de musica 12 (fols.
I9ov.-i9i) as an anonymous item.
13 i Eltistiza-Castrillo, pp. 8-15.
is 2 Ibid., pp. 5-7.
Liturgical Music 137
Part III: Anchieta's Musical Style
ACCORDING TO Juan Bermudo (1549) indigenous Spanish style implies not profound
learning but rather "graciosidad, y sonoridad." 133 Anchieta's music aptly confirms this
dictum. None of it vaunts any extremely clever devices. When he quotes a secular
melody as for instance the L'Homme arme in the Agnus of his Missa (which for con
venience will be called "quarti toni" to distinguish it from the Missa Rex virginum] he
allows the tenor to sing the tune in perfectly straightforward fashion, and surrounds it
with only simple counterpoints that "tell" in performance. He imitates, but never in a
recondite way, nor at intervals other than the unison, octave, fourth, or fifth. He
rarely inverts, writes no cancrizans (or at least none that has been thus far discovered).
He is not interested in puzzles, but in sound.
The most famous of the works, a mass based on the secular tuneEaiudios a enfardelar,
has been lost. That he wrote such a mass, not to mention the Agnus from the Missa
"quarti toni," sufficiently proves that he - like his more dazzling Spanish contemporary,
Penalosa - entertained no prejudices against secular tunes. The foundation of his other
extant works, however, would always seem to have been some melody from the plain-
song repertory.
In the two Ash Wednesday motets, Domine non secundum peccata nostra and Domine
ne memineris (which belong together liturgically 134 though separated in the Segovia
manuscript), the plainsong always goes in the tenor, never peregrinating to other
voices. In the Glorias of his two masses, on the other hand, the honor of singing the
plainsong is shared, 135 discantus alternating with an interior part in the opening sections
and bassus enjoying his opportunity in the closing sections. As for the Magnificat a 3 and
Salve Regina a 4, he confides the plainsong principally to the top voice. But at phrase-
beginnings he does often thread it through the lower parts before its entry in the upper
voice. If it were possible to know the Spanish shape of the plainsong melodies which he
used, then we could perhaps make other useful generalizations concerning his plainsong
technique. Even in comparing his adaptations with the Liber usualis versions, we at
once see extremely close fidelity in pitches, his deviations at cadences representing per
haps Spanish plainsong variants rather than individual caprice.
He does, as a rule, allow himself great latitude in choosing a rhythmic pattern within
which to fit a plainsong melody. Only once does he bind himself rigidly to the set iambic
scheme of a given plainchant : and that once in his hymn Conditor alme siderum (the two
lower parts disport themselves in lively instrumental play). His more usual practice,
that of rhythmic transformation, can be seen in the richly hued motet, Domine, ne
memineris, which is shown as a second accompanying example.
Unity within such a plainsong motet is imposed by obvious repetition of a chordal
and rhythmic complex: measures 2-4 corresponding with 9-11, for example. He never
shies at repeating rhythmic or melodic figures. His Missa quarti toni is, for instance,
133 Libra primero de la declaraddn de instruments (Osuna: Juan de Le6n, 1459). &>! x verso [introduction].
134 See Liber usualis, (194? edn.), pp. 422-423.
135 Plainsong for the Gloria of the Missa quarti toniwLU [1947]. PP- 62 ^3 (Dominate* Deus, Mass XV) ;
for that of the Missa Rex virginum mLU, pp. 43-44 (De Beata Virgine, Mass IX).
138 Liturgical Music
welded together by a "motive" riveted not only at the beginning of each major move
ment (except the Gloria, where it is reserved for bar 14) but also frequently inside
movements - his "motive" being the three-note figure, e-f-g, with the first two related
in a dotted rhythm.
The formal balance of such a motet as Virgo et mater 136 can be discerned even at
first hearing, his method for securing such balance being the same that he uses through
out the extremely successful Credo of his Missa Rex virginum. In both instances he
swings with pendulum-like regularity from duos, usually involving imitation, to four-part
chorda! passages. Since the Credo 137 of the Rex virginum is all one movement, his method
not only gives the singers an opportunity to breathe but also insures clarity of text. In
succession the sections run as follows: (i) "Patrem": upper pair of voices; (2) "visi-
bilium": lower pair; (3) "Et in unum": four parts; (4) "Et ex Patre": contratenor
and bassus; (5) "Deum de Deo": discantus and tenor; (6) "Genitum": four parts; (7)
"Et incarnatus" : discantus and tenor; (8) "ex Maria" : contratenor and bassus; (9) "Et
homo" : four parts; (10) "Et ascendit" : two lower; (n) "sedet" : two upper; (12) "vivos
et mortuos": four; (13) "Et in Spiritum": lower pair; (14) "qui ex Patre": upper pair;
(15) "Qui cum Patre": four; (16) "unum baptisma" : upper pair; (17) "in remissionem" :
lower pair; (18) "Et expecto" : four. Every third change of voice-texture brings forward
a passage for the full chorus. The intermediate two changes involve pairs of voices. The
number of measures in each vocal registration induces a formal balance that, even if
obvious, must be admired.
As for his treatment of text: Anchieta in conformity with contemporaneous usage
occasionally inserts a rest in the middle of a word. But he never fails to bring the general
mood of the music into agreement with the overall sense of the text. Now and then he
singles out a poignant word for special emphasis, as at the close of the motet Domine,
Jesu Christe when he ascends to his highest pitch on the climactic word, "ardentissimo."
Here the preparation for the climax is carefully thought out, both rhythmically and
harmonically. In the Gloria of the Missa quarti toni at the words "Jesu Christe" (mm.
57-60) and in the Gloria of the Missa Rex virginum at the words "Mariae Virginis"
(mm. 125-127), he writes block-chords, with obvious intent at emphasizing the words.
Not only is he possessed of a fine instinct for rhythmic variety, but also of a well
developed harmonic sense. There can be no mistaking the harmonic implications of
such a bass-line as that found in measures 177-206 of his Salve Regina where sixteen
skips of a fourth or fifth follow in quick succession. A tabulation of the other bass-
intervals during these same bars gives twelve seconds, three thirds, and one octave. His
fondness for harmonic as well as melodic sequence shows at measures 99-104 of the
same Marian antiphon. Though no extended count has been attempted, he seems less
enamoured of the nota cambiata - complete or "incomplete" - than the Flemings who
186 Printed in Elustiza-Castrillo, pp. 5-7. But the two middle parts must sound an octave lower than printed
and certain accidentals must be added. The Elustiza-Castrillo version of Anchieta's Salve Regina similarly
stands in need of correction.
is? NO plainsong original has been thus far located, although one probably exists. This Credo forms one
large movement; Anchieta's other Credo is divided into three movements (j Patrem omnipotentem 2 Qui
propter nos homines j Crucifixus).
Liturgical Music
Conditor alme siderum*
Segovia MS [s. s.], fol. 169.
139
JUAN DE ANCHIETA
Con di -tor ol me si de rum, oc ter na
J
/ n lux ere den ti urn, Chrn-
I
10
Re-dem p
mni-
^
15
ex at> di pre ces sup pli urn.
* Bountiful Creator of the heavens, eternal Light of the faithful, Christ, Redeemer of all, give ear to the
prayers of Thy suppliants.
** F in Liber usualis.
Ash Wednesday Versicle
Liber usualis (1947 edition), p. 423.
ne me-mi
+ * ^ * * ar
I aui a-tum no stra rum
140
Liturgical Music
JJ J J JJ JJ
ci to on ti ci-pent
> res -fa-cb' su mu5
ni mis.
Domine, ne memineris*
Segovia MS [s. s.], fol. 97v.-g8.
JUAN DE ANCHIETA
J 5
DO
DO.
mi-
-mf
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rl r^
ne,
- r 'ff rr
Do-
mi ne.
* Lord, remember not the iniquity of our forefathers: let thy mercies speedily relieve us, for we are
grown very miserable. [Ps. 78 ( 79 A.V.), 8].
Liturgical Music
141
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J. 4 J I
t jJ.fi J? VM
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142
Liturgical Music
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Domine Jesu Christe
Segovia: MS s.s., fols. 94V.-95;
Seville: Bibl. Colombina, sign. 5-5-20, fols. i8v.-ig.
JUAN DE ANCHIETA
DomJ ne Je su Chri
* O Lord Jesus Christ who the last hour of the day wast laid in the sepulchre, and wast mourned and
lamented by Thy most sorrowful mother and other women, make us here present overflow with tears in
compassion for thy suffering and, deeply moved, make us bewail Thy passion and remember it, as if recent,
with most heartfelt grief. Amen.
Liturgical Music
ho ra. di e i ul ti ma in se pul-
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143
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144
Liturgical Music
bun-
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A men.
visited Spain in Philip the Fair's entourage -La Rue and Agricola. His "chords" are
overwhelmingly in root position. If he uses "first-inversion chords," the bass is ap
proached stepwise (with very rare exceptions). Passages of parallel first-inversion
chords are more frequent in his Magnificat a 3 than in any other of his works. Because
by way of exception he uses the Landini-type cadence in the last section of this Magni
ficat; and because the final chord in the concluding section is built not over F (although
this is the chord with which every previous section ended) but instead over G, the Sicut
erat poses a stylistic problem. Perhaps it replaces another now-lost Sicut erat. At all
events it seems an incongruity in its present position in the Segovia manuscript - which
as we have already seen gives him a motet elsewhere attributed to Compare. Certainly
he in no other instance except this Magnificat strays out of* mode at a last crucial
moment.
THROUGHOUT his oeuvre he showed an instinct for drama. Always however he turned
resolutely away from anything that smacks of mere cleverness. After diligent search one
might press the claim that he alludes to this or that contemporaneous motet in his
Liturgical Music 145
Missa quarti toni - BrumeTs Mater Patris et Filia 13 in the first incise of the Christe
eleison, for instance, or Busnois's Quant fay au cueur in the first incise of Kyrie I.
Actually, however, such resemblances as these can be dismissed as purely fortuitous.
At best they last no longer than a few notes. Until further evidence is brought forward,
Anchieta's masses cannot be labelled erudite or even involute.
For their proper effect he depended on extraordinarily large choral groups. Unlike the
choirs which attended monarchs abroad, Ferdinand and Isabella carried in train choirs
numbering from 60 to 80 singers. Such for instance was the size of the Spanish royal
choir which sang on Sunday, May 8, 1502, when the peninsular sovereigns joined their
daughter, Joanna, and son-in-law, Philip the Fair, at Mass in Toledo Cathedral. 139
In such surroundings and with such forces his music must be created anew if it is to be
appreciated as it deserves. If he lacks Penalosa's subtlety and contrivance, his music on
the other hand reflects a personality as direct and forceful as that of Bartolome Bermejo
(fl. 1474-1498), the first master in the peninsula to endow each figure in his oils with
distinct individuality.
Francisco de Penalosa (c. U70-1S28)
Part I: Biography
PENALOSA was an acknowledged favorite of Ferdinand V and of Leo X, king and pope
respectively. Personal letters written in his behalf were, moreover, dispatched by both
in an endeavor to conserve his rights to a canonry in Seville Cathedral while he sang at
their courts. His music is the most virtuostic written by any Spaniard before Morales.
Six masses and part of a seventh, a half-dozen magnificats, at least thirty motets and a
set of lamentations survive, in addition to ten secular part-songs in the Palace Songbook.
His merits were so generally recognized that when Cristobal de Villalon wrote his dia
logue, Ingeniosa comparacidn entre lo antiguo y lo presente in 1539, he adduced Pe ialosa
as his first example when citing modern musicians who could worthily vie with the
ancients. Even Josquin des Prez was in his opinion inferior to PeJialosa, of whom he
wrote:
A very short time ago died that celebrated master, Francisco de Penalosa, he who was director
of music for His Catholic Majesty, Ferdinand; both because of his prowess as a composer and as
a singer he exceeded even Apollo, the inventor of music. 140
iss Brumel's Mater Patris (a 3) occurs in the Biblioteca Colombina source (sign. 5-5-20) immediately
after Anchieta's Domine Jesu Christi. Angles lists Mater patris as anonymous (MME, I, 129), but Brumel
is the composer.
189 Antoine de Lalaing, "Voyage de Philippe le Beau en Espagne en 1501," Collection des Voyages des
Souverains des Pays-Bos, ed. Louis Prosper Gachard (Brussels: F. Hayez, 1876} I, 176. The narrator was
obviously surprised to encounter so large a choir.
140 Villal6n's dialogue was published in 1898 (Madrid: Sociedad deBibli6fiIosEspanoles). Original reads
(p. 175): "Muy poco ha que murid aquel famoso var6n don Francisco de Penalosa, Maestro de capilla del
cath61ico Rey don Fernando, el qual en la Mtisica en arte y boz escedi6 A Apolo su inuentor." The footnote
giving PeiLalosa's date of death is a modern editorial guess and must be corrected.
146 Liturgical Music
Yet despite the attentions paid him by king and pope, the survival of a greater
quantity of music than by any other Spanish contemporary, acknowledged versatility
in sacred and secular styles, and the highest plaudits from a discerning critic who a
decade after his death rated him above Josquin, not to mention Morales, Peaalosa is
today but poorly known in English-speaking countries. 141
Of his early life no record seems to survive, but Angles would have him born about
1470 in Talavera de la Reina. 142 Like the virtuostic painter, Master Alfonso whose tech
nical skill in his 1473 panel, The Martyrdom of Saint Medin (= Emeterio), 143 leads art
historians to predicate a youthful apprenticeship in Italy, Penalosa may well have
enjoyed just such an advantage. His immediate success in Rome when summoned to the
court of Leo X c. 1517 gives reason for supposing that he was returning to familiar
ground.
The earliest record makes of him in May of 1498 a singer in the household of Fer
dinand V. Isabella's household all through their joint reigns was kept separate. Had
Penalosa been her singer, as was Anchieta, his name would of necessity appear in Siman-
cas quitaciones of the House of Castile. It does not; therefore he belonged always to the
Aragonese royal household throughout his eighteen years at court, 1498-1516. His last
thirty years run in this vein :
1498 On May n he is appointed a singer in the Aragonese royal chapel. 144
0.1500 A certain Francisco de Penalosa, an hidalgo, is by royal decree named one of 29 members
of the newly formed cabildo at Granada. 145
I 55 On December 15 the Seville Cathedral chapter accedes to the royal request that he be
named to a vacant canonry. He takes possession by proxy. 146
1506 On January 12 the Seville chapter receives bulls transmitted in behalf of another
contender for the canonry, the powerful but corrupt Italian cardinal, Raffaele Riario, 147
Four days later (January 16) Penalosa appeals to the chapter, again through a proxy,
141 Grove's Dictionary, Fifth Edition (1954) confuses him with Anchieta when it makes him chapelmaster
to Prince John by Queen Isabella's appointment. GD makes of him a Cappella Giulia singer during his
Roman sojourn - and doubts his authorship of several motets conserved at Toledo. But because found
elsewhere in earlier MSS these cannot well be the work of a mid-century organist, Juan de Penalosa. The
International Cyclopedia of Music and Musicians, Sixth Edition (1952) gives him a mere six lines, naming
1535 as his year of death, though in 1933 was published the document from Seville Cathedral archives which
shows that he died in Seville on April i, 1528 (Elustiza-Castrillo, p. XLI).
"2 MME, I, 7.
148 Local Catalonian saint, martyred c. 330 in company with San Severo. For information concerning
Master Alfonso, the painter, see Oskar Hagen, Patterns and Principles of Spanish Art (Madison: University
of Wisconsin Press, 1943), pp. 124 and 130.
1 44 MME, I, 7.
145 Francisco Bermudez de Pedraza, Historia eclesiastica, principios, y progresses de la ciudad, y religion
catolica de Granada (Granada: Andre's de Santiago, 1638), fol. 200. This reference occurs in cap. xxviii, "La
forma que el primer Cabildo de Granada tuuo."
146 Seville Cathedral, Autos capitulares. 150$. 1506. 1507. 1510. 1323. 1524., fol. 143 (Angle's signalizes
the year as 1506, but by an oversight).
147 Elustiza-Castrillo, p. XXXVI. For identification of the Cardenal de S. Jorge see Alfonso Chac6n,
Vitaeetres gestae pontificum Romanorum (Rome: P. et A. de Rubeis, 1677), III, 70-75.
Liturgical Music 147
countering the claims of Cardinal Riario, the latter having enjoyed such wealthy
sinecures as the bishoprics of Cuenca and Osma but without ever having set foot in
Spain.
On September 13 the chapter decides to nullify Penalosa's appointment, giving the
canonry to the pluralist cardinal.
On September 28 Pedro Diaz de Segovia, Penalosa's father, appears personally before
the Seville chapter in defense of his son's rights, the latter not yet having transferred
residence to Seville. Subsequent events will show that the chapter decides to favor
Penalosa's suit, even though his competitor for the canonry is a cardinal. 148
1510 On November 8 the chapter orders a book of polyphony in Penalosa's possession
appraised, the inference being that he is at that moment in Seville. 149
J5JJ He becomes chapelmaster in the new household set up by Ferdinand V 15 for his
grandson, the youthful Ferdinand (brother of the future Charles V, and after the latter's
resignation, Holy Roman Emperor).
1512 He meets Lucio Marineo, Sicilian humanist and Latin scholar residing at court, and
persuades the Sicilian to write a gloss on the Angelic Salutation; 151 an exchange of
letters in Latin survives showing Penalosa to have been residing with the court in
Burgos, 152 and moreover proving him to have been a competent Latinist. Marineo
addresses Penalosa as "prince of musicians"; among Penalosa's chapel singers at this
148 Eltistiza-Castrillo, p. XXXVI, n. i: "If it should seem strange that a cardinal should seek a mere
canonry, let this passage from Peraza's Historia de Sevilla (Colombina MS) be remembered: 'Pope
Clement VII said that when one sought a canonry in Seville Cathedral, he sought [the equivalent of] a
bishopric'."
149 A.C., 1505. 1506. 1507. 1510. 1523. *5 2 4-> fo1 - 3 2 5 V -
150 MME, I, 7.
151 Lucio Marineo [Siculo], Ad illustrissimum principem Alfonsum Aragoneum Ferdinandi regis f ilium
. . . epistolarum familiarium libri decem et septem (VaUadolid: A. G. Brocar, 1514). *ol. h ii [Liber IX, ep. 8].
Letter begins: "In regii palacii sacello cum essemus nuper Pignalosa musicorum princeps: a me petisti
familiariter ut angelicae salutationis ad Virginem deiparam binis dictionibus binas alias uel plures partes
adiungerem. Quas in uirginis ipsius: cui maxime deditus es: laudes et honorem: sicut onrrn'a soles: deuotissi-
me concineres" (When recently we were in the palace chapel you, Penalosa, foremost of musicians, asked
me as your particular Mend to pair added phrases with those of the Angelical Salutation so that you might
sing them as is most mete in honor of the Blessed Virgin, very devotedly after the fashion of all your singing).
Marineo, one of the most cultured Italians of his day not only called Penalosa musicorum princeps but
filled his letter with phrases of personal warmth and admiration, at its conclusion adding the gloss to the
Ave Maria which Penalosa had requested. The latter acknowledged Marineo's kindness in a well-phrased
Latin reply, printed in Marineo's Epistolarum at fol. h ii verso: " . . . Ita ut ad nostram compositionem nihil
potuerit addi aptius nihil dulcius: eoque magis quod duplex est salutatio et altera Siculi Vale probitatis
exemplum" ( ... no added text could be more apt or more delightful for us to set, and it proves the more so
because the Salutation has been paired with other phrases by our Sicilian Farewell, you example of
uprightness).
162 The PefLalosa letter bears no date, but Caro Lynn from internal evidence deduced that it must have
been written in 1512 or 1513 while Marineo served as tutor to the sons of the contador mayor of Castile,
Juan Veldzquez de Cuellar. Marineo began tutoring these five sons in the autumn of 1511. During the next
year he frequently accompanied one or another son when visits were paid at the royal monastery of San
Pedro de Cardefia just outside Burgos, this monastery then being the residence of Prince Ferdinand. It was
during 151 1 that Penalosa became chapelmaster in the prince's household. See Caro Lynn, A College Professor
of the Renaissance (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1937)* P- 2 4*-
148 Liturgical Music
time is Juan Ponce, 153 famous as composer of a dozen part-songs in the Cancionero
Musical de Palacio.
r 5 J 3 On January 3 Penalosa attends a meeting of the cathedral chapter in Seville. 154
On March 7 a letter from court requesting that his salary and other perquisites be
sustained at their top level, even though he remains constantly absent, is read in
chapter meeting at Seville Cathedral; this letter denominates him "chaplain and singer
of His Majesty, and chapelmaster of his grandson, the illustrious Ferdinand, son of His
Serene Highness Philip [d. 1506] and Queen Joanna." 155
7515 On February 12 he again attends a Seville chapter meeting. 156
7516 On January 23 Ferdinand V dies; while awaiting the arrival of the new king, grandson
Ferdinand's household remains intact, but late in the year is dissolved, thus ending
Peiialosa's eighteen years of court service.
1517 On February 4 the Seville cathedral chapter orders its archivists to search for the deed
bestowing Peiialosa's dignities upon him. 157
On March 6 Penalosa, having arrived in Seville, is entrusted with cathedral business. He
and another canon are directed to survey the curriculum set up for youthful ex-chor
isters, who having lost their voices are being educated at cathedral expense. He is
also requested to report on the teaching of the maestro del estudio de la gramatica
(grammar master) who instructs the younger boys still in active cathedral service.
Sometime between March 6 and autumn he transfers to Rome. He at once makes so
favorable an impression that already in early November papal secretaries are busy
drafting requests to the ordinaries at Cordova, Segovia, and Seville, for non-residential
preferments that can be accepted by his brother acting as proxy. 158
On November 4 Pope Leo X, patron of art and music, writes a brief asking the Seville
cathedral chapter to dispense him from his obligation of residence: Dearly beloved sons
[formula of the papal benediction] : Among the singers in our chapel on solemn occasions is
our beloved son, Francisco de Penalosa, canon of Seville, who acting as chamberlain and
musician extraordinary displays such exquisite art coupled with such discretion and
probity that we fervently desire his continuing presence. He is moreover exceedingly welcome
on account of other virtues which cause us to wish that he remain in our service. Since those
whom we select ought not to suffer impairment of their other privileges whatever favors we
bestow, and since your devotion to the Holy See is weU known, we request and adjure you to
continue him in all the salaries and privileges of his canonry and prebend [in Seville-
Cathedral] while he continues in our service, requesting furthermore your reply by return
messenger, granting him all the rights, salaries, and privileges he would enjoy if he were
present daily in your cathedral. That you may the more expeditiously and conveniently act in
his favor, we absolve you from all promises made to us or our predecessors to guard the
153 Marineo, Liber XIV, ep. 3 (fol. m iiij verso). See pp. 184-1 89 of the present volume f or futher details
concerning Ponce.
154 A.C., 1513. 1514. 15x5., fol. i.
"5 Elustiza-Castrillo, p. XXXVII.
156 A.C., 1513. 1514. 1515., fol. nov.
1{ " A.C., 75x7. 1318. 1519., fol. 7.
158 F reV) "Regesten zur papstlichen Kapelle [Nachlese]/' Die Musikforschung, IX/4 (1956), pp. 414-415.
Liturgical Music 149
canonical obligations of residence; we suspend the statutes requiring residence for this one
time only, and request you to observe their suspension. Given at Rome under the Fisherman's
seal, November 4, 15x7, the fifth year of our pontificate. 1 -^
On December 26 (1517) Leo X's secretary, Pietro Bembo, writes a letter in the pope's
name to Diego de Muros, bishop of Oviedo (Spain), asking further favors for Penalosa:
To the Bishop of Oviedo: In other of my letters to you I have written in what high regard I
hold my singer, Francisco de Penalosa, and how I make frequent and intimate use of him
- almost daily - in offerings of the Holy Sacrifice and in numerous other ceremonies; and so
we will not any longer dwell on this fact, already known by you. But since he would very much
like you to order that the Archdeaconate of Carmona which you hold in Seville Cathedral be
given him; and since he himself wishes to exchange for the fruits of the archdeaconate other
emoluments which are reckoned of equal value; arid since others well known to you have
requested the same thing of you, I ask that you accommodate him in this matter (at my
behest], he being a man who is obviously industrious; and you will give me cause for gratifi
cation. I by no means see why he himself so vehemently desires this thing but if you can serve
him it will please me very greatly. 16
On January 13, not yet having received Pope Leo X's brief of the preceding November
4, the Seville cathedral chapter passes a rule requiring all absentee canons in Rome to
return before January i, 1519, under pain of forfeiting their dignities. 161
On February 8 Pope Leo's November 4 brief arrives, is read, and voted upon ; the chapter
decides to deny the pope's request and to supplicate from the young king, Charles, a
royal cedula against absenteeism. 162 On March 22 Charles during his stay in Valladolid
accedes, issuing a cedula in which he bids the cathedral chapter to stand firm.
On Good Friday Penalosa sings the passion more hispano (Spanish manner) in the pope's
chapel at Rome. The pope's diarist, Paride de Grassi, records that Penalosa sings alone,
whereas formerly three singers were always accustomed to intone the Johannine
narrative. Moved evidently by the beauty of Penalosa's singing Pope Leo dedicates the
large sum of 50 gold ducats and 100 julios "to the Cross." 163
On May 26 another papal brief arrives from Rome renewing in still stronger terms
159 Elustiza-Castrillo, p. XXXIX. . .
lea Pietro Bembo, Epistolarum Leonis Decimi Pontificis Max. nomine scriptarum hbri sexdecvn (Venice:
Apud Gualterum Scottum, 1552), pp. 510-511 (Liber XVI, ep. 5): Episcopo Ouetensi. Alteris meis ad te
litteris scrips!; quo in loco Franciscum Penalosam cantorem meum haberem; quamque eo nostris in sacns
et ceremoniarum celebritate f amiliariter ac prope quotidie uterer. Itaque non erimus mine quidem ea in re tibi
ostendenda longiores. Verum cum is magnopere cupiat, ut Archidiaconatus Chermonaeus, quern obtines in
Ecclesia Hispalensi, sibi mandes ut conferatur: tibique ipse reponere fructus Archidiaconatus uelit alijs in
sacerdotijs quae tantidem aestimentur: petantque idem abs te alij perfamiliares tui: uelim des ei te facilem
ea in re hortatu meo, hominique plane industrio et mini grato commodes. Omnino cur ije tantopere id
cupiat, non uideo. Sed si ei satisfeceris; erit mini ualde gratum. Septimo Cal. Ian. Anno quinto. Roma.
iw Elustiza-Castrillo, p. XL.
162 A.C., 1517. 151%. i '$19., fol. no. .
163 Paxide de Grassi, II diario di Leone X . . . dai volumi manoscritti degli archivt Vatican deUa S. Seat,
con note di Mariano Armellini (Rome: Tip. della Pace di F. Cuggiani, 1884), p. 66. The MS entry on fol.
306 reads thus: "In die veneris majoris ebdomadae, habitum fuit officmm per cardinalem agenensem ma-
jorem poenitentiarum. Passionem cantat solus cantor Hgnalosa hispanus more hispano cum alias semper
tres cantores consueuerint cantare. Papa cruci obtulit quinquaginta ducatos auri et centum julios.
150 Liturgical Music
Leo X's request. This brief is presented by Francisco de Tovar, "resident of Seville/'
and in all likelihood Penalosa's personal friend. 164
On May 31 the dean and two canons are instructed by the assembled chapter to write
Penalosa in Rome in the name of the chapter, offering him 120 ducats annually (in gold)
in partial payment, while he continues to reside in Rome. 165
On June 9 the chapter reverses itself and decides to appeal its case against him to the
highest ecclesiastical court, if necessary (the Roman Rota) , 166
On August 30 he relinquishes his former canonry in exchange for the Archdeaconate of
Carmona, one of the richest dignities in Seville Cathedral, a new creation. His proxy in
accepting the new dignity is Diego Mndez, singer in the previous archbishop's household
(Diego Hurtado de Mendoza, d. 1502), and currently a prebendary in the cathedral. 167
152 1 On December i Pope Leo X dies.
I 5 2 5 On March 24 Penalosa, again in Seville, presents bulls entitling him to the added
dignity of Tesorero (treasurer). 168
1527 On April 2 his nephew, Luis de Penalosa, becomes a canon of Seville Cathedral. 169
15^8 While residing in the Calle de Abates ("Street of Abbots") at Seville he dies, April i.
His body is interred in the nave of San Pablo (St. Paul), and over its resting place is
affixed this inscription: Aqui yace el Muy litre. Sr. Francisco de Penalosa, Arcediano de
Carmona, Canonigo de esta Sta. Iglesia, que murio en i. de abril de 1528 ("Here lies the
very illustrious Francisco de Penalosa, Archdeacon of Carmona and canon of this
cathedral church, who died on April i, 1528"), 17
I 554 On February 9 Luis de Penalosa, nephew of Francisco, dies, having enjoyed his Seville
canonry 27 years.
SOME FEW notices may have escaped students who have read the Sevillian capitular
acts, 1505-1528,. in search of data concerning Penalosa. But the notices thus far re
covered prove his presence in Seville during the following years only: 1510, 1513, 1515,
1517, 1525, 1528; and even during these years the capitular acts reveal that he was
164 A.C., 1517. 1318. 1519., fol. 137.
165 Ibid., fol. I39v.
166 iud. t fol. 142. On the same day a document was drawn up at Rome authorizing Pefialosa's res
ignation of benefices worth 300 ducats in Cordova and Seville dioceses in exchange for the Archdeaconate
of Carmona (which the bishop of Oviedo was at last willing to abandon). See Frey, "Regesten zur papstlichen
Kapelle/' Die Musikforschung, VIII/i (1955), pp. 69-70.
i* 7 Elustiza-Ca-strillo, p. XLL
168 This is the year in which he may well have taught the rising young Crist6bal de Morales. The Sevillian
A. C. anos de 1525.1526 record at fol. 45 the chapter's decision on June 26 that "Gonzalo P&rez substitute
for Morales as organist of the Antigua [Chapel] while he is busy with the marquis." The next year Morales
began as chapelmaster at Avila.
169 Like Alonso Mudarra, Luis de Penalosa rose to the dignity of cathedral majordomo. As such, he
controlled housekeeping expenses, took charge of the structure, and looked after purchases of such items as
music books and organs (see A. C.> 1536, 1537, V J 53# fols. 25v. and 74 [Apr. 24 and Dec. 13, 1536]).
"0 Elustiza-Castrfflo, p. XLL
Liturgical Music 151
oftener absent from chapter meetings than present. The same actas show that the
chapter reluctantly granted him leave upon leave only because of royal request, and then
solely because Ferdinand was willing to break his own strict rule of 1488 against such
cathedral absenteeism. 171 When Pope Leo X later asked an extension of the same ab
sentee privileges, the chapter denied two successive papal appeals, dragging - or at
least threatening to drag - the case through the highest ecclesiastical court at Rome
rather than acceding to his earnest requests.
Part II: Checklist of Penalosa's Compositions
HIS WORKS are scattered in the following locations, arranged in alphabetical sequence:
(i) and (2) Barcelona: Biblioteca Central, MS 454; Biblioteca Orfeon Catalan, MS 5;
(3) Coimbra: Biblioteca Geral, MS de musica 12; (4) Madrid: Biblioteca Real, sign.
2-1-5; (5) Seville: Biblioteca Colombina, sign. 5-5-20; (6) (7) and (8) Tarazona: MS 2,
MS 3, MS 4; (9) and (10) Toledo : Biblioteca Capitular, MS 18 and MS 2i. 172
Works with Latin text 173
Adoro te Domine Jesu Christe, 3 v. (Tarazona MS 2, fols. 24gv.-25o.)
Aleph. Quomodo obscuratum est [Lamentation for Holy Saturday], 4 v. (Tarazona MS 2, fols.
294V.-297.)
Aleph. Quomodo oltexit caligine, 4 v. [Good Friday Lamentation] (Tarazona MS 2, fols. 2giv.-
294.)
Ave Regina coelorum, 4 v. (Tarazona MS 2, fols. 269V.-270.)
Ave vera caro Christi, 4 v. (Tarazona MS 2, fols. 267^-268.)
Ave vere sanguis Domini, 4 v. (Barcelona MS 454, fols. 65V.-66; Tarazona MS 2, fols. 268v.-
269.)
Ave verum corpus natum, 4 v. (Tarazona MS 2, fols. 255^-256.)
Deus qui manus tuas, 4 v. (Tarazona MS 2, fols. 262^-263.).
Domine Jesu Christe, 4 v. (Tarazona MS 2, fols. 264^-265; Tarazona MS 4, fols. 86v.-87;
Toledo MS 21, fols. 73^-75.)
Domine, secundum actum meum, 4 v. (Tarazona MS 2, fols. 265^-266.)
Emendemus in melius. 4 v. (Tarazona MS 2, fols. 253^-254; Toledo MS 21, fols. 67^-69.)
Et factum est postquam, 4 v. [Maundy Thursday Lamentation] (Tarazona MS 2, fols. 288v.-2gi.)
Gloria, laus et honor, 4 v. (Tarazona MS 4, fols. 2&V.-27.)
In passione positus t 4 v. (Barcelona MS 454, fols. I39V.-I4O; Tarazona MS 2, fols. 266^-267;
Toledo MS 21, fols. 75^-78.) 174
Inter vestibulum et altare, 4 v. (Tarazona MS 2, fols. 257^-258; Toledo MS 21, fols. 94^-96.)
Jesu nostra redemptio, 4 v. [Ascension hymn] (Tarazona MS 2, fols. 5 v -~6-)
Kyrie, 3 v. (Barcelona: Orfe6n Cataldn MS 5, fol. 62.)
171 Ibid., p. XXXVII.
172 For bibliographical details see MME, I, 112-115, 11$, 119-122, 95-xoj, 129, 122-123, 124, 125, 13**
i? Trend adds a Missa pro defunctis (Grove's [5th edn.], VI, 617, col. i. lines 35~36). He locates the MS
in Granada Cathedral. The titling of the hymns in our list follows Gerber, "Spanische Hymnensatze'', p. 175.
Scored excerpts from Sacris solemniis and Jesu nostra redemptio in Gerber, at pp. 182 and 183.
174 Toledo version printed in Hilari6n Eslava's Lira sacro-Uspana, I, 37-4 2 -
152 Liturgical Music
Magnificat, Tone I, odd verses, 4 v. (Coimbra MS 12, fols. i6iv.-i66; Tarazona MS 2, fols.
2gv.-32.)
Magnificat, Tone IV, even verses, 4 v. (Tarazona MS 2, fols. 32V.-35.)
Magnificat, Tone IV, even verses [another setting], 4 v. (Tarazona MS 2, fols. 35 v --39)
Magnificat, Tone VI, even verses, 4 v. (Tarazona MS 2, fols. 39 v -~4 2 ; Toledo MS 18, fols.
95V.-IOI.)
Magnificat, Tone VIII, even verses, 4 v. (Tarazona MS 2, fols. 42^-46.)
Magnificat, Tone VIII, even verses [another setting], 4 v. (Tarazona MS 2, fols. 46v.-4g.)
Memorare piissima, 4 v. (Barcelona MS 454, fols. i62v.-i63; Coimbra MS 12, fols. 20IV.-203;
Toledo MS 21, fols. 78v.-82.) 17 *
Afassfl Adieu mes amours, 4 v. (Tarazona MS 3, fols. 134^-144.)
Missa Ave Maria peregrina, 4 v. (Tarazona MS 3, fols. 94V.-I04.) 176
Missa El ojo, 4 v. (Coimbra MS 12, fols. 37V.-42, 43V.-53; Tarazona MS 3, fols. U4V.-I24.) 17 ?
Missa L'Homme arme, 4 v. (Tarazona MS 3, fols. I24V.-I34.)
Missa Nunca fue pena mayor, 4 v. (Tarazona MS 3, fols. I44V.-I52.) 178
Missa For la mar, 4 v. (Tarazona MS 3, fols. 104^-114.)
Missa Rex virginum (De Beata Virgine), 4 v. Only Gloria and Credo movements. (Tarazona
MS 3, fols. 20iv.-2o6.)
Nigra sum, 3 v. (Tarazona MS 2, fols. 248v.-24g.)
Ne reminiscaris, 3 v. (Tarazona MS 2, fols. 25ov.~25i.)
[0 bone Jesu, 4v., spurious; see above, p. 136, n. 130 (Barcelona MS 454, fols. I35V.-I36.)]
Domina sanctissima, 4 v. (Tarazona MS 2, fols. 26ov.-26i; Toledo MS 21, fols. 64V.-67.)
lux beata, 4 v. [Trinity hymn] (Tarazona MS 2, fols. Sv.-g.)
Pater noster, 4 v. (Tarazona MS 2, fols. 252^-253; Toledo MS 21, fols. 7IV.-74.)
Precor te Domine Jesu Christe, 4 v. (Barcelona MS 454, fols. 66v.-67v. ; Coimbra MS 12, fols.
34V.-35 ; Tarazona MS 2, fols. 26iv.-262; Toledo MS 21, fols. 87^-95 [expanded version].) 179
Sacris solemniis, 4 v. [Corpus Christi hymn] (Tarazona MS 2, fols. lov.-n.)
Sancta Maria, succurre, 3 v. (Tarazona MS 2, fols. 25IV.-252.)
Sancta mater, istud agas, 4 v. (Seville, fols. I2V.-I3; Tarazona MS 2, fols. 254^-255; Toledo
MS 21, fols. 62V.-65.) iso
Sanctorum meritis, 4 v. [Several Martyrs hymn] (Tarazona MS 2, fols. I9V.-20.)
Transeunte Domino, 4 v. (Tarazona MS 2, fols. 263^-264.)
Tribularer si nescirem, 4 v. (Barcelona MS 454, fols. 138 bis v.-i3g; Toledo MS 21, fols. 6gv.~
7 I.) "I
Unica est columba mea, 3 v. (Tarazona MS 2, fols. 243V.-244.)
Versa est in luctum, 4 v. (Toledo MS 21, fols. 82^-84.) 182
Works with Spanish text
A tierras agenas, 3 v. (Cancionero de Palacio, no. 362 [fol. 246].)
Alegraos, males esquivos, 3 v. (Palacio, 307 [fol. 2i4v.].)
175 Ibid., 1, 42-49.
" MME, I, 62-98.
177 Kyrie I (first 13 bars) printed in Mario de Sampayo Ribeiro, Os Mamtscritos Musicals nos. 6 e 12 da
Biblioteca Geral da Universidade de Coimbra (Coimbra: Atlantida, 1941), p. 80.
i MME, I, 99-124.
1 Eslava, I, 53-60.
180 Ibid., I, 29-33; Elustiza-Castrillo, op. cit., pp. 16-19. The latter (transcribed from Seville, sign.
5-5-20) pitches both interior voices an octave too high.
181 Eslava, I, 33-37-
182 Ibid. t I, 50-53.
Liturgical Music 153
De mi dicha no se spera, 3 v. (Palacio, 315 [fol. 220].)
El triste que nunca os vid, 3 v. (Palacio, 125 [fol. 74].)
Lo que mucho se desea, 2 v. (Palacio, 382 [fol. 254].)
Los bragos traygo, 3v. (Barcelona MS 454, fol. 144)
Nina, erguideme los ojos, 3 v. (Palacio, 72 [fols. 5ov.-5i].)
Por las sierras de Madrid [quodlibet], 6 v. (Palacio, 311 [fol. 2I7V.].)
Pues vivo en perder la vida, 3 v. (Palacio, 127 [fol. 75].)
Que dolor mas me doliera, 3 v. (Palacio, 290 [fol. 206].)
Tu que vienes de camino, 3 v. incompl. (Palacio, 447 [fol. 2giv.].)
Part III: Penalosa' s Musical Style
BECAUSE Anchieta and Penalosa were almost exact contemporaries, and because both
held high court appointments, one as chapelmaster to the son of Ferdinand and Isabella,
the other as maestro de capilla to their grandson, a comparison of their styles ought to
throw light on a number of important problems. First, their treatment of borrowed
material may be studied. Neither felt any qualms when using secular source material,
nor in braiding together sacred and secular tunes in the same mass. Anchieta treats
L'Homme arme as a cantus firmus in the Agnus of his Missa quarti toni; Peiialosa
weaves strands of the Gloria from Gregorian Mass XV (Dominator Deus) and of the
superius from the secular part-song, Nunca fue pena mayor, into the same mass-move
ment. Penalosa, the more prolific composer, seems perhaps readier to quote a secular
tune than Anchieta, but such an impression might not hold if a larger number of
Anchieta's works survived.
Fortunately for purposes of comparison both used the plainsong Gloria of Mass XV
as the basis of polyphonic Glorias - Anchieta's use of it occurring in his Missa quarti
toni t Penalosa's in his Missa Ave Maria peregrina. Both polyphonic Glorias are almost
equal in total length, Anchieta' s in modern transcription occupying 176 bars, Penalosa's
165. Both composers use the same group of voices: four; both quote the entire plain-
song Gloria; both divide their polyphonic Glorias into two movements of roughly
equal length, "Et in terra pax," and "Qui tollis peccata mundi." Both set off the words
Jesu Christe with block-chords; both end with an Amen in triple meter. A few other less
important resemblances can be found.
The differences, however, are more instructive. Anchieta adheres to the original
plainsong mode, hypophrygian. Penalosa shifts the mode from IV to II, his reason being
sufficiently obvious: his desire to preserve modal unity throughout his entire mass
(which elsewhere quotes the Salve Regina Mode I melody). 18S Anchieta assigns the
plainsong sometimes to the discantus, sometimes to an inner voice, and once to the
bassus (bars 110-122). Penalosa confides the entire plainsong melody to the contratenor.
But at the same time he manages to weave much imitation of the plainsong into other
voices. Anchieta contrives imitative entries at no more than three places - though ac
tually he should be freer to do so since he does not in this instance allow any single
voice the privilege of singing the plainsong entire. Penalosa devises eight imitative
1&s Cantus firmus in Sanctus, Hosanna, Agrnis I, Agnus II.
Liturgical Music
entries with the plainsong of the contratenor acting the rdle of either dux or comes as the
case may be. He even manages to write an eight-measure canon between bassus and
contratenor at one place (bars 94-102). In addition he makes at least a half-dozen
braids between discantus, tenor, and bassus out of melodic strands that are not related
to the contratenor plainsong. But Anchieta never once even tries to surround the
plainsong with a tapestry of imitative entries woven from extraneous material. As for
intervals at which imitation is attempted, Penalosa favors the fourths, fifths, or oc
taves which Anchieta uses exclusively; but does not eschew other intervals - using
for instance imitation at the ninth in bars 109-111 (bassus and discantus).
Penalosa uses imitation, however, not just for its own sake but to bind together
sections that might otherwise show seams. Whereas Anchieta arrives at every cadence
in his Gloria with long notes in all the parts at once, Penalosa when arriving at a close of
a plainsong phrase as often as not surrounds the long final note in the plainsong cantus
f irmus with a shimmering veil made of some discantus or tenor melisma - then uses this
same melisma transferred to another voice as counterpoint for the first few notes in the
next plainsong entry (the plainsong initium in turn inspiring imitation of itself). This
artful procedure can best be understood by reference to an example. At bars 91-95 in
Missa Ave Maria peregrina
Qui tollis
MME, i, 71 (mm. 91-102).
FRANCISCO DE PENALOSA
95
pec
mun-di
ffi^
de pne
-J-^
-ti (onem)
pec-
to. mun-df
mon di
sci-pe
de-pre-i
-ti (onem)
^
m
-ca to. mun di,
-sci-pe
dc- pre oa-ti o (nem)
Liturgical Music i55
Peiialosa's "Qui tollis" the plainsong comes to rest on a long d, the under parts supply
held Bb's, and the top part weaves a moving figure, which the tenor canonically answers
two and a half bars later. 184 No sooner has the tenor begun its canonic answer at the
lower octave than the bass enters with an anticipation of the plainsong theme. One bar
after the bass's anticipatory entry the contratenor - to which the plainsong regularly
belongs - takes up its usual role. Throughout the next six bars he contrives a bass part
which exactly anticipates the plainsong in the contratenor, making the latter appear to
be a canonic answer.
His use of imitation to hide seams contrasts strongly with Anchieta's willingness for
them to show. In this same Gloria Anchieta writes 15 cadences during the first 60 breves,
13 of which end on the A minor chord and the other two on the incomplete E chord.
Penalosa, on the other hand, while using just one more breve to set the same amount of
text, writes only six cadences in 61 breves - the first being of a "deceptive" type (mm.
10-11), the second of a "half-cadence" type (mm. 15-16), three others of the" VII 6 -!"
variety (mm. 21-22, 53-54, 60-61), and another of the "authentic" type (mm. 36-37).
Whereas Anchieta' s cadences stop the motion every fourth or fifth breve, dividing the
music into a series of short, pithy, newspaper sentences, Penalosa's much more widely
spaced cadences round off Ciceronian sentences of the compound and complex types.
Anchieta's cadences are all of approximately equal weight, and involve this rhyth
mic formula or a slight variant: || f f f | || ^ ^ u PP er voice - Penalosa
touches intermediate ones lightly; but at the ends of sections extends them so that five
or six bars are spent in confirming final cadences. Thus, when Anchieta arrives at the
culminating words, "Tu solus Altissimus, Jesu Christe," he ends with a cadence of no
greater weight than any previous one in the movement; but Penalosa makes a sweeping
gesture lasting six measures, all to confirm the V-I cadence - which he uses so much
more sparingly but at the same time emphatically than Anchieta.
Useful contrasts between the Dominator Deus Glorias of these two masters can also
be made by touching on such matters as voice-range: wider in Penalosa than An
chieta; 185 melodic repetition: more artfully contrived in the younger than the older
composer; 186 use of large intervals such as the fifth and octave: more expressively
handled by one than the other.
BUT LEST further comparisons of this particular type have the undesired effect of
exalting one composer at the other's expense, we turn next to a comparison that involves
only Penalosa's own work: namely, a study of differences between his style in masses
and in motets. The predominating virtues of the two published masses can be classified
as follows: (i) skilful blending of disparate source-materials that are introduced simul
taneously oftener than consecutively; (2) invention of highly characteristic motives
184 Reference is to the Angle's transcription, MME, I, 7* (parte musical). Wherever the anachronistic
term "bars" is used, the modern transcription must be understood.
"5 The Penalosa contratenor, carrying the c.f., does not illustrate this generalization; the bass does
(BiJ7-f in Peflalosa; Ai-A in Anchieta).
186 Pefialosa's discantus in bars 145-151 aptly illustrates this point.
156 Liturgical Music
which, because constantly repeated throughout a movement in counterpoint to the
borrowed themes, unify material that would otherwise run the danger of sounding like
a mere quodlibet; (3) division of larger movements into neatly balanced units; (4) a
well-developed sense of climax, manifesting itself within individual movements as well
as in the masses as wholes.
I In the Gloria of his Nunca fue pena mayor Mass he expounds two borrowed themes :
the Urrede villancico in triple meter, the treble of which he lifts note-for-note; and the
plainsong Gloria from Mass XV, which he deftly contrives for the bassus to sing simul
taneously (with occasional anticipating imitation in the tenor). The only Spanish com
poser to make much of proportions, he arranges for the triple-meter villancico and the
duple-meter lower voices to shake hands by writing the top part in "moode perfect of the
lesse prolation" 187 but the lower voices in C2. Or for a more dazzling example: in the
last Agnus of his Ave Maria peregrina Mass he combines the reversed tenor of Hayne
van Ghizeghem's extremely popular chanson, De tous biens plaine, with the plainsong
of the Salve Regina, verses 2 and 4. Penalosa has been considered since Barbieri's publi
cation in 1890 of the Palace Songbook as unique among "palace" composers because
of his ability to collect several tunes of independent origin in a smooth quodlibet.
Study of his masses now shows that his 6-part quodlibet Por las sierras de Madrid was
not an unusual feat but one which he performed frequently in his larger liturgical
works.
II If during the diastole of his creative process alien strains flow into his music, he on
the other hand strongly unifies them at the systole. In Por las sierras he unifies with an
original top melody that moves more rapidly than the other five, and exploits this
rhythm | f ft ft \ f five times in 19 bars. In the final Agnus of the Ave
Maria peregrina Mass he begins with imitation between first contratenor and bass.
When four breves later the Hayne chanson tenor (canon per antiphrasin) enters in duet
with the Salve Regina plainsong, the second contratenor at the same moment takes up
the theme already stated during the opening play of imitation between contratenor
and bass. Again four breves later the second contratenor sings this same imitated
theme. For that matter, if he starts a theme or melodic figure anywhere in a surrounding
part he almost invariably "develops" it by a considerable amount of melodic repetition
and sequence, as well as by imitation. In the Christe eleison of this mass he invents a
particularly winsome tune to serve as counterpoint to the Ave Maria plainsong in the
tenor voice. First heard in the discantus, it is imitated immediately in the bass, then
contratenor.
i r * r i r
But not done with it, he now proceeds to repeat it again in the discantus, then to
sequence it twice, the first time one step lower and the second time two steps lower.
187 Thomas Morley, A Plaine and easie introduction to practicall musicke (London: H. Lownes, 1608), p. 18.
Liturgical Music 157
During these sequences the bass sings a fragmented version of the same tune, still
further dramatizing its importance. Because of such imitations, repetitions, and sequences,
his surrounding voices make an extraordinarily unified continuum in all his movements
quoting plainsong.
III Profoundly interested in balance and symmetry, he wrote movements which can be
analyzed not only in such measure counts as 21 + 21 + 4, 188 7 + 8 + 7, 189 13 + n +
13> i90 I4 + I4 + I4j i9i I0 + I0 + n,i92 but also organized the cadences within
movements so that they occur at fairly regular intervals. Thus if the first cadence
occurs at bars 6-7, the next will probably occur five or six bars later, followed by others
at regular intervals throughout the movement. But if the first cadence is long delayed,
as often for instance in certain Gloria and Credo movements, then the second will also
be delayed. This is to say that the larger harmonic rhythm of his movements is well
conceived, and by no means haphazard.
IV Not only does he constantly strive for balance and symmetry, but also for well-
spaced climaxes. The most learned and complex movement in the Ave Maria peregrina
Mass comes last. Moreover it is fullest, with five voices. A reiterated figure such as the
scale descending from Middle C which he repeats five times in the bassus of his Nunca
fue Gloria is climaxed by a descending scale from e above Middle C to a tenth below. 193
Cadences at ends of sections or movements are always extended much beyond the length
of intermediate cadences. Melodically and harmonically then - as well as contrapun-
tally - he reserves his best effects for culminating moments.
IN HIS MOTETS, he allies the same exquisite beauty of melodic line, the same firm
control of structure, with a heightened expressiveness. Those published by Eslava set
texts that are uniformly penitential in character. For once he therefore eschews all
learned contrivance, clearing the texture so that the words can always be understood.
Such texts as Precor te (which in the Toledo source runs to half as many breves as in the
Coimbra source), In passione positus, and Sancta mater, istud agas are non-liturgical and
possibly by Petialosa himself, he being known from other evidence to have been a poet
as well as composer. When he does use Scripture as in the four-voiced Versa est in luctum
- shown as an accompanying example - he gathers his text by a process of centonism.
By careful control, he assures himself that only one mood is suggested by the words. He
188 Christe, MME, I, 63-65. The last two bars in the transcription are however defective; the antepenult
and penult in the contratenor should read semibreve-semibreve (= minim-minim), thus bringing the
movement to a close one bar earlier.
189 Sanctus, MME, I, 84-85.
19( > Benedictus, MME t I, 90-91.
ii Christe, MME, I, 100-101.
"2 pieni, MME t I, 120-121 (Hosanna not included). These measure-counts are not offered as the final
word in analysis. Though dividing on the basis of cadences, the author is aware that a bar can often be
counted as the last of a preceding section or the first of a new section, thus shifting the count. Enough will
have been gained if the reader sees how strongly Peflalosa was devoted to the principle of symmetry.
i3 MME, 1, 103-109, mm. 35-38, 4 2 ~44* 4 8 4-5, 5*-53> 54~59, 62-65.
158 Liturgical Music
then unifies still more strongly by pitching his music in the same emotional key through
out. Like Morales - whom he no doubt influenced profoundly, he reserves his learning
for his masses, and concentrates on intense expressiveness in his motets.
He seems to have been the first Spaniard to understand the expressive implications of
a drooping fifth, an interval Victoria later exploited to perfection. An example can be
seen between bars 4 and 5 of Versa est in luctum. To tell most strongly, the fifth should
be placed in outer parts. But its effect is still potent in the tenor between second and
third beats of bar 6. Though this occasion cannot be taken for melodic or harmonic
analysis, no sensitive listener will miss the "slow tears" that fall in such a cadence as
that between bars 7-8, in such a melodic line as the tenor sings in bars 8-9, in such a
shift of harmony as that from d minor to Eb Major between bars 23-24. Even in this
smallest of his motets he proves himself a master of all those expressive devices which
were to become the peculiar glory of the sixteenth-century Spanish school.
Part IV: Missa Nunca fue <pena mayor 194
IF ANCHIETA'S style can be contrasted with Penalosa's and segments of his own output
compared, a significant work of his can also be pitted against one by a foreign master
working with identical materials. Pierre de la Rue's mass based on the Urrede villancico
and his of the same name make an instructive pair. La Rue visited Spain twice, in 1502
and in 1506, both times in the entourage of Philip the Fair. Nunca fue pena mayor had
already however become such a popular item in the international repertory before
1503 that La Rue's splendid parody need not necessarily date from the first visit. 195
Again comparisons can be the more easily made because the source material in each
instance is identical, the framework in which the borrowings are set is identical, and the
vocal resources are the same - four voices. La Rue's mass is divided into 14 movements,
seven in triple and an equal number in duple meter; Pe alosa's contains a dozen move
ments, eight in duple meter. Both masses alternate movements ending on A, G, and C
with those closing on E, phrygian being the predominant modality of the Urrede vil
lancico and of the two masses. La Rue and Penalosa both take care to use the tenor of
the borrowed villancico in occasional movements. Various likenesses can be found in the
194 Both Matthaeus Pipelare (Hymnus de septem doloribus dulcissimae Mariae Virginis [pr. R. van Mal-
deghem, Trdsov musical: Musique religieuse, XI, 31]) and PefLalosa follow the Odhecaton version of the tenor
rather than the Palacio version (see m. 6). On the other hand, the discantus in Penalosa's Sanctus seems
different from Urrede' s only because the transcriber has read the first note as a rest; this same mishap
occurs in the discantus at m. 10. The accented and unprepared dissonance at m. 88 in the "Qui tollis" of the
Nunca fud Gloria similarly results from a defective transcription. The discantus ought to read semibreve
c (= mi-nun in transcription) followed by breve (= semibreve tied across bar-line). Cf. m. 9 (p, 103) with
m. 88 (p. 106). Similar mishaps mar the MME transcription of the Ave Maria Mass. For example, the tenor
begins a bar too soon in the Christe (pp. 63-65) and remains a bar previous to itself through meas. 38.
Instead of two tied semibreves in mm. 38-39 the tenor should read C-G (semibreves) . In view of such faults,
any analysis of his dissonance-technique founded solely on the MME transcriptions would have to remain
tentative. What appears to be exceptional dissonance-treatment in the Christe of the Ave Maria Mass dis
appears, for instance, as soon as the tenor is remedied.
195 First published by Petrucci, October 31, 1503, in the Misse Petri de la Rue issued at Fossombrone in
four part-books, this mass cannot be dated later than the first Spanish tour. Harvard University Library
owns a complete set of part-books.
Liturgical Music
Versa est in luctum*
Toledo: Bibl. Cap. MS 21, fols. 82V.-84.
159
FRANCISCO DE PENALOSA
vo
flen ti um
m vo cem
ml hi Do w! ne
nl-hil e-
-nim
ce . .
-Kl fc-n-Jt
-ne m
J
*--J
-um
r r. ,.
ce mi hi
Do-
-mi ne
sunt
tis me a. de-ni gn
My hajp is turned into mourning : and my organ into the voice of those that weejK Spare me ta m j ^days
^My skin has become blacker than coals and my bones are dned up wvth heat. O ^at my sins
I have deserved wrath and the calamity that I suffer were weighed m the balance. [Job 30.31.
are m
whereby
7:i6b; 30:30; 6:2].
i6o
Liturgical Music
20
a a ru-e-
runt u ti-nam ap-pen de ren g
u.' ;; i' \, irjjj i i_i 1 1 JXH^U^
i-
os ; 5a me-a
^
.1e
-e-runt
u tl -nam op pen-
r . . j J ~
i
v ^of
/ 6 U r ^ ' ' = f = J
r r f
-TTT
su-pep COP-
-bo-
^tS" l NT
nes- eb os sa me-a
. PU e runt u
ap pen-de ren-tur pec
ru-
efc ca-]a mi tas quarn
paJ9.
-tas quam pa ti
' ca- la mj "tas qoam pa
mi tas quam pa,-
-ti or
6ta te ru.
tt tu.
Liturgical Music
161
treatment of text, both composers for instance shifting into homophony for the words
"Et homo factus est" in the creed.
The differences should however be studied if the musical personalities of the Fleming
and the Spaniard are to be individualized.
La Rue, though like Penalosa availing
himself of both Urrede's treble and tenor for
cantus firmus quotations, makes occasional
changes in the borrowed themes to suit the
harmonic or contrapuntal exigencies of the
moment;
both composers surround the borrowed
themes with a play of imitation, but La Rue
rarely repeats a melodic figure in the same
voice;
La Rue exercises himself less to make the
inner voice-parts singable, often requiring
successive wide leaps in minim motion;
the Fleming alternates passages in long and
short notes within a single voice-part in the
same movement ;
La Rue does not prolong his cadences, even
at ends of movements;
La Rue's "chord-changes" more frequently
involve triads on adjoining scale-degrees;
La Rue, though in the Flemish main stream,
seems much less interested than Penalosa in
symmetry on a broad scale;
Penalosa on the other hand quotes his
sources exactly, never allowing himself any
"convenient" licences when borrowing Ur-
rede's treble or tenor for a cantus firmus;
Penalosa, by contrast, makes a practice of
repeating melodic figures until they become
motives ;
but Penalosa writes inner parts which can be
as easily vocalized as the outer parts;
the Spaniard after setting his voices in
motion tends to keep them going at the same
general gait till the end of the movement;
Penalosa's final cadences are so elongated
that they become much more decisive ;
Penalosa's oftener involve shifts that can be
analyzed as IV-I or I-IV (= V-I) ;
Penalosa symmetrically divides so large a
movement as the Gloria into 69 measures of
duple music ("Et in terra pax"), 12 of triple
("Domine Deus"), 66 of duple ("Qui toffis"),
and finally 13 of triple ("Cum Sancto Spiritu"
- in both cases with the triple-meter section
treated as an epilogue (deshecha) to the
preceding duple-meter section.
Obviously, no one movement can illustrate all these distinctions. But the opening
Kyrie of each can at least serve as an earnest. Penalosa's treble is an ipsissima verba
quotation of Urrede's; La Rue's departures can therefore be at once localized without so
much as having to see their model (p. 228 of this book). On the other hand, neither
master quotes anything from Urrede's lower parts. Neither specifies more than the one
word Kyrie as text, and that word but once at the beginning. In the accompanying ex
amples no attempt is made to fit the text throughout, such an effort not being germane
to our purpose. While an open-score transcription would facilitate study of the linear
162 Liturgical Music
Missa Nunqua fue pena maior
Kyrie I
Misse (Petrucci, 1503), fols. isv., 9, 13, nv.
PIERRE DE LA RUE
s
15
r
eleison.
t/Efrf
Telefson. \
j.
eleison.
eleison.
motion, a compressed score at least makes possible the printing of the two Kyries on
pages that face each other.
Other Composers of Liturgical Music
LITURGICAL music by approximately twenty other composers active during the reigns
of Ferdinand and Isabella still survives. These composers can be classified according to
Liturgical Music
i6 3
Missa Nunca fue pena mayor
Kyrie I
Tarazona: MS 3, fols. 144^-145. FRANCISCO DE PENALOSA
(MME, I, 99-100).
various schemes. Six were composers of masses - Almorox, Alva, Escobar, Quixada,
Ribera, and TordesiUas. Four left as their principal or sole sacred work a Solve Regina -
Fernandez de Castffleja, Medina, Ponce, and Rivafrecha. Five left no extant secular
music - Diaz, Marlet, Plaja, Rivafrecha, and Segovia.
Insofar as biography is concerned, the birthdate of not one is known. The exact dates ,
164 Liturgical Music
of death of only four can be given ~ Alva's, Escribano's, Fernandez's, and Rivafrecha's;
for perhaps another half-dozen the death date can be conjectured within a margin of
two or three years. But for the following quartet no shred of biographical evidence
seems to survive: Quixada, Plaja, Sanabria, and Segovia. In the absence of any birth-
dates the best that can be done towards classifying the rest chronologically is to list
the years in which one first hears of them in some contemporary document or other
source. Thus arranged their chronological sequence runs as follows: 1477, Medina;
1478, Triana; 1479, Madrid; 1483, Torre; 1484, Diaz; 1485, Almorox; 1491, Alva; 1498,
Illario; 196 1502, Mondejar; 1503, Rivafrecha; 1506, Marlet; 1507, Escribano; 1507,
Escobar; 197 1514, Fernandez; 1514, Ponce; 1514, Ribera.
Another scheme of classification would be to separate the composers according to
their patrons or employers. Three were at one time or another chapel singers in Queen
Isabella's employ: 198 Alva, Medina, and Mondejar. Seven served her husband, Fer
dinand, in similar capacity: Almorox, Diaz, Madrid, Mondejar, Ponce, Tordesillas, and
Torre. Two were papal singers at Rome: Escribano and Ribera. Six held cathedral
posts in Spain: Alva, Escobar, Ferndndez, Marlet, Rivafrecha, Torre, and Triana.
But because of lacunae in our information, no single scheme can be applied with
rigor. As the most convenient way, then, of presenting such data as can at the present
moment be assembled, a merely alphabetical order has been chosen.
Juan Almorox (fl. 1485)
Listed as a singer in Ferdinand's chapel in 1485, Almorox held appointment until at least
I498. 199 A patriotic part-song a 4 written to celebrate the 1504 victory over the French and the
talking of Gaeta (above Naples) proves him to have been still active in the year of Queen
Isabella's death. Publication of his three- voiced Mass, copied at f ols. 87^-94 in Tarazona MS 3,
has been promised by the Spanish Institute of Musicology. His three secular songs, each a 4 are
found at numbers 200, 211, and 423 in the Cancionero de Palacio, the last celebrating the capture
of Gaeta.
Alonso de Alva (d. 1504)
ALONSO PEREZ DE ALVA (= Alba) - first appointed on April 8, 1491, as a singer in Queen
Isabella's chapel with an annual salary of 20,000 maravedis - continued as cantor
capellanus in her establishment until 1501. On February 6 of the latter year his title was
194 Illario, cited in Crist6bal de Escobar's plainsong treatise of this approximate date, may have flourished
several decades earlier.
197 If Pedro de Escobar Pedro do Pdrto then 1489 rather than 1507 would be the year from which the
first dated information survives.
1M Similarly, Escobar's name would be added to Queen Isabella's list if Pedro de Escobar = Pedro del
Puerto Pedro do Pdrto,
lw Angl^s-Pena, Diccionario de la m&sica Labor, I, 50. Henceforth abbreviated DML.
Liturgical Music 165
changed to sacristan. 200 As a chaplain, perhaps honorary, his name continues to appear
in her payroll until 1505.
The only composition which in a manuscript source seems to bear the full name,
A[lons]o Perez Dalua [= de Alva], is the Agnus Dei of a De beata Virgine Mass con
served in MS 3 at Tarazona Cathedral, the composers of the Kyrie, Gloria, and Credo
movements of which mass were Escobar and Penalosa. 201 The half-dozen 4- voiced hymns,
five 3-voiced alleluias, the three 4- voiced motets, the pairs of 3-voiced Marian antiphons,
Eastertide Vidi aquam, and the solitary 3-voiced mass in the same Tarazona musical
archive are uniformly ascribed to Alonso Dalba, Alonso Dalua, or Alonso de Alua,
without the name Prez occurring in the composer-attribution. 202 In all likelihood,
the "Perez" was a name like the "Marcos" in Domingo Marcos Duran's full name,
which the composer used only occasionally.
On January 25, 1503, Alonso de Alva, whom we would equate with Alonso Perez deAlva,
was received as chapelmaster in Seville Cathedral. 203 His predecessor in that portion of his
duty which pertained to the care and upbringing of the choirboys was Francisco dela Torre.
On February I, 1503, the cabildo rented Alva alarge house close to the cathedral which
at the moment was in use as a tavern, 204 the chapter's intention being that the tavern
when remodelled should serve as the abode of the chapelmaster and choirboys. 205 On
February 8 these boys were still in Torre's charge, and on February 10 the cabildo
decided to compensate the latter at the chapelmaster's rate until Alva could receive
them. 206 On the same date the cabildo voted to advance Alva three measures of wheat
and two of barley to be repaid later in the year.
During the next year, 1504, the capitular acts show that the cathedral organist,
Bernaldino de Cuenca, was busy overseeing the installation of new bellows for the organs
used at the main altar. 207 Alva's name does not appear until September 6, 1504, on which
date he has died and the cathedral succentor, Andres de Hojeda, is asked to take charge
of the choirboys while a new maestro de capiUa is being sought. 208
The fact that Alva's name continues to appear in Queen Isabella's list of chaplains
200 MME, I, 8 (introduction).
201 MME, I, 124 (item 19).
202 MME, I, 122-124.
203 Autos capitulares. 1 503-1 504, fol. 5: "Este dia resgibieron sus mercedes por su maestro de capilla a
alonso de alua y le aseguraron que por enfennedad ni por vejez no le quitarian el oficio no caresciendo la
iglesia del seruicio a que el es obligado y que sus mercedes le mandaran dar su parte de las pitanzas que se
reparten del globo de la mesa capitular'* (On this day Alonso de Alva was appointed chapelmaster and the
chapter assured him that neither on account of sickness nor of old age would he be dismissed, as long as he
remained faithful to his duty; and the chapter ordered that he share in the salaries distributed from the
chapter chest) .
204 A.C., 1503-1504, fol. 8v.
205 The remodelled tavern was so large that on January 15, 1505, Alva having died, his successor - Juan
de Valera - was requested to share it with the workmen who were preparing the cathedral stained-glass
windows (see A.C., 1505. 1506, 1507. 1510. 1523. 1524-* fo1 - 88v -)
206 A.C., 1503-1504, fol. lov. Torre was on this date a conbeneficiado; on September 30, 1504, he was a
companero (A.C., 1503-1504, fol. 102). The number of Sevillian canons was on the latter date given as 34,
of prebendaries as 1 8, of fellows (compafteros) as 14.
207 A.C., 1503-1504, fol. 6ov. (January 8, 1504).
208 ibid., fol. 9$v.
166 Liturgical Music
(not singers) during 1503-1505 need cause no embarrassment. Anchieta was another
singer who also continued to receive a chaplain's stipend during several years following
his retirement from the court. Disbursements were made usually in tercios after, not
betore, the stipulated period of service. The fact that a "third" was still due in 1505
would therefore be expected, since he died after the middle of 1504.
At his death he must have possessed something of a library of polyphonic manuscripts.
Three weeks after his death these were auctioned off, and the Seville chapter ordered
that several be purchased for use in the cathedral. 20 ^ Nothing by him, however, survives
in the present cathedral archive at Seville. Indeed all his surviving ascribed liturgical
works are found in one location only, the Tarazona cathedral archive. 210
Alphabetically arranged, their titles read: Alleluia: Angelus Domini descendit, 3 v. ; Alleluia:
Ascendo ad Patrem, 3 v. ; Alleluia: Assumpta est Maria, 3 v. ; Alleluia: adoranda Trinitas, 3 v. ;
Alleluia: Vidimus stettam, 3 v.; Ave Maria, 3 v.; Beata nobis gaudia, 4 v.; Christe Redemptor
omnium, 4 v.; Missa, 3 v.; Missa Rex virginum (Agnus movement only: Kyrie by Escobar,
Gloria and Credo by Peiialosa, Sanctus by Pedro Hernandes), 4 v.; felix Maria, 4 v.;
sacrum convivium, 4 v.; Stabat mater dolorosa, 3 v.; Te ergo quesumus, 4 v.; Tibi, Christe,
splendor, 4 v. ; Ut queant laxis, 4 v, ; Veni Creator Spiritus, 4 v. ; Vexilla regis, 4 v. ; Vidi aquam,
4 v.; Vidi aquam (another setting), 4 v. In addition to his Latin pieces, the Candonero de
Palacio contains one Spanish item ascribed to A[lons]o d'Alva, No me le digdis mal, madre (no.
39 1 )-
The Mass a 3 published in 1941, though not a pretentious work, includes a one-move
ment Gloria written in canon at the unison. The answering voice follows its leader at a
distance of three breves while the bass supplies a freely-moving counterpoint. For men's
voices, this mass is unified more by its texture and its recurring cadences than by any
thematic carry-over from movement to movement. True, the beginning of the Christe
slightly resembles the beginning of the Sanctus. But in these openings the melodic
material is too neutral in character for the likeness to be called crucial. The Credo is
divided into two parts, the second commencing with the words "Qui cum Patre."
Sanctus, Pleni, and Hosanna with Benedictus make three movements; he however sets
only one Agnus. Thus the entire mass comprises ten movements, all of which end on an
incomplete G-chord. All ten carry a "signature" of one flat, and all but two start on the
note G. The prevailing motion is remarkably uniform in all voices. Only 14 bars in the
entire mass are in triple meter (beginning of "Qui cum Patre"). Every movement is
written for three voices. The voice parts are bounded by an octave and a sixth, the
lowest note in the bass being GI, and the highest in the contratenor reaching only eb.
We are here dealing therefore with less ambitious music than either the Pefialosa or
Anchieta masses.
On the other hand, since it is music which more ordinary choristers could have at
tempted, the use of such large blocs of strict canon takes on added significance. The
* Ibid., foL icov. (Sept. 23, 1504).
210 Rudolf Gerber in "Spanische Hymnensatze um 1500*' [see note 122 above], p. 169, identifies the
anonymous Vsni Creator at fol. 99 in the Segovia cancionero as Alva's through a concordance with Tarazona
MS 2, no. 7 (M ME, I, xoj and 122). Transcriptions of fragments from Alva's hymns in Gerber, pp. 172,
177, 178.
Liturgical Music
Latin phrase, Post triduum me sequeris, standing at the beginning of the Gloria may
perhaps indicate that Alva used continuous canon throughout the movement with
symbolic intent, in which case the words could be interpreted as Jesus's to his disciples
("After three days you will follow me," i.e., after the Resurrection). The very fact that
the canon runs through so wordy a continuum as the Gloria, but that he divides the
Credo and even the Sanctus, makes such an explanation the likelier. At all events, such
a lengthy canon left Spanish footprints for Morales to walk in when in 1544 he published
a mass in canon throughout (Ave maris stella}.
Alva's extended canons are matched by his drawn-out chains of sequences. The
accompanying 15-bar example (mm. 38-52 of the Christe} is perhaps extreme, but at
least proves to what lengths he could go in harmonic as well as melodic sequence.
Missa [sine nomine]
Christe eleison
MME, 1, 157 (mm, 38-52)
Pedro Dfaz (fl. 1484)
Known only as a chapel singer at Ferdinand V's court beginning in 1484^ Dfaz is re
membered as a composer because of an equally solitary item - the motet a 4, Ave sanctissimum
et gloriosum corpus, copied in MS 2 at Tarazona Cathedral (fols. 275^-276).
Pedro de Escobar (fl. 1507)
PEDRO DE ESCOBAR'S early life can only be guessed at and even his seven years at
Seville (1507-1514) have not yet been exhaustively explored. Still he can with certainty
^1 I>ML, I, 722-723.
168 Liturgical Music
be identified as a close personal friend of both Anchieta and Penalosa. Two De beata
Virgine masses survive in Tarazona MS 3. He wrote one cooperatively with Anchieta, 212
the other with Penalosa. 213 Both introduce the Rex virginum trope. In the first of these
Anchieta contributed the Kyrie, Gloria, and Credo movements while he wrote the
Sanctus and Agnus. In the other, he composed the Kyrie, and Penalosa the Gloria and
Credo movements. Only close personal ties can explain such unusual cooperation.
As for documents, the earliest thus far recovered occurs as an entry in the
Sevillian Autos capitulares. 1505. 1506. 1507. 1310. 1523. 1524, under May 19, 1507. 214
On that date the cabildo ordered a courier to Portugal at cathedral expense,
for the purpose of offering him the recently created post of maestro de capilla 215
in Seville Cathedral. During the two previous years this office had been held by Juan de
Valera, 216 he having on January 15, I5O5, 217 in turn inherited it from Alonso de Alva
(d. 1504). Since one of the chapelmaster's most important, yet onerous, chores was the
care and upbringing of the cathedral boys, the cabildo particularly charged the courier
to come to terms with him on this vexatious matter before making any formal commit
ments. At the moment the boys were in the care of an adult singer, Fernando de
Solis, 218 who had on April 12, 1507, been asked to act as temporary master until a
suitable successor to Valera could be engaged.
Political as well as artistic ties closely united Spain and Portugal at this particular
moment. Both the first and second wives of Manuel the Fortunate (reigned 1495-1521)
were daughters of Ferdinand and Isabella, Castilian remaining their preferred tongue.
Gil Vicente, Portuguese "poet laureate/' entertained the court with Spanish verses. 219
His acknowledged literary model when he wrote Portuguese as well as Castilian verses
was Juan del Encina - who may well have visited the Portuguese court 22 during the
1490 wedding festivities. As for musical ties, they were strong even during the reign of
Affonso V (1438-1481) "the African." His chapelmaster was Tristano de Silva, a
Spaniard, not a Portuguese. The most important collection of secular part-songs from
the early sixteenth century still preserved in Portugal, the Cancioneiro musical e poetico
da Biblioteca Publia HortSnsia, contains 65 songs, 51 in Spanish, 14 in Portuguese. A
* la Fols, 209V.-2I7 (MME, I, 124, item 20).
218 Fols. 2oov.-209 (MME, I, 124, item 19).
214 Fol. 229: "Miercoles 19 de mayo 1507.
Scobar. Iten este mismo dya mandaron sus meredes que pedro de fuentes despache vn mensajero a por-
togal a Ilamar a escobar sy pudiere con el que tome los mo^os que tenia valera e lo que montare el mensajero
se lo pague."
215 The earliest lifetime appointee with the title of maestro de capilla seems to have been Alonso de Alva,
named on January 25, 1503. See A.C., 1503-1504, fol. 5.
218 In Elustiza-Castrillo, p. XLVIII, his name is given Juan de Varela, a form in which it appears once or
twice in the Seville actas. Metathesis was a commonplace in Spanish pronunciation and orthography during
the sixteenth century,
"7 A.C., 1505. 1506. 7507. 1510. 1523. 1524., fol. 88v.
*" 1508, fol. 223. His full name appears in A,C, t 1503-1504, on fol. 102 v. (Sept. 30, 1504). Solis in Sep
tember, 1504, assumed charge of the boys for a brief period following Alva's death.
81 * See Four Plays of Gil Vicente, tr. by Aubrey F. G. Bell (Cambridge [England] : University Press, 1920),
pp. xiv ff .
220 Ibid., p. xiii.
Liturgical Music 169
further proof of Spanish musical hegemony so late as 1533 and 1535 is found in the
publication at Lisbon in those years of the two first music treatises to appear in Portu
gal, 221 both by a Spaniard residing at fivora, Matheo de Aranda; and both in Castilian.
Escobar may possibly have belonged to the tradition of Silva and Aranda. Certainly
from the evidence of his name alone his nationality cannot be determined: his being a
familiar enough family name in both countries. 222 But we can gather other evidence
indicative of Portuguese ties aside from the already mentioned notice of May 19, 1507,
in the Sevillian capitular acts. Only he and Encina are represented in the cancioneiro
at the Biblioteca Piiblia Hort&isia. 22 ^ A mass survives at Coimbra University. 224 The
manuscript in which it is copied'- MS musical 12, originally belonging to Santa Cruz
mosteiro in Coimbra - contains in addition his Clamabat autem mulier Chananea**$ the
famous motet which Gil Vicente cited in his Auto da Cananea (written to be acted in a
convent near Lisbon during 1534). 226 Indeed this latter auto, composed at the request of
the Abbess of Odivelas, can almost be said to have been inspired by the motet, since at
the end the action culminates in the singing of it (E cantando, Clamabat autem se acaba
odito Auto}.
HERE, however, we run into much more interesting evidence: for in Portugal this par
ticular motet, Clamabat autem, was in Joao de Barros's 1549 MS, "Libro das antiguida-
des" - now preserved in the Lisbon National Library -attributed to Pedro do Porto
("Pedro of Oporto"). Copying from Barros, Diogo Barbosa Machado wrote: 228 "Pedro
do P6rto was a native of Oporto, from which city he took his name ; he pursued his career
in Seville where he was chapelmaster in the cathedral; he also belonged to the chapel
establishment of the Catholic Kings [Ferdinand and Isabella] winning general applause
on account of his compositions, among which the chief is his motet Clamabat autem
He [later] resided at vora with the court, and was highly esteemed by Joao III."
221 For details concerning Aranda, see above, pp. 96-99-
222 Esteves Pereira and Guilhenne Rodrigues, Diccionano historico (Lisbon: Joao Romano Torres, 1907)*
III, 171, col. i ("Escobar").
223 Manuel Joaquim, ed., O Cancioneiro musical e portico (Coimbra: Institute para a alta cultura, 194)
pp. 80, 8 1, 84, 91 (Encina); 37, 43, and 92 (Escobar).
224 Mario de Sampayo Ribeiro, op. tit., pp. 5<>~53> 84-86, 95.
225 iUd. t pp. 70 and 97.
22 For the exact date, March i, 1534, see Sampayo Ribeiro, "Sdbre o fecho do 'Auto da Cananeia','*
Brottria: Revista contempordnea de cultura, XXVII (1938), p. 37- He adduces the date from the fact that
it was presented the second Sunday in Lent.
22? Gil Vicente, Copilacam de todalas cbras (Lisbon: loam Aluarez, 1562), fol. 84v. The scriptural incident
on which both the auto and the motet are based is narrated in Matt. 15 : 22-26.
228 BibliothecaLusitana, Tomo III (Lisbon: Ignacio Rodrigues, 1752), p, 611, c. I. He cited as his manu
script source the "Libro das antiguidades, e cousas notaueis de antre Douro e Minho, e de outras m^de
Espana e Portugal. For loao de barros. Composto no afio de I549-" This MS, now conserved in the Biblioteca
Nacional in Lisbon (Fundo Geral A-6-2), contains a passage at fol. 32v. which reads as follows: Tdobem foj
natural do Porto, Pedro do porto musico excettente, o qual compos o motete Clamabat autem, tido por tdo excellcnte
compostura q se chama prindpe dos motetes (Also a native of Oporto was Pedro do P6rto, the excellent
musician who composed the motet Clamabat autem, considered such fine music that it is called the foremost
of motets). Barbosa Machado in quoting Joao de Barros gave the title as Clamabat autem Jesus, but Barros
himself left off the "Jesus/'
Liturgical Music
If we now turn to the personnel of Isabella's chapel, we discover that indeed just such
a Pedro del Puerto (= Porto) was on her chapel roll as a singer from 1489-1499. He
entered in the same year as Anchieta and was her only singer listed as portugues
Such a ten-year period provides the necessary interval of intimacy with both Anchieta
and Penalosa - the one on Isabella's payroll, the other on Ferdinand's - which is re
quired in order to explain the cooperatively written De beata Virgine masses. Here
arises his opportunity, if he equals Pedro of Oporto, to contribute 18 of the choicest items
in the Cancionero de Palacio: and also for him so to win the confidence of the best
musicians in Spain that when the chapelmastership at Seville becomes vacant in 1507,
Penalosa, a Sevillian canon since 1505 - or another - can induce the cabildo to hire him,
sight unseen, to fill one of the most important posts in Spain.
Before we dismiss as improbable such an identification let us remember that neither
Barbieri or Mitjana ever found any information connecting Escobar with the court, 230
neither discovering any other biographical fact than his period as chapelmaster at
Seville. Barbosa Machado, who did not err concerning two other Portuguese composers
that ended their careers in Seville Cathedr?!, Francisco de Santiago and Manoel Correa, 231
perhaps can be relied upon in the case of Escobar as well. Pedro do Porto will therefore
again enter our account after 1514, the year in which his name drops out of Sevillian
Cathedral records.
TO CONTINUE with the notices that concern him after his arrival from Portugal: on
January 19, 1508, he receives a loan of 100 silver redes (= 3400 maravedis) and two
measures of wheat from the cathedral cabildo. 232 On May 15, 1508, the chapter decides
that a certain unpaid balance due the deceased chapelmaster for care of the boys shall
not be credited to his account but rather distributed directly to the choirboys whom
Valera had supervised. 233 On August 26, 1510, the cabildo arranges to confer upon him
another cathedral chaplaincy, thus somewhat augmenting his income. 234 Similarly on
September 20, 1510, the chapter finds a way to add still another chaplaincy to his list, he
being in the acta of this date designated ctirigo de la veyntena** On January 3, 1513, he
and Penalosa are simultaneously present at a plenary session of the cathedral cabildo,
** MME, i, 57.
280 Barbieri despite considerable effort was unable to find any data regarding Escobar. Rafael Mitjana
was the first to identify Pedro de Escobar, Sevillian chapelmaster, 1507-1514, as a contributor to the Can-
cionero de Palacio in "Nuevas notas al 'Cancionero musical de los siglos XV y XVI* publicado por el Maestro
Barbieri," Reuista de fihlogia espafiola, V, ii (April-June, 1918), pp. 123-124.
281 Barbosa Machado, op. dt. t II (Lisbon, 1747), p. 274, c. 2 (Fr. Francisco de Santiago) and III (Lisbon,
*75 2 } P- 233, c. i (Manoel Correa). He accurately distinguishes between the Manoel Correa, a Carmelite who
became chapelmaster at Saragossa, and the prebendary of the same name who was a chaplain at Seville.
It is the latter's compositions which are conserved in the cathedral music archive at Seville. Barbosa Ma
chado, who published before the Lisbon earthquake (November, 1755), enjoyed access to the incomparable
music library of Jo&o IV.
** Ibid., fol. 30.
A.C., 1505. 1506. 1507. 1510. 7525. 7524., fol. 3I2V.
885 "Qerigo de la veyntena" (clergyman of the twenty) meant at Seville one on stipend who sang at early
services.
Liturgical Music 171
he being listed on this date as magister puerorum (master of the boys). 236 On August 13,
1514, Pedro Fernandez is named his successor in the latter office, 237 no further mention
of him appearing in Sevillian records. Significantly, however, no entry in the capitular
acts states that he has died, although such references can be found for the former
chapelmasters, Alva and Valera, 238 and will be found for Ferndndez (March 5, 1574),
Francisco Guerrero (November 8, 1599), his two immediate successors in the Seville
chapelmastership, not to mention Ambrosio Cotes, Alonso Lobo, and the rest of the seven
teenth-century chapelmasters.
This fact in itself lends support to the idea that he did not die in Seville, but rather that
he departed because of discontent with the financial arrangements made by the cabildo.
Certainly he was not satisfied while in Seville, as the attempts at juggling chaplaincies
in order to augment his income amply prove.
If like Juan del Encina, whose patronymic was Fermoselle but who preferred to use
a place-name, 239 Pedro de Escobar may also have been Pedro do P6rto, then some addi
tional data concerning his career can be discovered in Portuguese sources. Pedro do
P6rto was in 1521 chapelmaster (Mestre da Capela) for Cardinal Dom Affonso (1509-
1540), son of King Manuel, and continued as such after the cardinal-infante was in
vested with the archbishoprics of vora and of Lisbon. 240
Gil Vicente (c. 1465-1536) alludes to him in his C6rte$ de Jupiter. 241 Acted in August of
1521 in celebration of the imminent wedding of King Manuel's daughter, this court
play contains lines describing Pero do Porto as leader of a band of tiples, contras altas,
tenores, and contrabaxas. Vicente's jest at his expense lends support to the idea that he
was tall and thin. Also, however, it proves irrefutably that he was considered the leading
musician in Portugal.
Like Vicente, he had another source of income. Vicente was goldsmith for the court,
P6rto was scrivener for a Lisbon tribunal (Casa da Suplicofao) and for a palace court
(Desembargo do P0fe>). 242 The latest Portuguese allusion would have him still alive in
I535- 243
ESCOBAR'S extant repertory is scattered through the following nine manuscript sources: (i)
Barcelona: Biblioteca Central, MS 454; (2) Coimbra:BibliotecaGeral,MSmtisicali2;(3)Elvas:
Biblioteca Priblia Hort&isia; (4) Madrid: Biblioteca Real, sign. 2-1-5; (5) Seville: Biblioteca
2 A.C., 1513. 15x4.
237 Elustiza-Castrillo, p. XLVIII.
238 Alva's death: A.C., 1503-1504, fol. gSv. (Sept. 6, 1504). Valera's death: A.C., 1508, fol. 30 (May 15,
1508). Valera died (faltefydo) in 1507.
239 For further data on Encina, see infra, pp. 253-272.
240 Francisco Marques de Sousa Viterbo, Os Mestres da Capetta Real nos Reinados de D. Joao III e D*
Sebastiao (Lisbon: Of. tip. Calcada do Cabra, 1907), pp. 13-14- Of the three documents which he published,
the first two concern Pedro do Porto's scrivenerships (March 4, 1521 and December 23, 1524), and the third
has to do with the royal pensions granted his two daughters (May 30, 1554)-
Further on Cardinal Dom Affonso above at pp. 96-97.
241 Gil Vicente, Copilagam (1562), fol. i66v., c. 2, lines 15-24.
242 BrotJria, XXVII (193$), P- 329-
243 lbi&^ p. 330, n. 2. His two daughters, Isabel and Caterina Guarcees, were each receiving royal pensions
(5000 rs) in 1554. See Sousa Viterbo, p. 14.
172 Liturgical Music
Colombina, sign. 5-5-20; (6) Seville Cathedral, MS i; (7) and (8) Tarazona Cathedral: MSS 2
and 3; (9) Toledo: Biblioteca Capitular, MS 2I. 244
Arranged in alphabetical sequence, with a numeral or numerals after each item to show in
which of the above mentioned sources each work will be found, his list of presently known
compositions with Latin texts reads as follows: 245 Alleluia: Caro mea, 3 v. [Corpus Christi]
(7) and (8); Alleluia: Primus ad Sion, 3 v. [Apostles and Evangelists] (7) and (8); Asperges,
3 v. (8) ; Asperges, 4 v. (8) ; Ave maris stella [two settings] (7) ; Clamabat autem mulier Chananea,
4 v. (i) (2) (5) (7) ; 246 Deus tuorum militum, 4 v. (7) ; Domine Jesu Christe, 4 v. (9) ; Exultet
coelum laudibus, 4 v. (7) ; Felix per omnes, 4 v. (7) ; Hostis Herodes, 4 v. (7) ; Iste confessor, 4 v.
(7) ; Jesus Nazarenus [incomplete] (5) ; Memorare piissima, 4 v. (6) (7) ; Missa, 4 v. (2) (8) ;
Missa pro defunctis, 4 v. (8) ; Missa Rex virginum [Kyrie only: Gloria and Credo by Penalosa,
Sanctus by Pedro Hernandes 247 and Agnus by A. Prez Dalua], 248 4 v. (8) ; Missa Rex virginum
[Sanctus and Agnus by Escobar: Kyrie, Gloria, and Credo by Anchieta], 4 v. (8); Maria
mater pia, 3 v. (7) ; Salve Regina t 4 v. (7) ; 249 Sub tuum presidium, 3 v. (7) ; Stabat mater dolorosa,
4 v. (7) ; Veni redemptor, 4 v. (7).
In alphabetical sequence his list of pieces with Spanish texts reads as follows: 25 Cora$6n
triste, sofrid, 3 v. (CMP, no. 375) ; El dia que vy a Pascuala, 3 v. (CMP, no. 383) ; Gran plaser
siento yo t 4 v. (CMP, no. 385) ; Las mis penas, madre, 4 v. (CMP, no. 59) ; Lo que queda es lo
seguro, 3 v. (CMP, no. 216; CMH, no. 9) ; 251 No devo dar culpa a vos, 3 v. (CMP, no. 220) ; No
pueden dormir mis ojos, 4 v. (CMP, no. 114) ; Nuestr' ama, Minguillo, 3 v. (CMP, no. 229) ;
alto bien, 3 v. (CMP, no. 124) ; Or a sus, pues qu'ansi es, 4 v. (CMP, no. 73) ; Ojos morenicos f
3 v. (CMP, no. 263); Pdsame, por Dios, varquero, 3 v. (CMP, no. 337; CMH, no. 57); 252
Paseisme aor'alld, serrana, 3 v. and 4 v. (CMP, nos. 244 and 245) ; Quedaos, adids, 4 v. (CMP,
no. 158) ; Secdronme los pesares, 3 v. (CMP, no. 199; CMH, no. 3) ; 253 Vengedores son tus ojos,
3 v. (CMP, no. 286) ; Virgen bendita sin par, 4 v. (CMP, no. 416)*
244 Bibliographical details in MME, I, 112-11$, ng-i22, 127-128, 95-103, izg\ Anuario Musical, II
(1947), p. 31 ; MME, 1, 122-123, 124, 130-131.
245 Hymn-titles in this list are given not as in MME, 1, 122, but as in Rndolf Gerber, "Spanische Hymnen-
sSLtze urn 1500" [see note 122 above], p. 175. Fragments of Esocbar's Exultet coelum, second and first settings
of Ave maris stella, may be seen in Gerber's article at pp. 178 ("Vos saecli iusti"), 179 ("Monstra te esse"),
and 1 80 ("Ave Gabrielis").
246 Faulty transcription of Seville version in Elustiza-Castrillo, pp. 33-36.
247 Hernandes = Fernandez. This composer may be Pedro Fernandez de Castilleja. The Sevillian actas
uniformly refer to the latter as Pedro Fernandez, only once adding the identifying "de Castilleja" (= of
Castilleja [de la Cuesta], the town between Seville and Huelva in which Cortes, the conqueror of Mexico
died).
24 * Dalua = de Alva.
249 When in 1941 Angles edited La miisica en la corte de los Reyes Catdlicos (MME, I) he had found only
this one Salve Regina ascribed to "P. Escobar" in Tarazona MS 2 (fol. 230) : all the other pieces being attri
buted merely to "Escobar". Unwilling to hazard the statement that Pedro de Escobar of Sevillian fame was
necessarily the composer of all the Escobar pieces at Tarazona, he therefore attributed the mass at pp. 125-
155 in MME t I, to Pedro (?) de Escobar. Later, however, Seville Cathedral MS i - not listed among the
Spanish MSS containing early 16th-century polyphony in MME, I, 95-136 - came to his attention. In
Anuario Musical, II (1947)* P- 3* be published its table of contents. Fortunately it contained at fols. 3IV.-33
the same 4-voiced motet, Memorare piissima, already known as Escobar's because of its appearance in Ta
razona MS 2 (fols. 283^-284), But in the Sevillian source this motet was ascribed to Petrus Escobar. No
longer could it therefore be doubted that the composer's first name was indeed Pedro, just as Mitjana
had said it was when first he brought forward Escobar's name in 1918 (see note 230 supra).
250 From the table of contents given in MME, 1, 123, it is impossible to tell whether Escobar's 4-voiced
"motet" founded on the popular chanson, Adieu mes amours, is in Spanish or Latin.
251 Manuel Joaquim, op. cit., p. 43.
252 Ibid*, p. 92.
Liturgical Music 173
AGAIN as in the case of Anchieta and Peiialosa, Escobar's masses, motets, and secular
pieces cultivate three separate and distinct styles. The mass transcribed in full by
Angles quotes chanson-treble at the opening of Kyrie I, Et in terra pax, Patrem omni-
potentem, and Sanctus; and a tenor in Kyrie II and Agnus II. He brings his mass to a
fitting climax in this last movement. In five voices, it discloses a well-made triple canon,
the tenor following contra I a fifth down and the bass trailing contra I at the lower octave.
The distances between entries are rather close, the tenor entering three breves after
contra I and the bass six breves after the tenor. The only ''free" voices in this final
Agnus are the discantus and contra II. But even between these he contrives much lively
imitation.
In contrast with all this rare learning d la Josquin, his Clamabat autem motet reveals
itself as a work of such haunting "simplicity" that once heard it never leaves the
listener's memory. What imitation can be found in it is always put to effective dra
matic use. The text reads: "And there also cried after Jesus a woman of Canaan, saying,
Lord Jesus, Son of David, help me; my daughter is vexed by an evil spirit. Replying to her,
the Lord said : I am not sent to any except the lost sheep of the house of Israel. But she came
and worshipped him, saying, Lord help me. Jesus replying said to her, Woman, great is
thy faith , be it unto thee as thou has desired." 254
In setting this text he entrusts the top voice with the italicized words, that is the
direct speech. The superius indeed sings nothing but the direct speech, the lower three
voices supporting it at its four entries and carrying the entire burden in the intermediate
narrative portions. To heighten the dramatic effect the voice-ranges are restricted
to major sixths in treble and tenor, and to a minor sixth in the altus. This very hovering
within a limited compass aptly expresses in musical terms the insistency of the woman
of Canaan, who will in no circumstances be dismissed, but instead cries the more con
tinually after Jesus. As for the use of imitation to achieve a dramatic purpose: Escobar
in his opening section, a duet, spaces the canon at the fifth (bars 5-16) so that each
phrase in the altus tellingly echoes the supplication of the bassus. When the woman
begins her plea (bar 16) she too sings continually in canon, following the lead of the tenor
and then the bass. Canon has been often used to illustrate the idea of hunting or pur
suing after. This motet makes equally effective use of canon to illustrate the idea of
"crying after/'
IN 1546 Alonso Mudarra published at Seville his Tres libros de musica en cifras para
vihuela. The third tablature printed in Spain, it contains numerous excerpts from
Josquin des Prez, Antoine de Fevin, Willaert, and Gombert. Only one peninsular
composition, aside from his own pieces, was however included among its 77 different
254 This text in Spanish early sixteenth-century missals allotted to Reminisoere Sunday, does not exactly
correspond with the Vulgate. Nowadays the gospel selection mentioning the Woman of Canaan is read on a
weekday preceding Reminiscere. Morales and Guerrero wrote Clamabat autem motets. Outside the peninsula
the text seems never to have been set by a major composer. The Clamabat autem often ascribed to Cipriano
de Rore (see Brotfria> XXVII, 333-334) is actually the motet by Morales in Toledo MS 17.
174 Liturgical Music
items ; and that one was this same Clamabat autem, arranged for solo voice and vihuela. 255
Whether Escobar is finally accredited to Portugal or Spain, Mudarra could hardly have
selected a single piece which more aptly summarizes the virtues of peninsular music at
the turn of the century: dramatic intensity, use of learned devices primarily as a means
of heightening expression, memorability, clarity of texture and of harmonic intent.
Significantly, this motet is the only peninsular one composed during the generation of
Ferdinand and Isabella which can be found transcribed in any of the vihuela books
published 1536-1576. Its very survival in one of these is as much a cachet of its con
tinuing success in Spain as Gil Vicente's Auto da Cananea of 1534 is of its success in
Portugal.
Juan Escribano (d. 1557}
ESCRIBANO entered the pontifical choir at Rome sometime between 1501 and I507, 256
probably late in 1502. He had already earned a master of arts. His biographer, Jos6 M.
Llorens ("Juan Escribano, cantor pontificio y compositor" [AM, XII, 98]), would have
us believe him to have hailed from Salamanca, to have been a sopranist in his home
town cathedral from 1498-1502, to have earned his degree at Salamanca, and to have
left in 1502 to enter the papal choir at Rome. The singer who entered just after him was
also a Spaniard, Juan dePalomares. It is extremely likely that both entered before the
death of Alexander VI, last of the Spanish popes. Even however if he entered in 1507,
four years after Julius IFs accession to the papacy, he remained an active member of
the choir longer than any other Spaniard who entered before 1520. Only two, Calasanz
and SAnchez, bettered his length of service before 1600. He retired in August of I539, 257
but had been dean since 1527 (on leave eight of these twelve years).
During his long service at Rome he was rewarded with numerous honors and pre
ferments. Already before Leo X named him an apostolic notary on July 5, 1513, he had
somehow managed to obtain a Salamanca canonry the income from which he could
enjoy in absentia (Leonis X. Pontificis MaximiRegesta, VII-VIII [1891], p. 55). In 1514
his choir colleagues elected him abbas (treasurer). The next year Pope Leo authorized
aw Emilio Pujol transcribed Mudarra's Tres libros in MME, VTI (Barcelona: Institute Espanol de Musi-
coiogia, 1949). See his introduction: p. 48, item 52; and the parte musical: pp. 79-83. Mudarra's trans
cription is no mechanical intabulation, but an independent work of art standing in relation to its source
as does, for instance, Busoni's transcription of the Chaconne to its original.
F. X. Haberl, BausUim fur Musikgeschichte, III (Leipzig: Breitkopf & Hartel, 1888), p. 60. In 1507
Escribano stood fifteenth in a list of 21 singers; his Spanish colleagues included Juan de Yllianas (of Aragon)
[no. 5], Alfonso Frias [no. n], Garcia Salinas [no. 12] and Juan de Palomares [no. 16]. One other Spaniard,
Alfonso de Troya, was in 1507 a chaplain with a monthly salary of 10 florins. Further data on Frias and
Palomares in Frey, "Regesten zur papstiichen Kapelle," 1955, pp. 59-60; 1956, p. 152. Frey's data on
Escribano is divided between Die Musik/orschung, VIII, 184 and IX, 152. He documents the careers of the
Spaniards who entered the choir during Escribano's second decade at VIII, 62-63 (Antonio de Ribera),
188-189 (Martin Rodrigo Prieto), and i93-*94 (Pedro Pe*rez de Rezola).
257 On June 12, 1539, Escribano rejoined the choir after extended leave in Spain. But on August 24,
1539* he again asked leave to visit his homeland. See Haberl, III, 79-80. Antonio Calasanz served from
1529-1577, Juan Sanchez from 1529-1572.
Liturgical Music 175
the Salamanca chapter to apply the fruits of the Archdeaconate of Monleon (a dignity
in the gift of the chapter) to Escribano's canonry. When the chapter demurred, he on
June 3, 1516, changed his request to an order sharpened with threats of penalties (Die
Musikforschung, VIII/2, p. 184).
With papal blessing, Escribano on November 30, 1520, resigned his Salamanca
canonry into the hands of his brother- Alfonso - who was to hold it until the day that
he should himself come home from Rome. Among Pope Leo's other favors were on
November I, 1517, a canonry in the Oviedo Cathedral; and on October 31, 1521 (if
homonyms do not deceive us), a 40-gold-ducat benefice in Sigiienza diocese. Both
Adrian VI (1522) and Clement VII (1527, 1530, 1532) showered him with such further
favors that he could end his days in Spain (d. October, 1557) a comfortably fixed man.
A year after his death an alien generation of pontifical singers attended an anniversary
Mass in the Spanish national church of St. James at Rome (October 12, 1558). 258
HIS six-voiced motet, Paradisi porta, is copied in Sistine Codex 46 and his four-part Magni
ficat VI toni in Codex 44. 259 Andrea Antico printed two of his Italian secular songs, one
a frottola, the other a mascherata, at Rome in his 1510 Canzoni nove. 26
If his 70-breve Paradisi porta can be accepted as a token of his powers, Escribano was
as learned a Spanish composer as any between Penalosa and Morales. Properly to read
his many ligatures, the transcriber must for instance observe those rules listed as A. i,
A. 3, B. 5, and B. 7 at p. 92 in Willi Apel's The Notation of Polyphonic Music (4th edn.,
1949) . For a further show of skill, he contrives between two upper parts a rigorous canon
at the fifth (antecedent voice enters at meas. 6, consequent at meas. 8) which by omit
ting any reference to the note B through the antecedent adroitly sidesteps the problems
of befabemi that usually arise when solving such canons. Only once does he even touch
the note B (meas. 63) - and then for but a fleeting crotchet in an ornamental resolution.
For a third proof of his powers, he spins the notes in the canonic voices out of a plainsong
antiphon: in this case, Natimtas tua> an antiphon to be sung at second vespers on Sep
tember 8 (LU [1947], p. 1503). Although there can be no doubt that the under parts
were conceived as handmaidens to the canonic pair in this Nativity of Our Lady motet,
they too disport themselves in imitations whenever they can so frolic without disturbing
the progress of the slower-moving canonic voices: e.g. at mm. 46-47, 56-57.
For still another matter, the proportions of Paradisi porta beautifully illustrate the
perfections of the number 7. Sectionalized by its cadences, this motet divides into
258 ibid., Ill, 121, c. i, lines 50-54. If he retired at 62 in 1539 he would have died in his eightieth year.
Martin de Tapia in his Vergel de mtisica (Burgo de Osma: Diego Ferndndez de GSrdova, 1570), fol. 76v.,
cites him as el venerando loan escribano, Arcediano de Monleon and claims that Escribano favored the
constant use of ficta Bfr's when singing plainsong melodies in Modes V and VI: a practice which Bermudo
- from whom Tapia plagiarized most of the Vergel - had not endorsed.
259 Codex 44 was copied before 1513, codex 46 probably before 1521. See Haberl, II, 66. A facsimile of
Escribano's Paradisi porta (Capp, Sist.: Cod. 46, fols. I2ov.-i2i) may be seen in MGG, III, at plate 45
(following columns 1567-1568).
2o Alfred Einstein, "Andrea Antico's Canzoni Nove of 1510," Musical Quarterly, XXXVII, 3 (July,
1951), p. 332. Vola il tempo, second in Antico's collection is classified by Einstein as a frottola;^ kuom
terren, seventh, as a mascherata. This latter, according to Einstein, should be thought of as a "Trionfo
della Fama" in frottola form.
176 Liturgical Music
7 + (!4 4. I4 ) 4 28 + 7 breves = a total 70 breves. The cadences successively debouch
into chords of A minor, D minor, A minor, D minor, D. Such symmetry can hardly have
been accidentally achieved. The "portals" of seven breves at each side support an arch
comprising the middle group. The significance of the word porta as applied to the Virgin
is doubly underlined at mm. 8-12, during which he requires altus I to sing "porta" to
the notes of the Salve Regina plainsong initium (breves). Viewed in any light, then,
this Nativity of Our Lady motet stamps him a virtuoso. He moreover set a precedent to
be followed by Morales, Guerrero, and Victoria when he showered his richest learning on
a motet composed in honor of the Virgin.
Throughout Paradisi porta he stratifies the parts according to the following scheme:
canonic voices move in semibreves, breves, and longs; the three inner parts in crotchets,
minims, semibreves, and breves; and the bass in semibreves, breves, and longs (with
slight exceptions at mm. 14-15 and 32-35). Occasionally, skips intrude in the bass which
though singable enough in semibreves suggest that he considered this part a harmonic
prop (mm. 48-49). He adheres throughout to Mode I, never once denaturing the dorian
with bemol. He interdicts ficta flats in two ways, (i) The MS shows "precautionary' 1
sharps (i.e., naturals) before the bass-note BI at doubtful moments (mm. 2, 7, 65). (2)
When realizing the canon at the fifth, e cries for b\\ as its answer in mm. 26-29,
48-5 > 53-55. 58-61. As for dissonance-treatment, syncopes occur frequently enough;
but a passing minim dissonance on a third minim of four in the bar only once (meas.
103), and the nofa cambiata never.
Pedro Fernandez [de Castilleja] (d. 1574)
NAMED CHAPELMASTER at Seville on August 13, 1514 (in succession to Pedro de Escobar),
Ferndndez held office for sixty years, twenty-five of which were spent in a semi-retired
status. Since he is unlikely to have been appointed in 1514 without already having made
something of a reputation he must have been at least thirty when named. If so he would,
like the Spanish basso in Rome, Calasanz, have reached some such extravagant age as
jiinety before his death in 1574.
He may well be the Pedro Fernandez (= Hernandes) who cooperated with Escobar,
Penalosa, and Alva in writing the Rex virginum Mass a 4 found at fols. 20ov.-2og in
Tarazona MS 3. His part would have been the Sanctus, Escobar's the Kyrie, Penalosa's
the Gloria and Credo, and Alva's the Agnus. 261 The associations of the other three with
Seville make such a conjecture at least plausible. He would in that case be also the
composer of the Alleluia: Natimtas tua (a 3) found at fols. 241^-242 in the same MS.
At Seville in MS I a Salve Regina (a 4), gloriosa Domina (a 4], and Deo dicamus
gratias (a 4), ascribed to Petrus Fernandez occur at fols. I4V.-I7, 86v.-87, and 96^-97. 262
8 MME, I, 124.
* Anuario Musical, II (1947), p. 31. Collet published gloriosa Domina in Le mysticisme musical espag-
nol (Paris: Librairie Felix Alcan, 1913), at pp. 258-261. He printed wrong notes, however, in several places,
among them m. 14 (cantus), m. 85 (tenor), m. 64 (bassus) ; not to mention numerous omissions of rests and
ties.
Liturgical Music 177
A pair of four-voiced motets ascribed to Pedro Fernandez, "chapelmaster of Seville," were
published by Eslava, Dispersit dedit pauperibus (a 4) and Heu mihi, Domine (a 5). 263 As
for secular music, item 101 - Cucu t cucu, cucucu (ascribed to Pedro Fernandez in both
editions of the Cancionero de Palacid) cleverly reiterates the same admonition against
cuckoldry already sounded at CMP, 94, with music by Encina.
But whether any or all of these Pedro Fernandez compositions are rightly ascribed to
the Sevillian chapelmaster, they uniformly reveal a composer of limited vision. Certain
ly gloriosa Domina, printed by Henri Collet in Le mysticisms musical espagnol, is no
great work - though if anything ascribed to Pedro Fernandez is the Sevillian's this should
be his, coming as it does from a Sevillian MS. True: Guerrero called his defunct colleague
maestro de los maestros de Espana 264 (teacher of the masters of Spain). But if Ferndndez
taught Morales, so also did Neefe teach Beethoven and Eisner Chopin.
Juan I Mario
Already referred to on page 84 as a theorist whose writings were known to Cristobal de
Escobar c. 1498, Illario seems also to have been a composer. The two extant motets, admira-
bile commercium and Conceptio tua, both of which are conserved in Tarazona MS 2, are for four
voices. The first of these is repeated in Barcelona MS 454 at fols. 104^-105.
[Juan Fernandez de] Madrid (fl. 1479)
A THREE-VOICED setting of Domine won secundum peccata nostra occurs in Bibl. Nat.
Paris, nouv. acq. fr?. 4379 (at fols. 78v.-7g), the ascription reading ''Madrid." Since this
psalm-verse (Ps. 102 [103] : 10) belongs liturgically with the verse which follows immedi
ately afterwards in the same MS, Domine ne memineris iniquitatum (Ps. 78 [79] : 8) -
both verses being sung in direct succession on Ash Wednesday -, "Madrid" is in all
likelihood the composer of the second as well as of the first psalm-verse. There is,
however, no ascription on fols. 7gv.-8o.
In the same MS three sections of a polyphonic Gloria by "Madrid" fill fols. 8iv.-83.
The Et in terra pax and Domine Deus Rex are both set for three voices, but the Domine
fili unigenite as a duo. At the beginning of his Et in terra Madrid quotes the introit sung
on August 15, Gaudeamus omnes in Domino. If the remainder of his mass could be found
we might possibly have another equally fine Gaudeamus mass to add to Josquin des
Prez's (1502) and Victoria's (1576). The MS in which these sacred items occur originally
belonged to the Biblioteca Colombina at Seville, coming into the possession of the Paris
Bibliotheque Nationale as late as 1885. Since the leaves then acquired were but a frag-
26S Lira sacro-hispana, I, 157-160 and 161-166.
24 Francisco Guerrero, Viage de Hierusalem (Seville: Francisco de Leefdael [1690]), p. 3. By one of the
most unusual agreements in Spanish cathedral history Fernandez and Guerrero shared the Sevillian chapel-
mastership, 1549-1574. Guerrero himself - though he titles Fernindez "master of the masters of Spain" -
calls Morales, rather than Fernandez, his own master.
Liturgical Music
Et in terra pax *
Paris: Bibl Nat. nouv. acq. fr?. 4379, fols. 81 v.-*2. [JuAN FERNANDEZ DE] MADRID
TENOR
Et in ten-rap<who-mi ni-bus
bo-
Et in ter ra pax ho-mi-
ni-bus bo-naevo-Ion-
Lnu-da-mus tc.Be ne-dj ci mus te. Ad-
15
Ad o pa mu5 te . Glo-ri f i-
t t i" "ii y *k '' ^ ^ U
J JJIJ4JJIJJJ
Ad-o ra mus te. Glo-H fi-at mus
-0 IUH7105 tc. GIo-
-fi-ca mus te.
* MS contains words through Benedictmus te for the middle voice, but none for the other two voices.
Liturgical Music
179
^W
20
JJJJNV J Jl Z
ca-muste.
6rct tl as ti-bi
^S
pro pter m<Hjnoglo rj-am tu eun.
, * [*]
rrr r
^
te. Gratis
a eji mus ti-bi
pro-pter ma ipamcjlo H-am to am.
mm
pro-ptep
ma-
-gnam 5)0 ri-am
tu-
ment, it is to be hoped that further search in Spain may one day reveal the rest of this
mass.
As the accompanying example shows, he possessed more than a mean talent. His
harmonic daring is indeed hardly matched in any fifteenth-century Spanish mass thus
far brought forward. Though Et in terra is clearly in dorian mode, yet exactly half way
through he contrives to reach the foreign chord of Ab Major and then to hover between
it and F minor (in first inversion) for the space of four breves. The harmonies can be no
others, since the accidentals Ab and Eb, are both specified in the MS. The smooth tran
sition from D minor to Ab Major deserves applause. Each individual voice makes excellent
melodic sense when sung alone. Yet together the three accomplish "modulations" that
are meaningful and beautiful, even from a much later historical vantage-point. In
bars 23, 31, 4i> 42, 5s, 6 4 , 71, 112, 131, *4i> J 74> 20 2 , 2i 2 , 224, 232, 241, 244, he suggests
"first-inversions." Such a profusion of "sixth-chords" is another mark of his individuali
ty. No Spanish contemporary used them more lavishly.
The Chigi Codex (Vatican Library, Chigiana C.VIII.234) ends with an Asperges me
(a 4) by "Madrid" (fols. 284V.-286). A flyleaf note fixes c. 1490 as the date when these
leaves were copied in Spain. His name, in a faint Spanish hand, heads fol. 284V., but is
not in the index.
As for his identity, Angles equates him with the Juan Fernandez de Madrid who was
in 1479 appointed a singer in Ferdinand V's chapel. 265 He therefore joined only a quad-
rennium after Cornago became a member of the choir (1475). Their names are linked by
the use to which Madrid put the elder composer's Pues que Dios te fiso tal. After casting
out the old contra, he added a new tiple in its place, which far exceeds the former
voice in lithesomeness and grace. Cornago's original setting can be seen in the Palacio
cancionero at no. 2 and Madrid's arrangement at no. 5.
Antonio Marlet (ft. 1506)
Known only as chapelmaster at Tarragona in 1506, this Marlet would be the composer of a
aw Z>MI, II, 1454. See also Herbert Kellman, "The Origins of the Chigi Codex/* in Journal of the A merican
Musicological Society, XI/i (Spring, IQ5 8 )> PP- 7-&
jgo Liturgical Music
Magnificat a 4 (odd verses) conserved in Tarazona MS 2 and of a motet a 3,0 quam fulcra es,
cop!S in BologU Liceo Musical* Cod. I 59 at pp. 211-212.** The Bologna source contams also
Despuig's In Enchiridion and a Spanish summary of thirty-odd chapters from his Ars mu Sl -
corum.
[Fernand Perez de] Medina (fl. U79)
MEDINA, even though enrolled as a singer in Queen Isabella's chapel on November 7,
1477, continued to maintain residence in Seville. To protect him from Sevillian taxation
she therefore sent his city fathers on July 28, 1479, a carlo, de franquesa from Trajillo,
ordering them to cease and desist from all further levies against fernard peres de medina
mi cantor ^ She reminded them that any member of the royal household enjoyed
exemption from local taxes. During the same year (1479) &* stiu farther favored Medina
with a raise in his annual salary from 16,200 maravedis de radon to 20,000. 268 Fittingly
enough, his Salve Regina for voces mudadas (men's voices) - his only extant sacred
work, is conserved at the Biblioteca Colombina in his hometown of Seville (MS sign.
5-5-20).
The two villancicos by Medina in Palacio are both ernste Gesange - the first (No ay
plazer en esta vida, no. 56) voicing the soul's longing for a better world after death, the
second (Es por vos si tengo vida, no. 70) a lover's mortal distress while he awaits his
mistress's change of heart. The intimate poignancy of Es por vos, written for three men's
voices, well accords with the fervid inwardness which sounds through his Salve
Regina.
THOUGH the Salve Regina antiphon was, of course, set by many a foreign fifteenth-
and sixteenth-century composer, the Spanish polyphonists seemingly made it their
national specialty. Over half the settings of the antiphon mentioned in Gustave Reese's
Music in the Renaissance were, for instance, composed by Spaniards or by those who
like La Rue had spent considerable time in Spain. That this antiphon should have been
particularly favored in the peninsula seems moreover logical when it is remembered that
the reputed author - Pedro de Mezonzo 269 (d. 1003) - was bishop of Santiago de
Coinpostela. Certainly the weight of tradition tips in favor of this Galician bishop, the
earliest attribution of authorship in both Italian (Jacopo da Varazze's Legenda aurea
2<* MME. 1, 128.
? por a diplomatic transcript of the original royal carta see Archivo hispalense, tomo II (1886), pp.
355-359. With the usual vagaries of orthography to be found in such documents, his first name is variously
spelled "fernard", "fernand", "fernad". Barbieri's "Juan Pe"rez de Medina" (see next note) is almost cer
tainly the same singer. If the Francisco of Francisco de Medina is an expanded abbreviation (see Barbieri,
op. dt. t p. 617) he also may be "Fernando".
26 * Barbieri, p. 39.
** Name given as Petrus (= Pedro) Martinez de Mosondo and date of accession to the see as 986 in P.B.
Gams, Series episcoporvm, p. 26. For the correct spelling, and for a biography, see Antonio L6pez Ferreira,
Historia de la santa a.m. iglesia de Santiago de Compostela, Vol. II (Santiago: Seminario Conciliar Central,
1899), PP-
Liturgical Music 181
27 and French (Guillaume Durand's Rationale divinorum officiorum [1286]) 271
sources giving it to Petrus vero de Compostella episcopus. In 1302 at the Council of
Penafiel the bishops of Toledo archdiocese decreed it should be sung after compline
every day (singulis diebus) in all archdiocesan churches. 272 In 1362 it was throughout
Spain sung after every Saturday De beata Virgine Mass. 273 The earliest printed Con
stitutions of the Toledo Archdiocese, drawn up at the 1498 Synod of Talavera, devoted
an entire chapter to the Salve. This synod ordered that "after vespers and compline,
parish priests every Sunday should cause the Salve to be played and devoutly sung." 274
The singing of the Salve in substitution for the last gospel (In principio) not only at the
close of De beata Virgine Masses but also of other Masses had indeed become everywhere
in sixteenth-century Spain so intrenched a custom that the reform decrees of the
Council of Trent were scarcely strong enough to break its hold. 275 In 1573 the reform
was not yet complete.
The laity had taken it to their hearts as no other piece of religious music. Las Casas
tells us that Columbus's sailors gathered on the prow of his flagship the night before the
New World was discovered to sing the Salve. In the popular devotions of the fighters
who followed Cortes and Pizarro, it occupied the same privileged position of Eiri feste
Burg in immediately contemporary Germany. The first enactments of both Mexican
and Peruvian church councils prescribed its universal use in parish and cathedral.
Set in its proper historical background, then, the fact that Medina should be known
as a sacred composer exclusively because of a Salve seems not surprising but, on the
contrary, appropriate - just as does its occurrence in a MS devoted exclusively to
Salves or "motets based on the Salve" (Bibl. Colombina, sign. 5-5-20). One looks in
vain for a foreign polyphonic source dated c. 1500 which is so exclusively dedicated
to this particular antiphon. Nor can one name French, Flemish, or Italian composers of
this period who like Medina and Ponce are today known as sacred composers exclusively
because of Salves; or even foreigners whose major work - like Rivairecha's andFer-
ndndez's - was a Salve.
MEDINA'S Salve, like Anchieta's, Escobar's, Rivafrecha's, and Ponce's, alternates verses
in plainsong with those in polyphony. But Medina's is unique because it expands into five
voices during the Et Jesum verse. The accompanying example may very well be, as a
270 Jacobus de Varagine, Lombardica historia que a plerisque Aurea legenda sanctorum appettatur (Strass-
burg: Georg Husner, 1486), fol. G TV., col. 2 [ch. 176, sect, k],
271 Gulielmus Durandus, Indpit Rationale diuinorum officiorum (Rome: Per Udalricum Gallum Alma-
num & Simonem Nicolai de Luca, 1473), fol. 71 [pars IV, cap. xxii]. The earliest sermons based on the Salve
Regina were also preached in Spain - by Bernard of Toledo (1086-1124). The four sermons of this bishop,
a Benedictine, are printed in Migne, PL, 184, 1059-1078.
272 Joseph S&enz de Aguirre, CoUectio maxima conciliorum omnium Hispaniae et Novi Qrbis (Rome:
J. J. Komarek, 1694), HI, 54 1 (paragraph 14).
273 Jaime Villanueva, Viage literario d las Iglesias de Espana, XIV (Madrid: Imp. de la Real Academia
de la Historia, 1850), p. 17.
274 Constituciones del arfobispado de Toledo (Salamanca, 1498), foL 5: "ordenamos . . . que todos los do-
mingos despues de visperas y completas luego incontmente los curas o sus tenientes fagan taner ala Salue.
i se cante denotamente ... la qua! cantada luego los dichos curas . . . enseflen publicamente . . . "
27 Villanueva, op. cit., XIV, 92.
182 Liturgical Music
Salve Regina
Seville: Bibl. Colombina, sign. 5-5-20, fols. 3V.-4. [FERNAND PEREZ DE] Medina
:t Jesom
EtJe
</e*
be-
J l
sum
m&
*
je sum
Et Je 5um
\__J_A A
-di-
efc
Et Je-som,
be ne df-
^ ^'
-ne di
-ne di-
be ne-
^=^
-ctum fru ctum ven-
-ctum fru -ctum
4
sg
-ctum
be-
ne di -
9
fru ctum
i-ctum fru
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Liturgical Music 183
matter of fact, the very earliest example of five-part writing by a Spanish composer.
Certainly this would be true if Medina's Salve is dated anywhere near his year of
appointment in Queen Isabella's chapel. In still another sense this Salve breaks fresh
ground. His first line of text reads Salve Regina mater misericordiae. This is of course the
present reading of the first line. Not so in the fifteenth century. According to Dreves, 27e
the word "mater" did not appear in the first line until after 1500. Medina's setting af
fords not only an extremely early instance of five-part writing but also of "mater"
misericordiae.
As can be seen in the example, he distributes the rhythmic motion rather evenly
among all voices except the bass. He clearly intends the lowest voice to govern the
"harmony." To invest him with such authority, he allows the bass fourteen skips of a
fourth or fifth, as against nine such leaps in all four of the other voices combined. As in
most Spanish Renaissance Salves, the polyphonic sections are all dorian, untransposed.
Alonso de Mondejar (ft. 1502)
FIRST mentioned in an albald signed at Toledo by Queen Isabella on August 17, I5O2, 277
Mondijar is listed as one of her chapel singers. After her death in November of 1504, he passes
into the establishment of Ferdinand. In 1505 his salary is set at 25,000 maravedis annually. His
extant repertory includes : three Magnificats, two motets with text, a third textless motet ; and
eleven secular items in the Cancionero de Palacio. On the other hand, the assertion that he is
also represented in the Colombina cancionero cannot be verified and seems improbable in view
of his ascertained dates. The two motets with text are Ave, Rex noster, 4 v. (Segovia cancionero,
fols. 227V.-228), and Ave verwm corpus in ara crucis t 4 v. (Barcelona: Bibl. Cent. MS 454, fols.
Sav.-Ss). The textless motet survives at Barcelona in MS 454, coming immediately after his
Magnificat.
[Pietro] OHola
IN COMPANY with Cornago, Damiano, and Icart, Oriola made his mark at the Neapolitan court
of Alfonso the Magnanimous. The same Pietro Oriola who held chaplaincies as early as 1444 and
1455 may have returned to Spain with an appointment in Ferdinand V's Aragonese choir. 278
At all events, Monte Cassino MS 871 N contains two sacred pieces: In exitu Israel (a 4) and
vos homines (as). The psalm joins the same text that Alfonso used upon entering battle.^ A
secular part-song a 3 with Italian text, Trista che spera morendo, and textless item a 3 survive
at Perugia in Bibl. Com. MS 431 (G 20), fols. 74 and 76.
276 Analecta Hymnica, 50 (Leipzig: O. R. Reisland, 1907), p. 319 (lines 3-5)- In the Medina Salve, Tenor I
intones the first three words as a solo, and is then joined by the other three voices at the word misericordiae.
277 Barbieri, p. 40.
278 Minieri Riccio, pp. 246, 439. MME, I, 116-117: Pedro Orihuela replaced the recently deceased
chorister, Diego Alderete c. 1480. But see also DML, II, 1685, which lists dissenting data.
Tommaso Damiano, identified in MME, I, 22, 116-117, as a Spaniard, played flute at Alfonso's Neapoli
tan court in 1456 (Minieri Riccio, op. tit., p. 444). Angles does not bring Damiano back to Spain. Rudolf
Gerber transcribes his Ave maris sietta a 4 in "Die Hymnen der Handschrift Monte Cassino 871," Anuario
Musical, XI (1956), pp. 19-20.
184 Liturgical Music
Alonso de la Plaja
A Regina coeli for three voices, 279 each carrying the baritone clef, enters Biblioteca
Orfeon Catalan MS 5 (foL 6iv.). Aside from the fact that the datable composers in the
manuscript are Josquin, Isaac, and Penalosa, Plaja would himself be known to have
belonged to their same generation because of one stylistic mannerism. Throughout the
entire antiphon he insists upon concording each of the outer voices with the inner voice.
Although extending to 82 breves, the tonality remains everywhere unmistakably F
Major (Bb in signature). The repetition of strongly-marked rhythmic figures (mm.
55-60; 71-79) and the incessant syncopations in the modern sense of that term lend
this Easter piece a distinctly popular flavor. The general pause inserted at meas. 711
before the climactic Alleluias adds markedly to their effectiveness. Each phrase begins
imitatively, but the counterpoint is always as naive as that of the Fr&re Jacques round.
Juan Ponce (fl. 1510)
JUAN PONCE was a singer in the Aragonese royal household during the latter part of
Ferdinand V's reign. He may have served also in Charles V's household until 1521 if the
entire text of his villancico Frangia, cuenta tu gananpia (Cancionero de Palacio, no. 443)
be taken as evidence. 280
In his youth he was a pupil of Lucio Marineo (c. 1460-1533), the Sicilian humanist
whom Fadrique Enriquez, Admiral of Castile, brought back with him from Italy in 1484
to become a private tutor in Spanish noble houses. An exchange of letters between the
two survives in Marineo *s Epistolarum familiarium libri decem et septem, published at
Valladolid in 1514. Both pupil's and teacher's letters are in Latin. Ponce writes asking
his mentor to look over some Latin verses that he has written in praise of the Virgin, his
intention being to set them to music. 281 In his reply Marineo, addressing Ponce as a
protege who has now become a cantor regius (royal singer), says that he is delighted to do
this; that after looking them over he approves of the verses just as they stand; that they
are elegantly composed with nothing amiss; that they cannot be censured even by a
severe critic; that indeed they can be both read and sung everywhere with credit to their
author. Continuing, Marineo advises Ponce thus: "Compose, then, for your verses
music to be sung by the finest human voices, adding your harmony which is nearer
279 Facsimile in Angles, La m&sica espanola desde la edad media hasta nuestros dias (Barcelona: Biblioteca
Central, 1941), p. so 4 [facs. 21]. The manuscript copy shows a mistake: from mm. 223-243 a melodic frag
ment -was left out in the lowest voice faa vox). But the copyist has remedied this error with one carat showing
just where six notes were accidentally omitted and another inverted carat at the bottom of the page showing
the six notes and minim rest which must be inserted.
280 Barbieri, p. 174, He assigns the original verses to 1513 and a revised version to 1521. Ponce need have
had nothing to do with the revision. But the touching up of such topical verses would in any event testify
to the popularity of the music.
281 Marineo, fol. m iiii verso. Ponce approaches Marineo not only as a preceptor but as an old and valued
friend. He complains of the many arduous duties which prevent him from suitably polishing his verses and
appeals to Marineo as a paragon of learning brought to Spain by Divine Providence,
Liturgical Music 185
divine than human, and arranging an accompaniment of sweetest-sounding organs
together with plucked string instruments; you who in this art exceed the most skilful
musicians of antiquity - Orpheus, Timotheus, and Arion. The verse, the [instrumental]
sonority, and the song, will bear threefold witness to your art/' 282
Marineo was somewhat of a flatterer when he addressed high nobility, 283 but there is
no reason to suppose that he needed flatter his sometime student. Ponce would not have
been a hired singer in Ferdinand's chapel if at the same time he had been independently
wealthy. All the more reason, then, for supposing that his fluently-written Latin
epistle was entirely his own, and that Marineo's praise was sincere.
PONCE'S dozen part-songs in the Cancionero de Palacio take high honors for their musical
quality. Among the 458 items in the Palace Songbook only two use Latin texts through
out - an anonymous Dixit Dominus and his Ave color vini. The Latin lyrics of the
latter extol the virtues of wine. Of a class with Gaudeamus igitur and Mihi est pro-
positum in taberna mori, this medieval student song received its most famous polyphonic
setting at the hands of Lassus, who made of it a motet a 5 in two paries. Ponce's setting,
which omits a concluding couplet damning teetotallers, was doubtless a product of his
own university days. Marineo, his Latin preceptor, occupied the chair of grammar in
Salamanca from 1484-1496. One will not go far astray in assuming that Ave color was
composed while he was himself enrolled as a university undergraduate along with seven
thousand others at Salamanca around I495. 284
The other eleven Ponce items are all villancicos. Para verme con ventura (no. 175) is a
mirror canon. Starting an octave apart, the top and bottom voices move in opposite
directions throughout the estribillo and coplas. Although La mi sola, Laureola (no. 343)
doesnot exploit asoggetto cavato, still the melodic subject is one which he contrived with
the same kind of ingenuity. The first four syllables in the opening line are made to serve
as solmization syllables sung through both natural and hard hexachords. At the same
time however these four syllables do duty as the first three words of the lyrics. The
verse, written c. 1492 (the year in which Diego de San Pedro published his novel, Cdrcel
de Amor, with Laureola, princess of Gaul, as a leading character), continued still
sufficiently popular for the great Juan Vdsquez to reset it (1551 and 1554 [Orphenica
Lyra, foL 159]) in a version a 3 that leans on Ponce's villancico a 4 for all its most
characteristic musical ideas.
Franfia, cuenta tu ganangia has already been cited as a patriotic outburst that cannot
antedate 1513. One Ponce villancico, Alegria, alegria (a 4) -celebrating Easter - must
surely rank among the best religious pieces in Palacio. The rest of the Ponce items tell
282 Ibid. The superscription reads: Lucius Marineus Sicutus loanni Poniio discipulo & canton
regio.
283 Caro Lynn, A College Professor of the Renaissance, p. 154.
284 For Marineo's dates at Salamanca see Lynn, pp. 61 and 108. The Cancionero de Palacio was originally
gathered for use at Alba de Tonnes, the ducal seat of the Alva's located fifteen miles south of Salamanca
(see Barbieri, p. 8). Ave color is the only Ponce song belonging to the original corpus of the manuscript.
Circumstantial evidence therefore makes it not only his earliest song but also points to Salamanca as the
place where it was composed.
i86
Liturgical Music
us nothing more of his biography than that he was often a distressed lover - if indeed
there is any personal intent in their "passionate pilgrimages/'
An alphabetical list of his contributions to Palacio reads thus: Alegria, alegria (227), Alia se
me ponga el sol (431), Ave color wni (159), Bien perdi mi cor agon (207), Como estd sola mi vida
(328), Ell amor que me bien quiere (144), Francia, cuenta tu ganancia (443), La mi sola, Laureola
(343), triste que estoy (405), Para verme con ventura (175), Todo mi bien i perdido (156), Torre
de la nina (341). With the exception of Ave color vini, all of these were copied into the manu
script after it was first completed, on spaces left empty by the original scribe. This fact cor
roborates the surmise that Ponce was a decade or so younger than Encina.
Seven of his pieces in Palacio are composed a 4, four a 3, and one a 2. His sole sur
viving sacred work is for three voices and therefore cannot exploit as full sonorities as he
customarily preferred. Neither does it contain the clever feats which might be expected
from the composer of La mi sola, Laureola or Para verme con ventura. But as a work for
popular devotional usage there is no reason why it should have been. Like most Salves
written for Spanish consumption this one alternates plainsong with polyphony. The
same breaks in the text are observed by Medina, Anchieta, and Rivafrecha when divid
ing plainsong and polyphony. Later in the century when Morales and Guerrero write
Salves of the alternating type they too observe these breaks - with one exception. At the
end, they set all three acclamations (0 clemens, o pia, o dulcis) polyphonically, rather
than requiring the o pia to be plainchanted.
Ponce's Salve is a treble-dominated work. Certain passages for the two lower voices
suggest realization with dulcissimas Organorum uoces & cytharae cantus, to quote Marineo,
more than with unaccompanied voices (mm. 48-49; 65-67). Verses 2, 6a, and 70 begin
with imitation. But elsewhere, imitation is lightly used. Sequences, harmonic as well
as melodic, distinguish 29-31: 32-34, 52:53. and 66:67. The cadences are more varied
than those in Anchieta's Salve, despite the fact that the Basque composer's is a longer
work. Anchieta's cadences always move to D or A, with two exceptions, once to F and
another time to G. Ponce's cadences end four times on G, four times on an incomplete
chord of A suggesting minor, and a dozen times on D also suggesting minor. In addition,
he twice feints deceptively at F chord and at E (minor chord).
Salve Regina
Seville: Bibl. Colombina, sign. 5-5-20, fols.
JUAN PONCE
1 . Solve Re9tna, mater miseri cordiae :
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Liturgical Music
187
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Liturgical Music
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Liturgical Music
189
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Quixada (= Ouexada)
Though both a three-voiced Mass (Tarazona MS 3, fols. 73v.-8o) and a four-voiced Magnificat
(Barcelona: Bibl. Cent. MS 454, fols. I52V.-I53) survive from this composer, not even his first
name has been recovered.
Antonio de Ribera (fl. 1514)
On August 2, 1514, a singer named "Antonius de Ribera" was listed as a newcomer in the
papal choir. 285 An "Ant. Rybere" - evidently the same singer - was listed as one among six
Spaniards in the 26-member choir on September 3, 1522. 288
A four-voiced mass by "Antonio de Ribera" fills fols. I52v.-i6o in Tarazona MS 3. Another
four-voiced mass is attributed to "Ribeira" in Coimbra MS de musica 12 at fols. gov.-giv.
(Kyrie and Gloria) and 8iv.-88 (Credo and Sanctus). Three motets a 4, Ave Maria (fols. 258v.-
259), bone Jhesu (fols. 273V.-274), and Patois sapientia (fols. 272^-273), are found in
Taxazona MS 2. Two villancicos, one ascribed to "Antonio de Rribera" (Nunca yo, senora, o$
viera [item 192]), the other to "A. Rribera" (For unos puertos arriva [item 107]), survive in the
Cancionero de PdLatio. This composer may also be the Ribera to whom four items of incidental
music formerly sung at Elche (south of Alicante) on August 15, the Feast of the Assumption,
are ascribed. 287
285 Haberl, III, 69. Frey in "Regesten zur papstlichen Kapelle," Die Musikforschung, VIII/i, pp. 62-63,
contests this data. He would have him a singer for Ferdinando Cardinal Ponzetto between April, 1518, and
April, 1520. On the other hand, he is willing for him to have been a papal singer in 1522.
286 Haberl, III, 71.
287 Felipe Pedrell, La Fesla ff Elche (Paris: Au Bureau d'Mition de la "Schola," 1906), p. 33. The Ribera
musical excerpts appear on pp. 18-19 (XII), 19-20 (XIII), 21 (XIV), and 22-33 (XVI).
Liturgical Music
Martin de Rivafrecha [= Rivaflecha] (d. 1528) ***
THOUGH not many of Rivafrecha's works survive, his biography is known with grati
fying fulness. He was appointed chapelmaster in Palencia Cathedral on December i,
1503, only five days after the post was declared vacant because of the absence without
leave of the previous occupant, Fernando de Orgaz. At the moment of his appointment,
Rivafrecha held no musical post. He was however already in orders, his home church
being one located at Santo Domingo de la Calzada in northcentral Spain (west of
Logrono). Within seven weeks of his appointment a Palencia cathedral singer, Gonzalo
Gomez de Portillo, was named his aide, the chapter placing the latter in direct control
of the choirboys. Ordinarily in Palencia Cathedral responsibility for their physical care
and upbringing rested on the chapelmaster's shoulders. The aide's salary was therefore
in this case declared deductible from Rivafrecha's. On December 19, 1506, an arrange
ment more favorable to the chapelmaster was worked out, the aide being transferred
into a lifetime cathedral prebend. On June 26, 1521, Rivafrecha resigned, whereupon
Gomez de Portillo was declared his successor. On January 3, 1522, Garcia de Baena,
formerly organist at Leon, was appointed cathedral organist at Palencia: an appoint
ment of considerable importance because during the next four years he is credited with
having taught the blind youth, Antonio de Cabezon (b. 1510).
On December 12, 1523, the Palencia cabildo advanced Gomez de Portillo to a canonry.
A week later Rivafrecha - who upon quitting in 1521 had returned to his home diocese
and had held a post as singer in Calahorra Cathedral - was again received as a prebenda
ry in Palencia Cathedral, though without being immediately renamed chapelmaster.
This title, which had been his from 1503-1521, was again conferred upon him only on
January 27, 1525. But he was at the same time saddled with the load of rearing the
choirboys. One month elapsed during which he showed his clumsiness, insofar as this
added duty was concerned. At the end of the month he was summarily deposed from the
chapelmastership, the title reverting to Gomez de Portillo.
Rivafrecha, bewildered by the turn of events, wrote a memorial on March 29 (1525)
reminding the chapter that he had served Palencia Cathedral 22 years, the best of his
life, and appealing for fair treatment. In response, the cabildo reinstated him in his
prebend - without requiring him henceforth to fulfill the duties of chapelmaster. On the
same day that he presented his memorial, these duties (together with the title maestro
de capiUa) fell to a clergyman of Toledo diocese, Diego del Castillo, whom Rivafrecha,
G6mez del Portillo, and Garcia de Baena - the three senior musicians in Palencia
Cathedral - had unanimously recommended.
Simultaneously, Rivafrecha was granted leave of absence from the cathedral in order
to appear before a superior ecclesiastical court, the purpose of his suit being the recovery
of certain funds due him on account of his prebend. On December 30, 1526, the chapter
authorized him to collect in behalf of Palencia Cathedral 21,000 maravedis bequeathed
by the former bishop, Juan Rodriguez de Fonseca, to endow a Salve and a Mass in his
288 All biographical data concerning Rivafrecha is taken from Eliistiza-Castrillo, pp. XLIV-XLVII.
Castrillo Hernandez used Palencia Cathedral actas capitulares as source material.
Liturgical Music 191
memory. On June 15, 1528, he petitioned the chapter for sick-leave pay. Two weeks
later, June 29, he died. Sometimes reluctant to admit his claims while alive, the cabildo
at his death drew up a Latin testimonial to his virtues including these phrases: in arte
musica tarn practice quam theorice unicus, doctissimus, subtilissimus, sapientissimus. Not
only did the chapter declare him learned, skilful, and wise beyond all others in both
the practice and theory of his art, but also praised his acquirements in the humane
letters, his character, and his devotion. He was interred in the Chapel of the Holy
Cross. A half-dozen years later Gomez de Portiflo (d. October 9, 1534) was buried in the
same chapel.
THE DUTIES of the chapelmaster at Palenciain 1528 have been extracted from the chapter
minutes and printed. 289 Though Rivafrecha's term as chapelmaster lasted from 1503-
1521, and though he was not always held to the obligation of rearing the choirboys,
nevertheless the later statutes reveal the general scope of his assignment while he was
still active. Palencia in 1528 supported twenty boy choristers with prime voices. These
were trained to perform antiphonally, half the group singing polyphony in alternation
with the other half in plainsong. All were taught to sing improvised melodies above a
cantus firmus, as well as how to write counterpoint. But the chapelmaster's duty as an
instructor did not end with the choirboys. Every day, morning or afternoon, he was
required by the chapter to give one hour's free public instruction in music to anyone
desirous of learning to sing - to the canons and prebendaries first, but also to anybody
else who wished to study.
The days on which the maestro de capilla was required to conduct the cathedral music
included all Sundays, Saturdays, and special feast-days such as Christmas, Epiphany,
Purification, Easter, Ascension, Pentecost, Trinity Sunday, Corpus Christi, St. John the
Baptist, SS. Peter and Paul, and Assumption of the Virgin - together with their
respective vigils. His duty-days also included those on which special processions with
polyphonic singing were ordered and any day when the entreating Psalm 69 (Dens in
adjutorium meum) was to be sung in faborddn.
To ensure proper discipline the chapter at the same time strictly required all singers,
whether canons or choirboys, to obey the maestro de capilla' s musical instructions. His
was the complete disposition of the music, decreed the cabildo - wisely entrusting him
with control of such matters as choice of soloists and singers for polyphony (but not for
plainsong),} governing of tempi, decisions concerning accompaniments, and even the
selection of repertory (within confines specified by the cabildo). Furthermore, singers
whether canons, prebendaries, or unbeneficed clergy, weredeclaredequalinchoirrank,and
therefore liable to the same penalties for absences and other faults. Anyone who sang was
also declared eligible for payment. Thus, no concerted music was performed without
fees being paid every singer. Because even the extras such as "graduated" choirboys
and other "volunteers" were awarded honoraria, the choir retained at all times its pro
fessional character.
The recourse against absences, tardinesses, and other faults committed by "regular"
2W Ibid., p. XLV, n. i.
Liturgical Music
choir members was in the 1528 statutes, as always elsewhere in Spain during the
sixteenth century, an elaborate system of graded fines. Each hour counted at a stated
rate, and the escritor de horas therefore kept a complete day-by-day and hour-by-hour
record which was to be examined and approved by the cathedral treasurer before any
disbursements were made. Sick-leave pay was allowed for certified illnesses, but the cost
of substitutes was declared deductible from the regular singer's wages. Forty vacation
days with pay were annually allotted, on condition that they be not all taken con
secutively and that they be not taken during festival or penitential seasons.
These 1528 Ordenanzas are reviewed here, however, not because the musical situation at
Palencia was exceptional but because the duties of the chapelmaster at Palencia were
duplicated a dozen times over in the principal Spanish churches c. 1528. The Palencia
soil was that out of which grew such a famous musical personality as Cabezon, but the
Seville soil nurtured Morales in the same epoch, Guerrero in the next generation; and in
Avila Cathedral Victoria was inscribed as a boy chorister after the middle of the century.
The Spanish cathedrals provided therefore the ground in which were rooted nearly all
the prominent creative personalities of the century.
AS FOR Rivafrecha's extant works, all are "soulful" pieces for four-part chorus. At
Barcelona in the Biblioteca Central MS 454 a motet, Quam pulchra es; at Seville in the
Biblioteca Colombina, sign. 5-5-20, another motet Vox dilecti mei, and a Salve Regina;
at Tarazona Cathedral in MS 4 a Benedicamus Domino; have been catalogued. 290 In
addition an anonymous Anima mea liquefacta est in identical style appears immediately
after the Vox dilecti mei in the Biblioteca Colombina source, and should probably be
assigned to him since the scriptural texts of the attributed and anonymous motets form
a single continuous passage of scripture in the Song of Solomon [5:2-8].
His choice of the Vox dilecti mei text is not parallelled by any other Spanish composer
of his generation. Indeed, nothing from the Song of Solomon seems to have attracted
Spanish composers of the fifteenth or early sixteenth centuries, however fond of the
Old Testament epithalamium may have been the more allegorically minded Flemings -
or later in the century, Victoria. These earlier Spaniards were literalists. Rivafrecha's
excision of the lines in the fifth chapter which speak of the beloved putting his hand
through the aperture and of the trembling of her regions at his touch proves that he was
willing to read allegory into the text only up to a point. Actually, the careful editing
results in a text that is entirely decorous.
His music is all liquid sweetness. Especially fine is the motive of the descending fifth
which appears at the words, "aperi mihi" (open to me). Nothing could be more con
vincingly "F Major" than this motet. Its harmonic perspicuity parallels that of Anima
mea liquefacta est. The phrase structure is also extremely clear, each phrase being set off
by decisive cadences. There are a dozen of these, following in this order: C, F, Bb, F,
C, F; F, F, F, d, C, F. The measure-count between cadences is quite symmetrical: 291 5,
5 6, 6, 5|, 6; 5, 6, 3$, 2,\ t 3^, 6J. Every cldusula- except the full ones rounding off the
**> MME, I, H4> izg, 125, for bibliographical details.
a91 Resolutions occur at the beginnings of succeeding measures or half-measures.
Liturgical Music 193
first 34 and the final 27 bars, and the single "deceptive" cadence into d minor - belongs
to the "leading-tone" variety, that is to say, the VII 6 -! type. All but two involve
syncopation in an upper part. The contrast of voice-paired sections with full sections
becomes something of a structural device in this as in the Anima mea motet. Where
pairing occurs, the second voice imitates the first.
In the Salve Regina - his longest work now available for study - he alternates a ferial
version of the Gregorian antiphon with original polyphony. He imposes unity not only
by quoting the plainsong in cantus or tenor, but also by making frequent use of a de
scending scale-motive in this rhythm:
If* tf | f " " " II (nine times). He surrounds the tenor cantus firmus in the Oclemens
verse with imitative play on a motive reminiscent of that used by Penalosa in Agnus
II of his Ave Maria peregrina Mass.
Juan de Sanabria
OF THIS otherwise unknown composer a hymn a 4, Ad caenam Agni providi, and a four-voiced
motet, Lilium sacrum, survive at fols. 4V.-5 and 287^-288 respectively in Tarazona MS 2. 292
Two secular items, Mayoral del hato, ahau, and Descuidad de ese cuidado, both for three voices,
enter the Cancionero de Palacio (nos. 118 and 377), the first of these including spoken dialogue.
Sanabria may have been a writer of comedies as well. Mayoral del hato is obviously a song to be
sung in some farce of the kind that Encina made popular in the 1490*3.
Juan de Segovia
A THREE-VOICED Magnificat (even verses) by this composer intervenes between ones by
Anchieta and Penalosa in Tarazona MS 2. 293
[Alonso Hernandez de] Tordesillas (fl. 1502); [Pedro de] Tordesillas (fl. 1499)
INSCRIBED as a singer in Ferdinand V's chapel on November 23, 1502, 294 Alonso Herndndez
seems to have come from Tordesillas - the town southwest of Valladolid later made famous by
Queen Joanna "the Mad." At Ms appointment he earns the sobriquet of del ojo ("of the eye"),
which can refer to an abnormal eye, or to a tune used as a cantus firmus in Pefialosa's Missa
del ojo. At all events, it distinguishes him from Pedro de Tordesillas, appointed a singer in
Queen Isabella's chapel on New Year's Day, 1499.
A Missa a 4 survives at fols. 191^-200 in Tarazona MS 3 and a Lamentation at fols. 2<yjv.-
299 (Zay. Jherusalem di&rum) in MS 2. This latter also lists two even-verse Magnificats by
"Tordesillas" (items 34 and 35). The Cancionero Musical de Palacio has for its item 424,
Franceses, por que rrasdn. The words allude to a Spanish victory over the French in October of
1503. Both Angles and Barbieri assume Pedro, not Alonso, to have been the CMP Tordesillas.
292 MME, I, 122-123. See also Gerber, "Spanische Hymnensatze," pp. 175 (item 4), 176, and 183 (last
paragraph).
293 MME, I, 122.
24 DML, II, 2130.
Liturgical Music
Francisco de !a Torre (fl. 1483)
A NATIVE of Seville, Torre enroUed in Ferdinand's chapel choir on July i, 1483.^5
Johannes Urrede, maestro de capilla from at least 1477-1481, may still have been director
when he entered. After service in the Aragonese choir, he returned home to become a
conbeneficiado in the Seville cathedral. On February 10, 1503, the chapter raised his
income while he temporarily took charge of the choirboys. His immediate predecessor
in that duty had been Francisco Garcia, master of the boys from March 30, 1498 until
the close of 1502. Torre's additional income for their care was to cease as soon as he
turned them over to the new chapelmaster, Alonso de Alva. 296 His supervision ended
before the year was out. On September 30, 1504, he was a companero, a rank below that
of canon or prebendary. 297 In February of 1515 a certain Fernando de la Torre was dean
of the cathedral. 298 Whether this other Torre was related to Francisco cannot be
determined until more archival research has been done. But no actual evidence
has been uncovered as yet which ever makes of Francisco anything more than a
companero.
His sacred works are preserved at Toledo Cathedral in choirbooks i and 21. The first
contains two motets a 4, Ne recorderis (fol. 83v.) and Libera me, Domine (fol. 87V.).
Cho-^rbook 21 contains these same two motets and another in addition, Paucitas. Libera
me according to F. Rubio Piqueras, was as recently as 1925 in use at funeral ceremonies
for high-ranking Toledan dignitaries. 299 He observed, however, that most listeners
believed it could be by no other composer than Morales, on account of its unusual exal
tation and solemnity.
Torre's secular works are conserved in the Colombina cancionero and in Palacio. The
first contains a four-voiced Dime triste coragon, and Palacio fifteen items. 300 His most
famous work is of course the three-part instrumental dance in Palacio called Alia. Its
295 ibid., 2132.
29ft A .., 1503-1504, fol. lov. : "Este dia mandaron sus mercedes que se le acuda a francisco de la torre su
conbeneficiado con la rata de la rracion que por su maestro de capilla le mandaron dar contandogela fasta
el dia que entregue los mo^os de coro que ha tenydo a su cargo alonso dalva su maestro de capilla." This
notice distinctly states that Alva, not Torre, was chapelmaster during February of 1503. Actually no evi
dence has thus far been brought forward to show that Torre was at any time Sevillian chapelmaster. Like
Pefialosa he seems to have preferred an office involving less arduous duties than that of chapelmaster.
W7 A.C., 1503-1504, fol. loiv.
288 A ,C., 1513. 1514* 2 -52 5., fol. i lov. (Lunes XXI de hebrero de MDXV afios).
2W Cddices Palifonicos Toledanos (Toledo: n.p., 1925), p. 44: "The responsory for the dead by Francisco
de la Torre, Libera me, is a terribly tragic work, and of an otherworldly expressiveness. As often as it is sung
there are always those who approach us in order to tell how overwhelmingly it impressed them. It is per
formed at funerals of archbishops and on All Souls'. Many attribute it to Morales, but incorrectly. One
has only to look at the manuscript (Cod. 21) to assure oneself that Torre composed it."
soo I Q alphabetical order: Adoramoste, Senor f Dios y ombre verdadero (444), Adoramoste, Senor, Dios y
onbre Jkesu Christo (420), Alta (321), Ayrado va el gentilonbre (137), Damos gradas a ti, Dios (32), Justa fue'mi
perdicion (42), La que tengo no es prisidn (48), No fie nadie en amor (262), O qudn dulfe serias, muerte (62),
Pdnpano verde (n), Pascua d'Espiritu Santo (136), Peligroso pensamiento (43), Por los campos delos moros
(150), Pues que todo os descontenta (331), Triste, que sera de mi (140). All these belonged to the original corpus
of Palacio. Items 32, 43, and 420 are repeated in the Cancionero de Segovia at nos. 171, 172, and 188, where
they are however anonymous. Torre's music with vernacular text includes three religious villancicos (CM P,
nos. 32, 420, 444).
Liturgical Music 195
tenor is the La Spagna basse-danse melody used frequently from Isaac to Cabezon as a
cantus f irmus.
[Juan de] Triana (fl. 1478)
JUAN BE TRIANA held a prebend in Seville Cathedral during I478. 301 On February 9 of
that year he personally appeared before the cathedral chapter, with bulls from Sixtus
IV confirming his title. His immediate predecessor had been Ruy Gonzalez, now dead.
He brought in the papal bulls because his right to succeed in the prebend had been
contested by Don Lope de Sandoval, dean of Cordova Cathedral (a pluralist who hoped
to add a Sevillian prebend to his list of benefices). Since Dean Sandoval's profeso against
Triana was signed by a clerical notary of Toledo archdiocese on June 9, 1477, Triana
had obviously entered his Sevillian prebend well before that earlier date.
The Sevillian cabildo, presided over by its own dean, favored Triana. In reply to his
suit they declared that he never had been dispossessed of his prebend, whatever pres
sures Dean Lope de Sandoval had exerted. They added that for his greater peace of mind
Canon Fernando Gomez, a member of the Seville cathedral chapter, would in their
name go through the formality of installing him again in the same prebend, if he so
desired. Triana did so desire and the two, Gomez and Triana, therefore went together
into the enclosed portion of the cathedral nave which constituted the coro. There G6mez
formally inducted Triana into his choir stall, after which a certain sum was symboli
cally distributed among the members of the choir who were at the moment singing the
office. The ceremony concluded with Triana's receiving in testimony of his installation
a document signed by two clergymen present during the ceremony, Diego de Mendoza
and Juan de Quevedo.
Five years later he was serving as master of the boy choristers in Toledo Cathedral.
The 1483 Libro de gastos (expense account-book) makes him "cantor de musica que tiene
cargo de mostrar el arte de canto dela musica a los seys nifios cleri?ones cantores
eligidos por el cabilldo [sic] para cantar en el coro dela dicha yglesia" 302 (music-master
charged with teaching the six boy choristers selected by the chapter to sing in this
cathedral). The Toledo cathedral paid him that year 18,000 maravedis, in three equal
instalments.
Certain other biographical bits may be surmised. His triumph over a powerful rival
301 Autos capitulares del afto de 1478 y principio de 1479, fol. TV.: "parescio en el personalmente el dis-
tricto varon juan de triana racionero de la dicha yglesia e presento a los dichos senores vnas bullas de nues-
tro sefior el papa syxto quarto conviene a saber graciosa e executoria sobre la prouision a el feeha de la
dicha racion quel posee en esta santa yglesia . . . e vn proceso sobre ellas fulminado por el venerable sefior
don lope de sandoual dean de cordoua . . . e luego el dicho juan de triana dixo quel por virtud de las dichas
bullas e proceso continuaua su posesyon de la dicha su racion que vaco por muerte de ruy gonsales de se-
gouia vltimo poseedor desta . . . e luego los dichos senores dean e cabildo respondieron quel syenpre anya
estado en posesyon de la dicha ra9ion e nunca auya sydo despojado della "
302 Biblioteca Nacional (Madrid) MS 14045. The Toledo entry was copied for Asenjo Barbieri at the
time he was preparing biographical notes for his edition of the Palacio cancionero. He did not use his Triana
information because he was unaware of the concordances between CM P and the Colombina cancionero.
196 Liturgical Music
for his Sevillian prebend - the dean of Cordova Cathedral - bespeaks the personal favor
of Pope Sixtus IV whose bulls Triana presented in Seville in February of 1478. This
was the Sixtus from whom the so-called Sistine Choir took its name. An occupant of the
throne from 1471-1484, Sixtus perhaps patronized Triana during the early years of his
pontificate. Further research must be done in Rome, however, to substantiate such a
conjecture. One may also surmise that Triana and Cornago were personally acquainted.
In any event the two cooperated in composing a cancion a 3 found in the Colombina
cancionero (sign. 7-1-28, f ols. 36v.-s8) with the title, Senora, qual soy venido.
This Colombina cancionero contains all Triana's surviving works, 18 items to be
exact. 303 Two of these, For beber, comadre (fol. 102 v.) and Aquella buena muger (fol.
103), are repeated in Palacio (nos. 235 and 243), and are therefore available in both the
Barbieri and Angles editions for students interested in Triana's secular style. One other
work has been printed, the Song of the Sibyl, but in a faulty transcription.
Triana is unique among composers thus far surveyed in this chapter because he alone
seems to have left samples of the song-motet. This term, as is now well known, is ap
plied to simple motets in songlike style, usually a 3, whose destination was of tenest the
private chapel or oratory. Most song-motets were not transcribed in cathedral collec
tions, but in chansonniers of handbook size. Triana's three examples perfectly comply
with all these specifications. Two are Benedicamus, and the third a Juste Judex, Jesu
Christe. In the first Benedicamus a high e 1 has been scratched out, and the concluding
phrase of the middle voice rewritten, in order to contract its range (fol. 94). Another
telltale evidence showing that these Triana song-motets were sung by the rankest ama
teurs before Ferdinand Columbus acquired this particular cancionero for his library in
1534 304 is the fact that very often some ignoramus unacquainted with mensural theory
has blackened voids and ligatures, and added stems to the original notes. The result
of such efforts at "correction" is that the two inks must be carefully distinguished on the
page by any modern transcriber. 305
As a rule only the treble of Triana's secular pieces is texted, the other voice-parts
carrying no more than an identifying catch-word or two. His three Latin song-motets
are however texted in all voice-parts. Imitation is sparingly used. The first Benedicamus
opens with it between the middle and top voice; the second employs it successively
between lower and middle, then middle and top voices at mm. 11-12. It is absent
from Juste Judex. As can be seen in the accompanying example, the two lower voices
often move in parallel motion. The lowest voice is melodically less smooth than the upper
two.
He makes his harmonic intentions crystal clear in each song-motet. The first Benedi
camus cadences into G at mm. 83, 10, and 22, these being the only ddusulas in this
so* For an alphabetical list of these see pp. 209-213 infra.
804 This date, though accepted by Angle's, was originally put forward as a mere guess by Sim6n de la Rosa
y L6pez in his Los seises de la Catedral de Sevitta (Seville: Imp. de F. de P. Diaz, 1904), p. jon. He says:
"The codex appears to have been bought in 1534 at Seville by Ferdinand Columbus." He also offers it as
his opinion that the contents were copied after 1500. This last is a most unlikely presumption.
305 xhe traps set by the "corrector" caused errors in the transcription of Juysio fuerte sera dado at mm.
6-8 (tenor), published opposite p. 298 in La mfeica a Catalunya fins al segle XIII.
Liturgical Music
197
22-measure piece. The second Benedicamus (in dorian) cadences to A minor at m. 73, to
E minor at m. n, deceptively to F Major at 143, and authentically to D minor at m. 21
(last measure). Juste Judex (accompanying example) cadences to D [minor] at m. 73, to
A [minor] at m. 15, and plagally to D [Major] in the last bar of Part I. The cadences in
Part II, Et cum Sancto Flamine - if one disregards the deceptive feints at mm. 31 and 39-
are to Datm.2g, A at m. 36, and to D again at m. 45. Tonic and dominant discover
themselves as his favorite cadencing chords.
The constant crossing of the two upper voices in the accompanying example results
in a much more interesting and vivid, even if synthetic, upper line than either voice-
part alone produces. Triana so restricts the range of the lowest voice that it never
descends below C. This same C is the lowest note in both Benedicamus as well. On the
other hand, he was not averse to writing GI or even FI as a low note in his secular pieces.
Juste Judex, Jesu Christe *
Seville: Bibl. Colombina, sign. 7-1-28, fols 95v.-g6.
FOL.95V.
[JUAN BE] TRIANA
5
CONTRABAXO
Jus-te Ju
su Chri
* Righteous Judge, Jesus Christ, King and Lord, Thou who reignest with the Father eternally, and with
the Holy Spirit, deign mercifully to receive our prayers.
Liturgical Music
15
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Et cum San-
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Liturgical Music
i qc -TTH
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199
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Summary
I Despite the valiant efforts of such scholars as Eliistiza and Angles, only a small number
of Spanish sacred works dating from the reigns of Ferdinand and Isabella have as yet
been published. Almost thirty composers at work between 1475 and 1525 have, for
instance, been named in this chapter. Yet sacred music with Latin text of only a half-
dozen has been thus far printed.
II That this unpublished material is important as well as copious is instanced by the
fact that in one manuscript alone - Tarazona MS 3 - ten unpublished masses by six
composers active c. 1500 survive.
III As far as biography is concerned, liturgical masters during the reigns of Ferdinand
and Isabella reaped financial rewards and ecclesiastical preferments which seem on the
whole to have exceeded those bestowed on such later polyphonic masters as Morales,
Navarro, and Guerrero. Certainly Anchieta and Penalosa enjoyed financial favors be
yond the customary level reached later in the century.
200 Liturgical Music
IV Though secular themes were indiscriminately introduced into Spanish masses
composed in the period, still the learned treatment of such secular material in works
with Latin text sharply differs from the untrussed style common in sacred and secular
works using vernacular texts.
V Those sacred composers with the fewest international contacts wrote the most
clearly "harmonic" music. The stay-at-home group reveled in strong IV-I and V-I
cadences at ends of phrases, usually with a syncopated melodic tag in an upper voice.
VI Expressivity was the composer's chief goal in the earliest Salve by Medina where
f ermatas over block-chords at the words gementes et flentes permitted the singers to sigh
every syllable; it was also the composer's prime goal in the Ash Wednesday motets of
Anchieta, the Torre responsories for the dead, the Rivafrecha Song of Solomon motets,
the Clamabat autem motet of Escobar.
VII The Spanish sacred composers of this period produced their most characteristic
music when texts of a poignant nature were set.
VIII Learned devices occur with greatest frequency in the sacred works of composers
who like YUianas, Penalosa, and Escribano, are known to have spent time in Italy.
IX But into such learned devices - even when encountered in the works of the inter
national composers - a symbolic or emotional significance can almost invariably be read.
X Because of the national bias in favor of sonoridad, expressivity, and clear-cut
harmonies, the thus-far performed Spanish liturgical music composed c. 1500 has always
proved "immediate" music: i.e. has made a powerful impression on its audience at first
hearing.
Secular Polyphony during the Reigns
of Ferdinand and Isabella (1474-1516)
Peninsular Sources
MS 2092 at the Madrid Biblioteca Nacional chronicles the acts of the Constable of
Castile, Miguel Lucas de Iranzo, who during the civil strife darkening Henry IV'sreign
sided with his king. Along with the account of the Constable's deeds for 1466 a musical
insertion fills fols. 234^-235, Versos fechos en loor del Condestable. This piece (transcribed
below at p. 205), takes pride of place as the earliest surviving bit of Spanish secular
part-song that can be dated.
Secular polyphony belonging to the reigns of los Reyes Catolicos appears in five pen
insular cancioneros. The oldest of these - found in the library brought together by the
discoverer's son, Ferdinand Columbus - is frequently referred to as the Cancionero
Musical de la Biblioteca Colombina * (hereafter CMC). The others include one at Madrid -
the so-called Cancionero Musical de Palacio 2 (hereafter CMP), one at Barcelona in the
Biblioteca Central (CMS), one at Segovia in the capitular library 4 (CMS), and, lastly,
1 Sign. 7-1-28; the title on tront cover of this parchment-bound volume, Cantilenas vulgares puesfas en
musica por varios e$panoles> cannot be considered contemporaneous with its contents.
2 Biblioteca Real, sign. 2-1-5 ; edited by the savant and composer, Francisco Asenjo Barbieri in 1890,
and re-edited by Higinio Angles in 1947-1951. Vol. Ill of the Instituto Espafiol de Musicologla edition
(textos literarios) was still en prensa in 1957-
s MS 454. Fols. 120, I43V.-I44, I57V., 17^-176, and I79v.-i8ov. (with a total of 22 Spanish part-songs)
show music with Castilian texts. Four composers from the period 1474-1516 - Pefialosa, Gabriel, Lope de
Baena, and Mond<5jar; and three who flourished c. 1550 - Flecha el viejo, Morales, and Pastrana; enter this
MS.
4 MS without signature. Only fols. 207-226 (at which are copied a total of 37 Spanish part-songs) show
music with Castilian texts. Five composers from the period 1474-1516 - Torre, Encina, Urrede, Gij6n, and
Lagarto - are represented. All the Spanish items are anonymous in CMS. Ten, however, concord with CMP
attributed items. See MME, 1, 111-112.
202 Secular Polyphony
one at Elvas in Portugal - the so-called Cancioneiro Musical e Poetico da Biblioteca
Ptiblia HortSnsia 5 (CMH).
CMP gives by far the largest and most important assortment. Its 458 items include
ten in Italian 6 (six of which concord with frottole printed in Petrucci's 1504, 1505, and
1507 collections), 7 two items with Latin texts, 8 one in Basque, 9 two without text, 10
and some eight or more macaronic items. 11 Even with these deductions CMP still
contains more than twice as many part-songs in Castilian as do all of the other
four peninsular cancioneros combined. 12
Manuscript and Printed Sources of Foreign Provenience
OUTSIDE THE PENINSULA only scattered manuscripts containing early Spanish secular
part-songs survive. Occasionally a French chanson adapted to a Castilian text crops
up - the Odhecaton Mais qm ce fust adapted to the Castilian text, Donzella no men
culpeys, in Capp. Giulia MS XIII. 27 at Rome, 13 for instance. But such mere adaptations
should be left out of account. 14 Monte Cassino MS 871 N contains seven part-songs by
Cornago and an anonymous cancidn a 4 acclaiming Don Ferrante (ascended the
Neapolitan throne in 1458, but the song dates c. 1464). At Florence in Bibl. Naz. Cent.
Magi. XIX, 107 bis, is to be found an anonymous item a 3.^ The Pixerecourt chanson-
nier at the Biblioth&que Nationale (f. fr$. 15123) contains two songs with Spanish
5 Sign. 11973. Although all 65 part-songs in this collection are anonymous, 14 concord with items in CMP,
the composer of four of these being Enema (nos. 46, 47, 50, and 56 in CMH) and of three being Escobar
(nos. 3, 9, and 57 in CMH). Fourteen songs in CMH are in Portuguese (8, 20, 26, 27, 29, 30, 32, 33, 34, 38,
39, 40* 43, 55)- The other 51 are in Spanish but with spellings frequently showing Portuguese influence.
6 Nos. 78, 84 (macaronic), 91, 98, 105 (macaronic), 190, 258, 317 (macaronic), 435, and 441. Sagaleja del
Casar (no. 209} and Fata la parts (no. 421) contain a chapurrado mixture of Italian and Spanish. All these Ital
ian items were later additions to CMP. See MME, V, 22 (Estranbotes).
7 Nos. 78 (lib. v, 1505), 84 (lib. i, 1504), 91 (lib. vii, 1507), 98 (lib. vi, 1505 [= 1506]), 105 (lib. iii, 1504
[ 1505]). 190 (lib. ii, 1504 [= 1505]). Nos. 84 and 78 were intabulated in Francesco Bossinensis's lute books
(I, xxxviii and II, xli), published by Petrucci in 1509 and 1511.
8 Nos. 159 and 418. In nos. 41 and 58 the tenor sings a Latin text (plainsong), the treble a Spanish one.
No. 248.
1 Nos. 321, 358.
11 Nos. 55, 84, 105, 154, 232, 317, 363, and 400. No. 41 has a Latin tenor, of which only the catch-words
are copied in the MS, and No. 311 has a Latin bassus.
18 In CMC t CMB t CMS, and CMH occur approximately 78, 22, 37, and 51 Spanish songs respectively,
totalling 1 88. A dozen or so found outside the peninsula brings the grand total to around 200.
13 Helen Hewitt, ed., Harmonica Musices Odhecaton, pp. 40 (n. 28), 113-114 and 165. The Petrequin
DonzeUa no men cttlpeys does not concord with the anonymous Dongella non me culpeis in the Pixe"re*court
chansoonier and in Monte Cassino MS 871 N. Jozef Robyns, Pierre de la Rue (Circa 1460-1518) : Een Bio-
Bibliogr&phische Studie (Brussels: Paleis der Academien, 1954), P- I 7 I identifies the Petrequin as a song by
La Rue. See his p. 200 for incipits of each of the four parts. Ludwig Finscher, "Loyset Compere and his
Works," Musica Disciplina, XII (1958), pp. 138-139, admits that only Odhecaton ascribes the music of Mais
que ce fust to Compere, while three MSS give it to La Rue.
14 For a lengthy discussion of the problems that arise when a foreign piece has been adapted to Spanish
text, see MME, X, 24.
15 Lo eke ckeda es h seghvro (CMP, no. 216). MME t X, jp, lists three other items that concord with
villancicos a 4 by Encina: Caldere et glave, Tarn buen ghanadigho, and Todos los vienes (CMP, nos. 249, 426,
38). On Encina's Italian sojourns, see below, pp. 256-260.
During the Reigns of Ferdinand and Isabella 203
texts. 16 At the Bodleian, MS Ashmole 831 shows on fol. 26iv. the top-part (together
with a fragment of the contra) of Johannes Urrede's Nunca fait [sic] pena maior. The
text, though in Spanish, shows such telltale signs of having been copied by an Italian
scribe as the substitution of "die" for "que". (No notice of this interesting MS source is
taken in MME, V, 41, even though a fine facsimile was published as long ago as 1901
[Early Bodleian Music, I, no. CIV]). At Yale University the Mellon chansonnier contains
a solitary Castilian part-song by the French composer Vincenet. 17 Thus it can be readily
seen that the number of part-songs with Spanish text surviving outside the peninsula
in MSS antedating 1500 reaches no more than a dozen.
As for printed sources, both Petrucci's Harmonice Musices Odhecaton and Canti C
(Venice, 1501 and 1503 [= 1504]) contain Nunca fae pena mayor 1*
URREDE'S national origins have been disputed. In 1476 he served Garcia Alvarez de Toledo,
Duke of Alva (d. i486). 19 This ducal house had the reputation of maintaining one of the finest
musical establishments in the peninsula (outside the royal courts) during the latter years of the
fifteenth century. Even though apparently from Bruges Urrede was by no means the only
foreigner hired as chief musician in a leading Spanish ducal house during the 1470'$ and
'8o's, 20 In 1477 he passed into the royal establishment of Ferdinand V, 21 where he remained as
chapelmaster until at least 1481. Aside from Pange lingua's preserved at Barcelona, Segovia,
and Tarazona, 22 a motet at Paris, 23 and a Magnificat (Tone VI) at Coimbra, 24 Urrede - or his
16 Urrede's Numquam appears at 99v.-ioo but in Italian. At fols. loov.-ioi comes the three-voiced
anonymous Doncella non me culpeis si fago rnudanca alguna, a concordance with Monte Cassino MS 871 N,
fol. 152 (but not with Capp. Giul. MS XIII. 27). Fols. 195^-196 (Pixe"r<court) show the three-voiced Amat
uos con lealdat; its continuation (coplas a 3) fills ig6v.-i97, Et si uos me dais la muerte. Compare MME, I,
118, the particulars of which require correction.
17 MME, X, 23. See also Manfred Bukofzer, "An Unknown Chansonnier of the I5th Century/' Musical
Quarterly, XXVIII, i (January, 1942), 22. Vincenet, according to Angle's, was a singer at Naples in 1479
(MME, X, 23).
18 MME, I, 136, cites the Canti C version as different from that in CMP. But MME, V, 42, cites both
Odhecaton and Canti C as sources alongside the CMP, CMC, CMS, Pixe"rcourt chansonnier, and Bologna
Liceo Musical MS 109 versions. For other sources see Helen Hewitt and Isabel Pope, Harmonice Musices
Odhecaton, pp. 130-131. Also, Otto Gombosi's edition of the Capirola lute tablature, p. LXXXIV (32).
i* Henry IV named him first Duke of Alva in 1469. Alba de Tonnes, his ducal seat, lies fifteen miles
south of Salamanca. He wrote the verses of Nunca fuJ pena mayor probably around 1470. See note 226
below. Urrede's duties included in 1476 the instruction of three Negro boys in singing. He was paid 17,000
maravedis plus 50 measures of wheat. For his care of the Negro boys he received an additional 78 maravedis
daily allowance. Cf. MME, I, 126.
20 The chief musician in D. Fadrique Enrfquez's house was also a foreigner. See Bibl. Nac. (Madrid) MS
14035.45; "Juan Maynete, o de Paris, natural de esta ciudad de Francia . . . era el mejor musico de su casa
y procuraba D. Fadrique reunir en su capilla los mejores musicos.'* This Don Fadrique was Admiral of Cas
tile.
21 DML, II, 2166. By royal provision Urrede's annual salary was set at 30,000 maravedis on April i,
1477 (Medina del Campo). He followed the court in 1478 to Seville, in 1479 to Saragossa and Valencia, in
1480 to Toledo, and in 1481 to Saragossa and Barcelona.
22 As Rudolf Gerber revealed in "Spanische Hymnensatze um 1500," Archiv fur Musikwissensckaft, X,
iii, 182, at least three different Pange Lingua settings by Urrede survive - at Barcelona, Bibl. Cent, MS 454
(fols. I48v.-i49) ; Segovia, CMS (fols. 226v.-227) ; and Tarazona, MS 2 {fols. 9v>~io). Cabezon's glosa closely
follows the Tarazona, not the Barcelona. Angles mistakenly assumed in his "El 'Pange Lingua' de Johannes
Urreda," Anuario Musical, VII (1952), pp. 193-200, that Urrede left only one Pange Lingua {the Barcelona
version), and that therefore Cabezdn's 1557 giosa bears little or no relation to its announced source.
23 BibL Nat., nouv. acq. fr. 4379 {fols. 84V.-86) : Secundum verbum tuum in pace a 3.
24 MS 12, fols. I73v.~i8o. Urrede disputes authorship of this Magnificat with Pefialosa.
204 Secular Polyphony
double - composed two movements of a De beata Virgine Mass copied in Capp. Sist. Cod. 14 at
Rome. 25 A notation after his name at fol. SY. of the latter reads brugen. (= of Bruges). Two
other secular songs besides Nunca fue survive, both with Spanish texts: De vos i de mi quexoso
(CMP, 17 ; CMC, 32) and Muy triste serd mi vida (CMP, 23 ; CMC, n) . Closely associated as he
was with Spain, Urrede seems likelier to have become a peninsular by "adoption" as did Dome-
nico Scarlatti, than to have been Spanish-born. His case also foreshadows Scarlatti's because
both while resident in the peninsula saw their music published elsewhere.
A printed source which contains a later arrangement of a part-song composed c. 1500,
Juan Aldomar's Ha, Pelayo, que desmayo (CMP, no. 89), was printed at Venice in 1556.
This Venetian imprint, Villancicos de diuersos authores, also contains at least three
songs with words but not necessarily music by Juan del Encina (1469-1529). The
Aldomar and Encina 26 items in the Cancionero de Upsala (so-called because the unique
part-books are preserved in Sweden) are anonymous. They can however be identified
because of concordances with ascribed villancicos in the Cancionero de Palacio. A still
more interesting and hitherto strangely neglected print which contains music, and
not just words, of an Encina villancico remains for notice. In Joao IV's Difesa delta
musica moderna (Venice, 1666) at pp. 66-67, Pues que jamas olvidaros (CMP, no. 30) is
printed, transposed a fourth below the CMP version but in every other respect identi
cal. 27 The royal author includes the Encina item as the second of three essempi della piu
antica Musica degni di gran lode ("examples of the most ancient music, worthy of great
praise"). Until an earlier contender can be brought forward, King John IV of Portugal
must therefore be called the earliest "rescuer" of a Spanish item in the Palace Songbook,
and Pues que jamas olvidaros be acknowledged as the only natively Spanish piece, the
music of which can be proved to have been printed intact before 1890.
"Versos fechos en loor del Condestable" (1466)
"VERSES composed in honor of the Constable," a i6-line poem in four stanzas, is set for
four voices in Bibl. Nac. MS 2092. The copyist has written the text of the first stanza
under each of the four voice-parts. 28 The parts are spread on pages facing each other
25 Haberl, Bausteine fur MusikgeschiMe, II, 174: "Jo. Wreede brugen." Angles in attempting to make
"Urrede'*' a corrupted Spanish name (DJkfL, II, 2167) has reworked a claim already put forward by Anto
nio Garcia Boiza in La Basilica Teresiana, June, 1919, pp. 186-190. Boiza contended that the name Urrede
could be a corrupt reading of Ubiedo, Uuiedo, or Obiedo. The then Duke of Alva refuted Boiza's claim in
his "Disquisiciones acerca del cantor flamenco Juan de Wrede" published in Boletin de la Real Academia
de la Historia, LXXV (1919), pp. 199-200.
2fi Encina is represented at nos. 7 (estribillo), 10, 25, and possibly 33 hi the Upsala Cancionero ; but his
contribution in each case was the poetry, not the music. The claims in Leopoldo Querol Roso, La poesia
del Cancionero de Uppsala (Valencia: Imp. Hijo F. Vlves Mora, 1932), pp. 98, 106-107, 125-127, 140-141,
like those in MME, I, 133, must be scaled down.
27 At mm. 16-17 s^cl 28-29 in the 1666 print, Encina's bass leaps up an octave instead of descending a
fifth, as in the CMP version. Certain repeated notes hi the accompan im ent are "tied" in the 1666 print
and viceversa. This was the song which Alvares Frouvo admired (see below, note 159). It must, however, be
added that Joao IV thought all three of his essempi had lost their appeal in 1649 because of changing taste.
28 Facsimile on p. 92 in Jose Subira, Historia de la mtisica espanola (Barcelona: Salvat, 1953).
During the Reigns of Ferdinand and Isabella 205
Lealtat, o lealtat *
Madrid: Bibl. Nac. MS 2092 (olim G. 126), fols. 23^-235. Anonymous, 1466
Le-al tot,. jo le ed tab! ^ La ol tat,
^^
^
di me^do
r rr r r* -if r r i
Le-ol tot,
jo ift al tat!
Jo le a! tat!
a i tat,
U-al tat,
d i
di - me, do
o- .
m
U-al &t> |o le al tat! ^ Leal tat,
-me^do
TI
- 1 - 1
strfc? V -te, Rey,
J ^^ A
Con de sta-
5tas?
t ?
Ve-te,
al
Cbn-de stet-
Con-de-sta ;
-te,J
Con de sta-
y en el la. fa
y en el la fa
J
ble
y en el la fa
* Loyalty, o loyalty! Behold, O king, the Constable
Loyalty, tell me, where do you reside ? And in him you will find it.
The other three stanzas continue in like vein. See J. de Mata Carriazo, Crfaicas Espaftolas, III, 328-329.
with top voice and tenor on the left, and two parts (each called contra] on the right. The
second, third, and fourth quatrains are copied below the tenor as is the standard
practice in such later secular collections as CMC and CMP.
Quite aside from this earliest dated piece, Hechos del Condestable Don Miguel Lucas de
20 6 Secular Polyphony
Iranzo interests the historian because of its numerous musical references. Vivid de
scriptions of festivals celebrated con cantares y atanbores e otrosmuchosenstrumentos,
with sound of tron^etas e atabales e dugaynas y cherimias, and with singing of cosantas
and rondeles *i enliven its pages. Sallying forth from his seigniorial seat at Jafin, whether
to fight Moor or Christian, the Constable was always attended by ministries (instrumen
talists) and singers.
Lealtat, a lealtai gives a sample of the music with which he surrounded himself.
Although available in Barbieri's edition of CMP 32 it is repeated here - in modern clefs,
with reduced time-values, and in compressed score. The Landini cadence in the tenor
just before the second fermata and the octave skip of the bass before the last fermata
are typical enough fifteenth-century mannerisms/So is the mixed signature, only the
lowest voice carrying Bb. Although Lealtat looks astoundingly chordal, cantus and
tenor alone make unexceptionable counterpoint. The tenor, moreover, possesses equal
melodic interest with the top part. The bass (second contra) skips about much more than
do the other voices, a dozen of its skips being fourths or fifths.
The anonymous composer balances his phrases. The last two are of equal length. The
second and third grow by equal increments over their predecessors. He strives for unity in
addition to balance: as the repeated-note rhythmic figure at the beginning of each
phrase testifies. The simplicity and stateliness of the music, its symmetrical phrases
each ending with a fermata, and perhaps also its clear harmonic structure, unite to
remind the listener of so alien and posterior a type as the German chorale.
Cancionero de la Biblioteca Colombina
THIS cancionero, already many times alluded to, has not been edited and much of the
information presently available concerning its contents stands in need of correction.
Preliminary lists of its contents have been twice undertaken, 33 the most recent appearing
in MME, I, 104-106. But in both instances errors of titling, attribution, and con-
cordancing are rather frequently found. 34
2 Cokccitn de Crfaicas Espaftolas, ed. Juan de Mata Carriazo (Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, 1940), HI, 25-
This passage refers to the entrance of king and queen into Le6n during the Spring of 1459*
3 Ibid., 49 (festivities after the Constable's wedding in 1461).
81 Ibid., 155 (Christmas festivities in 1464).
82 Pp. 605-606, Barbieri "corrects" the original at m. 1 6 in the tenor (his measure-numbering). He also
omits the text which in the MS appears beneath the three lower voice-parts. Undoubtedly the fitting of the
words is difficult. Instruments as well as voices must obviously have cooperated in the original performances.
88 Simdn de la Rosa y Lopez in Los Seises de la Catedral de Sevilla (Seville: Imp. de Francisco de P. Diaz,
1904), pp. 70-71, was the first to make a list. He assumed that the anonymous items should all be attributed
to composers whose names are found in CMC, an assumption which has of course proved false. Angle's does
not mention Rosa y Lopez in MME t 1, 103-106.
84 e.g., errors in titling: no. 25 (for Bineleda read Bitte leda); no. 32 (for quexose read quexoso); no. 49
(for es read y) ; no. 62 (for se read le) ; no. 66 (for advenias read adveniad ) ; no. 74 (for Vyrgendina read Vyr-
gen di[gjna); no. 87 (title corrupted from S'elle m'amera jenescay). See also footnotes 106 and 107 below.
Biue leda, CMC, no. 25, concords with item 470 in the Cancionero de Baena (fol. 156) where the poem is
ascribed to Juan Rodriguez del Padrdn. Its subtitle in CB reads: "Juan Rodrigues de Padron composed this
song of farewell to his lady-love when he became a friar at Jerusalem." Rodriguez del Padr6n also wrote
the words of Muy triste sera mi vida (CMC, no. u; CMP. no. 23).
During the Reigns of Ferdinand and Isabella 207
The reasons for citing it as the earliest collection are these: (i) its repertory of
approximately 95 secular and sacred items 35 overlaps that of CMP in 20 instances, but
where divergencies exist the CMC can usually be shown to have been the primitive
version; 36 (2) presently available biographical clues encourage one to believe that
everything in CMC, except a few manifestly later additions to the MS, was composed
before 1490; (3) since Juan del Encina - the dominating personality in CMP and the
most prolific secular composer in the reigns of Ferdinand and Isabella - is not repre
sented in CM C, 37 it seems extremely likely that he had not yet begun his career when
CMC was in the process of compilation; (4) the emphasis on the cancion and the absence
of all but two or three "open" villancicos from CMC show that most of its songs were
composed before the "classic" villancico came into vogue.
The earliest composer in CMC thus far identified is Johannes Ockeghem (c. 1420-0.
I 495) whose four-part Petite camusette occurs at fols. ioiv.-i02. Ockeghem again ap
pears as a contributor at fols. 24^-26 where Qu'es mi vida preguntays, a Spanish four-
part cancion written cooperatively by Cornago and Ockeghem, is copied. Johannes
Urrede, whose birthdate is unknown but who may have been Ockeghem's junior by ten
or fifteen years, is represented by his ubiquitous Nunca fue pena mayor at fols. i6v.-i7
and by the less frequently copied Muy triste sera mi vida at fols. igv.-2i and De vo$ i
de mi quexoso 38 at fols. 5iv.~52v. These three songs are for treble, tenor, and contra. He
is again represented at fols. 40^-41 where the top voice-part of his Nunca fue becomes
the tenor of Belmonte's three-part Pues mi dicha non consiente* 9
An anonymous three-part French chanson with only five words of text copied beneath
each voice-part, and those corruptly, appears at fols. io6v.-i07. These five words should
perhaps read Le paure amant qui est** The "key-signature" of all three voices includes
both Bb and Efr. Ab's, though not written in, are obviously necessary on several oc
casions. The treble melody line reaches high b x b ; the contra ranges up to the bb above
Middle C. No other instances of such extreme upper vocal limits have been encountered
in either CMC or CMP.
Aside from Le paure amant, the Ockeghem, and the Urrede items, CMC seems to
include only works by native Spanish composers. In alphabetical order their names are
Belmonte (no. 24), Cornago (nos. 4, 10, 14, 18, 22, 27), Enrique (nos. 2, 30), Gijon (no.
38), Hurtado de Xeres (nos. 40 and 42), Juanes (no. 67), Lagarto (no. 33), Leon (no. 17),
Madrid (no. 20), Moxica (no. 26), Rodriguez (no. 8), Torre (no. 48), and Triana (nos. 5,
as This number would be reduced if items 83, 84, and 85 were correctly listed as movements of the same
Magnificat.
3 Primitive because for 3 instead of 4 voices: e.g., CMC, nos. 4, . 59- Only nine secular items in CMC
are a 4. In CMP 143 songs are for four voices. The proportions of secular items a 4 would be in the neighbor
hood of a tenth for CMC and a third for CMP. CMC, no. 2 is, however, for four voices whereas its concor
dance, CMP, no. 16, is for three.
37 On the CMC and CMP versions of Nuevas U traygo, Carillo see below at pp. 270-271.
38 Muy triste is in CMP (no. 23) ; De vos is in CMP (no. 17)* Bologna Liceo Musicale Cod. 109 (*ol. I27V.),
and the same text - but with different music - in CMH (no. 5).
3 In Pues mi dicha the Urrede tune is transposed an octave lower, rest-values diminished (in certain
instances), and bars 9-13 {Angles's transcription of Nunca /**) altogether omitted.
40 MME, 1, 106, gives Le pure atnant. But there is another letter between the "p" and the "u".
208 Secular Polyphony
19, 22, 23, 28, 34, 35, 43, 66, 69, 70, 71- 80, 81, 82, 86, 88, 89, 90, 91)- The total number
of ascribed items in CMC reaches 31, the number of anonymous items being therefore
64. But this latter number is reduced to 54 when concordances in Monte Cassino MS
871 N and CMP are used to determine authorship.
As for the languages, the upper voice-part of Ockeghem's Petite cammette (no. 87) is
written in a chapurrado mixture of Spanish and French. The text of Le paure amant (no.
94) is, as stated, limited to five words. But if there are no complete or uncorrupted
French texts, there are on the other hand a dozen in Latin, all treating sacred subjects.
JUAN DE TRIANA 41 with twenty ascriptions 42 figures as largely in CMC as does Juan
del Encina in CMP. With justice, then, one may begin a detailed study of the contents
of CMC with Triana's canciones. None of his contributions to CMC ia a villancico in the
classic sense of the word.
Isabel Pope has lengthily shown in her brilliant dissertation on the villancico 43 published in
Annales Musicologiques, 1954, that this term was not used to designate a lyric form of poetry
before approximately 1450, the first who used it having been the celebrated Marques de San-
tillana (1398-1458) .^ Even he did not employ it, however, to designate anything but a poetic
framework in which he inserted couplets (and one tercet) of folk-poetry. His isolated excursion
into "low life" - that of the villano - was undertaken for the amusement of his three young
daughters. As a musico-poetic term it occurs only once in CMC, the earliest musical source
containing a villancico, namely at fol. 531., in the upper left-hand margin of which the copyist
has written the identifying word "Villancico" over Pedro Lagarto's Andad, pasiones, andad.
Already in CMC, as scrutiny of Lagarto's example will show, the word "villancico" meant a
musico-poetic type in which the rhyme-scheme of the strophe spilled over into the musical da
capo. In consequence, the poetic refrain began later than the musical refrain. This same Lagarto
example is again found in CMP 45 which has been twice published - and is therefore easily
available for study. In it one sees that the musical refrain, which always comes at the beginning
of a villancico, comprises 14 bars (modern transcription). The poetic refrain-couplet, however,
does not commence until bar 5 of the musical refrain. At the start of his musical da capo
Lagarto continues instead with a rhymed-line belonging to the stanza. Only after this last
rhymed-line does he proceed to the poetic refrain. This asymmetry of music and poetry is a
cardinal principle in the classic villancico.
Triana's pieces with a refrain of any kind are in closed form, the musical da capo and
poetic da capo coinciding. This fact is perhaps of more interest to literary than to
41 Biographical information above at pp. 195-196.
Senora, qual soy venido (CMC, no. 22) is ascribed to both Cornago and Triana.
43 "Musical and Metrical Form of the Villancico/' Annales Mitsicologiques, II (Paris: Socie"t< de Musique
d'Autrefois, 1954), PP- 189-214.
44 Obras de Don Inigo L6pez de Mendoza, Margins de Saniittana, ed. Jose* Amador de los Rios (Madrid:
Imp. de Jose" Rodriguez, 1852), pp. 461-463. Entitled "Villancico," this poem consists of four stanzas of
eight lines each, the rhyme-scheme being always abba acca. In the strophes a gallant speaks (in the first
person) to ires damas fermosas. Each strophe culminates with some such line as "I then began to sing this
song," after which two or three lines of a popular song are quoted by way of postscript. Santillana's poetry,
in other words, sets the stage for the quoted lyrics. Used as here, the word villancico is merely a diminutive
of villano ', no more anticipating the classic significance of the term than a Domenico Scarlatti sonata antic
ipates a Mozart sonata.
CAfP, no. 279.
During the Reigns of Ferdinand and Isabella 209
musical historians. It does, however, distinguish him from composers in the generation of
Encina when the new open-form villancico all but vanquished the older closed-form
cancion. As for Lagarto's Andad, pasiones, andad - the villancico which appears in CMC,
it obviously was a later insertion into the manuscript, the handwriting of both music and
text differing from that in any of the surrounding items. Triana therefore need not even
be thought of as old-fashioned at the time CMC was originally compiled.
The complete literary text of one cancion with which his name is associated in CMC
is preserved twice elsewhere in purely literary codices, the poetry having been written
by Inigo Lopez de Mendoza, Marques de Santillana. One can therefore confirm quite
independently of CMC the fact that Triana did not compose "Barform" canciones
(ballades), but instead, canciones agreeing with the virelai-pattern. This distinction is
rather important. Indeed there is no evidence anywhere to be found that Renaissance
Spanish song-composers ever chose the AAB musical pattern. 46 Their choice was always
ABA insofar as the music was concerned.
The following is an annotated list of the Triana items in CMC.
Aquella buena muger, 3 v., CMC, no. 89, fol. 103. Rhyme-scheme: AB cccb dddb AB eeeb fffb AB.
The music concords with CMP, no. 243. So do the literary refrain and four lines of the first
strophe. Subject: amusement at the drunken stagger of a formerly attractive but now
sottish woman. Musical structure: A||:B:|jA||:B:||A. Imitation between tenor and upper
voices distinguishes the opening refrain. Modality of both refrain and strophe: D (dorian).
Duple meter (Ct).
Bencdicamus Domino, 3 v., CMC, no. 80, fols. 93V.-94. This is a mixolydian piece lasting only
44 breves ((). A short point of imitation between middle and upper voices occurs at the
opening. An alternate ending for the middle voice, in a lower range, has been copied in by a
clumsy "corrector."
Benedicamus Domino, 3 v., CMC, no. 81, fols. 9^-95. Lasting 42 breves ((), this piece is
divided into three phrases, the third of which begins with a point of imitation carried up
from contrabaxo through tenor to tiple. Modality: D without flat.
Con temor biuo ojos tristes, 3 v., CMC, no. 19, fols. 3IV.-32. Rhyme-scheme : ABBA. What
should be the strophe lacks words, probably through the oversight of the copyist. Subject :
dejection because the lover will never more behold his lady. Musical structure: A||B||A.
Exact imitation at the lower octave occurs at the beginning between upper and middle
voices. Modality: G with constant use of the accidental Bb, ficta or written in. Men
suration: O- The instrumental character of the lower accompanying voice is indicated by
its sudden breaking into a complete triad at the final cadence.
De mi perdida esperanga, 3 v., CMC, no. 23, fols. 38v.-4O. Rhyme-scheme: ABAAB cdcd
ABAAB. Subject : the loss of all hope is the harder to endure because I, your lover, remember
the tormenting past. Musical structure: A||:B:j|A. "Key-signature": mixed - lowest with
46 This fact in itself strongly suggests that Vincenet's La pena sin ser sabida should not be classed as a
ballade. Rather it ought to be understood as a da capo (A|| :B:||A), the repeated "B" section of which shows
different first and second endings. If it is not a ballade, neither ought it to be classed as an "Encinian"
villancico, the reason being that musical and poetic form run parallel in it. It is a canci6n, analogous in mu
sical and poetic form to Triana's De mi perdida esperanga.
Secular Polyphony
two flats, middle and upper with one. The accidental Eb is written into the upper voice-part
near the close of the strophe. Modality: aeolian, the ending chord of both refrain and strophe
being G and a signature of two flats controlling the lowest voice. Mensuration : <J (only the
upper voice; the lower two have none).
Deus in adiutorium, 3 v., CMC, no. 66, fob. 85V.-86. A macaronic item, triple-meter sections in
Latin duple in Spanish. Eight bars (modern transcription) are in triple meter, then 15 in
duple, then four in triple. Musical structure: AB (triple meter) UC (duple meter) B (triple
meter). Mensurations: 3,(J;, 3. Modality: mixolydian.
Dines madre del donzel, 3 v., CMC, no. 90, fols. io 3 v.-io 4 . Rhyme-scheme: A A bb cccb
Subject: in A A bb the questioners ask the Virgin to tell how she felt when Gabnel saluted
her* in cccb Mary sings an unaccompanied solo (measured rhythm) saying she believed the
angelic messenger. Musical structure: A (8 bars) ||B (8 bars) || C (16 bars) - "C" being Mary's
solo reply. Modality: D (dorian) without flat in "A" but with flat (in lower voice) in B.
Mensuration: (J. This composition is unique because of its easy division throughout into
four-bar phrases and because it ends with what appears to be an unaccompanied solo.
Juste fudex, 3 v., CMC, no. 82, fols. 95V.-97- See P ra > PP- I 97- I 99-
Juysio fuerte sera dado, 4 v., CMC, no. 91, fols. I04V.-I05. See pp. 196 (n. 305) and 290.
La moca que las cobras cria, 4 v., CMC, no. 71, fol. 87. Rhyme-scheme: A A bb A A. Subject:
bawdy invitation to a girl who tends goats. This is the first Spanish item thus far listed with
a text under any voice except the treble. In this instance another text, not rhymed, is
written beneath the tenor, the sense of which is an invitation to the sexual act. Musical
structure: A||:B:||A. An extra note is found after a rest in the treble at the end of ||:B:||.
Modality: C Major with authentic cadences at the close of each section. Mensuration :(
Mara-vyttome, 3 v., CMC, no. 69, fols. 86 bis v.-86 ter. Rhyme-scheme: none. Musical structure:
A || B || A. No text is copied under "B." Subject: I am astounded and cross myself because of
the devil possessing you. Imitation between all three upper voices at the opening. Jaunty
repeated-note figures give the "B' ' portion an especially popular flavor. Modality throughout :
G (mixolydian). Duple meter (()
No consiento ni me plaze, 3 v., CMC, no. 43, fols. 64V.-65V. Ehyme-scheme: ABAB cdcd
A'B'A'B'. An alternate third quatrain for use with the opening musical refrain is given with
the remark: otra ("other"). Its rhyme-scheme: EFEF. Subject: I will not allow the young
man who has struck her fancy to live but will seek him out ; when I find him, though he be
ready to serve her, yet will he never receive her into his arms. See transcription on opposite
page. The text is, by way of exception, written under all three voice-parts. 47 Musical structure :
A||:B:||A||:B:||A. Modality throughout: E (phrygian). A "written-in" g# appears near the
beginning of the treble. Duple meter (Cp-
No puedes quexar amor** 3 v., CMC, no. 28, fols, 46v.~47v. Rhyme-scheme: ABAB cdcd
A'B'A'B'. Subject: You cannot protest that you did not know, nor even less that I deserve
my sorrow and your dismissal; because never have my thoughts wandered nor have I
47 However: tenor and contra in the strophe ("B" section) are incompletely texted.
48 Above the treble appears the abbreviated name "Diego "followed by an illegible word: then "Triana
el son" (music by Triana). Presumably the copyist meant to give the name of the poet, then that of the
composer.
During the Reigns of Ferdinand and Isabella
211
No consiento ni me plaze *
Seville: Bibl. Colombina, sign. 7-1-28, fols. 64V.-65V.
QUAN DE] TRIANA
FOL.64V.
J J 1 1 1 J J
J J>J J IJ
icv & . * EF
FOL64v.
No con-sien-to ni me pio. ze Que flo rez-
S
TEflOR
No con -sten to
n
me pla ze Que
rr nt/rr IrcffTrr J
CONTRA
No con sien-ta ni me pla ze Que flo rez-
10
?Q=^
-ca ni que bi-
-va El mod a ma dor
"-
flo-rez ca ni cjue i
El mal a-ma don
-ca ni ojuebi-
-va Elmda-ma-
va.
* I do not consent nor does it please me that the wicked lover with whom her ladyship is enamoured
should flourish or even live.
On the contrary, when I find him burning to serve her, he will worship her with his hands but never re
ceive her into his arms.
212
Secular Polyphony
FOL.65V.
^ 25
S
C; r l r r r
Con sus
cjoon-do
ma nos
mas
a
5e ha-
-do-ra-
-ila
-lla
en gen di
pe ro nun-
I
r ti'nrr'tjr
J/-
no
se/s
yveu? afo ffiets
ma nos a.-
se. Act, //a, en ges? cb-
. do /*z //a j>e ro #&/? -
Porquel concluyr desf aze
lo quel desear abiua
en tal manera que faze
de su senora catiua.
otra
Vo buscando jouen9ido
el nonbre y valer de quien
aze mi mal tan cre9ido
quanto se acorta mibien.
[D-C.]
desired aught but to serve you. Musical structure: A||:B:||A. Light unitation between the
two upper voices occurs at bars 24 and 29. Modality: A (aeolian) ; "B" section ends on an E
[Major] chord. Duple meter ((J).
Nan puedo dexar querer, 3 v., CMC, no. 86, fols. loov.-ioi. Different texts in each voice: top
voice, "Non puedo"; middle, "Querer vieja yo no"; bottom, "Que non se filar ni aspar."
This composition is a quodlibet of which the only other example in the early cancioneros
would seem to be Penalosa's Por las sierras (CMP, no. 311). Subject-matter: picaresque and
amatory; see accompanying example for text and translation (p. 216). Beginning at bar 213
Triana introduces a new tune in the lowest voice, Perdi la mi rueca. This latter concords with
the top voice of CMP, no. 253. Although concordances for the Querer vieja and Que non se
filar tunes have not yet been located, the flavor of these is equally popular. The top voice,
however, may like Penalosa's (CMP, no. 311) have been freely composed.
pena que me coribates, 3 v., CMC, no. 5, fols. gv., nr. (folio 10 is missing). Only top and
tenor of the refrain and contra of the strophe are found in CMC. Rhyme-scheme of refrain:
ABAB. Subject : Your beauty slays me.
Pinguele respingueie, 3 v., CMC, no. 70, fol. 86 ter. Rhyme-scheme: aa bbbb a. This is not a
refrain-song, even though bars 4-5 equal 15-16. Subject: jocular report of a woman with five
children, perhaps by a priest. Musical structure: three short phrases each ending with a
f ermata over a G-chord. Phrase I begins with a point of imitation between contra, tenor, and
During the Reigns of Ferdinand and Isabella 213
treble; phrase II with light imitation between tenor and treble. Modality: G (mixolydian).
Duple meter (()
Por beuer comadre, 3 v., CMC, no. 88, fol. I02v. Words and music concord with CMP, no. 235.
Rhyme-scheme : A bcdc A dcec A. Subject: give me a drink, barmaid, you who have my skirt
in pawn; make my eye glisten and my head dance with your wine. Musical structure:
A || :B: || A. Short point of imitation between tenor and treble at opening. Modality: E
(phrygian). Duple meter (().
Quien vos dio ted senorio, 4 v., CMC, no. 34, fols. 53^-54. Rhyme-scheme: ABBA cdcd ABBA.
Subject: the power of beauty to captivate. See example overleaf (pp. 214-215) for complete
text and translation. Musical structure A||:B:||A. Modality: D (dorian). Mensuration
sign: O-
Senora, qual soy venido, 3 v., CMC, no. 22, fols. 36v.~38. Crowded in above the secular text -of
which the author was the Marque's de Santillana - can be seen a sacred text which, though
inserted in some contemporary hand, is obviously not the writing of the scribe who copied
the music and the secular text. 49 Cornago's name appears at the top of fol. 36v. above the
treble voice-part, Triana's at the top of fol. 37 above the contra. Since tenor and treble make
a perfect duet, the most obvious explanation is that Triana added the florid contra. His
addition would therefore compare exactly with that of Madrid who added a new part to
Cornago's duet, Pues que Dios te fiso tal (CMP, no. 5). The Cornago-Triana music (with
secular text, Senora qUal soy) concords with CMP, no. 52. Aside from differences in passing-
notes, ligatures, and occasional accidentals, the CMC version differs in being longer by two
bars (= two breves). Rhyme-scheme of the secular text: ABBA cdcd A'EEA' tfgfg A 1 ERA 1
ijij A'KKA']. Subject: Lady, just as I came so I depart, heavy-hearted, because you have
not rewarded my patient suit; but though I perish of love I am still your humble servitor,
hoping against hope. Musical structure: A||:B:||A. The first and second phrases of "A"
begin imitatively - first phrase at the lower octave with tenor following the treble, second at
the upper octave with treble following the tenor. Mixed signature, the contra with Bb, the
other voices without flat. Modality: dorian (ending on G). Duple meter (()
Ya de amor era fartido, 3 v., CMC, no. 35, fols. 54V.-56. Rhyme-scheme: ABAB cdcd ABAB.
Subject: Although love had fled because of your cruelty a single gesture made me return;
such charm vanquishes me. Musical structure: A||:B:||A. Light imitation distinguishes the
second phrase and the close of "A." Mixed signature with Bb in the contra and no flats in
tenor and treble. Modality: G (dorian) in "A* 1 ; Bb (lydian) in "B." Mensuration: O-
FOURTEEN of these twenty enumerated Triana pieces are secular. Of the fourteen, a
dozen are in the closed da capo form typical throughout CMC (but not CMP). If we
disregard pena because one of its leaves is missing, his methods can be thus summa
rized: (i) for picaresque texts he chooses ionian or phrygian modes, for sentimental
lyrics dorian or aeolian; (2) refrain and strophe belong to the same mode, with one
exception; (3) although he changes meter at will in through-composed songs, he does not
change in da capo pieces; (4) his only mensuration signs are O, 3> 50 and (J, the latter
occurring thrice as frequently as the others; (5} imitation though frequently used at
49 To the left of the first word in the secular text appears, in another hand, the word "corregida" (i.e.
emended). We take this to be an annotation by the scribe who inserted the sacred text above the profane,
so "j" i s used only in Deus in adjutorium.
214 Secular Polyphony
Quien vos dio tal senorio*
Seville: Bibl. Colombina, sign. 7-1-28, fols. 53V.-54- [JuAN BE] TRIANA
Quien vos dio tal senorio.
Quien vasdio-tal senorio.
<juien vos dio taJ senorio.
lo <joevos ml re mi Ii-ber-tod COL ti-ue
* Who gave you such dominion that only looking at you enslaved me and makes me yours rather than
my own?
Your beauty caused me to desire that I be yours; your grace set the bounds of my imprisonment.
During the Reigns of Ferdinand and Isabella
* i ' r . . . is
215
i
^
tro y
no mi - o.
Es to cou 50 fer-mo-su ra Que qui-so qoe
E so mes mo la me-5u - ra Di o fa-
Esto causo f ermosura.
30 mesmo la rnesura.
Esto causo fermosura.
Eso mesmo la mesura.
M
DO
Esto causo fermosora.
Eso mesmo la mesura.
vues-tro
- OOP qoe
fue se.
me prefHJie-se.
m
*=
$
starts never carries fax and is never rigorous; (6) he fills the gaps at intermediate phrase-
ends in the treble with movement in the accompanying voices; (7) three items out of
twenty (two secular and one sacred) are scored a 4, the rest a 3; (8) he holds the voice-
ranges within tight bounds, the contra never descending below GI (except in La moga to
FI) and only in Maravyllome rising to e - the treble never rising above c 1 (except in No
puedes andiVo consiento where it reaches d 1 ) ; (9) two "written-in" sharps invade his CMC
repertory (twelfth note in treble of Dinos donsetta [fol. 104] and similarly the twelfth
in the treble of No consiewto [fol. 64V.], both perhaps added by a later hand) ; (10)
sixteen "written-in" accidental flats (Bb or Eb) 51 on the other hand appear, all of which
51 Benedicamus I (contra, m. n), Con Umor (contra, m. i; treble, m. 2), De mi perdidct (tenor, m. 3;
contra, m. 40; treble, m, 46), Juste Judex (contra, m. 25), Juysio (contra, m. 6), Maraxtylloma (contra, m.
16), Quien vos (treble, m. 8; tenor, m. 18), Ya de amor (contra, m. 24; treble, mm. 25, 26, 30; tenor, m. 31).
2l6
Secular Polyphony
Non puedo dexar querer
Seville: Bibl. Colombina, sign. 7-1-28, fols. IOOV.-IOL
[JUAN DE] TRIANA
FOUIOOv.
FOL.JOI
Non pue-do 'de-xan que rer
Ybien a
^
FOLJOOv
Que-nervieja
**
no quie-na Dfos
no
u na
3=i
^
^=t
TENOR
Qoenon 56 fi lor Ni as parni de va
5
mar Aun qoel mar-i -
^
&-
-so Me davi-da sin
JlJffJJlJ,J3fl
^
vie-
-ja. com-
x rra los cjap-^ue. ^r-ros de^ol-ta-
^
-nor
y itier-co.
-me mi ma-r
- n do V na a-rro-va.
* I don't want to love an old woman, Good Lord, no; an old woman like Sarah, her breasts hanging like a
guitar. Already because of my burning she gave me a piece of disagreeable skin. Go away, you old hag, with
your animal hide. You sigh like a maiden and pretend that love overpowers you. But you haven't a front
tooth nor a molar. You eat like a cowfewe] chewing her cud. Go away, you old hag.
** Because I don't spin nor gather yarn nor reel it and my husband bought me a whole lot of flax, the
dogs and cats have made a bed in it.
I lost my distaff and spindle. Have you seen the knob rolling over here ? I lost my distaff wound with
flax. I found a gut filled with wine. Have you seen the knob rolling over there ?
*** [He] I can't stop wanting you and loving you, even though your jealous husband gives me a hard
life without any rest. All would turn out happily if you would satisfy my desire. I can't stop wanting you
and loving you.
[She] They blame me for a bad one because I loved you, but even though they keep on complaining I will
not stop if you want me. Love me with a mad love. I can't repay with less love, for even though they con
tinue complaining I will not stop.
During the Reigns of Ferdinand and Isabella
217
15
lo tor no. 90-50-50
El com pfir ml
=5=
vau-naox ma rra por que la cjuie sie
|i no Que los pe rros y los ga-
tos En ello fa-
20
de-sear.
de XOP que-rer Ybiena -mar.
que ren vie-jayo no ojuie-ra Dfos
Ha
. ye non 5e fi lor Ni as parrti de-va nar. Per di
Cut pan me mez-qoi-na. por-quevos a me Pues aun-que mas di ganNon
ii
y.rasdo a vie ja con to pe He-jo, so-spi ra com n
r ' N j r
la mi rrue ca Non fa Ho elfo so ;SS vf-j
el
/fr 1
1 | J
u , MI
1 [~
....i ,
k
*1
4K
S
d<
r^
^ j u^^
; 5t vos me cju
, r 1
=y^=
i 7 ^) J i^
tc3 DC
-J J
un a* mop
i
U j l
sin par*
i, r II
B**^
N^nonlo
1 , f 1 F
^^-
mo-cue-la
? 4 \*i i
* * * ~ *
df-ze cjue a-mor
la de
Ij J ^ 1* i
su*4a non tie-ne
m \o p i r ^
if P '*r i
dien-te ni muelct
If f> ^P
=r^
=H
\
_j!L_
H 3
r -rZZ=3C
lr r
H^ Nf
- : ^
te-ro an dor? Per di let, mi rrue ca He no, de If- no
Secular Polyphony
40
rru- roi a al co men co - mo on o-v/e-ja a lla
^
Ha llo-me u na \x> ta lie na de vy-no Si vis tes a lla. el
45
/ /-
V J'^J- jl ^ J.. ^
gan Non lo de xa-
-ft i \ \ d f 3 r-r
re.
^^HJ i ^ w ^ i j]
do na vi e ja.
v } r i i j r -
tor >te ro aMar.
1 " "
seem to be in the hand of the original scribe; (n) of the four items with mixed signatures,
one carries two flats in the contra; (12) he frequently requires the contra to leap up an
octave (especially at closes) but uses the Landini-sixth cadence in the treble quite
rarely; 52 (13) in the treble wide skips are extremely hard to find, sixths of any kind
being unknown, fifths unusual, and even fourths an event; (14) leaps on the other hand
of fifths and octaves (though not of sixths) freely appear in the contra; (15) cadences
can almost invariably be analyzed as V-I, IV-I, or V-VI; (16) at the final cadence the
tenor always sounds an octave with the treble; (17) elsewhere the tenor always makes a
consonance with the treble - fourths never separating them on strong beats.
JOHANNES CORNAGO follows Triana as the second most prolific CMC composer. Even so,
his total reaches only a bare half-dozen. 53 One of these, Porque mas sin ctuda creas
seems to be a unicum. The others occur either in CMP or in Monte Cassino MS 871 N.
Of the five concording items Qu'es mi vida preguntays arouses the most immediate
interest, it bearing a double ascription in the Monte Cassino source. That Ockeghem
52 Benedicamus I, final cadence; Deus in adjutorium, mm. 7-8 and final cadence; Dinos madre del donzel,
mm. 3-4; No puedes quexar amor, mm. 6-7; Non puedo dexar querer, mm. 16-17 ^d final-
58 This half-dozen includes two songs the authorship of which he shared (Qu'es mi vida with Ockeghem;
Senora qual soy with Triana),
During the Reigns of Ferdinand and Isabella 219
should have had a hand in its composition, as Monte Cassino affirms, can be validated
from internal evidence - and need not be believed solely because of the double attri
bution. Cornago's other songs were composed a j. 54 Moreover the contras in the present
instance depart radically from his known style. The lowest voice in Qu'es mi vida
touches bottom DI fourteen times. Such low notes are all but unheard of in the music
of the cancioneros. 55 But Ockeghem, composer of Interemata Dei Mater , 56 freely called
for DI'S, descending on occasion to Ci. Even more to the point, the harmonies change
at asymmetrical time-intervals in Qu'es mi vida and chords in what would now be
called "first inversion" frequently appear on strong beats. Such asymmetry is a known
hallmark of Ockeghem's style. It is, on the other hand, alien to the style of any can-
cionero composer. Certainly it is foreign to Cornago's style as disclosed in CMP, nos. 2,
38, and 52, or in the accompanying transcription of his Porque mas sin duda (CMC,
no. 27).
If the range of the bass and the asymmetry of the harmonic flow suggest another
composer, what voice-parts can on the contrary be plausibly labeled as Cornago's?
First, the treble with its Spanish text. The cadences at mm. 16 and 24-25 exactly dupli
cate those at mm. 33-34 and 63-64 in CMP, no. 38 (an authentic Cornago item). If the
treble belongs to Cornago so must also the tenor. The fact that the tenor and treble make
a canon at the unison in nun. 27-31 cannot perhaps be called conclusive evidence since
the bass has been cleverly made to share in the Vorimitation. But with Cornago's duet
to suggest the idea, Ockeghem (granted he composed the bass) was too great an artist
to have missed improving on Cornago's original idea. More important is the fact that in
Qu'es mi vida, as in all Cornago's part-songs, the tenor and treble together make a
complete harmony at all times. Whatever may be said of the other voices, these were
made for each other. A fourth never occurs between them on a strong beat. An octave
always separates them at ends of sections.
Having accounted for contra II (bottom voice), treble, and tenor, we are left with con
tra I. This voice, too, can be credited to Ockeghem on the following internal evidence:
(i) treble, contra I, and tenor do not make a satisfactory three-part composition, even
though treble and tenor together make a self-sufficient duet; (2) the delayed cadence
caused by the last two notes in contra I is typical of Ockeghem's endings but not of
Cornago's (which end with all the voices coming to a halt at once) ; (3) the rest at the end
of measure 16 in contra II has obviously been inserted for one reason only - to get contra
54 Angles in MME, 1, 105 (line i) classified Porque mas sin duda as a 3- and 4-part composition, probably
because in this instance the CMC scribe copied the tenor of the "B" part twice - the first time (fol. 45v.)
leaving out 21 notes, the second time (fol. 46) correcting the mistake. The omitted notes were those {in our
transcription) from mm. 37-42. The scribe's eye doubtless travelled from one phrase over two intervening
ones, because of the likeness in phrase-endings (the last three notes before the rest in m. 37 and in m. 42
equal each other). Olvyda tu perdition Espana (CMC, no. 52) is another piece with a scribal error of the same
kind. The copyist in the latter case corrected his mistake not by writing out the tenor-part anew but rather
by using a carat at the spot where the notes had been omitted and then another carat at the end of the
tenor-part to show where the omitted notes were subjoined.
55 CMP (458 items) shows a lower note than FI in only nos. 57 (Malos adalides fueron by Badajoz) and
287 (Todo quanta yo servi by Baena). Lope de Baena's piece lacks any text beyond the first phrase. The
lowest note in the contra of each is DI.
5 A, Smijers, ed., Van Ockeghem tot Sweelinck, I (Amsterdam: G. Alsbach, 1939), PP- 3""-
220
Secular Polyphony
II out of contra Fs way at this particular moment; (4) the melodic line in contra I is
quite different from the line in Cornago's own authenticated contras - as comparison
with the contra in Porque mas sin duda, by way of example, soon discloses.
Fortunately external as well as internal evidence clinches the case. Monte Cassino
contains Cornago's three-voiced original. Those who catalogued his songs prior to Isabel
CMC, fols. 24V.-25.
FOL24-V.
Qu'es mi vida preguntays *
CORNAGO-OCKEGHEM [1469]
5 *
Ques mi violet pre^uti taes
es ml vida. preguntays
CONTRA 2
ida pne guntays.
^
m
* You asfc what my life is like: I cannot deny that a life spent in deeply loving and lamenting is what
you have inflicted on me.
Who would have served you as faithfully as I during my weary life, or who could so have suffered ?
During the Reigns of Ferdinand, and Isabella
L J f . i**1 -^ 20
221
Qufen vos pudie ra sen
Mf tra baja do bf vfr
t
Qujen vos
Hi tra
m
m
=3r
Qofen vos pu diera. servrr
Hi tra (ML jtufo bevir
** BI, C, D, BI in CMC.
Pope missed it, because the text is defective. She, however, showed that the cancidn a 5
formerly credited to him with the title Preguntays no vos la qu[f]ero negar is nought else
but the superius-tenor duet of Qu'es mi vida preguntays joined to his own less suave
contra.
Of the visit of le premier chappettain et maistre de la chappelle du roy nostre sire, we
know that he received a travel grant for a "trip from Tours to the kingdom of Spain in
January 1469." 57 Only one Spanish MS, however, preserves anything by him - CMC. 58
For every historical as well as esthetic reason, then, Qu'es mi vida deserves close study.
57 Michel Brenet, Musique et musiciens de la vielk France (Paris: Librairie F&ix Akan, 1911), p. 39.
58 Angles was not aware of the fact that CMC, no. 87, Petite camvsette (S'elle m'amera je ne scay), is by
Ockeghem. (El Escorial MS IV. a. 24 cannot be counted a "Spanish" manuscript.)
222
Secular Polyphony
30
35
f-^
tyj j. J 1 ^ ^4 J!'/
vos pu-die se 6ep-vJr
trorba-ja do be vin
=F
T
hh^j
_=!=
=F^
Tan
fc^-N t N '
if p f|[fr ^
vjr>
V
-t
1-
Ffe?-fq
4-
f
=1
A
&
^
t
3-
zz:
^ /
4-
rf
=f
> .
JL
-5: ^ ; ,.. ... ,
\/ 1 1
ra serviV
bevir
1
i
rFffl
_J
ki~
=P
^
9
=t=
I* fa JJJ^i |
\ "* J f *
: -h
-1
-*
-*
4
-J-*-
J
j- f 1 J~ **-*' ^
s
s
bien co-mo yo
cpten padie ra
a-ver
-VI
6o-frl-
^r r if i r if cLrit rj'^
Cornago's own disdain of the contra shows up at once in CMP, nos. 2 and 38. If he
will have ms way, the contra exists only to complement the treble-tenor duet. In con
sequence he endows it with no real interest or beauty of its own. Subtracted from the
other voices and played alone, his contras sound angular, humpbacked. He takes no
pains to avoid such wide intervals as major sevenths and ninths within a phrase. He
outlines tritones which cannot be erased unless one applies an irresponsible number of
ficta acccidentals.
In order that the kind of contra Ockeghem added may be conveniently compared with
Cornago's, we print the thus-far unedited Porque mas sin duda. Ninths and sevenths
crop up in the contra at mm. 10, 20, 35-36 ; but not in the other parts. It is for these
other voices that he reserves his imitations (mm. 13-14, 25-28, 40-42). The one time the
contra does rhyme (meas. 2), the tenor has already sung the motto (first three notes).
During the Reigns of Ferdinand and Isabella
223
[D.C.
The overall effect of the three voices sounding together is on the other hand quite
gratifying. Rhythmic motion is evenly distributed among all the parts. When the
song is performed, the likenesses of mm. 19-213 and 33-36 are even more apparent than
on paper.
The words in Porque mas sin duda bristle with the scorned lover's desire for revenge.
Like Triana, he seems to have reserved the dorian mode for tender or plaintive songs
(Donde estas, Gentil dama, and Pues que Dios [CMC, nos. 10, 4, and 18] and the ionian or
Phrygian for harsh or bitter ones. Within the limits of his own idiom he knows how to
touch the listener's heart. His Donde estas ("Where are you?") 59 shows his methods.
When the lover protests that each day of his mistress's absence seems ten centuries, he
assigns the treble a panting repeated-note figure (setting the words mill anos), the
obvious purpose of which is to express the lover's impatience in musical terms. In both
Donde estas and Porque mas sin duda he interpolates fermatas near the end of each
strophe-couplet, doubtless for dramatic effect. Certainly the words after the fermata in
Donde estas are climactic (iuventut = youth; salut = health). In Donde estas - his only
CMC canci6n in which he allows the contra to participate in the imitative play - the
imitation is made to serve a dramatic purpose. The treble leads with the cry, "Where are
you?" Contra and tenor echo it in succession. Compared with Triana's texts Cornago's
may seem to cover a smaller gamut of emotion. But if their subject is invariably
Liebesfreud or Liebesleid, he at least responds to the shades of emotion with musical set
tings that can be differentiated.
w CMC, fols. I7V.-I9. Concordance in Monte Cassino MS 871 N, fols. QV.-IO. For the texts of Cornago's
Monte Cassino songs, see Isabel Pope, "La musique espagnole a la Cour de Naples dans la seconde moitte
du xv stecle," in Musique et Podsie au XVI* Stick (Paris: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique,
1954). PP- 4^-50* Her reading of Qu'es mi vida preguntays (pp. 49-5<>) shows corrections from the Biblio-
thfcque Nationale literary concordance. She identifies Don Diego de Castffla, a courtier at Naples c. 1460,
as the author of Donde estds.
224
Secular Polyphony
Porque mas sin duda
CMC, fols. 44^-46.
7,^ vti B- ii H f\ 1 1 r4-i 1 . i . ra . K- : . . 1
CORNAG
5
R i
**
|A,!,L|2-*-J
<p + J 1 ^ * ^ 1^ ^ J J IM' <J=JJ
*^ J J
Por que mas sin du act ere as
Pues cjue muer te me deseas
m -6\:mT$t f \r * 'ff\t\ > rTr J fl
Mi ^rand
o: M 4.-
=33
Ff*=fl
TENOR
iau , =4
i^iij ' M L-I r r uif * ? r if ^ i i
Pop-qua mas sin duda creas
c
I^^JCJK
rmsn-PA fcd~ S| N
j LEI r r i r u r ' E '
Por-que mas sin duda creas
* In order that you may better appreciate my sorrowful anguish, may God inflict on you the misery of
loving and never being loved nor cared for.
And with such a lot I believe that you would appreciate the terrible misery which you cause me without
my deserving it.
Since you desire my death without my deserving it, may God inflict on you the misery of loving and of
never being loved nor cared for.
During the Reigns of Ferdinand and Isabella
225
25
30
^
nun ca 56-
-os A- ma da ni bien cjue ri
Tf nTr
^ 35
\
Y am es-ta vr - da td
EJ tor-men-to des - i-goal
Pien-
Que
Y con esta vida. inl
[FINE]
Y con es to. vida tal
** In the MS Bj? appears as "signature" in the first, but is omitted in all succeeding staves.
JOHANNAS URREDE 60 ranks third in CM C. Concordances for all three of his CMC
songs (Nunca jue pena mayor, no. 9; May triste sera mi vida, no. n; and De vos i de mi
quexoso, no. 32) can be found in CMP (nos. i, 23, and 17, respectively). All are in triple
o Biographical details at p. 203. Giovanni Spataro commends Gipanni di Vbrede in his Tractate di mu-
sica (Venice: Bernardino deVitali, 1531) at fols. d i verso and h iv verso for the use of proportions hi the
Benedictus of una sua messa, but without naming the mass. Since Spataro does not know the title of Urrede's
mass, though twice referring to the same sequence of "time-signatures'* (C followed by G) as an admirable
226
Secular Polyphony
* 40
bien que
meres cen
me
-ros.
das.
f-riynf T7
^
*** Contra hi MS shows an extra C after this ligature.
[D.C.]
meter (mensuration sign: ^E). In CMC, all are for three voices. Lastly, each is a closed-
form canci6n. This last generalization will seem erroneous to a student who consults
the literary text of his Muy triste printed in the 1890 edition of CMP. The faulty
transcription of the eleventh line in Muy triste there encountered has, however, been
set right in Jose Romeu's revision of the texts for the 1947-1951 edition, of CMP.
Though their structure allies Urrede's canciones with Triana's or Cornago's, their style
and substance show notable divergences. Barbieri himself saw the difference when he
wrote: "The style of his three compositions in our cancionero resembles that of the
Flemings more than that of the native Spaniards c. 1490-1510; which fact of itself
would induce us to support the assertion that Johannes Urrede was in reality a Flem
ing/' si What were the qualities that gave Barbieri the right to call his style more
way of indicating proportions (two minims in C equalling three in Q, he perhaps repeats mere hearsay.
Ramos, his mentor, of course knew Urrede personally. Spataro's is the latest printed praise, apparently,
that Urrede was to earn in the century after his death. But the memory of his music was kept green by Luys
Venegas de Henestrosa who published in 1557 Cabez6n's glosado version of Urrede's Tarazona Pange lingua
(see above, p. 203, note 22) ; by Juan P&rez Roldan who wrote a Mass c. 1669 on the Pange lingua de Urreda
(AM, VII, 198) ; and even so late as 1707 by Antonio Martin y Coll who in that year cifered a new keyboard
arrangement of the same Tarazona Pange lingua glossed by Cabezdn. Copied at fols. 38v.-39 in Biblioteca
Nacional (Madrid) MS 1358 (Flares de Miisica, Vol. II), Martin y Coil's Pange lingua de Urea is however
pitched a minor third below Cabezon's gloss.
Cancionero musical de los siglos XV y XVI, pp. 47-48. For a digest of other opinions see Helen Hewitt,
op. cit., p. 85 (c. 2).
During the Reigns of Ferdinand and Isabella 227
representative of Flemish than Spanish art? The following several answers may at
least prove suggestive.
I His melodic lines in his "Barcelona'' Pange lingua 62 as in his canciones are always
quite supple; he achieves a "moist" quality not only by wandering freely up and down
the scale, but also by beginning successive melodic phrases on different parts of the
measure, i.e. beat I, beat 3, beat i, beat 2. On the other hand, in indigenous Spanish
pieces the lines tend to pivot more around one scale note and to start and stop at
symmetrical rhythmic moments. As a result they usually seem less weaving.
II Urrede's chord-changes result from a juxtaposition of melodic lines and not vice
versa; only at cadences does he emphasize the IV-I or V-I relationships. Spanish
composers are on the other hand constantly aware of the "harmonic function of each
bass-note/' and within the phrase write many more IV-I or V-I progressions.
III At a cadence Urrede is willing for the bass to drop out just before the resolution. The
Spanish composer wants the bass [= contra] to be sounding both on the "V" arid the
"I" - an insistence which foreshadows the baroque concept of continuous bass.
IV Because of his lithesome melodic lines, the wider spacing of his cadences and his
less rigorous harmonic ideas, Urrede's "beats" fall more lightly than in the usual song by
indigenous Spaniards of the period.
V The pulse may seem lighter because in all his canciones (as well as his "Barcelona"
Pange lingua) he chooses a languid triple meter. Three times as many pieces by Triana
on the other hand are in duple as in triple meter; only one of the six pieces in CMC
associated with Cornago's name is in triple meter, the other five being all in duple.
VI Urrede, as would be natural in the case of a Fleming writing music to Spanish texts,
seems considerably less sensitive to the meanings of individual words; there are no
breathless "mill anos" in his settings as in Cornago's. The Spaniards seem, on the
other hand, eager to experiment even with harmonic novelties in order to enforce the
meanings of important words.
In order that these various comparisons may be tested by the reader, Urrede's
Nunca fue is here presented on one page, and on the opposite a setting by Belmonte (a
CMC unicum at fols. 4ov.-4i). In Belmonte's Puts mi dicha non consiente Urrede's
superius is transposed an octave lower to become the tenor. Even while working with
such an alien tenor, Belmonte however still betrays certain of the "Spanish traits" to
which reference has just been made. To enumerate the distinctions: (i) Belmonte in
mm. 2-8 hugs e 1 , rather than freely divagating. In each parie he chooses a small tessi
tura. (2) In the first 14 measures he writes a chain of "chords" that when analyzed in
terms of root-progression shows 23 movements of a fourth or fifth in the root. But in
Urrede's "harmonization" of exactly the same melody-notes only nine such movements
** Printed in Anuario Musical, VII (1952)* PP-
228
Secular Polyphony
CMC, fols. i6v.-i7.
Nunca fue pena mayor *
JOHANNES URREDE [.jo. Vrede]
foe pe-
Me fa-ze a-ver
-na ma-yor Nin top-men-to tan es tra-
pop me-Jop La muer-te con rne-nop da-
5
g
ITf
rcrr 'f r'
CjCrr r tfr
ff ^ittf
%5^p
-no
Q^y - CIUCL
Queltor - men
ie
to
con el do - lor
con el do lon
Que rres-
Que rres-
[FINE]
Y es-
En pen-
co no-
-sar el pen-
- s$i-mten-
- ^a-mien-
-to
;-to
25- to
rrrt
Itra
f f|Tf ''
f
2^^
* Never was there greater sorrow nor wilder torment than the pain which I have suffered because of
[your] deceit.
This knowledge makes my days so gloomy while I consider how you requited my affection that I am made
to believe death itself would be less of an evil than the torment and pain which I have suffered because of
[your] deceit.
During the Reigns of Ferdinand and Isabella
229
Fa-se mis di-
Que por a. mo
tes,
Pues mi dicha non consiente *
CMC, fols. 40V.-4I.
FOL.40v. f (J
r\ i {. f -; IT c ; r XKT-
BELMONTE
5
I
kJ ^ d- J
FOL40v.
o
= 'J'^ J'jv
Poes mi
Mas poes
-jC--^ ~$**~t
v (
T J J'J *
cjoees-te
^ ^ vos ab sen
te
TENOR -
FOL.4I
Pues mi dicha
- fg>'^ -m ^ I-H
fa fr rjj
li
i
^
CONTRA]
\
' "H3 L.
1 Lj. _ '"- ^*J -
c
Pues mi diclw.
10
* Since my lot will not permit me to be where I may serve you naught remains for me save death.
Neither patience nor prudence alleviate the sad life caused by your painful absence.
With you gone, I lead such a sad life that naught remains for me save death.
230
Secular Polyphony
J5J
Da we tal vi da. < ytristurei el
Qoe ni bos to, pa-gien-jia ni
Dame tal vida.
Que ni basta.
Dam tal vida . #
Que ni basta.
[D.C]
of a fourth or fifth in the root are found to occur. 63 (3) Belmonte is so determined to have
his contra sing through every cadence that he even writes parallel fifths (measure 7) in
order to insure that the V-I progression be heard in the bass. Urrede at the analogous
moment in the progress of his melody also writes a V-I cadence, but excludes the contra
from participating in the resolution (see mm. 7-8). (4) If it is conceded that skips in the
bass result in strong "beats/' then we can easily prove that the beats in Belmonte are
stronger than those in Urrede. Though Belmonte omits a phrase and therefore writes
14 measures before his first double-bar, whereas Urrede writes 20; in 14 measures he
writes 25 skips but Urrede in 20 measures only 17 skips. As with Cornago's contras,
Belmonte places the top of every contra leap involving a seventh or ninth on
a strong beat. (5) The Spanish preference for duple meter as against a languid triple
meter cannot be proved by reference to Belmonte's setting. But only one of Urrede's
Spanish coetaneans made much use of the O[= S3 mensuration Francisco de la
*3 "Harmonic" analyses would be anachronistic, but root-movements of a fifth or fourth occur at these
locations in Belmonte: 21-2*; 22-23; 31-32; 32-33; 33-33$.* 43-5i* 5i~5a; 52-53 ; 61-61$ ' 6^-62; 62-63;
7i~7i$; 7i$~7a; 7ar7s; 73-8i; 8i-8 2 ; 82-83; 92-9s; 101-102; n 3 $-i2i; 121-12^; 131-131$; i32-i3 2 fr-
They occur at these places in Urrede: 13-21; 31-3!$; 53-61; 63-71; 73-81; 153-161; 163-163; i7i$- I 72;
172-172$- The Urrede count could be slightly extended by considering 72-72$ and 72$~7s as "chord-changes."
The reader is reminded that only melody-notes used by both composers are considered in making the count.
During the Reigns of Ferdinand and Isabella 231
Torre, the others all neglecting it. (6) Belmonte writes an extremely interesting G# at
measure 16. In consequence, the next note must be D# in the superius (underpinned
with G# in the contra). This G# is no impossibility. If one questions it, then the validity
of the Qf in m. 14 and of the F# in m. 18 would also have to be questioned: the more
reason to believe that the G# is intentional. It does match the "tal vida y tristura" of
which the poet complains. If Belmonte's treble just here
sings so out of tune
Straining harsh discords and unpleasing sharps
(Romeo and Juliet, III, v, 27-28)
he has but given the poetry the kind of musical setting that Shakespeare's most famous
young pair of lovers thought they heard at their first moment of separation.
The composers thus-far named - Triana, Cornago, Urrede, and Belmonte - account
for 29 songs in CMC. Ten other Spaniards account for another dozen items. 64
Enrique
TWO four-part songs, Pues consobrade tristura (CMC, no. 2; CMP t no. 16) and Mi
querer tanto vos quiere (CMC, no. 30; CMP, no. 29), seem to be Enrique's sole pair to
have entered the Noah's Ark of the cancioneros. Barbieri in 1890, and following him
Angles in 1947, did, it is true, claim for him one other song, Pues servifio vos desplase
(CMP, no. 27). But this third song has been shown by Manfred Bukofzer 65 from a
concordance at Perugia to have been composed by the English singer in Burgundian
service, Robert Morton, who died in 1475. As for Enrique's two authenticated songs,
both axe anonymous in CMC. Both must be classed as closed-form canciones rather than
classic-type villancicos. In both he chooses duple meter and dorian mode. The one voices
a lover's lament, the other a lover's entreaty.
The only Enrique who now seems a likely candidate for the composer was a singer
in the service of Charles, Prince of Viana - the pretender to the Aragonese crown who
died at Barcelona on September 23, 1461. From the executors of the latter's estate
he received "two books of music which he had composed/' 66 Because Enrique = Henry,
Barbieri suggested in his 1890 edition that Kerry Bredemers of Antwerp (1472-1522),
the famous organist who twice visited Spain in Philip the Fair's company, might have
composed the Enrique items. 67 Sensing the foreign flavor of the canci<5n which Bukofzer
has now shown to have been Morton's, he felt certain that Enrique must have been an
64 If Nuevas U traigo Caritto in its three-voiced version (CMC, no, 59) be considered as Encina's, then the
number of items the composers of which can be identified would be raised to thirteen. See pp. 270-271, for
further discussion of this problem.
* MME, X, 23-24.
DML, I, 819.
* 7 Barbieri, p. 32.
232 Secular Polyphony
extranjero. But the two authenticated canciones lack characteristically Flemish touches.
Moreover both were copied into CMC at the same time the Cornago and Triana items
were transcribed - i.e. before Bredemers's first visit to Spain.
[Juan Perez de] Gijon (fl. 1480)
PRIOR to enrolment as a singer in Ferdinand's chapel choir Gijon held a canonry in the
collegiate church of Saints Justo and Pastor at Alcala de Henares, his title being
Candnigo del coro del Abad.* 8 On Februray 27, 1480, when appointed a singer in the
Aragonese court chapel, he was listed as Johan Xixon. In the chapel accounts of 1485
his name is spelled two other ways: Johan Gigon and Johan Perez Gijon^ 9
Just as two songs are all that survive by Enrique, so Al dolor de mi cuidado (CMC,
no. 38; CMP, no. 40; CMS, no. 168) and Ruego a Dios que amando mueras (CMP, no.
41) are Gijon's only extant pieces. Al dolor is incomplete in CMC because fol. 59, on
which should have appeared the contra of the first part and all three voices of the second,
is missing. It still enjoyed such wide vogue forty years alter he became a royal singer that
Gil Vicente could introduce it into his Cdrtes de Jupiter, 10 written for performance in
August of 1521 at the royal palace in Lisbon.
Both of Gijon's songs tell a lover's woes. Imitation is lightly used in Al dolor. But
Ruego a Dios is a cantus firmus composition, the tenor of which intones the responsory
for the dead, Memento mei, Deus, in the first part and De profundis in the second. The
phrase-endings in both songs (the cadences subsiding into a long-held note in all the
voice-parts at once), the ruggedness of the chord-movements (IV-I and V-I being
favorite choices), and the tightness of the two top melody lines (as wide a treble skip as
a fifth appearing but once within any phrase of Al dolor) 71 are all traits which can justly
be called typical - not only of Gijon, but of Spanish secular polyphony in general c.
1490. If Gij6n has any individual mannerism it must be his frequent use of the dotted
semibreve followed by the minim (unreduced time- values).
Hurtado de Xeres [J6rez]
IN THE TOP margin before the treble of both songs by Hurtado de Xeres a fifteenth-
century scribe wrote the word, "buena," 73 i.e. good. Only Hurtado's songs bear this
comment in CMC. Both are unica. Nothing is known of the composer's life, though he
may have come from Jerez (between Seville and Cadiz).
es ibid., p. 36.
* DML, I. 1067.
70 Copila$am de todalas obras (Lisbon: loam Aluarez, 1562), fol. 168, c. i, line 31.
71 Mm. 67-68.
72 "de Exerea" in MME, I, 103 and 105. "de Exereo" in DML, II, 1258. Simbn de la Rosa y Lopez,
op. tit*, pp. 70-71, gave the name correctly (Hurtado de Xerez = Xeres) as long ago as 1904.
73 The annotation "buena, corregida" precedes his second song.
During the Reigns of Ferdinand and Isabella
No tenga nadie speranga *
CAfC,fols.6ov.-5i.
233
HURTADO DE XERES
5
^
Noten-
fe-ma
-Sa
sien-
fag^
na-die
-pre so
mu-
-on ga
-dan ga
en
no
Kr/nrrJ r
TENOR
w*=^t
nadie
^^
CONTRA^
*=
^S*
No ienga nadie
10
ha-llar-
pre-su-
-ma
su rniMlan ga
y esper-an
es lo mas cter
es la mas cier
* I have no hope of finding happiness, since your fickleness in love makes uncertainty certain. I used to
look diligently to see whom you favored; but to be very favored is to be lost indeed. Always fearing your
inconstancy I do not expect to be happy; for your beauty and my anxiety make uncertainty certain.
234
Secular Polyphony
du do
du do
-50.
so.
An tesmi-re con^rontien
Quei estor rnu >cho con-ten
An-tes -mire con gran tiento
r r r
=t=t=
[FINE] Antes mire con gran tiento
&&&/
-to quien
-to efi
fa
vor*-e 51 do.
cho per-di do.
*
&&
^
EJLJir rr
*E
DXC]
His songs sob lovers' laments a 3 in phrygian mode. He casts No tenga nadie speranfa
(no. 40) in triple and Con temor de la mudanga (no. 42) in duple meter. In the first of
these he betrays heavy indebtedness to Nunca fue pena mayor. His treble, for instance,
follows much the same contour as Urrede' s during the entire "A" section. The resem
blance is the more striking because both composers bring their first phrases to a cadence
on identical notes at identical rhythmic moments. 74 In consequence, Hurtado's para
phrase strikes the listener as a "Canci6n contrahecha a Nunca fue pena mayor, letra y
punto." 75
Both Hurtado's songs carry a mixed signature, with Bb in the contra. In No tenga
at mm. 4-5 and in Con temor at mm. 12-13 chord-successions involving the Bb major
triad and the A minor in close juxtaposition are found. His chords, although he writes
only a 3, are complete triads in an unusually large number of instances. His tenor
creates a fourth with his treble on a strong beat only once, 76 and that one time as a
passing-note. The cadence of the under-third or the upward skip of an octave in the
74 Cadence at mm. 7-8 in both songs. The correspondence is less close between mm. 17-18 of the Hurtado
and 18-19 of the Urrede. Urrede uses a chain of first-inversions at mm. 18-19. Hurtado finds another way
of ending his "A" section.
75 To be sure, the exact lengths in bars of the "A" and "B' f sections differ in both songs. But the poetic
schemes exactly correspond.
76 Con Umor> m. 9.
During the Reigns of Ferdinand and Isabella 235
contra does not appear. Frequently, however, Hurtado does use the melodic figure which
for want of a better label has been called the "incomplete" nota cambiata.
Like Triana, he holds his voice-ranges within narrow compass. The contra never
descends below AI. Only once does the treble climb to d 1 . 77 The tenor in both songs,
though not texted, seems equally "melodious" with the treble. It moves just as rapidly,
the rests are spaced to come at ends of rational phrases, and the leaps sound lyrical
rather than instrumental. Such roughnesses as consecutive fifths do not mar the part-
writing. Because of the adept workmanship, these songs well deserve the praise of the
word "buena," written by the admiring fifteenth-century scribe.
Juanes
THE COMPOSER of Tu valer me da gran guerra (CMC, no. 67) is not likely to have been
Juanes de Anchieta capellan e cantor de su alteza, 1 * the reason being that its contra is
rough to the point of uncouthness. In the first two bars (= two breves of the original)
the contra, for instance, descends in the following ungainly fashion: d-B[fcj]-G-C-Bib.
The piece is, however, so slight that even with a smoother contra it would not add to
Anchieta's fame.
The musical structure is the usual da capo one, with the "B" section repeated. Both
"A" and "B" are in mixolydian mode. Tenor and treble begin and end on octaves, and
in intervening moments make a self-sufficient duet. The lyrics express a wholly con
ventional tribute to the poet's lady.
Pedro de Lagarto (fl. 1490)
A TOLEDO CATHEDRAL list of prebendaries and chaplains makes Pedro de Lagarto,
composer of Andad, pasiones, andad (CMC, no. 33; CMP, no. 279; CMS, no. 189), a
"claustrero" in that cathedral on June 19, 1490. 79
The title of claustrero, now obsolete, belonged after 1450 to masters of the boy
choristers in Toledo Cathedral. Alfonso Martinez de Fontova, the first chorus-master to
be so designated, was named "by virtue of a papal bull" on December 22, 1450.8 Some
77 Con temor, m. 10.
78 Barbieri, p. 22.
7 Ibid., p, 36. Nicholas V on August 5, 1448, issued the bull creating the prebend of cfaostrero. One of a
total of 50 prebendaries at Toledo, the magister daostralis was specifically charged with teaching the boys
ritual and music.
w Bibl. Nac. MS 14035.289. Rosa y Lopez, op. cit., p. 67, stated that the first papal bull establishing a
master of boy choristers in a Spanish cathedral was Eugene IV's Ad exequendum of September 24, 1439.
addressed to the dean and canons at Seville. Nevertheless, the first Sevillian master whose name he could
discover was Pero Sanchez de Santo Domingo, appointed on January 5, 1478. Rosa y Lopez believed that
the Spanish cathedrals made formal provision for such masterships in imitation of the cathedral in Florence,
where such an office was created in 1433 with an annual stipend of 100 ducats (op, tit., p. 39), the initiator
of the office in Florence being Eugene IV himself (pope from 1431-1447).
23 6 Secular Polyphony
idea of Martinez de Fontova's duties - and also of Lagarto's - can be gained from study
ing a letter mitten by Archbishop Alfonso Carrillo to the dean and chapter of his
cathedral on November 27, 1453. The primate urged that they provide the master of
choristers with a suitable house in which to lodge and board the boys and moreover
that they assign a yearly allowance for the keep of each boy.* 2 In 1458 the master's
salary was set at 500 maravedis.**
A receipt signed by Lagarto on January 21, 1494, shows that the claustrero s salary
in that year had been raised to 1060 maravedis.s^ The receipt reads : "The master of the
boy choristers is entitled to an annual salary of four florins (which equal 1060 mara-
dfe) because he teaches reading and singing to the choristers and prepares the
Christmas presentation of the Sibyl's prophecy."
A year later Lagarto obtained a more lucrative post. In February of 1495 the cathedral
singer Alfonso de la Torre having died, the chapter authorities (as the custom was) an
nounced a public examination to fill the vacancy. Two Toledo canons were appointed
judges to decide the contest, they being given instructions to select the most "accom
plished and fluent singer." The winner however was to know more than merely how to
sing. He was to be well versed in all branches of music, especially polyphonic compo
sition. Pedro Lagarto, "clergyman of this city," won and was instituted in the vacant
prebend on February 12, I495. 85 Lagarto was succeeded in the office of claustrero on
February 13, 1507, by a certain Tomas de Morales. He probably had just died. 86
In addition to Andad, pasiones, andad three other songs are attributed to him in
CMP: Callen todas las galanas (no. 226), D'aqud fraire flaco (no. 255), and Quexome de ti
ventura (no. 90), He affiliates himself with Encina's generation rather than Triana's
by writing classic viUancicos - the rhyme-scheme of the coplas spilling over into the
musical refrain in CMP, 226, 255, 279. Only Quexome lacks a poetic or musical refrain.
Gotten todas pays graceful tribute to the ladies of Toledo who exceed those of Seville in
deportment, grace, and charm. D'aquel fraire is his only four-voiced item. In lively triple
meter (G), it bounces to a C Major chord at every cadence. Since the poem is in eight
stanzas, 34 authentic cadences fall on C-Major pavement in rapid and unremitting
succession. But the dramatic purpose is well served by such insistence. The lyrics voice
a shrill warning against the wickedest friar footloose in Spain, a spoiler of maid, matron,
Already in the thirteenth century niftos de coro (boy-choristers) are mentioned in Santiago de Compostela
documents, but without details concerning their care and upbringing. See Antonio L6pez Ferreiro, His-
toria de la s. a. m. i. de Santiago de Compostela, Vol. V (1902), p. 175. A choirboys' school annexed to Barce
lona Cathedral was functioning as early as 1344. See Jose" M. Madurell and J. M, Llorens Cister6, "Docu-
mentos de archivo: Libros de canto," Anuario Musical, XI (i95 6 ) P- 2I 9-
81 Bibl. Nac. MS 14035.289. Alfonso Carrillo de Acuna ruled as primate from 1446-1482.
82 The annual allowance suggested for each boy was "10 or 12 maravedis" payable to the master,
ss Bibl. Nac. MS 14035.288.
84 Barbieri, p. 36.
as Ibid.,p. 37.
86 Rubio Piqueras, M&sica y mtisicos toledanos (Toledo: Sue. de J. Pelaez, 1923), p. 68. But on the other
hand the Barbieri MSS in the Madrid National Library contain in folder 14035 a note stating that the name
should be Andreas not Thomas; and that he began as maestro of the boys in 1495 (though not as claustrero
until 1507).
During the Reigns of Ferdinand and Isabella 237
and monja. The phrases all divide twelve beats asymmetrically into 3 + 4 + 5. If
Marius Schneider reasons correctly ("Gestaltimitation als Kompositionsprinzip im
Cancionero de Palacio" [Die Musikforschung, XI/4, p. 415]), no CMP item by a named
composer better catches the folkish flavor.
Andad, pasiones, andad again inhabits C Major. The greater popularity of this Lagarto
item owes something to its lyrics. The music is expressive, but not more so than in his
other songs. The lyrics, on the other hand, sound a more distinctive note. The poet
cries out to his desires as to a welcome friend. He calls them to swell over him like a
wave engulfing him. He wishes to abandon himself completely to passion. The treble
melody aptly captures this mood of abandonment with its initial downward swoop of
c 1 , b, g, e. This descent with slight variants is repeated five times before even the first
stanza is done with. Were the villancico with its five stanzas 87 sung straight through
this same downward figure would recur 28 times. Schneider sees in these oft-repeated
variants (of a "melody-type") a link to such an Arabian composition-principle as the
maqam.
Juan de Leon
THE CANCi6N a 3 found at fols. 28v.-2g in CMC with an ascription to " J. d. leon," Ay
que non se rremediarme, concords with CMP, no. 37, where it is similarly ascribed, and
with an anonymous item at fols. I23V.-I24 in Bologna Liceo Musicale MS log. 88 The
first name is not expanded in either CMC or CMP.
Were nothing known of any "J. d. leon," it could still be conjectured from the style
of the caution, its manuscript associations with Urrede's two songs, Nunca fue pena
mayor and De vos i de mi quexoso, in the Bologna source, and its having belonged to the
original corpus of CMC, that Leon flourished in the 1480*5 and 1490'$. This supposition
is borne out by the notices from Santiago de Compostela capitular actas summarized at
pp. 333-334 in Antonio Lopez Ferreiro's Historia de la santa a. m. iglesia de Santiago de
Compostela, VII (1905).
According to these, Juan de Leon was received on August 30, 1480, as maestro de canto
in Santiago de Compostela Cathedral with an annual salary of 9000 pares de blancas
(= maravedis). His duties were twofold: (i) he was to teach six beneficed clergymen
and six mozos de coro (choirboys) of the chapter's choosing; (2) he was to come daily to
coro, properly habited, and to sing both Mass and Vespers. His salary equalled three
times that of the cathedral organist in 1474 (Alvaro de Castenda) and about twice
that of the cathedral organist to be appointed in 1486 (Alonso de Salamanca). The
constant recourse of pilgrims made it possible for him to enlist outside aid, as for instance
during the summer of 1482 when some French singers performed at the Assumption
celebration. These were paid honoraria of 200 pares de blancas on August 26 for exception
s' Only one strophe is copied in CMC. The others are omitted for lack of space. Andad, pasiones, andad
was a late addition copied in a blank space between a Urrede (De vos i de mi qwxoso) and a Triana (Quitn
vos dio tal senorio) item, both of which belonged to the original corpus of CMC.
8 MME, I, no.
23 g Secular Polyphony
al musical services. The chapter also encouraged him in his efforts to improve cathedral
muSc by purchasing new medium-size organs in 1483 (payment for which was made on
^eL'rte to a canonry on January 31, 1487. Like Anchieta's canonry at Granada (c.
I497 -c. H99) and PenaJosa's at Seville (&**&. Le6n's seems not to have been strictly
residential On February 17, 1487, his salary as maestro de canto was revoked. After an
interregnum, a new maestro was named by a commission of four on September 19, 1496.
Le6n evidently absent from the cathedral, was not a member of the commission He did
reside, however, during 1499, on March 22 of which year he began to instruct Jacome
Alvarez. The cathedral prebendary who took sole charge of the music after Leon s
removal to Malaga Cathedral later in the same year, Jacome de Carri6n (Alvarez?),
succeeded in the title of maestro de canto on August 30.
Leon may well have selected Malaga because of its bland climate. In any event his
name first appears in Malaga cathedral records with an act dated September 6, 1499,
naming Juan de Leon a singer.** One month later (October 7) the chapter granted him
temporary leave to reside in nearby Granada. > At this particular moment the court was
dwelling there, this being a year during which thousands of Moors were accepting
baptism. The entry in the Malaga capitular acts shows that while in Granada Le6n
expected to live in the household of Diego Hurtado de Mendoza, archbishop of Seville
(1486-1502) and titular patriarch of Alexandria. The latter was m Granada with
Ximenez de Cisneros, primate of Spain, to assist in its massive Christiamzation. The
invitation extended Leon by the Sevillian archbishop - an enormously rich Maecenas
who lived more at court than in his see (and whose patronage of Juan de Espinosa has
already been noted at p. 92 above) - suggests that Leon had long been a familiar palace
figure. The chapter required Leon to promise that he would return if the court should
at any time visit Malaga.
Before June 19, 1500, he had returned to Malaga. He and the cathedral succentor,
Bias de Corcoles, were on that date fined two months' salary because they had both
refused to sing in the Corpus Christ! procession^ On October n, 1501, Le6n and two
other cathedral singers were granted time off every morning (except Sundays and
special feast-days when polyphony was sung) in order to devote themselves more
assiduously to their musical practice. 92 On October 12, 1508, he was rewarded by the new
bishop of Malaga, Diego Ramirez de Villaescusa, with a lucrative chaplaincy endowed
by Pedro Diaz de Toledo, first bishop of Malaga after the reconquest.3 Qn March 6,
Rafael Mitjana, Estudios sobre alganos mtsicos espafioles del siglo XVI (Madrid: Lib. delos sucesores
de Hemando, 1918), p. 30.
Mitjana, "Nuevas notas al 'Cancionero musical de los siglos XV y XVI' publicado por el maestro
Barbieri," Retrista, de jihbgia espanola, V, ii (April- June, 1918), p. 127.
i Mitjana, "La capilla de miisica de la Catedral de Malaga: Afio de 1496 al afio de 1542, MS dated 1895
in Kungl. Musikaliska Akademiens Bibliotek, Stockholm, p. 7. Corcoles, appointed succentor June 9, 149,
had offended the chapter by openly criticizing the conduct of the canons during High Mass. His indepen
dency was the more offensive because he Eke, Leon was still a layman. He transferred to the royal chapel
shortly before January 5, 1505.
s Mitjana, Estudios, pp. 30-31.
* Ibid., p. 31. Pedro de Toledo ruled 1487-1499.
During the Reigns of Ferdinand and Isabella 239
1510, the cathedral records show that he had been appointed succentor, but with a
dispensation from the task of teaching music to the choirboys: for two reasons. The
work itself was considered too heavy and he was meanwhile prevented from singing in
the choir. 94
On April 20, 1510, the chapter deputized him to visit Seville and there attend to the
sale of a house willed to Malaga cathedral. 95 He was certainly absent from Mdlaga during
the summer of 1510, for on July 2 the chapter voted to make Juan de Pedraza cathedral
succentor during his prolonged absence and to give his chaplaincy to a substitute named
Gonzalo Tamayo. 96 He was still absent on August 20, 1511, when the chaplaincy which
he had held was conferred on a new succentor, Crist6bal de Quesada. On September 17,
1511, he was empowered as an agent of the cathedral to pursue a lawsuit against the
Nuns of St. Clara in Granada.
Finally on March 17 of the year following, 1512, he returned with a new appointment
as cathedral singer. The chapter simultaneously voted him the best salary of any musi
cian on the cathedral rolls - 15,000 maravedis. Later in the same year he asked leave
to study in Rome for the priesthood. Though the date of permission was November 10 he
delayed his departure for Rome. On June 8, 1513, after waiting seven months, the
chapter decided that he should be paid at a prebend's rate and one week later, June 15,
he was present to swear his intention of being ordained. 97 He was again in M&laga, or
still there (one cannot say which), February 3, 1514, on which date the cathedral acts
list him as a contrabaxo (bass singer) drawing a salary of 15,000 maravedis. 98 He proba
bly died soon afterwards. His post had been given to Juan de ArSvalo temporarily and to
Fernando Perez permanently by 1517." No mention of Le6n has been found in the
Malaga acts after 1514.
The most famous secular composer of the early Spanish Renaissance enjoyed a com
panion dignity in Malaga Cathedral from April n, 1509, until February 21, 1519: Juan
del Enema. 100 Since Encina was not ordained a priest until August of 1519 when he was
50, Leon may well have reached a similar age when he decided to seek ordination in
1512, If so he would have been born c. 1460. The records at Malaga show that Encina
was severely penalized because he was not yet a priest during his decade as Archdeacon
of Malaga. Le6n though in a lower status probably suffered like disabilities. Certainly
the chapter's requiring him to swear that he would seek the priesthood (June 15, 1513)
shows that some valid proof of his intention was thought necessary before an increase
in salary could be put into effect.
IF LE6N of Mdlaga and " J. de. leon" were indeed the same * D1 then it would be pleasant
to find some connecting link between the man and his music. The contra wAyque nan
se rremediarme is much more singable than the contras in Cornago's canciones. Appro-
94 Mitjana, "La capilla de miisica," p. 15. The chapter appropriated 1000 maravedfs to pay a new maes
tro. Le*on f s salary was reduced by a like amount.
5 RFE, V, ii, p. 127. 96 Estudios* p. 31.
7 RFE, V, ii, p. 128. 9S "La capita de musica," p. 23.
Estudios, p. 32. 10 Ited- PP- l6 *& d 2I * . .
101 In DML, II, 1401, a "Jorge de Leon" is offered as a candidate for the composer of Ay que no* se
240 Secular Polyphony
priately enough, Leon was a contrabaxo. In gait, meter, and texture, this canci6n
strongly resembles Urrede's De vos i de mi quexoso. The Leon item cannot have been
written under any Encina influence: the musical mannerisms as well as the fitting of
poetry to music veto such a presumption.
In CMC the Leon cancion lacks any Bb's in the "signatures" of either tenor or contra,
a fact that has particular bearing on the harmony at mm. 7, 24, and 25 where E minor
instead of Eb Major chords become possibilities. The CMC scribe carelessly omitted the
contra notes between mm. 53-72. But he did place a dot after the penultimate tenor
note in the strophe (Middle C tied from mm. 25-26), which reading absolves Leon from the
fault of having written an unprepared seventh between contra and tenor simultaneously
with an unprepared fourth between treble and contra. Elsewhere throughout the canci6n
neither unprepared fourths nor sevenths are encountered between tenor and outer voices.
That this song appealed to his generation is to be suspected from its preservation in
three sources, one in Italy. Its melodic lines are sinuous. He avoids obvious repetition
(melodically or harmonically) ; and devises no imitations. So old-fashioned a melodic
cadence as that of the under-third appears once 102 - at the end of the "A" section.
The poet aU the while beats his breast. The strophe mounts, for instance, to such
ejaculations as "O my secret passion! O my public misery! O key to my prison! O per
fection of beauty!" Leon dramatizes the four long words in these apostrophes to the
poet's love. Each long word - passion, misery, prison, and perfection - is split by a
rest in the treble melody that can by no means be edited out of existence.
Juan Fernandez de Madrid
IN NEITHER CMC (fols. 32v.~34) nor CMP (fols. 8v.-gv.) does Sienpre crepe mi servi-
ros carry more than "Madrid" for an ascription. Barbieri in 1890 suggested that
"Madrid" might have been a self-educated rebeck-player from a village near Madrid
(Carabanchel) whose principal occupation was that of a tile-maker. 103 Such an individ
ual made large sums playing before Don Juan, the heir-apparent who died in the
autumn of 1497. Angles has however presciently observed that no humble autodidact
performer on the three-string rabel is likely to have composed such exquisite works of
art as the three-voiced Sienpre crefe mi serviros, or the three other Madrid songs a 3
which are unica in CMP: De vevir vida segura (no. 66), For las gracias que teneis (no.
31), and Pues que Dios te fiso tal (no. 5 [tiple part only]) ; not to mention the sacred
compositions by "Madrid" in the National Library at Paris (nouv. acq. fr<j. 4379, fols.
78v.-8o, 8iv.-83). Moreover the style of his vernacular items is rather learned, with
rremediarme. But he did not begin as a singer in the Castilian royal chapel until the year of Queen Isabella's
death. In favor of the Malaga Le6n, Mitjana showed his Sevillian connections, his familiarity with the
patriarch, his preferential treatment at Malaga. Even as a singer he was better paid than the maestro de
capilla (see "La capilla de musica," p. 22), His rank posed such a problem that the chapter quit asking him
to march in processions after August 24, 1512.
102 Isabel Pope remarks on the same archaism in a Spanish-text song copied in another Italian MS,
Viva, viva, rey Ferrante. See her "La musique espagnole a la Cour de Naples dans la seconde moiti du xv 6
siecle," p. 45.
103 Barbieri, p. 38.
During the Reigns of Ferdinand and Isabella
241
greater use of imitation than characterizes the run of Spanish secular music composed
before 1500. Angles therefore offers as a substitute candidate Juan Fernandez de Madrid,
singer in the court chapel of Ferdinand V after 1479.
Barbieri may have suspected that Madrid was a mere rflfeZ-player because in such a
cancion as Sienpre crege mi serviros he found - at least in his transcription - unmistakable
signs of bungling. The contra in the last phrase of the "A" section and the tenor in the
last phrase of the "B" section did not make sense in his transcription. Nor do they for
that matter make sense in the MME critical edition. On the face evidence of both the
Barbieri and MME transcriptions, Madrid lapsed into such blunders as chains of
consecutive fifths and wrote harsh unprepared dissonances.
Again, as in the case of Leon, the CMC version absolves him from any such faults,
In order to see how this may be true, we should compare the part-writing at mm. 57-62
and 90-92 in the MME transcription with the better version of these passages to be
found in CMC. At mm. 57-62 he proves to have written not only intelligent counterpoint
but also to have added a smooth contra. This latter point is of some importance if he is
to be the same Madrid who knew how to add a smoother third voice to Cornago's
already existing treble-tenor complex in Pues que Dios te fiso tal than did the original
composer.
Sienpre cre$e mi serviros
MME t V, p. 17 MADRID
mm. 57-62 j. mm. 90-92
t
^
*
Jjl u
-a-
+ + +
* A"signature" of two flats appears at the beginning of the treble part in CMC; but after the first two
treble staves only one flat is used.
242 Secular Polyphony
Madrid starts two phrases with imitation in Sienpre crege (mm. 15-16, 45-46) and
three in For las gracias (mm. 1-2, 16-17, 24-26). Significantly the tenor always leads, the
treble following. The contra never lends a hand in the imitations at beginnings of phrases
but does make a distinctive contribution at phrase-endings in Sienpre cre$e: at mm.
13-14 and 43-45 the contra moving while the other voices idle. Between phrases he
obviously wishes to insert connective tissue of a kind that Spanish secular composers did
not frequently provide in CMC canciones.
The burden of the text in Sienpre crefe is the woes of unrequited love and in De vevir
of unlucky love. In Par las gracias the poet on the other hand sings tenderly and without
bitterness or disappointment of his lady's graces. Just as the rhyme-scheme of the "B"
section does not spill over into the da capo "A" ; so also he will not let the ending-chord
of "B" duplicate the final chord of "A". The cadences, as in most Spanish secular music
composed c. 1485, always call into play a syncopated melodic tag in some upper part.
Tenor and treble resolve into an octave, unison, or third, at the endings of all his phrases.
Elsewhere the tenor and treble always make a self-sufficient duet, unprepared fourths on
strong beats being consistently excluded. Duple meter is his choice in two instances out
of three. It is precisely in the triple-meter cancion De vevir that he for once forgets to
imitate.
Moxica
IF BARBIERI rightly attributed the verse of Dama, mi grand querer (CMC, fols. 43^-44;
CMP, fols. 5V.-6) to Pedro Gonzalez de Mendoza, 104 then Moxica may have served in
the latter's household. Mendoza, cardinal after 1473, was bishop of Siguenza, 1468-1483,
and primate at Toledo, 1483-1495.
Moxica's name - missing from CMC - is supplied from CMP where it heads two
songs; Dama, mi grand querer, no. 8, and No queriendo sois querida, no. 22. The poetry of
both describes the anguish of love. Both are closed-form canciones. In both, sections
"A" and "B" end on the same "chord." Moxica is distinctive in one respect: he avoids
the syncopated melodic tag 1 f f f I I or a variant of it at cadences. Only once
does he use it in his CMC canci6n, and then not at the end of a section but rather at a
light intermediate cadence (mm. 28-29), deceptive in nature.
In Dama, mi grand querer the contra involves numerous longs and breves. Its melodic
intervals never exceed a fifth, except at the end of "A" where it skips up an octave in
characteristic fifteenth-century fashion. Or at least it so skips in the CMP version.
The obligatory Bb's in the tenor of No queriendo (CMP, no. 22) light tires for so many
corresponding Eb's in the contra that modern "C minor" drifts in with the smoke. This
song is poetically and musically one of the choicer items in the Spanish song-collections.
The "A" section develops this thought: Not wishing to be in love I am in love, to my
detriment. The "B" part suddenly shifts poetic mood while simultaneously Moxica
moves from "C minor" to Bb and Eb Major chords. The lover now all at once declares
t p. 60.
During the Reigns of Ferdinand and Isabella 243
that the lady whom he admires is - despite his grief - worth his pains: a shift of poetic
mood reminiscent of the similar mood-change in the sestet of such a sonnet as "When in
disgrace with fortune and men's eyes." Among Moxica's merits is that of having found
a simple but effective way of changing musical stance at the beginning of his "B"
section.
J. Rodriguez
AGAIN in the case of Donsella, por cuyo amor (CMC, fols. I4v.-i6; CMP, fol. 6v.) the
composer's name has been omitted by the CMC copyist (just as in the Moxica item) and
must therefore be supplied from the concordance in CMP. But the CMC version does
enjoy the advantage of bring musically complete. The CMP, because of the loss of leaf 7
in the manuscript, lacks a contra, 49 breves of the tenor part, and section "B" of the
treble. Though none other of Rodriguez's compositions seems to survive, this closed-
form canci6n in duple meter must have been widely popular, since it was known in
Portugal as late as 1521. Gil Vicente introduced it into his wedding compliment, Cortes
de Jupiter 105 presented at Lisbon in August of 1521.
Just as in the case of Le6n's Ay que non se rremediarme and Madrid's Sienpre crege mi
serviros, so also Rodriguez's Donsella, par cuyo amor is disclosed by CMC to have been
less flawed a work of art than might be suspected from the best transcription now
available : that found in MM, V, 13-14. In the MME transcription Rodriguez appears
to have bungled his part-writing with consecutive unisons between contra and treble at
measure 30 and to have awkwardly skipped up a seventh in his contra at the beginning
of measure 55, thus creating an unprepared dissonance between the contra and tenor.
But the Colombina source shows, on the other hand, that the note E in the contra at m.
30 should read C, thus obviating any parallel unisons; and that the note c in the contra
at m. 55 should read d, thus replacing the contra leap of a seventh with an octave and
the unprepared strong-beat dissonance between tenor and contra with a perfect fifth.
In view of such discrepancies it would seem that even the humbler Spanish composers
active between 1474-1516 were more fastidious than presently available printed
editions suggest.
The harmonies of Donsella, por cuyo amor clearly belong to C Major. Transient
modulations tend towards G Major at mm. 25-261, 75-76, and perhaps at 54-55- The
fragrance of the treble melody could not be sweeter. Interestingly enough, the treble
notes with active harmonic tendencies move where a much later harmonist would have
liked to see them move. The harmonic underpinning seems always right in terms of
Rameau's epoch - not merely of Rodriguez's. Moments of repose and tension are
admirably balanced. The final cadence can, it is true, be bettered by adopting the CMC
reading which eliminates the second and third treble notes of m. 66 in the CMP version.
But elsewhere exactly the right number of notes seems to have been used in each
i5 Copilagam (1562), fol. 168, c. i, line 15.
244 Secular Polyphony
phrake. Rodriguez does not hesitate to introduce rests into the treble line even in the
middle of a word, if thereby the melodic grace will be enhanced (mm. 44, 60, 75).
F. de la Torre
FIFTEEN items by Torre find their place in the Palace Songbook, but only one in CMC:
and that one proves to be not at all typical when compared with the fifteen in CMP. In
the first place, Dime triste cora$on is his shortest song. Secondly, the rhyme-plan agrees
with the scheme that Encina popularized in the 1490'$ and not with that which Torre
himself favored in all his CMP songs except No fie nadie en amor (no. 262). Throughout
the rest of his CMP songs furnished with an initial refrain, the rhyme-scheme of "B"
musical section is kept rigidly separate from that in "A" section or in the da capo. Only
Dime triste coragon and No fie nodie can therefore qualify as classic-type villancicos-by
reason of their spill-over rhymes.
Torre's Dime triste cordon is today a unicum in CMC. It would not be, however, if the
manuscript of CMP had survived intact. Originally Dime triste corafon appeared at fol.
159, 106 a leaf which has unfortunately been lost from Palacio in the course of centuries.
Even so, he is one of the better represented composers of his generation in the musical
CMC, fol. 6gv.
Dime triste cora$on *
FRANCISCO DE LA TORRE
me tris-te car a
-ze-Ie con mi for ti
CONTRA 8AXAV
& LFINE]
10
Ca-'ti vo no
es
J J J J"3
-
-. <p* *. 9<*
j en-e mi ga
^^
f
[D.C3
* Tell me, sad heart, why do you conceal your passion ? A captive, I know not what to say; she whom I
serve is my enemy. She enjoys my distress. I despair of reward.
loe MME t V, 55. Two other concording items originally in CMP but later lost from it are the anonymous
Nyfta y vifta peral (CMC, fol. y2v.) and Propinan de melyor [?] (CMC, fol. 75 v.). See also Barbieri,pp. 52-
53, who reads Propinnan de melion.
During the Reigns of Ferdinand and Isabella 245
portion of Palacio still preserved. By virtue of his fifteen items, he stands fifth among
the fifty composers whose contributions have thus far been identified. These fifteen
CMP pieces are further dealt with below at pp. 281-284.
Anonymous Spanish Songs in the Colombina Cancionero
APPROXIMATELY a third of the secular Spanish items in CMC refuse to yield the identity
of their composers, directly or indirectly. 107 Two of these anonymous pieces can be
dated by their texts. The first, Muy crueles voses dan (CMC, fols. uv.-iav.) concords
with CMP, no. 103. A three- voiced cancion, it was composed in 1469 at a moment when
Barcelona was in revolt against John II of Aragon. This song affords an extremely
early instance of the use of music for political propaganda purposes. It urges the Cata-
lonians to return to their natural allegiance. 108
The second, Olvyda tu perdition (CMC, fol. 7iv.) is a four-voiced romance not be
longing to the original corpus of the MS, but added considerably later. Its date on the
evidence of its text can be fixed around 1492 - the year in which Granada finally
capitulated. It joins Anchieta's En memoria d'Alixandre, dated 1489 (CMP, no. 130) ;
the anonymous Sobre Ba$a estaba el Rey, also dated 1489 (CMP. no. 135) ; Enema's two
romances, one dated c. 1490, Una sanosa porfia (CMP, no. 126), and the other c. 1492,
Qu'es de ti desconsolado (CMP, no. 74) ; and finally two romances by Torre, Pascua
d'Espiritu Santo (CMP, no. 136) and For los campos de los moros (CMP, no. 150) ; to
form a select group of seven contemporaneously composed romances celebrating
Ferdinand's Moorish victories.
The musical utterance in all these - the Anchieta, the Encina, the Torre, the CMC and
CMP anonymous items - is strikingly austere and restrained. The mood never veers to
that of the fireworks that were set off at Rome during April of 1492 or the bullfights
staged there during the same month to celebrate Spanish military prowess. Rather than
paeans the Spanish romances seem to be prayers. Queen Isabella's reaction to the
victories is well known. Her first summons after every new advance was always to
prayer for the conversion of the vanquished.
At Rome, a gay villancico was sung in April of 1492. Inserted into Historia Baetica 109
- a Latin drama by the papal chamberlain and secretary, Carlo Verardi (1440-1500),
who wrote it to celebrate the Spanish victory - its mood could not contrast more
strongly with that of the Spanish romances in commemoration of the same Granada
107 Twenty-eight secular songs (i, 3, 6, 7, 12-16, 21, 25, 31, 36, 37, 44, 49-54, 56-58, 61, 62, 92, 93, 95)
in a total of 95 secular and sacred items remain anonymous. The two lower voices in Propinan de melyor
(CMC, no. 57) suggest a brass fanfare. (Angle's read the title of this piece conjecturally as Proximo, de mejvr,
but the first word certainly contains a "p" instead of an "x." The CMP title seems a likelier solution.)
los See Barbieri, pp. 162-163 for further historical details.
1W Presented in the palace of Raffaele Riario, April 21, 1492. Printed for the first time in 1493 by Eucha-
rius Silber at Rome. For a modern reprint and for critical comment see L. Barrau-Dihigo, "Historia Baetica/*
Revue Mspanique, XLVII (1919), pp. 319-382.
246 Secular Polyphony
En memoria d'AIixandre *
CMP, no. 130 (MME, V, pp. 155-157) JUAN DE ANCHIETA (1489)
tt *' I En me-mo ria d'A-
li-xan dre Ju-lio
-sar sefe-ri-
10
A-^uel Ju-
-das Mac-
15
T r it? ft.
-ca be
llos des-fa-sf-
* When they remembered Alexander, Julius Caesar was piqued and Judas Maccabaeus rent his hair.
The remaining 38 lines of the poem declare that if these and other military heroes were outshone by
Alexander, Ferdinand exceeds them all. The sultan has sent him an embassy. Soon he will retake the Holy
Sepulchre itself.
victory, or of Anchieta's in celebration of the slightly earlier taking of Baza (December 4,
1489). The Spanish pieces play on the theme
O God, thy arm was here:
And not to us, but to thine arm alone,
Ascribe we all! no
and the conquerors seem more ready to imitate the 'lode-star of virtue" who commanded
"0 Henry V, IV, viii, 104-106.
During the Reigns of Ferdinand and Isabella
I Qu'es de ti, desconsolado? *
CMP, no. 74 (MME, V, pp. 102-103)
247
L_J
^Qu'esda ti, des-con so- la-
3
f f f f
5
JUAN DEL ENCINA
do?^Qufesdeti, reyde Qrana da?
FT
rr
r t
ii-rric ,i
j'f flfffC
c/
^Qo'es d" tu tie-mot i tus mo-ros? ^Doodetie nessu mo ra
i ^\ [0 . i i
-da?
Jl
j ^ . t . . IV . , f r
^J |J J J |J ^, L| . J
* *^ __ (hfij
fff
r
; n l r J r i r ni u f irrrrir j J uJ J
* What misfortune has overtaken you, king of Granada ? What has become of your land and your people ?
Where will you dwell ?
The remaining 26 lines urge Boabdil to renounce his faith. The poet congratulates Granada on its liberation.
CMC, no. 52 (iol. 71 v.)
23
01 vy da to per-
s
O Ivy da tu perdition *
Anonymous (c. 1492)
con -so ta ^
i
per-cli-
-da DDonfi?rwando ga-na-
"'
rr r f
f
rrrr ' '
* Forgetting what she lost because of Roderick past Visigothic king, 711 A,D.] Spain now consoles her
self with what Ferdinand has regained.
248 Secular Polyphony
Viva el gran Rey Don Fernando *
Historia Baetica [Rome: E. Silber, 1493], fols. 39 v --4<>. CARLO VERARDI, 1492
Vi-vael gran Re Don Pennon-do con la Rei-na Don I .sa-bel la
pervir-tu-taet ma-nu ar-ma-ta. del Fer-nan-do et I sa-bel la
DISCANTUS - ^ i ^^ - ii.
6AS5US
Pfen de glo-ria tri um-
Vi va Soaana et la Cas te-
Pien de ^io .ria.
me to. na
po-ten-tts s\ mo. Gra-na ta
e dis-5ol ta e Ii be-ra |g ta
[D.C.]
* Long live the monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella. Long live Spain and Castile, glorious and triumphant.
The Mohammedan city, extremely powerful Granada, has been taken and liberated from the false faith,
by virtue of the armed might of Ferdinand and Isabella.
Long live Spain and Castile, glorious and triumphant.
Three other stanzas continue in like vein.
During the Reigns of Ferdinand and Isabella 249
Let there be sung 'Non nobis' and Te Deum' m
after so great military successes. But in Rome, Spanish sobriety gave way to the blithe
mood of a frottola. To show how real was the difference in national sentiment, four
examples are here shown in close succession : (i) Anchieta's, (a) the CMC anonymous's,
(3) the first of Encina's, and (4) Verardi's musical commemorations of the same Spanish
military prowess against the Moors.
The three Spanish romances share the common traits of blood-brothers. Each is apiece
of dorian homophony. Each contains four musical phrases starting always in anapest
rhythm and ending always with a long-held chord. 112 The CMC anonymous and Encina
use as "phrase-end" chords the dominant, subtonic, and tonic. Anchieta uses the tonic
and mediant. Each of the three romances is a treble-dominated work; yet bb is the
highest note in each. The vocal ranges, tessiture, rhythmic and chordal practices unite
in each to produce a dark and somber mood.
It is of course true that in two of these Spanish 1492 pieces - Encina's Qu'es de ti
(shown here as an example) as well as his Una sanosa porfia (CMP, no. 126) - the
romance-texts condole with the defeated. Not so, however, with the texts set by An
chieta, Torre, or the CMC anonymous. Some other explanation for the prevailingly
solemn mood in these other Reconquista romances is needed. "Battle-pieces" they
may well be, but music more strongly contrasting with the most famous of all Re
naissance battle-pieces - Janequin's La Bataille de Marignan (1515) - could not well be
conceived. 113
Cancionero Musical de Palacio
THE PALACE SONGBOOK, found in 1870 by Gregorio Cruzada Villaamil at the Royal
Palace in Madrid (sign. 2-1-5), towers above every other secular monument of Spanish
Renaissance musical history. Its distinctions include : (i) its preservation of 458 items; 114
(2) the historical range of its contents; (3) its representative character; (4) the con
sistently high literary and musical quality maintained throughout the collection.
If no cancionero of its own epoch can match it, it also exceeds every song-collection of
111 Ibid., IV, viii, 121.
112 The first two notes in the anapest rhythm are always repeated-notes, except at the opening of Encina's
third phrase. Anchieta "writes in" the equivalent of a fermata at m. 11. Elsewhere in these romances the
corona is used.
us Only one CMP villancico seems to refer directly to the fall of Granada - Encina's deshecha (composed
by way of postscript to his Qu'es de ti) with the title, Levania Pascual (see pp. 266-267). In this deshecha the
two interlocutors are mere shepherds, as far removed from the battlefield as the brilliant folk in Rome. The
closer the Spaniard moved to the actual ground of battle the more solemn he became. Miguel Querol Gavalda
confirms this view in his "Importance historique et nationale du romance/' Musique et PoJsie au XVI*
Siecle (Paris: Centre National, 1954), PP- 3 2 -3 21 -
H4 MME> I, 95-103 and MME, V, 25-32 gave the total number of items as 463. But when Angles ac
tually came to edit the last dozen songs in CM P he found that in five instances he had erroneously counted
estribillo and coplas as separate songs, viz. at nos. 451 ( 451, 45 2 ) 45 2 (= 453; 454) 454 (4& 45?)
456 (= 459, 460), 458 (= 462, 463). Barbieri in 1890 gave the total number of items as 460. He similarly
considered certain coplas as separates.
250 Secular Polyphony
the next three reigns. The MS, as originally gathered, consisted of some 304 leaves.
Even though 56 of these were lost before its discovery in 1870, it still in present truncated
form exceeds such a later contender as the Cancionero Musical de la Casa tie Medinaceli
(c. 1560) 115 by fifty leaves. At that, the Medinaceli Cancionero, like the Colombina, is a
mixed collection with more than thirty of its items setting sacred Latin words. The so-
called Cancionero de Upsala actually a collection printed at Venice in 1556, contains
only 54 items. The Cancionero musical 117 copied by Claudio de la Sablonara c. 1625 is a
stronger competitor, but contains only 78 items.
Outdistancing all other song-collections on account of sheer size, Palacio also exceeds
its Spanish competitors because of its historical range. Alburquerque, Alburquerque
(CMP, no. 106), an extremely simple piece of dorian three-part homophony, may very
well be a musical as well as a poetic product of the 1430^3. Its topical verse deals with an
event of the year I430. 118 Certainly the music of Muy crueles voses dan (CMP, no. 103)
cannot be dated later than 1469. Pues servifio vos desplase (CMP, no. 27) must obviously
have been composed before 1475, Robert Morton the English chaplain who wrote the
music 119 being known to have died in that year.
On the other hand CMP contains several pieces that can definitely be dated after 1500.
Tordesillas's Franfeses por que rrason (no. 424) describes the French rout at Roussillon
on October 19, I503. 120 Almorox's Gaeta nos es subjeta (no. 423) alludes to the capture
of an Italian stronghold on January i, I504. 121 Ponce's Franfia cuenta tu gananfia (no.
443) in its original lines mentions events of the year 1513 and in later corrections and
additions happenings of I52I. 122 Palacio must therefore at the very least cover a time-
span of half-a-century.
The Palace Songbook is also the most representative Spanish cancionero. Songs by
every major peninsular composer of the period fill its pages. Canciones and villancicos
are, for instance, to be found in it by Cornago, Triana, Madrid, Torre, Medina, Anchieta,
Penalosa, Alonso de Alva, Escobar, Encina, Millan, Gabriel, Ponce. As if these were
insufficient, it also happens to be the only cancionero with anybody of songs by foreign
celebrities. Josquin des Prez - in Spain the most admired of all foreign composers
throughout the whole of the sixteenth century - is represented by his popular frottola,
In te Domine speravi (CMP t no. 84). Copied no doubt from a Petrucci print, this piece
was composed while Josquin was still in the service of Ascanio Cardinal Sforza. The
frottola lo mi uoglio lamentare by Giovanni Brocco of Verona (Petrucci's Libro tertio
[1505], fol. 28) is transcribed a whole-step lower in CMP (no. 435). The other Italian
115 Edited at Barcelona for the Spanish Musicological Institute in 1949 and 1950 by Miguel Querd
Gavaldd (Monumentos de la m&sica espanola, VIII and IX). The source from which the hundred secular
items in these volumes were drawn is MS 13230 in the Medinaceli Library at Madrid.
116 Villancicos de diuersos autores, a dos, y a ires, y a quatro t y a cinco boxes . . . (Venice ; Girolamo Scotto,
*55fy> ed. by Jesus Bal y Gay (Mexico City: El Colegio de Mexico, 1944).
117 Cancionero musical y portico del sigh XVII recogido por Claudio de la Sablonara, ed. by Jesus Aroca
(Madrid: Impr. de la "Rev. de Arch., Bibl. y Museos/' 1916).
118 Barbieri, p. 163, c. i. llfl MME, X, pp. 23-24.
120 Barbieri, p. 173, c. i. 121 Ibid., p. 172, c. 2. m Ibid., p. 174.
During the Reigns of Ferdinand and Isabella 251
composers whose frottole have been identified include Giacomo Fogliano (L'amor
donna ch'io ti porto, no. 91) and Bartolomeo Tromboncino (Vox clamantis, no. 105).
Robert Morton represents England. When discussing the music, Bukofzer once
declared Pues servigio vos desplase to be Morton's only characteristically English
song. 123 Evidently its English flavor did not prevent its gaining considerable popularity
in Spain. Both music and lyrics were imitated by a later CMP contributor (El bevir
triste me haze, no. 454).
As if these distinctions were not enough, Palacio also tends to exceed its near-con
temporaries in literary quality. Its poets include such lights as the Viscount of Altamira
(Que mayor desaventura [CMP, no. 332]), the Count of Cifuentes (La que tengo no es
prision [CMP, no. 48]), Lucas Ferndndez (Di, por que mtieres [CMP, no. 417]), Jorge
Manrique (Justa fue mi perdifion [CMP, no. 42]), Juan de Mena (Oya tu merged [CMP,
no. 28]), Diego de Quir6s (Que vida ternd sin vos [CMP, no. 222] and Senora despues que
o$ vi [CMP, nos. 339 and 450]), Juan Rodriguez del Padron (Muy triste sera mi vida
[CMP, no. 23]), the Marques de Santillana (Harto de tanta porfia [CMP, no. 26], and
Senora qual soy venido [CMP, no. 52]), Lope de Sosa (Alfa la vos pregonero [CMP, no.
152]), and Juan de Tapia (Descuidad d'ese cuidado [CMP, no. 377]). Among the Italian
pieces is one with lyrics by Serafino dalT Aquila (1466-1500) - Vox clamantis. Were
further care taken to search for literary concordances, the above list could doubtless be
doubled. Even so, the most famous fifteenth-century Spanish poets have entered the
above list. Although it is not claimed that either poetry or music is equally interesting in
every CMP item, between a third and a half of the songs in CMP having been added at
blank spaces after the original corpus of the MS had already been copied (175 added
items amid a total of 458), still it can be justly asserted that the more one familiarizes
oneself with CMP the more variety, beauty, and strength does one discern in its
contents.
THE FIRST attempt at classifying the contents of CMP was made as long ago as the
sixteenth century and is in the form of an index prefixed to the main body of the cancio*
nero. The pioneer indexer - who perhaps undertook his task around 1525 124 - classifies
the contents of CMP under these four headings: 125 (i) Villanficos (2) Estranbotes
(3) Romances (4) Villanficos omnium sanctorum. Certain overlappings however mar the
symmetry of his scheme. Fata la parte (no. 421) and Yo me vollo lamentare (no. 435 [in
Italian]) are both listed simultaneously as villanficos and estranbotes, an evident in
consistency. Moreover only 482 works are tabulated in his classified index. 126 Actually
570 should have been indexed, counting the 92 pieces presently lost from Palacio
123 M. F. Bukofzer, "An Unknown Chansonnier of the I5th Century," Musical Quarterly, XXVIII
(January, 1942), p. 25.
124 Indexing can hardly have been attempted prior to 1521, the date of CMP, no. 443.
125 MME, V, 18-22.
126 MME, V, J7, gives a different count - 476 items. Of this total, 389 would be villancicos, 14 estram-
botes, 44 romances, and 29 vittancicos omnium sanctorum* On the other hand, the tabula on pp. 1822 reveals
that the number of villancicos should be 396, of estrambotes 13, of romances 44, and of vittancicos omnium
sanctorum 29.
252 Secular Polyphony
because leaves 7, 83-84, 89-91, 96, 114-116, 123-124, i55-*94> 2 43> and 292 are now
missing.
The original indexer calls everything in Spanish with a prefatory refrain a villanfico.
He also gives this name to a Spanish song if any individual section in it, not necessarily
the first, is repeated. Serrano, del bel mirar (no. 71) and Una montana pasando (no. 154)
are both, for instance, classed as villancicos in the original index. Yet neither opens with
a refrain. Only interior sections are repeated. The indexer does not stop here. He caUs
even Encina's A tal perdida tan triste (no. 324), Ponce's Como estd sola mi vida (no. 328),
and Penalosa's For las sierras (no. 311) and Tu que vienes de camino (no. 447) villancicos.
But these four are innocent of any musical repetition whatsoever - at the beginning,
end, or in the middle. For the original indexer, then, the term villanfico covers a wider
class of songs than present-day morphologists would allow. As used by the original
indexer, villanfico means any Spanish song which is not a romance.
The romance was primarily a literary type. It always told some folkish tale. It never
contained a refrain. Only the first four lines were set musically. Succeeding quatrains,
however many, were sung to the music of the first. Each line contained (usually) eight
syllables, with principal stress on the seventh. Every even line assonated. The English
equivalent of the romance (texts) is the popular ballad. The original CMP indexer
classifies 396 songs as villancicos (of the secular type), 29 as sacred villancicos (villan-
ficos omnium sanctorum) and 44 as romances.
Estranbote, to judge from its use by the indexer, means any Italian song. Seven
Petrucci frottole (CMP, nos. 78, 84, 91, 98, 105, 190, 435) become estranbotes, for
instance. He certainly does not use this term as the equivalent of strambotto. 121 Not one
of the CMP "estranbotes" exhibits any of the crucial literary marks which distinguish
the strambotti published by Petrucci in his Frottole . . . Libro Quarto.
Having seen that the term villanfico covers as variegated a song-literature in the mind
of the original indexer as the term frottola in the thinking of contemporaneous Italian
song-editors, the present-day student may therefore decide to follow the original
indexer's precedent and to give the name of villancico to every Spanish song in CMP
that is not a romance. If such a loose classification-scheme is adopted, the student will
still find that nearly all his examples begin with a pithy refrain cadencing at a double-
bar, proceed to a new musical strain for the first two lines of stanza - which strain is
then repeated for the second two lines of stanza. Next will come the musical refrain,
commencing simultaneously with the literary refrain in the older specimens and before
it in the newer. However to avoid confusion we prefer reserving the term villancico
exclusively for Spanish songs with initial musical refrains: not using it for such items as
CMP, nos. 71, 154, 322, 324, 328, and 447, all of which are called villancicos in the
original index, while lacking initial refrains. In our opinion a useful distinction can also
be made between (i) those classic-type villancicos in CMP with "spill-over" rhyme-
scheme; and (2) canciones in which literary and musical divisions coincide. Where
historical evidence is available all closed-form songs prove to have been composed
before Encina became the dominating influence in Spanish secular music. He himself,
127 Concerning the strambotto see Gustave Reese, Mttsic in ike Renaissance, pp. 161-162.
During the Reigns of Ferdinand and Isabella 253
as we shall see, is represented by 62 musical settings in CMP. Of these, 54 include a
refrain. In 47 of the 54, the rhyme of the coplas spills over into the musical refrain. Only
seven violate his rule (nos. 30, 46, 163, 191, 249, 271, 313).
Composers in the Palace Songbook
THE NAMES of 53 composers of songs in CMP have been recovered either from the manu
script itself or from concordances. A half-dozen are responsible for twelve or more songs
each. Encina's name is associated with 68 songs, he having written the lyrics for all
these. Some other composer may however have written the music for six of these 68
items. Milldn composed the music of 23 songs. In descending order the others to whom
ten or more songs are attributed run thus: Gabriel (19), Escobar (18), Torre (15),
Ponce (12) Alonso (n), Mondjar (n), Penalosa (10).
Juan del Encina (1469-1529)
ALTHOUGH ENCINA has long been recognized as a literary star of the first magnitude, his
early life was wrapped in mist until Ricardo Espinosa Maeso published his findings in
the December, 1921, issue of the Boletin de la Real A cademia Espanola under the title,
"Nuevos datos biograficos de Juan del Encina." In that article he revealed that Encina's
father was a mere cobbler named Juan de Fermoselle, 128 but that one brother was
Diego de Fermoselle who taught music at Salamanca University from I478-I522, 129
that another was Miguel de Fermoselle, a long-time prebendary in Salamanca cathedral
(died in 1534), that another was Pedro de Hermosilla (= Fermoselle), who took
possession of the archdeaconate of Malaga acting as his proxy during isog, 130 and that
in addition there were two other brothers and two sisters in the poet's family. 181
In the prologue to the edition of Encina's 1496 Cancionero published in facsimile by
the Royal Spanish Academy in 1928, Emilio Cotarelo admirably summed up all the
facts of Encina's life then known.
"FERMOSELLE" is a Galician or Portuguese spelling of the Castilian name, Hermosilla.
"Encina" may have been the maiden name of the poet's mother. At all events, one of his
sisters bore the name, Catalina Sdnchez del Encina.
Juan de Fermoselle enjoyed sufficient standing in the Salamanca community to be
appointed one of the twenty-five cathedral tithe-collectors on April 16, 1481, an office
which he held until renouncing it on May 30, 1494. He was still alive in 1502. From 1481-
1489, and probably until he died, he lived opposite the University Schools. 132
128 R. Espinosa Maeso, Nuevos datos biogrdficos de Juan del Encina (Madrid: Tip. de la Rev. de Archives,
1921), pp. 4-5.
129 Ibid., pp. 5-6 (note 4); also p. 9.
iso Ibid., p. 6.
"I Md., p. 7.
132 ibid. f p. 8: "frontero de las escuelas/'
254 Secular Polyphony
Like Francisco Guerrero, another principal figure in Spanish musical history, Juan
del Encina probably studied music with his elder brother. He was a boy of twelve when
Diego was appointed to the Salamanca chair. Ramos de Pareja can have had nothing
to do with Encina's education (he having left Salamanca not later than 1472). Martin
G6mez de Cantalapiedra, Diego's predecessor who occupied the Salamanca chair from
I465-I479, 133 may conceivably have influenced Juan. No composition by Cantalapiedra
survives. One villancico by Diego is preserved in CMP. 134 Another teacher would have
been the cathedral master of the boys, Fernando de Torrijos, under whom Encina sat
(still using the name of Juan de Fermoselle) in 1484. This was the cathedral singer whom
Encina aspired to succeed during 1498.
While an adolescent chorister in Salamanca Cathedral Juan simultaneously pursued
an academic course in the university. He read Latin under the most famous Renaissance
Spanish master of the tongue, Antonio de Nebrija (= Lebrixa). Although he himself
left no Latin publications, Encina revered Nebrija as the fount of all learning. 135 His
favorite Spanish poet was Juan de Mena, 136 and his studies in prosody culminated in an
Arte de poesia castellana (published in 1496) which is still a classic text. To support
himself he became a page to Gutierre de Toledo, the university chancellor. 137 In 1490
he began signing himself "de Encina" instead of "de Fermoselle," the evidence being his
signature added to a certain cathedral document of that year.
In 1490, having reached the age of minor clerical orders, he gained a better cathedral
title, that of capellan de coro. The date when he received his bachelor's degree is not
known. However, that he did obtain one is certain. On September 25, 1502, for in
stance, he was named in a papal rescript as Johannes del Enzina clericus salamantinus
Bacchallarius In legibus. Probably he received the degree before 1492, the year
in which he entered the household of Fadrique Alvarez de Toledo, second duke of Alva
(and elder brother of Gutierre de Toledo).
The second Duke of Alva, Don Fadrique de Toledo (d. 1531), was no less avid a
music lover than his father, Don Garcia Alvarez de Toledo (d. 1488). It was Don Garcia,
of course, who wrote the beautiful lament, Nunca fue pena mayor, set by Urrede
(private chapelmaster in 1476-1477 to the old duke). Don Fadrique's wife, Dona Isabel
de Zuniga y Pimentel, was also well educated musically. Their patronage made possible
Encina's rich outpouring of song in the half-decade between 1492 (at the close of which
year he joined their household at Alba de Tonnes) and 1498. Triste Espana sin Centura
133 Enrique Esperab4 Arteaga, Historia pragmdtica iinterna de la Universidad de Salamanca, II, 249.
134 MME, V, 113 (CMP, no. 88). In his introduction (MME, V, 26) Angles credited this item to Juan
del Encina. Since the latter discontinued using the patronymic before 1490 this song -Amor, por quienyo
padesco - more probably belongs to the Salamanca professor. It is strophic, whereas Encina couched his
lover's complaints almost invariably in the form of a villancico. As for musical style, the Fermoselle item
shows six instances of a changing-note figure in which the second note dissonates with the other two voices.
None of Encina's authenticated songs contains as many cambiatas within so few measures.
135 Cancionero de las obras de Juan del enzina (Salamanca, 1496 [facs. ed. Madrid: Tip. de la Rev. de
Arch,, Bibl. y Museos, 1928]), fol. 2. Encina calls his teacher "el dotissimo maestro Antonio de lebrixa"
and commends him for having resuscitated classical Latin in Spain.
Ibid., fol. 4 v.
137 Ibid., p. 9, c. 2 (see especially note 3).
138 Ibid., pp. 13 (c. 2) - 14 (c. i).
During the Reigns of Ferdinand and Isabella 255
(CMP, no. 83) may have been written as late as 1504, in November of which year Queen
Isabella died. But on Encina's own testimony the bulk of his music as well as poetry
dated from 1492-1498.
THE CASTLE at Alba de Tonnes was destroyed by the French in 1812. But its appearance
during the early years of the sixteenth century was described by Garcilaso de la Vega
(1503-1536) in his second eclogue at the lines beginning "En la ribera verde." 139 He
praised its location on a slope overlooking the valley of the Tonnes a short distance
above Salamanca, its lofty towers dominating a plain which remained green the year
around, and the admirable proportions of the castle. In these pleasant surroundings
Encina served as a "troubadour" for at least five years, entertaining the ducal family
with poetic compliments, amorous accompanied solo songs, and playlets into which he
invariably introduced part-songs for three and four voices.
THE FIRST such recorded occasion was Christmas Eve of 1492. Encina enters the chamber
in which the duke and duchess are hearing matins. Attired as a shepherd he first
recites a poem praising such personages. Soon another servant also in the guise of a
shepherd enters, playing the role of Matthew. A third and fourth, Luke and Mark, join
them to reason of the birth of Christ and to end with a villancico a 4, Grangasajo siento yo,
in which they promise to visit Bethlehem where a Saviour has that night been born.
This religious playlet, another for Holy Week with Veronica in the cast, and another
for Easter with Mary Magdalene, were all printed at Salamanca in Encina's 1496
Cancionero, the publication of which was probably financed by the duke himself. The
fifth playlet in this same cancionero deals with so topical a matter as the imminent war
with France, the sixth (like the fifth) commemorates Shrove Tuesday, the seventh
depicts lovesick courtiers turned shepherds, and the eighth, shepherds returning to
their proper status of courtiers. In this last, a courtier-shepherd named Gil presents the
duke and duchess with the "complete works of Juan del Encina/ 7 Gil was therefore a
r61e played by Encina.
In this last playlet, Gil sings and dances. His partner is Pascuala, a shepherdess. They
form a foursome with a married shepherd couple, Mingo and Menga. The villancico
which they sing between the first and second halves of this "egloga" (Encina calls his
playlets "eclogues") enters CMP at no. 165 with the title Gasajemcmosdehusi a. In order
to give each couple an opportunity, he inserts four short duets in this villancico - first
for top and bottom, then middle, then upper two, and lastly lower two, voices. The
villancico with which this egloga ends is found in CMP (no. 167) with the title Ninguno
$ierre las puertas. A third song from an Encina dramatic piece enters CMP as no. 174,
Oy comamos y bebamos (a 4). Originally written for a Mardi Gras playlet, this last song
takes for its theme: Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die; and the music
marvellously catches the dramatic mood.
Whether designed for characters to sing in one of his playlets or for independent
performance, the Encina villancico comments on an "already existing" dramatic situ-
ia Biblioteca de autores espaftoles (Madrid: M. Rivadeneyra, 1854), XXXII, 15 (c. i, lines 15-26).
256 Secular Polyphony
ation. As a rule it reveals the nature of this dramatic situation only indirectly. In his
playlets the preceding dialogue of course establishes the situation. Much of the charm in
his villancicos is accounted for by their immediacy. The scene having already been set,
the song needs be no more than a purely emotional outburst. At that, his viUancicos
are always youthful outbursts. Much as one may regret his ceasing to compose them
after leaving the service of the Duke of Alva, his musical strain might have seemed
repetitive had he continued to sound it in middle age. The bold and lusty Gasajemonos de
husia and the languorously voluptuous Ninguno ?ierre las puertas belong rightly in
the quiver of a youthful hotblood but not in that of a fiftyish ecclesiastic.
BEGINNING with 1496, he himself decided to write no more except on commission
from his patrons. At least in the last eclogue oi his 1496 Cancionero he confesses such an
intention through the mouth of Gil. After presenting the duke and duchess with the
copilacion de todas sus obras (his "opera omnia") he promises through Gil's mouth de
no trobar mas salvo lo que sus senonas le mandassen 1 ^ (not to poetize any more except
when their Graces command). The day of rhyming for the sake of rhyming was then
long past when in 1498 he applied for the singer's prebend which his old teacher, Fernan
do de Torrijos, had held until recent decease. When the vote was about to be taken,
though, only one cathedral authority spoke in his favor. The others evidently thought
the gay troubadour of the 1496 Cancionero too secular an individual for the post of a
cathedral singer and possible future master of the boy choristers. The post was instead
divided between two weaker candidates. Later (January n, 1499) it was temporarily
divided among three, Lucas Fernandez, a rival dramatic poet, making the third. Encina,
smarting under the rebuff, included in his eclogue de las grandesttuvias (for presentation
on Christmas Eve, 1498, in the ducal seat at Alba de Tormes) a rather transparent
reference to this disappointing episode. 141
Soon afterwards he left his native region. He may first have visited Portugal if the
reference to Estremoz in CMP, no. 304, be taken autobiographically. Before the end of
1499 he had reached Rome. On August 12, 1500, Alexander VI named him to a benefice
in Salamanca diocese, combining it with a chaplaincy (not requiring residence) . Two years
later he had so grown in the pope's favor that Alexander called him his closest familiar
(familiaris continus comensalis principalis principaliter). In testimony of favor the pope
conferred upon him in 1502 the very singer's prebend in Salamanca Cathedral which
the canons of that cathedral had refused to bestow in 1498. Enema's triumph would
seem to have been complete. The bull of September 25, 1502, designated the poet's
father and two brothers, Francisco and Antonio, as proxies into whose hands the
Salamanca cathedral authorities were to deliver a signed document acknowledging the
transfer of the prebend to the absentee Encina.
On December 2, 1502, Francisco appeared in his brother's behalf before the as
sembled Salamanca chapter. As of that date the singer's prebend had been unified, the
140 Cancionero (1496), fol. 113.
141 Barbieri, pp. 30-31. See Cancionero de todas las obras de Juan del enzina (Saragossa: George Coci,
1516), fols. 94V.-95V.
During the Reigns of Ferdinand and Isabella 257
holder now being Lucas Fernandez (who served both as organist and singer). The
chapter at once agreed to pay the costs of a lengthy ecclesiastical process in Fernandez's
favor. In 1507 he was no longer cathedral organist and singer. Even so Encina did not
follow him. Indeed he never was able to force the chapter's hand, despite his high
standing at the court not only of the Spanish Alexander VI but later of the Italian
Julius II.
It was Julius who conferred upon him, although he was not yet a priest, the
archdeaconate of Malaga - one of the most lucrative dignities in Malaga Cathedral, and
certainly a better paying post than any of the absentee benefices bestowed during
Alexander VI's pontificate. By a prior papal concession all dignities in Malaga Cathedral
had after the Granada wars been placed nominally at the royal disposal. Encina
therefore arranged through the papal nuncio at Ferdinand's court that Pedro de Her-
mosilla, his brother, should obtain the requisite royal document and present it in his
behalf to the Malaga chapter. Pedro could the more easily do so since he was in 1509
himself a resident in this Mediterranean haven. The Malaga capitular acts show that
Pedro brought in the royal document on April n, 1509. The first act mentioning Encina's
presence is dated, however, January 2, i5io. 142
On March 20, 1510, the chapter designated him and a fellow-canon as deputies to the
court, their commission being to obtain a new royal charter from Ferdinand guaranteeing
the cathedral income and setting out certain new rules for the collection of tithes. On
the following October n the chapter recalled him from the court, but on July 14, 1511,
sent both him and Gonzalo Perez back to pursue the business further. A cloud had
already arisen between him and the chapter before his return to court, as is shown by
their attempt to diminish his archidiaconal prerogatives (ostensibly because he had not
yet been made a priest). The chapter did agree to give him 100 ducats towards the cost
of the second trip to court - but reached the decision reluctantly. On August 21, 1511,
his fellow-canons voted to reduce his archidiaconal income to one-half, because he was
not yet a priest.
With curious vacillation their next step (on January 3, 1512) was to appoint him a
delegate to the provincial synod summoned by Diego Deza, archbishop of Seville. He
stayed in Seville in company with his own bishop and another Malaga canon from
January 11-15. The meetings were held in St. Clement's chapel Upon returning to
Malaga he still did not wish to settle permanently, but instead asked leave from the
chapter on May 17 (1512) to revisit Rome. Having reached the city which he loved above
all others, he stayed a whole year. The most memorable event of this particular soj ourn was
the presentation at a Spanish archbishop's palace of his last known dramatic piece, the
so-called gloga de Pldcida e Vittoriano. The audience included Julius II, Archbishop
Jacobo Serra (owner of the palace), the Spanish ambassador, and numerous Spanish
and Italian nobility. His play was given the night of January 6, 15I3- 143
142 Mitiana, Estudios, p. 17. . ^
143 The commedia began an hour before midnight. The pope sat between Fedenco Gonzaga and the Span
ish ambassador. Gonzaga disliked it, because it was in Spanish. See Alessandro Luzio ; -Fedenco Gonzaga,
ostaggio alia Corte di Giulio II," Archivio delta R. Socitti Romana di Stona Patna. IX, in-iv (1886), p. 55<>.
25 S Secular Polyphony
THOUGH this is his longest and best developed piece, it has been criticized for its pagan
atmosphere. The cast includes the goddess Venus. One passage "travesties theChn ban
office of the dead. Placida, the shepherdess who has committed suicide for a carnal love,
is restored to life at Venus's instance. The name of Jesus is used but as an exclama ion
rather than in a petition. Eritea, an aging female, plies the trade of a Ukstma^ But
questions of propriety are brushed aside, the play can be applauded for the proof rt
gives of Encina's ripening dramatic powers. Unfortunately none of the mra has been
preserved. Before Placida stabs herself a shepherd named Pascualsmgs an instrumen-
tally accompanied villancico, railing against the goddess of love. At the end the happy
lovers join in dancing to the sound of bagpipes. 144
ENCINA returned to Malaga before August 13, 15X3- ^ the succeeding autumn he was
again chosen to represent the chapter at court. During his absence he also transacted
business for Malaga Cathedral in Seville. Early in 1514 be set out anew for Rome, this
time without awaiting the chapter's permission. On March 31 his fellow-canons merely
heard that he had departed "in conformity with a papal bull." The new pope, Leo X
(i*-2i) was to patronize him as enthusiastically as had the two previous pontiffs.
The evidence is first a bull in Encina's behalf which reached the Malaga chapter on
October it, 1514. It read in part : "During the attendance of the Archdeacon of Malaga
at the pontifical court he is in no wise to be disturbed nor molested in the enjoyment of
his full income, no matter what statutes of Malaga Cathedral may conflict with this
provision "ThesecondwasthepublicationatRomeini5i4of tteEglogade Plactda e Vit-
toriano a play which on other evidence Leo Xis known to have enjoyed. The third proof of
Leo's favor is an appointment before May 27, 1517, to be a subcollector of apostolic reve
nues For a fourth proof, Encina's ecclesiastical titles were so shifted that in exchange for
the archdeaconate of Malaga he received a benefice in the collegiate church of Mor6n. This
exchange took effect on February 21, 1519- To the Mordn benefice not requiring resi
dence, was added one month later the priorate in Le6n Cathedral. Encina took possession
of bis'priorate, the final dignity which he was to enjoy, on March 14, 1519. His proxy
was a certain canon of Leon named Antonio de Obreg6n.
As for Encina's actual whereabouts between 1514 and 1519: he was in Rome during
1515. Early in 1516 he was again in Malaga, briefly. On February 4, 1516, he asked
leave to go outside the city, without naming any definite destination. On May 6, 1516,
his bishop, Diego Ramirez de Villaescusa, wrote a letter from VaUadolid summoning him
to appear in that city before May 27. Ferdinand had just died and Charles, the new king,
was expected from Flanders. Presumably the bishop, relying on Encina's skill as a
negotiator, wished him again to assist in the protracted cathedral suit for financial
privileges. On December 30, 1516, the chapter voted to send him twenty ducats while he
continued to reside at court. Before March 27, 1517, he had returned to Malaga, but
the chapter on that day commissioned him to repair again to court with the purpose
of suing for further pecuniary benefits. On April 14, 1517, his fellow-canons received his
i* Gatiero = bagpipe-player. See "Plicida y Vitoriano" in El teatro espaOol: Hisioria y antologia, ed.
Federico Carlos Sainz de Robles (Madrid: M. Aguflar, 1942), I, 183.
During the Reigns of Ferdinand and Isabella 259
letter from court asking for more expense money, a request which they immediately
granted. On September 12, 1517, he made his last known appearance at a Mdlaga chapter
meeting, presenting on that date an account of his most recent efforts at court.
Since he appeared at no later session it is likely that he left for Rome immediately.
The royal permission which he needed in order to resign his archdeaconate in exchange
for a simple benefice at the collegiate church in Moron was given at Saragossa in the
names of the titular queen, Joanna [the Mad], and her son, Charles [V], on June 13,
1518. This permission was addressed to the bishop of Malaga, who at that moment was
the same Italian cardinal, Raffaele Riario, earlier encountered as a contender with
Peiialosa for a canonry in Seville Cathedral (see above, pp. 146-147).
If not in Rome during the whole of 1518 Encina was certainly there on March 14,
1519. The Leon Cathedral capitular acts for that particular date show that his proxy
took possession of the Leon priorate in the name of Juan del Enzina, residente en corte de
Roma. At approximately this same date he decided to make a pilgrimage to the Holy
Land and to become a priest. The poetical account of this journey, Tribagia o via sagrada
de Hierusalem, which was to be the last ot his published writings, appeared at Rome in
1521.
In 200 eight-line stanzas (written in arte mayor) 145 he narrated the events of a round-
trip journey from Venice that lasted from July i until November 4. He left Rome in
late June, passed to Loreto, and thence to Ancona. At Venice he found one of the princi
pal grandees of Spain preparing to make the pilgrimage - Don Fadrique Enriquez de
Ribera, Marques de Tarifa. Don Fadrique's prose account of the same journey con
trasts interestingly with Enema's. The grandee offered, for instance, several observations
concerning the music of other rites in Jerusalem. He noted that the Greeks did not gather
together around a lectern to sing the hours from a large book, but that instead a youth
started intoning a psalm. 146 The other singers while remaining at their accustomed place
attentively watched his hand rise and fall to indicate the rise and fall in pitch of the
psalm-melody. Don Fadrique not only commented on the cheironomy of the Greeks,
but added interesting observations on Oriental-rite music in Jerusalem. 147 Encina, by
way of contrast, says nothing of the music heard anywhere during the four months'
journey. When some seventy years later Francisco Guerrero after taking the same trip
wrote his prose account, he too neglected to describe the music which he heard. 148 Both
Encina and Guerrero however describe in prolix detail all the sacred sites which they
visited.
145 Encina recognized two standard line-lengths: arte real (eight syllables to the line) ; arte mayor (twelve).
He allowed an occasional pie quebrado (half-line) to break the monotony of whole lines (enteros). See his illu
minating discussion in the Arte de poesia castellana (Cancionero, 1496, fol. 4v.) which he dedicated to Prince
John, son of Ferdinand and Isabella. His villancicos are written in arte real verse.
* 4 Fadrique Enriquez de Ribera, Viage de Jerusalem (Madrid : Francisco Martinez Abad, 1733). P- 47 C- 2 '
"Las horas Canonicas, i todo lo demas, no cantan en Atril, sino todo lo mas de Coro, e vn muchacho alii
con vn Libro, que comienca los Psalmos, que ellos cantan en tono, i quando suben, i bajan, hacen serial con
las manos."
14 ? Ibid., p. 40, c. i. The Indian Christians danced and sang on Good Friday,
148 Guerrero's Viage de Hierusalem was published at Seville in 1590, 1592, at Alcala de Henares in 1605,
and elsewhere frequently during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
260 Secular Polyphony
Encina having but recently been ordained priest celebrated his first Mass on August
6 (1519) in a small side chapel of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The "padrino"
(= server) on this occasion was Don Fadrique. 149 He was not only served by the
Adelantado de Andalucia (governor of Andalusia) but also celebrated Mass at the very
site on Mount Sion where Jesus was traditionally supposed to have instituted the
Sacrament.
After the disembarkation at Venice on November 4 he returned to Rome, to com
pose his poetical account. At the close of its 200 stanzas he added another dozen
urging Christian kings to unite forces for the retaking of Palestine. His zeal for recon-
quest sounds typically Spanish, and helps to explain why during the trip the Spaniards,
and they alone, were warned not to disclose their nationality to Moslem or Jew. 150 The
Tribagia was published at Rome in 1521, reprinted at Lisbon in 1580 and 1608, at
Seville in 1606, and at Madrid in 1748 (1733) and 1786, its popularity during two
hundred and fifty years exceeding that of any other poetry which he produced. 151
After Leo X's death (December i, 1521) a reforming pope was elected in the person
of Adrian VI (January 9, 1522). The succession of Maecenases, interested in art and
music, had momentarily ended, and Encina finding Rome no longer a favorable climate,
returned to Spain. He was in Le6n at a cathedral chapter meeting on November 20,
1523. On April 14, 1524, he received a certain concession of lands from the chapter.
During 1525 he was absent from Leon, a fellow-canon named Juan de Lorenzana acting
as his deputy. On October 2, 1526, he covenanted with the chapter to spend a rather
large amount - some 200,000 maravedis - for the remodeling of the piece of cathedral
property which he was using as his own residence, and of certain adjoining residences
and shops which formed part of the same lot. 152 On May 22, 1527, the chapter appointed
two overseers to inspect the buildings which he proposed to remodel. 153 The actual
remodeling had not been completed on the target date of October 2, 1528, whereupon
the chapter gave him the privilege of delaying completion until the end of the succeeding
August. 154
On January 27, 1529, the chapter named a deputy to exercise the office of prior. 155
According to Cotarelo, the wording of the January 27 act strongly suggests that Encina
had been stricken by paralysis or some other incapacitating illness. The deputy named
to function in his stead, Salazar, was a fellow-canon. Although an exact date cannot be
fixed, the evidence summarized in the next paragraph makes it almost certain that he
died late in that year.
First, there is a lengthy entry in the Le6n Cathedral capitular acts dated January 10,
I530. 156 On that day the chapter conferred the priorate upon Garcia de Gibrale6n, then
149 Emiquez de Ribera, op. tit., p. 94, c. 2 (lines 49-50).
150 Ibid., p. 22, c. i (lines 24-31).
151 Further bibliographical details in Encina, Cancionero (1496), p. 21.
152 Eloy Diaz-Jime"nez y Molleda, Juan del Encina en Le6n (Madrid : Lib. gen. de Victoriano Suarez, 1909)
p. 24.
153 Ibid., p. 27.
154 ibid., p. 28.
ws Ibid., p. 29.
156 Ibid., pp. 30-32.
During the Reigns of Ferdinand and Isabella 261
residing at the papal court. A proxy took possession of the office in his absence. Gibra-
leon had preceded Encina in the priorate, and may have resigned with the express
understanding that it would revert to him at Encina's death. Although it is not strictly
necessary to believe that news travelled to Rome and back again before January 10,
still formal possession of the office within a mere week or so of his decease seems hasty.
The second document bearing on his death is a capitular act of January 14, 1530 157
mentioning a bequest by the "late Juan del Encina" to the Dean and chapter of two
books of decretals or a thousand maravedis, whichever they preferred.
Francisco Fermoselle del Encina (son of Francisco - Juan's younger brother who was
an embroiderer by trade and died in 1504) sought the priorate immediately after his
uncle's death. Clement VII eventually gave it to him, nullifying Gibraleon's absentee
possession. The papal bull acceding the priorate to the nephew reached the Leon chapter
on July 28, 1531. After a contest lasting some months the nephew made good his claim,
and was inducted on February 10, 1532. This uncle-nephew transaction recalls the
similar link of Francisco de Penalosa and Luis de Penalosa (see above, p. 150).
Juan del Encina stipulated in his will that his body should be moved within five years
to Salamanca. Miguel de Fermoselle, his brother, was named his residuary legatee. He
had not carried out this provision of the will, however, as late as 1533. The next year
Miguel himself died, and an entry in the Salamanca libro de cuentas for 1534 shows that
in that year the Salamanca chapter received a payment of 500 maravedis to defray the
expenses of interring Encina's body beneath the coro in the cathedral. Having travelled
everywhere else, he wished to rest at last within the choir where he had begun as a singer,
from which he had been rejected, and to which he had unsuccessfully intrigued to return.
What he had failed to encompass in life, he aspired to do in death.
No portrait is preserved. But an authenticated signature (March 21, 1510) survives in
a book of capitular acts at Malaga. It has been twice reproduced, 158 the second time in
company with signatures by thirteen other Renaissance composers. Typically enough,
Encina strives not so much for the legibility of his signature as for the drawing of a bold
and striking picture. A scroll at the left side represents the name "Joan." At the right
side a companion scroll with no meaning is added, simply to balance the picture. Above
the "del enzina" he has written abbreviations for the Latin words meaning "archdeacon
of Malaga." Since "M" is the one capital letter in the superscription, his making the
scrolls on either side resemble "M" as closely as possible dresses the picture. His signature
seems exactly to express those flamboyant personality traits which his actions and
writings have revealed to have been typical of the man.
FORMERLY Encina's position in cultural history was assured almost entirely because of
his theatrical pioneering. Such is no longer the case. Within recent years it has come to be
realized that his songs are as important and distinctive a contribution as his plays.
On the structural side, only five of his CMP pieces are romances (nos. 74, 77, 79, 126,
and 131). Another three, not easily classifiable, lack a refrain of any sort (nos. 81, 83,
1" Ibid., p. 33.
158 Mitjana, Estvdios, p. 40; Reese, Music in the Renaissance* opp. p. 62.
262 Secular Polyphony
and 324). As for the number of those with refrain, 54 of his 62 CMP songs open with
one. Seven of the 54 are exceptional in that the rhyme-scheme of the strophe (coplas)
does not carry over into the da capo section (nos. 30, 46, 163, 191, 249, 271, 313). The rest
are so constructed that the rhyme-scheme of the coplas does always spill over into the
estribillo (refrain).
Each line of poetry corresponds with a clear-cut musical phrase. He never tries to calk
his seams. As a result his villancicos often sound like a string of epigrams. Just as in his
poetry he uses a minimum of adjectives and a maximum of nouns and verbs, so in his
music he harmonizes his terse melodies with root-position chords related to each other in
tonic-dominant or tonic-subdominant senses.
Only once (no. 82) in his 62 CMP pieces does he use the mensuration designated
with a circle (modern equivalent: f). Such a signature might do very well for Urrede,
who used it in all three of his CMP songs (nos. 1, 17, and 23). But not for Encina, who is
all nerves and action in triple meter. Instead, he uses two other "signatures" to denote
meter in threes: (3 and G. The first of these stands at the head of fifteen pieces and is
properly understood as the equivalent of \ (nos. 174, 179, 184, 191, 249, 271, 278, 281,
282, 283, 285, 304, 312, 313, 436). The second urges an even faster gait. In the four
instances, it ought probably to be interpreted as the equivalent of f (nos. 181, 293, 298,
309). In one isolated instance (no. 421), he omits mensuration signs, but blackens his
semibreves and breves, the musical sense being that of a f or extremely fast J. His
choice of Q, <J3> or G, can in every instance be laid to the text. The signature implying
the slowest beat matches the most pensive text, that implying the fastest, the most
obscene and jaunty texts.
He chooses (J, however, for the overwhelming majority of his pieces. This "cut-time"
signature stands at the head of 39 of his 62 songs (nos. 30, 44, 46, 50, 67, 74, 77, 79, 81,
83, 94, 126, 131, 162, 163, 165, 167, 178, 186, 224, 275, 277, 289, 302, 305, 308, 314, 316,
318, 324, 338, 354, 369, 395, 406, 408, 412, 428, 438). Contrary to the prevalent notion
that CMP Spaniards favored triple meter, not only Encina, the most fecund of CMP
composers, but also Francisco Millin, the second most fertile, overwhelmingly favored
duple meter. If forty of Encina's 62 pieces are in duple, sixteen of Milldn's 23 also use
the (J "time-signature." As for meter-changes in mid-course, Encina shifts during
four of his pieces (nos. 94, 165, 249, and 302). Milldn changes meter in the middle of
five of his.
Encina and Anchieta belong together in that each uses quintuple meter in two
instances. In the Encina pair which ought properly to be transcribed nowadays using
the | time-signature he designates his meter in these two ways: (Jf (no. 102) and j 2
(no. 426). Anchieta, on the other hand, specifies his quintuple meter: O ?. This latter
"signature" is properly transcribed in both of Anchieta's pieces (CMP, nos, 177 and
335) not with the modern |, but rather with the f time-signature.
If the theory that Palacio composers especially favored triple meter can no longer be
sustained, we should on the other hand stress the novelty of their quintuple-meter
experiments. In all, four songs by Anchieta are for instance included in CMP. Two are
quintuple-meter songs. What is more, -Dos anodes (no. 177) is the one CMP song which
During the Reigns of Ferdinand and Isabella 263
retained wide popularity for more than a century 159 - both Cervantes and Quevedo
having been familiar with it. Escobar is another who uses quintuple meter, Las mis
penas madre (CMP, no. 59) being written with signature of {. Still another quintuple-
meter exponent is Diego Fernandez (De ser mal casada, no. 197). The latter 's f ,used in
conjunction with blackened semibreves and minims, is best represented in modern
transcription by the f signature.
As for registration, Encina in 30 cases calls for four and in 32 cases for three voices.
Although it may be true that in his Auto del repelon he introduces a fourth character 16
near the end for the sole purpose of making up a vocal quartet, still he so frequently uses
three voices in his extant villancicos that the local availability of another good singer
rather than any real preference for the sound of four voices must have been the reason
for ending his rowdy playlet of Salamanca student-life with a quartet instead of a trio.
He never asks his basses for a lower note than FI nor his trebles for a higher note than
d 1 . The treble is always the leading voice. Its range reaches a major ninth in no. 354, but
usually he keeps it to a seventh or less. In the treble he occasionally introduces ascending
octave-leaps, but never descending. Skips of a minor or major sixth sometimes separate
phrases, but he does not interpolate them within treble phrases. Melodic sequences lend
a popular flavor to the treble in such items as Mas vale trocar (no. 298), Quedate Carillo
(no. 304) and Fata la parte (no. 421). The faster the gait, the likelier he is to build his
treble out of melodic sequences.
HIS FAVORED MODES are the dorian and its cognate, the aeolian. He slights the phrygian
and lydian. In the following synopsis his songs are classified according to their lowest
ending-notes. The ending-chord comes of course at the close of the estribillo, not the
coplas. An asterisk before a number means that the tenor lies a fifth (in nos. 81 and 289,
a third) above the contra in the last chord. An italicized number indicates that the tenor
sings an ending-note a fifth below the contra, or (if the contra divides into two voices on
the last chord) a fifth below the upper of the two notes in the contra. Otherwise the
tenor and contra are to be understood as singing the same letter-name note in the final
chord.
C: 304,318,354
D : *8i, 131, *i67, *I74, *i79, 186, 271, 277, 282, 298, 302, 314, 338, 412, 426
E : * 102, *i62, *i78, *28i, 285, *3&9, *436
F : 30, 82, *94, 224, +283, 309
G : 44, 50, 67, 74, 83, 184, 249, 278, 305, 308, 312, 324, 395, *42i
A: 46, 77, 79, 126, 163, 165, 181, 191, 275, *28g, 293, 3*3> 3*6, 46, 408, 428, 438
159 One other song seems to have retained a degree of popularity, at least in Portugal. Alvares Frouvo
declared in his Discursos sobre a perfeifam (Lisbon, 1662) that Encina's Pues que jamds olvidaros (CMP,
no. 30) remained "the only piece of 'old' music worth the consideration of 'modern* musicians of his time."
leo j uan <jel Enzina, El Aucto del Repeldn, ed. Alfredo Alvarez de la Villa (Paris: Ubrerfa Paul Ollendorff,
1910), p. 274. The fourth in the quartet probably played the rabel. The pertinent lines read:
M*y bien estaria d nos
Cantdssemos dos por dos.
264 Secular Polyphony
As this synopsis reveals, 17 of his CMP pieces end on A, 15 on D, and 14 on G. But of
the 14 ending on G, nine should probably be credited to the dorian, since in each of these
nine, Bb prefixes at least one lower voice. The 15 examples ending on D are nearly
always pure dorian rather than ''natural minor," since in only one does Bb appear
anywhere as a "signature" (no. 298). In that one case Bb prefixes only the contra voices.
Among the half-dozen pieces ending on F, the Bb-"signature" appears in at least a lower
voice live times. Among the three ending on C, two pieces carry Bb in the "key-signa
ture" (all voices, no. 304; contra only, no. 318). Of those ending on A, none shows Bb
anywhere as a "signature."
As for the deuterus examples : six must be credited to the hypophrygian - if, f ollowing
such authorities as Tinctoris and Aron, 161 we allow the tenor voice to determine the
mode (nos. 102, 162, 178, 281, 369, and 436). Similarly, one example should be
credited to the phrygian (no. 285). As the above synopsis discloses, the deuterus
examples are his only ones in which he consistently prefers the plagal mode to the
authentic mode. The only other plagal mode which he uses more than once or twice is
the hypodorian.
He is by no means unique among CMP composers in slighting the phrygian and
hypophiygian. Mffldn, the next best represented composer, also slights these modes.
Only three of Milan's 23 CMP items end on an E-chord, "incomplete" in each case. All
three are in hypophrygian - the tenor again serving as the criterion (nos. 295, 336, and
446). No shot misses the mark more widely than the saying that Spanish composers
during the 1490*5 peculiarly favored Modes III and IV.
Encina was a university man, his brother a university professor of music. If any
Spaniard should have treated the modes in textbook fashion, Encina ought to have been
that composer. Ramos taught that each mode was governed by an astral influence. 162
He often flouted tradition; but not when he propounded this doctrine. Even Burzio,
the first to attack him in print, taught that the stars governed the modes. To take an
example, Ramos claimed that Mercury controls the hypophrygian mode. If so, then the
hypophrygian ought to be peculiarly appropriate for the setting of texts which emphasize
mutability or fickleness. Appropriately enough, the texts in Encina's half-dozen hypo
phrygian villancicos do play upon these very themes of mutability, fickleness, and
inconstancy. The first, Amor con fortuna (CMP, no. 102), adds another example to the
already long list of Renaissance songs bewailing the malevolence of fickle Fortune. In
the next, No tienen vado mis males (CMP, no. 162; CMH, no. 50) he complains that he
can find no way of fording the river of troubles flowing from his lady's fickleness. In
Sy amor pone las escalas (CMP, no. 178) he declares that no one can build high enough
walls around his heart but that love will find its way to scale them to the defender's
damage. In Nuevas te traigo, Carillo (CMC, no. 59; CMP, no. 281) he sets a dialogue
between Carillo and Pascual, two shepherds. Pascual tells Carillo that Bartolilla, his
beloved shepherdess, has suddenly married another young man of the neighborhood the
ii See Strunk, Source Readings, p. 209 (par. 2 and n. 6). Both Tinctoris (1476) and Aron (1525) unquali
fiedly declared that the mode of a polyphonic piece is to be decided by its tenor.
1M Ramos de Pareja, Musica practice, ed. J. Wolf, p. 58.
During the Reigns of Ferdinand and Isabella 265
Sunday just past. Carillo cannot believe such news, she having been his own promised
one so recently,
In Romerico, tu que vienes (CMP, no. 369; CMS, no. 169; CMH, no. 56), he again
writes a dialogue, one speaker being a distraught lover separated from his life, his
sweetness, and his hope. This lover implores Romerico, who comes from wherever she is,
to tell him how she fares; but he already fears the worst. His manner of questioning
betrays the anxiety of an abandoned lover. In Reveldse mi cuidado (CMP, no. 436),
Encina voices the torments of a lover whose mistress has played him false.
All of Encina's hypophrygian pieces, then, play upon the themes of falsehood, perjury,
mischance, and sudden change. On the other hand, the phrygian mode is governed -
according to Ramos - not by Mercury but by Mars. One song, and one only, in Encina's
list is cast in the phrygian mode: Uri amiga tengo hermano (CMP, no. 285; CMH, no.
46). No lyrics could more sharply differ from those in hypophrygian mode. Here Mars
has just returned from Venus's bed. The mood is one of triumphal arches and victory
garlands. The poet exults because he is in love, and because his future is assured.
ENCINA'S DISSONANCE-TECHNIQUE yields to certain generalizations. He was notably
abstemious in his use of the changing-note figure, incomplete or complete. Seventeen
instances have been found in the forty songs in duple meter - not a large number. When
introduced, it is almost invariably given another voice than the lowest. Four leaps from
a dissonant note which properly belongs to the succeeding chord have been inventoried
in the same forty songs. His sparing use of the changing- and escaped-note figures is,
however, a trait which he shares with other CMP composers.
In general, he seems to have counted consonances from the tenor rather than the
contra. At the end of six E-pieces, the tenor lies a fifth above the contra in the last chord.
In these same six hypophrygian pieces he places the treble a fourth above the tenor in
the final chord. Elsewhere he requires the tenor to consonate with the treble in the
closing chord. But on the other hand, the interval of a perfect fourth between the tenor
and treble will be found at the openings of nos. 83 (Triste Espana, 4 v.), 167 (Ninguno
fierre las puertas, 4 v.), 271 (Pues que ya nunca nos veis, 4 v.), 298 (Mas vale trocar, 4 v.),
395 (El que tal senora tiene, 3 v.), and 436 (Reveldse mi ciudado, 3 v.). The first in this list
may date from the close of 1504, if the subject of its lament is actually Queen Isabella's
death. The second, which brings to a close his egloga entitled Ah, Mingo, quedaste atrds,
must on the other hand antedate 1496, in which year this Egloga was published. He
therefore did not begin to write fourths between tenor and treble only after coming
under the influence of Italian frottolists around 1500.
The critical edition - again as in the case of Le6n, Madrid, and Rodriguez - does
attribute certain passages to Encina that on the surface would seem stylistic lapses.
In no. 178 (Sy amor pone las escalas, 4 v.) he appears, for instance, to have written
parallel octaves between the tenor and treble at measure u. In his favor, however, is the
fact that Barbieri, the earlier editor of CMP, did not transcribe this passage in such a
way as to produce the offending octaves. What is more, measures 9-12 exactly duplicate
18-21 in every respect other than the conduct of the tenor voice at mm. n and 20. No
266 Secular Polyphony
parallel octaves mar m. 20. Therefore it is likely that Barbieri was right when he tran
scribed m. II without them. According to the critical edition, Encina seems also to have
lapsed in the treble of no. 308 (Desidme, pues sospirastes, 3 v.), at m. 12. The second note
reads /, thus making it appear that he leapt to dissonances. But if the note is read as g
rather than /, then no "exceptional" dissonance-treatment is involved.
AS FOR his use of imitation, he employs it neither very frequently nor very rigorously.
Numbers 94 (Cucu, cucu, 4 v.), 184 (Levanta, Pascual, 3 v.), 249 (Caldero y Have, 4 v.), 304
(Quedate, Carillo, adios t 4 v.), and 428 (Pelayo, tan buen esfuer?o t 3 v.) begin with it; but
these opening imitations always collapse straightway into homophony, once the first
point has been made. All voice-parts of only one example from this "imitative" group
are throughout underlaid with text in the critical edition - Caldero y Have. This is also
his only song shown as an example in the Oxford History of Music (II, ii [1932], pp. 144-
145). The lyrics under the guise of a tinker's cry border on the obscene. One other of his
songs has gained more lurid notice - Si abrd en este baldres, no. 179. Or at least an early
handler of the manuscript expressed his shock by scratching out a pornographic word.
But Caldero y Have (and perhaps also, Fata la parte, no. 421) can match it. Caldero y Have
differs from the other obscene songs with its imitation. The bawdy ones however are all
of a kind in being set to extremely fast triple-meter music. (MME, V and X, print full
texts in only selected instances.)
ENCINA did not anachronistically write any "song-cycles." But CMP does contain a few
songs originally conceived in pairs - after the manner of dance and Nachtanz, pavane
and galliard, passamezzo and saltarello. The first of such an Encina pair goes slower, and
is in duple meter. The second, insofar as poetry is concerned, takes the name of deshecha,
a word which in a dictionary translation means "a genteel departure," or "a polite
farewell," and is also applicable to a dance-step. His three deshechas 163 are found at
nos. 178 (Sy amor pone las escalas, 4 v.), 184 (Levanta, Pascual, 3 v.), and 283 (Quien te
traxo, cavalier o, 3 v.). Structurally, each antecedent song differs from the deshecha to
follow because it lacks a refrain. The deshechas on the other hand are always villancicos :
that is to say, they begin with a refrain. The "ending-chord" in each antecedent always
serves as the beginning chord in its companion deshecha.
The deshecha of one such pair, Levanta, Pascual, is here shown by way of example.
The romance which it follows has already been printed above at page 247, and should be
read through first if the musical effect of their pairing is properly to be appreciated. The
text of Levanta, Pascual - as is so frequently the case in Encina's villancicos - forms in
itself a miniature drama, the interlocutors being two shepherds. One brings the other
news of the surrender at Granada. The other cannot believe the news. After eleven
168 CMP, no. 178, is the dehecha for no. 79; no. 184 belongs to no. 74; no. 283 belongs to no. 107. See
Encina's Cancionero. (1496), fol. 87: "Romances y canciones con sus deshechas". Only the first two lines of
Ltvanta Pascual and of Quien te traxo cavallero are printed at fol. 87, the full texts being reserved for fols.
97 and 99v.
CMP, no. 184
During the Reigns of Ferdinand and Isabella
Levanta, Pascual *
267
JUAN DEL ENCINA
rj Le von-tcL, Pas cuai, le-van ta, A-Da-ue mps a ura-
* * VOL ITJOS \
jr? j '
(ifr*. j>- y
p _| %-* * * * * *- ' ~ ^-==*=i =3=:
m^ * L JI.JJ^,fTff/r>.
K ^^~ l * y tiJ*
na da, Quese soe-na cju'es to
bra-da, Quese soe-na (j^es to
rifa . KI h [ i
f [> i> r -^-j-i-f -I--'-
~~tmJr* * - **" J -~ +re +-o v*it~^T vt do To mn
mada. Tu ga ma-rray$oL-ma rnm Tus al
^ h J J r J
JLJ J
r%Vi ~ ^ v^ ^
LJ * j ^ a
I.JiKJJ
b" J". l^^J. J J J i J J J ^
i^r r> ^^ I^JL-JLJ-
tu pe-rroy ai-rrnri,
bokoes y ca ya do .
I-fr^ i \i h 1 ni
jfJM 11 " ^r |r ^-^
<y p * J ** ^
b [ L I
*v* J P J
if*-" r?!'- 1
*
'[D.C]
* "Arise, Pascual, arise, let us hasten to Granada which they say is taken. Arise at once, take your dog
and knapsack, your suit and cloak, your pipes and shepherd's crook. Let's go see what's happening in that
famous city, which they say is taken."
stanzas they then join together in singing a last strophe of thanks to the "Eternal
King of glory" for such a victory-
ENCINA'S INDEBTEDNESS to his predecessors has been extensively argued. Formerly it
was the fashion to categorize his theatrical achievements as complete novelties in their
time. Agustin de Rojas in his El Viage entretenido published at Madrid in 1603 indeed
flatly declared that Encina's plays were the first acted in Spain. In his way of thinking
three events of 1402 shared equal importance - Columbus's discovery, the fall of Grana-
268 Secular Polyphony
da, and Encina's founding of the Spanish theatre. 164 Nowadays, however, literary
scholars tend to see Encina more as the secularizer than as the morning-star of the
Spanish stage. Certainly his dramas did not spring, Minerva-like, full-grown from Jove's
forehead. As early as 1450 Gomez Manrique's La representation del nafimiento de Nuestro
Senor was acted during Christmas festivities in a Spanish convent. 165 Neither was the
rustic dialect which Encina frequently placed in the mouths of his shepherds (say agues)
a novelty. 166 It had been previously used in the Coplas de Mingo Revulgo.
As for more direct literary borrowings, J. Wickersham Crawford in his article, 'The
Source of Juan del Encina's Egloga de Fileno y Zambardo," proved that he took the plot
and much of the dialogue in his Fileno piece from the second eclogue by Antonio
Tebaldeo, a poet of Ferrara. 167 How he gained access to Tebaldeo's eclogue (published
in 1499) is immaterial. Encina's piece frequently incorporates passages translated
rather than adapted. No mere case of a common parentage or of an accidental similarity
is here involved. Encina knew also the poetry of Dante and Petrarch and on occasion
borrowed striking images from the latter. 168 That Encina should have read the great
Italian poets with approval is not surprising when one recalls that his favorite Spanish
poet, the Cordovan Juan de Mena (c. 1411-1456), also visited Italy and enriched
Spanish prosody by imitating Italian meter, 169
The problem of his musical borrowings is, however, somewhat knottier. In the first
place, only a few instances have come to view. Following the widespread custom of his
time, he on at least one occasion introduced a plainsong theme as a cantus firmus in a
secular villancico. In Mortal tristura me dieron (CMP, no. 44) the tenor repeats the
opening incise of a Kyrie sung in Spain at Masses for the Dead. 170 The words of this
particular villancico have to do with the death of love. Encina's Spanish text includes
the Latin word circumdederunt. 1 ' 71 Alexander Agricola wrote a song in similar vein, Le
164 Agustln de Rojas, El Viage entretenido (Le*rida: Luys Menescal, 1611), fol. 43.
IBS Sainz de Robles, op. cit. t I, 53-54. A still earlier Spanish acted piece descends to us in a brief fragment.
An Auto de los Reyes Magos, it was written at least two centuries earlier than G6mez Manrique's Christmas
play.
166 M. Menndez y Pelayo, Antologia de poetas liricos castellanos, vol. VI (Madrid: Lib. de los sues, de
Hernando, 1921), p. xv.
167 Revue hispanique, XXXVIII, 218-231. Cotarelo argued in rebuttal that Tebaldeo copied Encina
(Cancionero, fasc. 1496, pp. 24-26). But his rebuttal was weakened by inaccuracies in citing Crawford's
data. Cf. the errors in year and volume-number found in footnote i on p. 24.
168 Angel Battistessa, Poetas y prosistas espanoles (Buenos Aires: Instituci6n cultural espanol, 1943),
p. 225.
169 Cancionero (1496), fol. 5V. On Juan de Mena's meters see Francisco Salinas, De musica libri septem
(Salamanca: Mathias Gastius, 1577), p. 329.
170 Francisco Montanos, Arte de canto llano, ed. Jose" de Torres (Madrid: Diego Lucas Xime*nez, 1705),
p. 112. Encina's tenor corresponds with the Kyrie on the fourth staff of this page. He omits the eighth note
of the chant (a passing-note) and makes other adjustments at the end of the phrase. The second Kyrie on
this staff corresponds with Encina's tenor in measures 15-19.
171 A villancico expressly entitled Circumdederunt me belonged to the Palace Songbook at the time the
first index was made (c. 1525). Barbieri showed it to have belonged originally to Encina's Pldcida e Vittoriano
eclogue (1513), transcribing its complete text in his edition of CMP at pp. 50-51. The same objection can of
course be brought against this Invitatorium of Encina's Vigilia de la enamorada muerta that was brought
against Garci Sanchez de Badajoz's famous Lessons from Job. The charge of impropriety can be brought
against even devout composers in this epoch if one adopts the creed of a Bishop Cirillo Franco.
During the Reigns of Ferdinand and Isabella
Mortal tristura me dieron *
CMP, no. 44
Mor-tol trl
269
JUAN DEL ENCINA
ron SMon L
con ta-
do-jo res Mi ve vir cir-
. , !0 _
. rfe de runt,
-r
rr r
r
r r-Lf r ' r f f ' r f ' r f
vues -
15
-tros
-mo r~ r 6S Mis sos-pi
i Me tfe-nen
lFT^?f-^
r r
xlll,* ,1
^ f f M . ^^
OFIHE]
ros i cui da do i de-
tan trtrs-tor na do Que me
se o
.da CPU sa de ct ros.
* Maiden, loving you inflicts fatal sorrow and causes me to live amid the pains of death. My sighs and
cares and desire to serve you have so crushed me that I have cause to complain to you.
270
Secular Polyphony
Nuevas te traygo, Can Ho
CMC, fol. 77
J/uevas fe- trqygo Gar///o
H
*
i
r v \ftc.
Anonymous
fc
==
FD.C.]
eure e venue (Odhecaton, no. 81). Encina's tenor breves and semibreves and the two
repetitions of the first incise (mm. 14-19, 20-26) highlight his borrowed melody, giving
it the emphasis that such archaic treatment usually lends a plainsong cantus firmus.
He calls one of his quintuple-meter songs Tan buen ganadico (CMP, no. 426). In
1577 Salinas quoted the first six notes of a Spanish folksong bearing such a title. 172 He
used it to illustrate this metrical pattern in fives : a minim followed by two semibreves,
another minim followed by two semibreves. The incipit is unfortunately too short and
its melodic contour too commonplace - an upward major third followed by scale-steps
downward - to permit conclusive identification of the folksong as the model for the
treble-melody in Encina's villancico. On the other hand, the treble certainly does begin
with the upward skip of a major third, whereupon it descends a scale-step, then a third,
then a scale-step.
Another more interesting case of what seems to be a borrowing from a previous
secular source comes up in Nuevas te traigo, Caritto (CMP, no. 281). In Palacio this
villancico, set a 4, is ascribed to him. In the Colombina cancionero, on the other hand,
a three-voiced anonymous song of this title occurs, the music of which strikingly
resembles the CMP attributed item. The Colombina scribe copied no text beyond the
title. For this reason, the CMP verses cannot be compared with a corresponding CMC
poem. Only the music, and not the lyrics, must decide the interrelationship.
In 1941 and again in 1947 Angles announced that CMC, no. 59, is a different piece
entirely, 173 and not by Encina. If so, then he should in this case be called a skilful
172 Salinas, p. 337.
"3 MME. 1, 100 and 105; MME, V, 29.
During the Reigns of Ferdinand and Isabella
Nuevas te traigo, Carillo *
CMP, fols. 200V.-20I
271
JUAN DEL ENCINA
Nue-voste troi oo, Gt ri Ho, De tu md. Di-mc-ios a-^o ru, Poscuoj..
He^roncor do Jo i man zi lla De tu mal. Powjue e-restan buen
Sa-be-te que BaMx>-li lla,
Se des-po so cf do-min
La hi-ja <Je
Con un 6a-guaJ
Ha ri-Min-
Ia
10
* "I bring you news concerning your beloved, Carillo." "Tell me the news quickly, Pascual." "Learn then
that last Sunday Bartolilla, the daughter of Mari-Mingo, married a youth of the town. I am extremely
upset and sorry for your misfortune because you are such a worthy swain."
arranger. The mere ascription of CMP, no. 281, does not bear on the paternity of CMC,
no. 59. Just as Madrid (CMP, no. 5) when he added a new voice to Cornago's Pues que
Dios te fiso tal (CMP, no. 2) became in the eyes of the CMP copyist the "composer" of
the new version, so the CMP scribe may have chosen to consider Encina as the "com
poser" of Nuevas te traigo, Carillo (CMP, no. 281) even though the latter clearly
threaded his needle over the same pattern which had guided the composer of CMC, no.
59-
Both the Colombina Nuevas te traygo and the Palacio Nuevas te traigo are shown as
accompanying examples. One or two slight hints in support of Angle's thesis that the
CMC piece is not by Encina, strongly as it resembles CMP, no. 281, may here be
offered. The cadences in CMC differ at the end of the first and second double-bars. But in
all his CMP hypophrygian pieces, on the other hand, the cadence at the close of the
estribillo duplicates that rounding off the coplas. For another matter, the first phrase in
CMC, no. 59, ends with a "deceptive" cadence. No such "deceptive" cadence is to be
found in any CMP hypophrygian or phrygian example by Encina. Indeed he is very
chary of using such "deceptive" progressions anywhere in his entire repertory, always
preferring the V-I or I V-I progression at cadences.
To his credit (whether or not he composed both versions) is the added refinement of
272 Secular Polyphony
the four-voiced CMP arrangement. Rhythms flow in all voices, and the turgidity that
can result from an unrelieved succession of block-chords is carefully avoided. The
cadence at the end of his estribillo is more gracefully contrived, both because he assigns
the melodic anticipation (end of measure 4) to the treble rather than to the alto and
because he avoids bare consecutives between the treble and alto (measure 5).
Rather than diminishing his fame, then, the ascription of CMC, no. 59, to some
other composer actually enhances Encina's reputation as a self-conscious artist and as
one who touched no other man's work without polishing it and giving it his own indi
vidual stamp.
Francisco Millan (fl. 1501)
IN CONTRAST with Encina, Milldn still remains a shadowy figure. Barbieri discovered
him to have been a capelldn cantor (chaplain and singer) at the Castilian court during
1501 and I502. 174 Nothing else has been subsequently revealed. Yet he must have been
one of the more popular composers at Queen Isabella's court from the number of his
pieces in CMP. With the single exception of Encina he is the best represented composer,
23 (or 22) 175 songs by him having been copied in Palacio as against Enema's 62.
The larger number of these were copied into the manuscript on blank spaces after the
original collection had already been completed. Only four of Encina's 62 songs were
added after the original collection was gathered (nos. 67, 82, 94, and 102). But 15 of
MilMn's 23 were so added (nos. 71, 122, 147, 185, 195, 232, 265, 295, 319, 323, 333. 339*
351, 452, 457). Millan was therefore an outlander to the aristocratic Alba de Tormes
circle for which the CMP nucleus was originally formed.
Strangely enough, not a single sacred villancico enters his repertory. Encina, secularly
minded though he was, contributed four (CMP, nos. 275, 406, 412, 442). Escobar with
18 items in CMP, Torre with 15, and Ponce with 12, are all represented by an occasional
sacred villancico. Millin though more prolific is represented by none.
He composed only the scantiest number of his songs a 4 (CMP, nos. 122, 445, and
448), And of these Temeroso de sufrir (CMP, no. 448) proves to be simply his three-
voiced Porque de ageno cuidado (CMP, no. 319) with a second contra added and with the
first five measures changed from duple to triple meter. To show his bent, he set a full
score of his songs a 3 - nine-tenths of his repertory. By way of contrast, Encina is
represented in CMP with almost equal numbers of items for three and four voices (32
and 30).
Millan shows his individuality in still another way. Ten of his pieces begin with a
passage in clearly-intentioned imitation (CMP, nos. 71, 122, 185, 232, 265, 319, 323,
448, 452, and 457). Usually the treble enters last, the only exceptions arising in Mios
fueron, mi coragon (no. 185), Sufriendo con fe tan fuerte (no. 323), and Temeroso de sufrir
174 Barbieri, p. 617.
175 The music of nos. 333 and 351, though not the lyrics, is identical: thus reducing the count by one if
music rather than lyrics is counted.
During the Reigns of Ferdinand and Isabella 273
(no. 448), when tenor displaces treble as the final voice to enter. As a rule, the imitation
involves only two of the three voices. With two parts, the interval of imitation is always
the octave (except no. 323, where the tenor imitates the treble at the downward fifth).
In the two cases where the imitation extends through three voices, their order of entry
is contra, treble, tenor (no. 185) and contra I, treble, tenor (no. 448). The intervals are
octave and fifth in no. 185 but fourth above and second below in Temeroso de sufrir
(no. 448). In contrast with this display, Encina notably eschewed imitation. Only five
of his 62 examples start with it, as compared with Millan's ten among 23 examples. Then
again, Encina's points never extend beyond the first phrase, whereas five phrases in
Millan's duke y triste memoria (CMP, no. 452) commence with imitation. As a result,
this last piece is one of the most continuously flowing to be found in Palacio. The re
curring caesura is happily avoided. Instead, the phrases interlock. Its madrigalian
languor befits Sonnet 30:
When to the sessions of sweet silent thought
I summon up remembrance of things past.
In certain other interesting respects his musical style contrasts with Encina's. He
never indulges in a mixed signature, whereas Encina frequently combined voices with
and without flats in the same villancico (CMP, nos. 50, 74, 82, 83, 305, 309). Millan
never ends a song on either D-chord or A-chord. In the nine cases where he does close
with G-chord, he interdicts Bb's. What this means is that he never uses dorian mode -
untransposed or transposed - nor aeolian. Encina (see pp. 263-264) preferred these
modes to all others.
His solitary songs without initial or intennediate refrain are his pair of romances:
Durandarte, Durandarte (no. 445) and Los brafas trayo cansados (no. 446). The lower
parts in each move as if he had conceived them for agile instruments. Only the trebles
preserve a truly vocal character. In common with Encina's four or five romances,
Millan's pair show these traits: (i) division of the strophe into four musical phrases of
approximately equal length (2) fermatas at the end of each phrase (3) anapest rhythm
at the beginnings of most treble phrases. On the other hand, Encina in none of his
romances wrote such active or intricate "harmonizations" of his treble melodies. His
lower parts instead move in block-chords.
One of Milldn's songs, Serrana del bel mirar (CMP, no. 71) boasts an intennediate
refrain. This unique item in his repertory tells a story. A shepherd in the mountains
finds a hapless maid. In the musical introduction he accosts her. In the first refrain he
describes how he happened to meet her. Next, she sings a short cantar bewailing her lot.
He then returns with the musical refrain, but set to new words praising her as the belle
of the mountains. She responds with another cantar, much like the first in sentiment and
in musical character. Here for once Milldn puts music to a poetic dialogue. Encina, of
course, set many such a dialogue - but always as a villancico with initial refrain.
All of Milldn's texts, with the exception of his two romances, 176 betray a familial
176 y^ f comadres (no. 122) is perhaps another exception, since its lyrics are the confessions of a drunkard.
274 Secular Polyphony
likeness. Disappointment and lovers' sorrows run though each like a ground bass. In 18
of his 20 songs with opening refrain he cadences to identical chords for the close of both
estribillo and coplas. He violates his rule in only Sufriendo con fe tan fuerte (CMP, no.
323) and Si dolor sufro secreto (CMP, no. 367). The coplas in each of these mixolydian
songs end with the D Major chord (f# specified in the treble). Encina - braver by far -
closed estribillo and coplas with a different chord some 22 times (CMP, nos. 30, 44, 50,
165, 181, 184, 186, 224, 271, 278, 282, 285, 289, 298, 304, 305, 308, 312, 313, 314, 406,
408). A musical reason for Millan's rigid adherence throughout nine-tenths of his refrain-
songs to the same ending-chord and even cadential pattern for the close of estribillo and
coplas is not far to seek, arising as it does from the nature of his texts. They habitually
lack the animal spirits, the lively give-and-take, of Encina's lyrics. Because the moods
within his texts shift, Encina can also change his musical stance. But Millan, setting his
static and humorless lyrics, even goes so far as to duplicate the two or three last
measures of estribillo and coplas in a dozen of his examples (CMP, nos. 185, 195, 232,
265, 295, 319, 333, 334, 336, 339> 35** 448).
Indeed, he commits himself so absolutely to texts voicing lovers' plaints that he
consents to write a macaronic three- voiced vos omnes, the Latin words of which he
excerpted from a Maundy Thursday lamentation and strangely twisted into a lover's
sob. The disappointed lover implores all passers-by to stop and consider if there be any
woe like unto his. Loyset Compere (d.isiS) also wrote a three-part vos omnes, the
bassus singing the Latin text and the upper two parts devotz cueurs. 177 But the
French text in Compere's motet-chanson publishes a more appropriate grief, since it is
that of a woman bereft of son and father - not of a disappointed swain comparing
himself to Christ on Calvary. 178
Efforts at identifying the poets who supplied Millan with his lyrics have thus far
proved rather fruitless. Barbieri could not find any literary source that exactly paral
lelled even the version of Durandarte, Durandarte (CMP, no. 445) which he set. For
the present, then, all his lyrics except possibly Senora, despues que os vi (CMP,
n - 339) 179 mtlst pass as anonymous. Like Encina he may have written his own
poetry.
MILLAN seems to have been the only composer in CMP who used the same music for two
different poetic texts. The music of Pues la vida en mal tan fuerte (no. 333) exactly
duplicates that of Si dl esperanga es dudosa (no. 351), even to the last accidental. As has
already been observed, the four-part Temoroso de sufrir is musically identical with the
three-part Porque de ageno cuidado, except that another contra has been added and a
rhythmic adjustment made in the first five bars. Curiously enough, CMP contains a
" 7 Ed. by R. J. van Maldeghem, Tr&or musical (Musique profane [1887]), XXIII 23-24. See Reese,
Music in the Renaissance, p. 225.
178 Other CMP songs which mix the sacred and secular with similar nonchalance appear at nos. 41, 44,
58, 154 (mm, 133-148), 373, 381, 401. To this list can be added the macaronic frottola, Vox clamantis (no.
105). For complete texts see Barbieri edition.
179 The lyrics of no. 339 may have been written by the Valencian poet, Diego de QUITO'S. See Barbieri,
p. 127 (item 219).
During the Reigns of Ferdinand and Isabella 275
dozen poems with alternate musical settings - the exact obverse of Millan's procedure
in nos. 333-35 1 and 319-448-
IN EVERY one of his songs which begins with an initial refrain, except duke y triste
memoria (CMP, no. 452) and Al dolor que siento estrano (no. 457), he sets poems the
rhyme-scheme of which spills over from coplas into the musical da capo. This fact alone
strongly suggests that Millan belonged to the generation of Encina rather than to that
of Cornago and Triana. He also uses fourths between tenor and treble at the concluding
cadences in CMP, nos. 295, 336, and 446, his three hypophrygian pieces. Composers of
the earlier generation eschewed such tenor-treble fourths. Moreover in Senora, despues
que os vi (CMP, no. 339) he writes an unprepared fourth between the tenor and treble
on a strong beat - at the beginning of m. 14. No misprint or faulty copy can be blamed
at this moment. 180
On the other hand, the consecutive fifths between contra and treble in Mios fueron, mi
cor agon (CMP, no. 185), last two beats of m. 8, must almost certainly be a copyist's
error. If the contra were to move from FI to GI a mere beat later, the difficulty would be
nicely resolved. Some such resolution is required in view of the fact that Millan fastid
iously avoided such consecutive perfect fifths everywhere else in his repertory.
Two of his songs adhere to triple meter throughout (CMP, nos. 71 and 334). Another
five go into it transiently in the estribillo (CMP, nos. 122, 295, 319, 339, 448). His
signature at the head of nos. 71, 295, and 334 is (t 3. The best equivalent time-signature
nowadays would perhaps be J. He did not use O, which would be the equivalent of a
modern f . In Ved, comadres (CMP, no. 122), the lower two voices shift into triple meter
while the upper two remain still in duple. His mensuration sign for duple meter is
always (. The fact that he never uses any of the several other "signatures" to be tound
in Encina's songs (O, C, <J 5, 3 2 ) is in itself highly instructive. As was pointed out on
page 273, Millan confines himself to a few modes, using less than half as many as Encina.
His range of poetic texts is similarly narrow. His fewer "time-signatures'* therefore
confirms the estimate that he had less arrows in his quiver than Encina.
He casts ten of his songs (CMP, nos. 71, 122, 194, 323, 333, 339> 35* 3&7, 3^8, 445)
in mixolydian. This classification is not left in doubt, since in each the tenor and contra
close on the same letter-name note. Even if Milton never heard of Ramos de Pareja, he
confirms the elder Spaniard's doctrine of astral influences when he selects Mode VII for
each of these songs. "The mixolydian belongs to Saturn, since it induces melancholy,"
said Ramos. 1 * 1 The very titles of Milldn's mixolydian songs often suggest those qualities
which the astrologically-minded attributed to Saturn - coldness, sluggishness, and
gloominess. They read as follows: "Observe what grief I endure'' (122), "If you do not
intend to assuage my misery" (194), "Suffering with such strong conviction" (323),
"Since life in such grievous case is deathitself" (333), "K hope is so uncertain and pain so
unbounded" (351), "If I suffer secret sorrow" (367), "It is amazing that I am able to
survive" (368).
iso Millan was however parsimonious with his fourths if this is his only example.
isi Ramos, p. 58: Mixolydius vero attribuitur Satumo, quoniam circa metancholictm versatvr.
276 Secular Polyphony
One of his songs, the Ionian three-voiced Mios fueron, mi cordon (CMP, no. 185), was
neatly rearranged for three trebles by Mondejar (CMP, no. 294). The lyrics develop a
prettier theme than in any of his "saturnine" songs. Still another of his pieces enjoyed
more than a merely passing vogue - Aunque no sfero gozar (CMP, no. 336). Gil Vicente
alluded to this three-part hypophrygian lover's complaint in his Dom Duardos (iS^S)- 182
But on the whole MiMn leaves the impression of having been a Jorge Mannque who
wrote a few exquisitely beautiful stanzas, his other work trailing in vitality behind the
few choice items. These by way of summary would be the songs of the disconsolate
mountain maiden, of the girl with the bewitching brown eyes, and the^madrigalian one
commemorating the "sweet, sad memory of the happy, painful past" (CMP, nos. 71,
185, and 452).
Gabriel [Mena] (fl. 1511)
AFTER Encina with 62 and Milan with 23 songs comes Gabriel with 19 items. Eighteen
show music as weU as text. CMP, no. 173, attributed to him, lacks music. None of the
ascriptions gives his last name. That it was "Mena" was deduced by Barbieri in 1890
together with the following facts.
Both the Cancionero general of 1511 and the Cancionero general published at Saragossa
in I554 (by Nagera) contain verses by "Gabriel el nnisico." The 1511 cancionero refers
to him as a singer in the court chapel of Ferdinand V, consort of Isabella. In the Ndgera
cancionero his verses are headed by this legend: "Gabriel gave his patron, the Admiral
[i.e. Fadrique Enriquez who died in 1537], a mule. Having no way to go but on foot
himself, he wrote this letter [in verse] to the Adelantado, brother of the Admiral, asking
for a sumpter." After this superscription comes the poem. In it he not only asks for a
beast of burden so he can get around but also calls himself a singer by profession, reveals
that he is married, and speaks of living in Torrelobaton, a small town slightly west of
Valiadolid.
Still further information concerning Gabriel was discovered by Barbieri in a miscel
lany of anecdotes collected by the famous knight of Santiago and page at the court of
Isabella (wife of Charles V), Luis de Zapata (1526-1595). According to Zapata,
The valorous Admiral, Don Fadrique Enriquez - an extremely small man but a victor in
battles and a regent of the realm during the Emperor's youth [i.e. in 1519 during Charles V's
absence for his coronation as Holy Roman Emperor in Germany] - was as I have already said,
very fond of witty sayings. Now it came about that he sent a friar with whom he was inter
changing jests a rather biting bit of verse. The Admiral at this particular time had two servants,
one named Coca - his secretary, the other named Gabriel - the famous versifier and courtier.
To the Admiral's biting verse the friar thus replied: "Concerning that poem which you sent me t
your only part in it was the paper. I see thai Coca wrote it, and I hear the voice of Gabriel dictating
it. Though I am very well aware of the fact that you have downed me and that I have no way of
getting back at you, still there are three of you against me, or if not three, at least two-and-a-half **
iss For date see Anbrey F. G. Bell, Four Plays of Gil Vicente (Cambridge University Press, 1920), p. xxv.
"S Luis Zapata, Misceldnea (Memorial Histdrico Espaftol, publ. by R. Academia de la Historia (Madrid-
Imp, Nacional, 1859], vol. XI), p. 406.
During the Reigns of Ferdinand and Isabella 277
In calling the three (the Admiral, his secretary Coca, and his troubadour Gabriel)
''two-and-a-half persons/' the friar was of course alluding to the well-known fact that
Don Fadrique Enriquez was only "pint-size." The preservation of the anecdote can be
taken as proof that the Admiral liked the friar's clever parry. Elsewhere in his collection
of anecdotes Zapata speaks of Gabriel as both a poet and musician, whose full name was
Gabriel Mena. ls4
More recently Angles, working with documents in the Archive del Real Patrimonio
at Barcelona, encountered the name Gabriel de Texerana in a list of chapel singers
employed at Ferdinand's court during isoo. 185 This Gabriel and Gabriel Mena may
possibly have been one and the same person.
IF ENCINA and Millan each exhibited certain individual musical traits which when known
and understood make it possible to separate their respective styles, so also Gabriel
proves to have been something of an individualist.
I. On occasion he includes fleetly running scale-passages. These are by no means
restricted to the lower textless voices but also distinguish the singing treble. They
sometimes extend through so great a sweep as an octave. Examples of these nimble runs
can be seen in CMP at nos. no, 120, 241, 254, 353. Only in one instance did Encina, on
the other hand, include a few short scale runs (CMP, no. 436) ; and Mfflan's trebles
never so disport themselves.
II. Gabriel does not overtly change meter in the middle of a piece. He does on a few
occasions, however, write syncopations which create strongly-felt cross-rhythms: eight
pulses dividing into 3 + 3+2, or twelve pulses (ostensibly to be parsed as 4 + 4 + 4)
regrouping into four sets of threes. Instances of such cross-rhythms occur at CMP,
nos. 353 (mm. 2-3, 17-18, 20-22), 422 (mm. 12-16), and especially at no. 330 - an item
which in the Institute Espanol de Musicologia edition is credited to "Luchas" meaning
"straggles," but which bears the name of Gabriel as its composer, and is so credited
in Barbieri's 1890 edition. In this "Luchas" number, the struggle between the apparent
meter of { and the felt meter of f continues throughout the entire estribillo (mm. i-io).
Indeed the constant play of cross-rhythms is one of the principal attractions of this
brilliant piece. The "struggles" idea is, moreover, appropriate to the text: which urges
smitten swains to fly to the chase of their lady-loves and to capture them, no matter
how energetically they should struggle. The MME edition gives only a fraction of the
whole poem as it appears in the original MS, omitting seven strophes.
III. Gabriel's closing "chords" never rise above E or C, though both Encina and
Milldn had at least sporadically ended with "chords" built over these notes,
is* j^id p 131 (lines 11-12). The anecdote retailed here as well as at pp. 124-125 shows that Gabriel
was never at a loss in repartee. According to Zapata, the Admiral inordinately enjoyed Gabriel's witty
sallies.
185 DML, I, 989, c. i.
278 Secular Polyphony
IV. Gabriel, in contradistinction to Encina and Mffldn, occasionally writes what would
now be called sequences of parallel first-inversion chords (CMP, no. 168).
V. Gabriel - unlike Encina and Millan - leaves no settings of romances. He sets even
La betta malmaridada (CMP, no. 234), one of the most frequently glossed romances in
Spanish literature, not as a romance but as an initial-refrain-type song.
VI. All of Encina's and Millan's love-songs were written for the man to sing, but
Gabriel places one of his finest love-songs in a maiden's mouth (CMP, no. 132).
TO MENTION briefly certain other characteristics of his repertory: J. Fourteen of his
songs were copied at blank spaces in the manuscript after the original collection had
already been completed. Probably he, like Milldn, was a stranger to the aristocratic
Alba de Tonnes circle for which this song-collection was originally formed. 2. Only two
of his songs (CMP, nos. 168 and 347) carry a triple-meter "signature." This is in both
cases Ct 3. Fourteen bear (J; while another pair (CMP, nos. 132 and 217) carry C. On the
evidence of his unique patter-song, De la duke mi enemiga (CMP, no. 217), the "signa
ture" C implies considerably faster minim-motion than does (J. 3. The lowest note of the
closing chord is in nine instances G (three times with Bb in the "key-signature"), in four
F (always with Bb in the signatures of at least the lower voices), in three cases D, and
twice A. Mi Centura, el caballero (CMP, no. 153), ending on an A-e-a chord, is his only
song classifiable as hypophrygian (transposed). None can be classed as phrygian. A
study of his texts in relation to his choice of modes will not be attempted here, but the
text of the hypophrygian example sticks throughout to the idea of "evil chances." The
final cadence in all his other songs is authentic, the tenor singing the lowest note or its
octave in the closing chord,
He threads identifiable folktunes through at least two of his songs, La Mia malmari
dada (CMP, no. 234) and Aquella mora garrida (CMP, no. 254). In each the tenor sings
the derived folktune. 186 The rhythm of the tenor in La betta, is spondaic, in Aquella mora
predominantly anapestic. Enriquez de Valderrabano still incorporates the same popular
La betta tune in the vihuela arrangement which he published a generation later (1547). 187
Identification of the second as of popular origin resulted from a comparison of Gabriel's
tenor with the tune of the Hispanae notissimae cantilenae shown at page 327 in Salinas's
De musica libri septem (1577). Fortunately Salinas in this latter case quoted not just a
short incipit but twenty notes of Aquella morica [sic] garrida sus amores dan pena a mi
vida* As set by Gabriel the first line of this song begins thus, Aquella mora ("That
Moorish girl") rather than, Aquella morica ("That little Moorish girl"). He therefore
needs one less note to set the opening phrase than Salinas. The note added by the latter
is of no consequence melodically, it being merely a repeated note. Gabriel inserts a rest
188 Another of Gabriel's songs using a derived tune occurs at CMP, no. 422 (Sola me dexastes), the tenor
being transposed from the treble of CMP, no. 223 (a similarly entitled anonymous song a 3). In addition to
transposing the borrowed melody a fifth down, Gabriel makes minor rhythmic adjustments and also occa
sionally leaves out passing-notes found in the anonymous treble.
is? See Barbieri, pp. 609-610, for a transcription of the Silva de sirenas setting.
During the Reigns of Ferdinand and Isabella 279
instead of the repeated note. Another minor difference: Gabriel opens with the three
notes of a descending major triad, but Salinas with the three notes of a descending
major scale passage. Rhythmically they are alike, as well as melodically, both hewing to
the same pattern of anapests.
Salinas's tune ends at a point tallying with Gabriel's first double-bar. Because of the
exact likenesses up to this point, the rest of the f olktune can be reconstructed by adding
to the portion quoted in Salinas's treatise its continuation found in the coplas of the
CMP villancico.
Gabriel wrote a miniature masterpiece when he composed this song. The Vorimitation
at the beginning of estribillo and coplas charms the hearer without oppressing him. The
fleet scales, especially in the instrumental contras, add a delicious shimmer. The words
pay tribute to a Moorish girl whose charm has captivated the poet, and every musical
touch artfully suggests "moonlight and roses."
Pedro de Escobar
ESCOBAR, who in May of 1507 was summoned from Portugal to assume the Sevillian
chapelmastership, may well have been the Pedro of Oporto who sang in Queen Isabella's
chapel from 1489-1499 (see pp. 168-171). In any event he is not the only CMP composer
now known to have spent considerable time in Portugal. Badajoz "el musico," of whom
eight pieces survive in CMP, was a favorite instrumentalist at Joao Ill's court if we are
to believe Fray Antonio de Portalegre's report in his Meditafd da inocetissima morte e
<payxa de nosso senor em estilo metrificado (Coimbra, 1547). 188
Escobar's CMP repertory consists of eighteen songs, not less than thirteen of which
were copied into the manuscript after the original collection had already been gathered.
Like Milldn and Gabriel he must therefore be thought of as a stranger to the Alba de
Tormes coterie for which the original body of CMP was copied. Seven of his songs are
for four voices, the remaining eleven for three. His mensuration signs, although not
so various as Encina's, include: fl> 3 (nos. 114, 158, 337)> I ( nos - 383, 4*6), <J 3 (no. 229)
and O 3 (no. 263), each implying a different triple-meter speed. Like Anchieta, Encina,
and Diego Fernandez, he on occasion wrote a quintuple-meter song (no. 59), heading it
with the "signature" f . But ten of his songs (nos. 73, 124, 199, 216, 220, 244, 245, 286,
375 , 385) are headed by (J - the favorite "signature" of all indisputably peninsular
composers in CMP.
One song boasts a mixed "key-signature," Bb being indicated in the second contra but
not in the other voices (no. 59). Seven songs show Bb in all voices. He never went so far
as to use two flats, Bb and Eb, in the same "signature," as did Encina (CMP, no. 74).
But the second flat appears rather often as a compulsory accidental (nos. 59, 124,
244, 337, and 416). In the pair entitled Paseisme aor* attd, serrana (nos. 244 and 245) he
iss Innocencio Francisco da Silva. Dicdonario Bibtiograpkico Portuguex (Lisbon: Imp. Nacional, 1858),
I, 240-241.
2 8o Secular Polyphony
almost certainly wrote the second flat to produce a cross-relation between the C Major
chord on one "beat" and the Eb Major chord on the next (m. 6).
Twice the tenor closes a fifth above the contra (nos. 59 *** 375)- Classifying these two
according to their tenors, we assign the first, Las mis penas madre, to hypolydian, the
second, Corafon triste sofrid, to hypophrygian. The sentiment of the first is as "venereal"
and of the second as "mercurial" as adherents to Ramos's modal theories could desire.
The tenor-final lies either at the bottom of the chord or the octave above in all his other
songs. Classifying these others according to their tenor-finals, we find that six belong to
D (nos. 73, 199, 229, 263, 383, 4*6) > four to G (nos. 114, i*4> ** ^}, three to F (nos.
244, 245, 337), two to A (nos. 158, 220), and one to C (no. 385). The modality of seven
of these (italicized numerals) could be disputed because of the presence of Bb in the
"key-signature" of all voices. But the two that are unequivocally mixolydian, Lo que
queda es lo seguro (no. 216) and Vengedores son tus ojos (no. 286), dwell on suitably
"saturnine" themes: the poet's detention and death on account of his lady beloved's
disdain and coldness of heart.
Encina and Gabriel probably set no lyrics but their own. Millan may also have been
his own poet. Escobar, by contrast, definitely set other lyrics. Fortunately, he showed
excellent taste in his choice of an author, settling on one of the best poets of his time,
Garcf Sanchez de Badajoz (c. 1460-0. 1526). This passionate Andalusian whose Las
liciones de Job apropriadas a sus passiones de amor was later placed on the Index of
prohibited books was not only a literary man but was also recognized as the finest
vihuela-player of his generation. 189 Since he was such a consummate musician as well as
poet - his reputation as a player being still very much alive as late as I575> 190 Sanchez de
Badajoz may himself have composed the anonymous musical setting of his lyrics, Lo
que queda es lo seguro, at CMP, no. 99. Escobar's name heads the setting of the same
verses at CMP, no. 216. In Escobar's version, treble and tenor of the anonymous
original interchange places. He also rewrites the contra. His setting a 3 parallels such
another CMP transcription as Madrid's Pues que Dios te fiso tal. That his arrangement
soon came to be preferred is attested in the Portuguese source, Cancioneiro Musical e
Poetico da Biblioteca Publia Hortfasia. At fols. 47^-48 appears in slightly altered form
the Escobar setting - not the CMP anonymous.
From Sanchez de Badajoz he took also the lyrics of Secdronme los pesares (CMP, no.
199). This is again an item carried over from CMP into Hort$nsia t where it appears at
fols. 4iv.~42. The cadence in the treble at the end of the estribillo differs in CMP and
CMH. In CMP, the treble skips from an under-third to the final. But in CMH this
rather archaic under-third tag is replaced by a more up-to-date melodic formula,
indeed the one which Escobar always favors elsewhere in CMP, and the one which
occurs more frequently than any other ending-tag in Spanish secular music composed
189 Barbieri, op. cit., p. 44.
1*0 See F. Hier6nimo Roman, Segunda parte delas Republicas del mundo (Medina del Campo : Francisco del
Canto, 1575), fol. 236v. ("Dela Musica y su origen"). After naming various secular musicians of antiquity
this chronicler cites "Garci Sanchez de Badajoz, cuyo ingenio en vihuela no lo pudo auer mejor en tiempo de
los Reyes Catholicos."
During the Reigns of Ferdinand and Isabella 281
c, 1500. (The treble, starting as a consonant "tied-note" on a weak beat, becomes
dissonant on the succeeding strong beat because of the movement of the lower voices,
resolves downward stepwise, then returns stepwise upward to the final.) The total
number of measures in both the CMP and CMH estribfflos is the same, but mm. 3-5 of
CMP are compressed into mm. 3-4 of CMH and the omitted measure then regained at
mm. 83-4 and 131-2 of the CMH version. The melodic suppleness of the CMH version
at mm. 3 and 8 (treble) , as well as at m. 18 (treble) in the coplas, would be but one reason
among many for preferring the Portuguese version of this Escobar item to the stiffer
Spanish. The shape of the contra is also improved everywhere in the Portuguese setting,
except possibly at m. 20 in CMH, where the return to the dominant seems unduly
repetitive.
The poet of Quedaos adios (CMP, no. 158) has not been discovered. But the lyrics,
cast in the form of a dialogue, mention Seville. A pair of saddened lovers are taking
leave of Sevillian acquaintances; meanwhile their bleeding hearts forever drip on the
banks of the Guadalquivir. This song, a late addition to CMP, may date from those
years which Escobar himself spent in Seville - just as Lagarto's C alien todas las galanas
(CMP, no. 226) in praise of the beauties of Toledo is likely to have been composed while
the latter was claustrero in Toledo Cathedral.
BECAUSE of the learning found in Escobar's masses the comparative simplicity of his
CMP songs may cause surprise. Over and over again throughout peninsular musical
history it will however be found that composers of great polyphonic contrivance in their
masses doff the learned sock and sport it on the green when they turn to the secular
field. Penalosa's CMP songs are usually quite simple, though he was perhaps the most
learned Spaniard of his epoch. Later in the sixteenth century Morales wrote a villancico
a 3, a madrigal a 4, and a romance, 191 which are all innocent of the contrivance regularly
found in his masses. By an anomaly, the named composer in CMP who executes the
cleverest feats is precisely Ponce whose sacred style, at least as revealed in his Salve
Regina (see pp. 186-189), is decidedly simpler than either Escobar's or Penalosa's.
Francisco de la Torre
THE DATES of Torre's court and cathedral appointments are given above (p. 194). A
transcription of his villancico in CMC is shown at p. 244.
In contrast with every CMP composer thus far studied (even Encina), he wrote
nothing that was inserted into the MS as a late addition. Each of his 15 pieces, including
his famous instrumental aUa dance a 3 (CMP, no. 321), belonged to the original corpus
of the Palace Songbook. This circumstance agrees well with what is known of his
biography, he having reached the summit of his musical career a decade before Encina
even began his.
Telltale evidence that he flourished before Encina is embedded in his CMP pieces
I" Si n'os veiera mirado, Ditimi o si o HO, De Avttequera sale el moro.
282 Secular Polyphony
themselves, quite apart from the dated biographical documents which survive. First,
there is the fact that in only one of his 15 pieces (CMP, no. 262) did he make any use of
the spillover rhyme-scheme which Encina popularized. By contrast, 18 of Millan's 20
refrain-songs, 17 of Gabriel's 18, and 13 of Escobar's 17, are built on the Encinian plan.
For a second matter, he wrote a larger proportion of romances (CMP, nos. 136, 137, 140,
150) than any of the composers just named. He even on one occasion confounded the
initial-refrain-type song with a romance (CMP, no. 32). For a third, he is the only
composer thus far met in Palacio who shows any strong traces of Urrede's influence - a
pair of his songs coming so close to Nunca fue j>ena mayor, by every crucial musical test,
as to seem almost contrahechas rather than independent compositions (CM"P, nos. 48 and
62).
Those identifying traits which Nunca fue shares in common with Torre's La que tengo
no es firisidn (no. 48) and qudn dulge serias, muerte (no. 62) include not only mode,
meter, lengths of sections, and literary type, but also the asymmetry of phrase-structure,
the perambulating melodic lines, and the frequency of "chord-progressions'' with roots
related stepwise rather than at a distance of the fourth or fifth. Only one other composer
(whose name is known) succeeded so well in echoing Urrede's finer nuances - Madrid 192
(CMP, no. 66). Juan Ferndndez de Madrid began singing in the Aragonese court chapel
during 1479. Torre entered the same choir in 1483. Urrede if not still maestro when Torre
joined had at any rate conducted it from 1477-1481. Since CMP contains songs by
fifty composers, none of whom more faithfully imitates Urrede's idiosyncratic style than
Madrid and Torre, his personal influence may well be the explanation.
Torre's two Urrede-influenced songs are his only ones i in perfect time of the less
prolation; 2 in phrygian mode; 3 with successive melodic phrases beginning at
asymmetrical rhythmic moments; 4 showing many chord-"chains" built over roots
related stepwise rather than in the IV-I and V-I relationships.
As for the modality of his other pieces, he never uses the mixolydian. In his one song
ending on F (no. 444) he specifies a "key-signature" of one flat in the tenor and allows
only B|?'s in the lower contra. Eight of his pieces end on D, the italicized numerals in the
following list showing those which cany Bb in the "signature" of the contra but nothing
in the upper voices: CMP, nos. n, 32, 42, 137, 140, 321, 331, 420. His Peligroso pensa-
miento (no. 43) ends on G but cannot be classed as mixolydian because B|? appears as a
"signature" in all three voices. The modality of Pascua d'Esplritu Santo (CMP, no. 136)
- a romance commemorating the capture of Ronda in 1485 - is left in doubt, Eb entering
the "signature" of the contra and Bb that of the tenor, but the treble lacking any flat.
For his meter, he usually prefers duple, not triple. The "time-signature" is, for instance,
( in each of the following eleven songs: CMP, nos. 32, 42, 43, 136, 137, 140, 150, 262,
331, 420, 444 (contra I).
His own personal style is best studied in the four songs which appear both in the Sego
via and Palacio cancioneros. His sober piety sounds forth in the first of these, the three-
voiced Damos gracias a ti Dios (CMP, no. 32; CMS, no. 171) written in thanks to God
192 Le6n's Ay, que non s<! rremediarme (no. 37) bears some "Urrede" touches. The anonymous Quien
vevir Kbre desea (no. 64) also shows some likenesses.
During the Reigns of Ferdinand and Isabella 283
and the Virgin for Ferdinand's successes against the Moors. The second, Justa fue mi
perdition (CMP, no. 42; CMS, no. 164), excites added interest because its verses were
written by the famous poet, Jorge Manrique. Peligroso pensamiento (CMP, no. 43;
CMS, no. 172), like the Manrique item, is a lover's plaint. Adordmoste Senor (CMP, no.
420; CMS, no. 188) is one of his two fine homophonous laude for men's voices.
His musical personality shows such distinctive facets as the following:
I. Though like Leon, Moxica, and Madrid, he obviously counts consonances from the
tenor he is on the other hand rather given in his longer canciones to writing chains of
parallel tenths between the outer voices. This habit is well illustrated in Justa fue mi
perdifidn at mm. 45-51 where 18 successive tenths ride the parallel rails of outer voices
and in Peligroso pensamiento at mm. 42-46 where 10 succeed. As for chains of thirds
between tenor and treble, they are to be found also. The first 20 measures of Pues que
todo are given up to nothing but parallel thirds between the two top voices.
II. In his canciones Torre when writing "chord-progressions" that would nowadays be
labelled V-I always assigns the root of the "dominant" chord to his lowest voice. Not
infrequently, however, he lets the low contra voice drop out in the "chord of resolution."
Examples are to be seen at CMP, no. 32, mm. 15-16; no. 42, mm. 9-10 and mm. 66-67;
no. 48, mm. 4-5 and m. 131-2; no. 62, m. 21-2, mm. 6-7, and mm. 14-15. This dropping
out of the contra on "chords of resolution" contrasts with native Spanish custom during
our epoch and is probably to be ascribed to the influence of the foreigner, Urrede. In his
romances he is on the other hand echt Spanier and never lets the contra drop out of
"resolving" chords.
III. In his canciones he sometimes bodily transfers a cadential passage from one song
into another. For an example, mm. 55-60 at the end of the "B" section in Damos
gracias exactly duplicate, note-for-note (all three voices), mm. 76-82 at the end of the
"B" section in Justa fue - the only difference being that in this latter song he adds a
fourth voice, to the already existing three. For another example, mm. 16-19 of La V**
tengo come very close to being the same as mm. 183-21 of qudn dul$e. When the re
semblances are not absolutely literal, they are often so close that the music of one song
"rhymes" with that of another.
IV. In his canciones (except the phrygian ones) he seems to use the upward melodic
skip of a fourth at least as frequently as that of a third. In his alia instrumental dance he
uses it much more frequently (CMP, no. 321). In the treble of this latter he writes 15
upward skips of a fourth (within phrases), but only 8 of a third. All 15 upward leaps of a
fourth begin in the treble on "accented" minims (= accented quavers in transcription).
But with the upward fourth he reaches the limit of the treble skips which he will allow.
Not one of his 15 pieces (including aUa) shows an upward treble skip of a fifth. One
instance, and one only, of a descending fifth is to be found in the treble of La que tengo
(CMP, no. 48, m. 2).
284 Secular Polyphony
V. None of his pieces starts with imitation. Indeed he resorts to imitation only once in
his entire secular repertory. That he avoids it, except once in the middle of what is by all
odds the longest and most ambitious of his songs (Justa fue mi perdition, mm. 23-26),
should not be wondered at, however. Urrede, learned as he must have been to gain Ra
mos's esteem, similarly slighted it. De vos i de mi (no. 17) and Muy triste sera mi vida
(no. 23) do it is true show spurts of imitation in mid-course. But Urrede never stayed
with any point beyond a few head-notes, even then bringing the imitation in so un
obtrusively that the eye rather than the ear must catch it.
Juan Ponce
THE FEW external biographical facts thus far discovered (see pp. 184-186) agreeably
harmonize with the internal evidence in Ponce's dozen songs. Whereas all 15 of Torre's
songs belonged to the original collection, only one of Ponce's was copied by the first
scribe: Ave color vini clari (CMP, no. 159), this being the rollicking Latin student song
which is the only such specimen in Palacio. Ponce's connections with the Sicilian human
ist, Marineo (who taught at Salamanca from 1484-1496), make 1495 a likely date for this
particular song. 193 Aside from its Latin, it also enjoys distinction among CMP pieces by
reason of being durchkomponiert. He seeks formal symmetry: (i) by repeating the music
(not the words) of mm. 13-17 at mm. 71-75; (2) by prefacing each "full" passage with
a short section in which the upper and lower pair of voices answer each other.
Among the Ponce songs which were later added to the manuscript Frangia, cuenta tu
gananfia (no. 443) alludes to events of the year 1521 in the revised lyrics. Quite aside
from this late date there are other reasons for assuming that he was somewhat younger
than Encina. He for instance reset Encina's poem Para verme (no. 175) although it had
already been twice put to music. Torre de la nina (no, 341) had been once set. Quite
possibly La mi sola (no. 343) had already been set too: or at any rate, the manuscript
shows the telltale rubric "Alias" beneath the title. Both nos. 175 and 341 are more
advanced, musically speaking, than the alternate settings of these lyrics in CMP.
Ponce's style reveals itself as more "advanced" in several ways. He for example
brings his tenor to rest, at least occasionally, on some other note in the last chord than
the fifth or octave. In both Todo mi bien (no. 156) and Como estd sola (no. 328) the tenor
violates previous custom by ending on a written G#. At their closes all the other com
posers thus far studied permitted thirds of final chords to invade only the treble or
contra I part. Ponce's break with tradition means that in at least these two cases he can
no longer have been thinking of the tenor as governor of the mode. In Para verme (no.
175) he obviously was thinking of it as a mere filler. This particular four-part song is
written in the form of a mirror-canon between outer voices. The tenor in such a case
could not have been conceived separately, much less previously. As for the labelling of
parts, it is perhaps significant that the lowest voice not only in Para verme but in several
other Ponce songs is no longer called "contra."
* 93 See above, p. 185.
During the Reigns of Ferdinand and Isabella 285
He also looks to the future in Como estd sola, a four-voiced song which in the manu
script is subtitled "Lamentation," 194 when he varies the music for the second strophe.
The lyrics comprise a pair of quatrains rhyming abab cdcd. Those other CMP composers
thus far encountered were always in such a case content to write a musical setting for no
more than the first strophe, letting it do duty for the second. Ponce, although using
much the same music for his second quatrain shows that he belongs to an already more
sophisticated generation by making certain small changes. He for instance omits the
bass anticipation found in m. 13 from the bar in which it should occur during the second
quatrain. What is more, three bars in the first strophe (mm. 15-17) fail to reappear at
their expected place in the second. To compensate perhaps for this omission he adds to
the closing cadence in the second strophe a coda of four bars' length during which he
swiftly "modulates" from the G Major chord to the E Major.
The other CMP composers thus far studied tended to ignore devices of an especially
ingenious or recondite sort. But Ponce in his La mi sola, Laureola took advantage of the
first four syllables to write a solmization that looks extremely ingenious on paper and
in a small way is as contrived as Scenes mignonnes sur quatre notes with its Lettres
dansantes. Only one other late composer in CMP, the anonymous who wrote the "ca
nonic" A los banos dell amor (no. 149), showed any like-minded interest in using syllables
of the Spanish language (Sola m'ire sol la mi re) to determine the contour of a musical
line. 195
Other Composers in CMP
A FRIAR named Francisco de Ajofrin served temporarily as a singer in Toledo Cathedral
during 1499 19e and may possibly have been the composer of the hypophrygian lover's
lament a 3, For serviros, triste yo (no. 355). The several fourths occurring between treble
and tenor (mm. 13-15) suggest that Ajofrin, whoever he was, cannot have belonged to
the eldest generation of CMP composers.
Pedro Juan Aldomar, a Catalonian, was appointed chapelmaster in Barcelona
Cathedral on January 19, 1506. On March I, 1508, he was enrolled as a singer in the
court choir of Ferdinand d CatdUco^ 1 Three songs, each a 3, enter CMP at nos. 89, 252,
297. The first Ha t Pelayo, que desmayo is the best and was still sufficiently popular a half-
century later for a printed arrangement a 4 to be included in the Cancionero de Upsala
(Venice, 1556). Both Aldomar's original a 3 and the Upsala arrangement a 4 breathe a
freshness and charm that are wholly delightf ul, A smitten swain sighs after the mountains
where he saw a beauty in the first of the other CMP songs, and the poet advises a swain
who wishes not to be forgotten in the other.
1*4 other CMP songs with subtitles ; O aUo bien: [Osequia], no. 124 ; Quien tal drbol [E*decka\, no. 187.
"5 Alonso in Sol solgigiabc (no. 63) brings each refrain to a close with a downward scale, sung to the
syllables la so fa mi re *tf. But on the snrfoce at least these are only nonsense syllables. The context suggests
Barbieri, op. tit., p, 19.
DML, 1, 40.
286 Secular Polyphony
Three songs, one of which (Gaeta nos es subjeta, no. 423) is dated 1504, survive from
Juan Almorox (see above at p. 164). All start in fast triple meter and shift into duple at
the coplas. Both nos. 200 and 211 voice the usual lover's woes.
IN CMP, eleven songs are ascribed to "Alonso," a name that may be either a first or a
last. Songs by at least four composers whose first name was "Alonso" - Alva, C6rdoba,
Mondejar, and Toro - appear in Palacio. Whether any of these four, or still another,
wrote any or all of the eleven songs ascribed merely to "Alonso" remains a matter of
conjecture. -
One of Alonso's songs, Nina, erguUeme los ojos (no. 403), appears twice elsewhere in
CMP, the first time in a setting by Penalosa (no. 72), the second in an anonymous
setting (no. 108). Aside from the fact that Penalosa's arrangement belonged to the
original corpus of the MS, whereas the anonymous's and Alonso's were later additions,
it would still be possible, using stylistic criteria alone, to guess the order in which these
three were written. Penalosa's tenor ends on the root of the final chord, whereas the
anonymous's ends on the fifth, and Alonso's on the third. Penalosa's treble becomes the
tenor of the anonymous's setting with the result that fourths between tenor and treble
suddenly start cropping up. Alonso borrows Penalosa's treble for his own top voice, but
extends it with codettas at the close of both estribillo and coplas. Melodically Alonso
shows daring by writing a skip of a seventh, upwards from an accented beat, in his
tenor (m. 4). If this unheard-of skip is not to be discounted as a copyist's blunder, then he
would be the first composer thus far met in CMP who requires his tenor to leap across any
such chasm. On all other counts, however, his is so charming a setting with its added but
unaffected Vorimitation, its echoing of the Penalosa treble in the new tenor, and its
smooth extension of the cadences, that he at once takes rank as a major CMP composer.
Alonso's texts are not usually so sweet and guileless as this Penalosa one about the
girl whose shy glances rouse the lover's hopes. Several are picaresque to the point of
brutality. One is about a fool who is cuckolded (no. 387), another infers that a girl is mad
if she does not accept the advances of a rich abbot (no. 213), another is a drunkard's
song in a frequently incomprehensible jargon (no. 247) , 198 another advises each and all
to seek pleasure and let the devil take the hindmost (no. 364), while still another warns
young girls against wandering procuresses (no. 393). It would not be difficult to read a
bawdy meaning into Tir'alld, que non quiero (no. 6).
A musical characteristic common to many of his songs is their divisibility into equal
phrase-lengths. Tir'alld divides as clearly as may be into 3 + 3 + 3+3 ||3 + 3-
Gritos davan (no. 15) separates into 4 + 4 ||4. Tristesa, quien a mi vos (no. 18) breaks
down into 2 + 4 + 4 ([4. La tricotea (no. 247) - his one song without refrain - divides
into 4 + 4 + 4 + 4; 4 + 4 + 4 + 4; only fracturing during mm. 33-52 into more
irregular phrase-lengths. Plaser y gasajo (no. 364) divides into groups of three measures,
195 Concerning La tricotea Sanmartin Barbieri wrote : "I do not understand this gibberish, which appears
to be a drunkard's song" (p. 218, c. i). The nonsense-words "Niqui niqui don" (La tricotea, mm. 35-36) recall
the nonsense phrase at the end of both estribillo and coplas in Icart's Non toches a moi: "nichi nichi nioch."
See above, p. 125.
During the Reigns of Ferdinand and Isabella 287
Pero Gongales (no. 387) into groups of four measures (indeed Alonso in the coplas of this
one condescends to write three successive eight-bar periods that are direct repetitions of
each other), Guardaos d'estas pitofleras (no. 393) as obviously as possible into 6 + 6 ||
6 + 6. In his only religious excursion - Virgen dina y muy fermosa (no. 430) - he still
exhibits the same passion for phrase-symmetry (dividing the phrases: 4 + 4 + 4
[i] ||4 + 4). None of the previously studied CMP composers showed any such pre
dilection for phrase-length symmetry. Instead, they deliberately eschewed such obvious
phrase-balancing. 199
OF THE VARIOUS composers in Palacio with Alonso for a first name, the most famous on
other counts was Alonso de Alva (see pp. 164-167 above). Only one song enters Palacio,
however, his setting a 3 of No me le digdis mal (CMP, no. 391) 20 - unless we are also to
credit him with some or all of the pieces ascribed to "Alonso." Alva's one song is not
distinctive enough to warrant any crucial analogies. For what they are worth the
following likenesses can be drawn. Alva's song is in mixolydian and the tenor closes on
the root, just as in Alonso's Guardaos (no. 393). Alva's song was a late addition to the
manuscript, and so also were five or six of Alonso's (nos. 6, 15, 63 ?, 213, 364, 403). Alva's
song divides into 6 + 6 [+ i] || 3 + 3, a scheme similar to that found in Tir 'olid, the
Alva and Tir' alia being also alike in their fast triple meter. Alva's lyrics are placed in the
mouth of a young girl. She sings the praises of a handsome friar to her mother. But in
the last three strophes (omitted from the critical edition) she admits that her delightful
friar, though he dissimulates with grave gestures when he first comes in off the street,
soon enough begins to unfrock. Alva's lyrics therefore cast unfavorable light on the
clergy just as do Alonso's on the ogling abbot (no. 213). Alva's text, if not already
folkish property when he composed the music, had become so by 1577. In that year
Salinas used the lyrics, No me digays madre mal del padre fray Antonym still set in triple
meter but apparently to a different tune from that found either in Alva's treble or tenor,
in illustration of a dance-measure which he said was then popular in Portugal under the
JUAN DE ANCHIETA'S biography and sacred works are treated of at pp. 127-144. His
romance En memoria d'Alixandre is shown as an example at p. 246. His use of quintuple
meter in two of his four songs (CMP, nos. 177 and 335) is alluded to above at p. 262.
Although Salinas does not seem to have quoted any of the tunes to be found embedded
in the seven quintuple-meter songs which survive in Palacio (nos. 59, 102, 151, 177, 197,
335, and 426) he does, however, print the music of two other quintuple-meter Spanish
songs. Concerning the first of these he writes ex cantilena quadam Hispanica deswnptum
19 Enema's fast, bawdy songs excepted.
aoo By an error this song is listed as a 4 in MM, V, 31 (item 391).
201 De musica libri septem, p. 309.
202 xbid., p. 308. The author of the article, "Folia/* in Grove's Dictionary, 5th edn., Ill, 182, shows as his
first musical example a melody beginning with the minim note d, from Salinas. The tune is, however, in
correctly transcribed. The first note should be not d but B and the whole line therefore would be read a
third lower.
288 Secular Polyphony
est. The second he similarly declares to have been taken ex cantilena vulgari Hispani-
ca*<& Because he uses both of these folktunes as paradigms to illustrate meter in fives
he witnesses unimpeachably to the important part played by quintuple meter in Spanish
sixteenth-century folkmusic. The presence in CMP of quintuple-meter songs by An-
chieta, Encina, Escobar, and Diego Fernandez, proves that this meter was also liked by
courtly composers - at least at the beginning of the century.
In Encina's, Escobar's and Diego Fernandez's songs, quintuple-meter always implies
fast, muscular motion. Anchieta's quintuple pair must however be taken slower. He
specifies O { instead of merely the f which four of the other quintuple-meter songs in
CMP carry for their mensuration sign.
EIGHT SONGS attributed to "Badajoz" enter CMP. In addition, three poems and a
villancico pair ascribed to "Badajoz el miisico" survive in the best-known literary
miscellany of the epoch, Hernando del Castillo's Cancion&ro general (1511)- The first of
these three poems is a verse-letter written his lady-love from Genoa. 205 If he does not
tell how much else of Italy he has seen he does complain that he has been long anxiously
waiting in Genoa for some messenger to carry his letter. "I tell you that my songs and
rny instrumental music are so many bitter laments distilling the anxieties of my
seething soul," one strophe reads. After the accession of Joao III in 1521 Badajoz served
as a chamber musician at the Portuguese court. 206
Both Badajoz el nnisico and Garci Sdnchez de Badajoz were, then, musician-poets.
The two cannot be identified as the same person, however: the reason being that the
careful indexer in the 1520 edition of the Cancionero general lists them as two separate
individuals and ostentatiously distinguishes between the poetry of each. 207
The disappointed lover's world is the sole orbit within which Badajoz revolves in his
CMP songs. The most distinctive musically are precisely those cast in the old closed
canci6n mould rather than in the new open mould of the villancico which Encina
popularized during the i4Qo's. Both Poco a poco (no. 53) and Malos adalides (no. 57) call
for three low voices. The contra of the latter descends to the bottom note in Palacio, DI.
This contra is not underlaid with text. desdichado de mi (no. 49) is also quite obviously
for men's voices alone. In contrast, however, with the preceding, each of the three voice-
parts is underlaid with text. desdichado shows his f acture at its finest. Patiently and
skilfully he threads the openings of each successive phrase with imitation through all
three voice-strands. Each is moreover threaded from its first stitch in a "key-area"
different from the one sewn at the closing cadence of the preceding phrase. Though it be
anachronistic to use the term, still a keen and well-developed "harmonic sense" seems to
have been one of Badajoz's most telling assets.
203 De musica libri septem, p. 272. 204 Ibid., p. 273.
205 Hernando del Castillo, Cancionero general nueuamente aftadido (Toledo: Juan de Villaquiran, 1520),
fol. CLVIII verso, c. 2. In addition to Badajoz el musico's poetry at fols. I58v.-i6o, this cancionero contains
a villancico by hitp at fol. I23V., c. 2, entitled Amores tristes criteles.
806 Barbieri, p. 24: "Badajoz." According to Silva (see note 188 above) the title should not however
read as Barbieri gave it.
207 Castillo, op. cit., unnumbered page immediately preceding fol. i. Gard Sanchez de Badajoz is listed in
c. 2 (line 7) and Badajoz el musico in c. 3 (line 28).
During the Reigns of Ferdinand and Isabella 289
This ability may in turn have been nourished by his constant practice on his instru
ment. His verse-letter from Genoa mentions not only his canciones but also his musica
acordada. Testimony to his playing skill can also be taken from Garcia de Resende's
Miscellania, a Portuguese poem written about I532. 208 After lauding a nameless blind
player que gram saber nos orgaos, Resende next praises those others who play super
latively well: Baena and Badajoz. 209
LOPE DE BAENA, the most famous among a clan of musicians, 210 was inscribed as a
vihuela-player at Queen Isabella's court on May 30, 1493. In 1498 he, Rodrigo Brihuega,
and Duran received payment from Castile funds for their joint services as court organ
ists. Baena - still a court organist when she died in November of 1504 - made one of the
official mourning troupe which followed her body from Medina del Campo to the royal
tomb at Granada. He was perhaps still alive in 1508 when Fray Francisco de Avila
lauded him as a "very knowing vihuela-player, one of the best . . . and an excellent
composer/' 211 Interestingly enough, he and Badajoz - whom the Portuguese Garcia de
Resende praised in the same breath - wrote the only two Palacio pieces in which the
contra touches low DI. Baena's contra in Todo quanta yo servi (CMP, no. 287), like
Badajoz's in desdichado, lacks a text. For that matter even his top part goes textless.
All Baena's pieces are a 3. The old-fashioned contra skip of an octave intrudes in two
of these at final cadences. In such a passage as mm. 13-15 of Que desgraciada sagala
(no. 161) he carries his contra above his tenor in preference to writing a chain of parallel
fourths between tenor and treble. Once he forces the tenor to leap an awkward ascending
seventh (no. 172, m. 3), to avoid parallel unisons. Written accidentals at the end of the
coplas in no. 172 and at the close of the estribillo in no. 287 engender compulsory cross-
relations with the immediately succeeding chords. Two of his songs are cast in the
Phrygian (nos. 161 and 433) and one in the hypophrygian (no. 172). The percentage of
Baena's deuterus examples is therefore unusually high. Three of his songs match
religious lyrics (nos. 160, 394, and 409). All seven of his CMP pieces start with an initial
refrain. More often than not he uses a spillover rhyme-scheme.
Bernaldino de Brihuega was keeper of Queen Isabella's organs and davicordios in
I489- 212 He or some other Brihuega composed CMP, nos. 69 and 222, the first of which
is a triple-meter setting of a pastoral dialogue ("She left Sunday to tend her flocks, but
is returning"), the second a lover's lament ("How shall I live without you?").
Giovanni Brocco, Veronese composer of the frottola a 4, lo mi uoglio lamentare
(CMP, no. 435 ; see above, p. 250) is the least known foreign composer in Palacio.
Antonio de Contreras, enrolled in Ferdinand V's chapel on August I, 1485, as
chaplain and singer, 213 shows affinities with the older generation of Torre in both his
208 Garcia de Resende, Chronica dos valerosos e insignes feitos del Key Dom loao II (Lisbon : Antonio Alua-
rez, 1622 [first edn. Lisbon, 1545, entitled Lyuro das obras . . .]), fols. ijav.-iys. This poet's chronological
survey stops at the year 1531.
209 ibid., fol. 164, c. i, lines 7-8. Antonio de Cabez6n may have been the blind player.
210 DML, I, 159. The first names of two others in the Baena family were Alonso and Bernaldino.
211 Barbieri, p. 24: "Baena/*
212 Ibid., p. 25.
213 DML, I, 576.
2go Secular Polyphony
CMP songs, Triste estd la Reyna (no. 148) and Que mayor desaventura (no. 332). The first
is a romance a 4 teUing the sadness of a lonely and bereft queen. Among the typical
romance-traits are the anapest openings set to repeated-note chords at each of the four
phrase-incises, the fermatas over each of the four cadential chords and the simple
homophony. His tenor, in long notes, looks like a cantus finnus. The lyrics of the second
(a cancion of the closed type) were written by a mid-century courtly poet, the Viscount
of Altamira.
Alonso de Cordoba, a composer whose biography remains for exploration, contributed
two sharply contrasting songs to CMP, one being a setting of the solemn Sibylline
prophecy sung in Spanish churches on Christmas eve (Juisio fuerte serd dado, no. 374) 21 *
and the other a humorous one about a bumpkin who leaves his flock, visits the nearby
town, and comes home battered (Miedo m'e de Chiromiro, no. 346). His songs are too
few and too brief to justify a final judgment, but it could be guessed that he was some
what older than Encina. Both of his pieces belonged to the original corpus of the
manuscript.
Cornago, already discussed at pp. 121-124 and 218-225, is represented in CMP by
Pues que Dios (no. 2) and Gentil dama (no. 38). He thus stands between Urrede and
Madrid in the original manuscript, a fact which accords well with the historical sequence
in which these three probably belong.
Enrique - represented in CMP by two songs, Pues con sobra de tristura (no. 16) and
Mi querer tanto vos quiere (no. 29) - is discussed above at pp. 231-232. Juan de Espinosa's
biography is summarized at pp. 92-93. Diego de Fermoselle, Juan del Enema's elder
brother, is alluded to at pp. 132 and 253-254.
DIEGO FERNANDEZ'S identity has been disputed. In 1895 and again in 1918 Mitjana
brought forward data showing that a composer of this name was appointed chapel-
master of Malaga Cathedral on August n, 1507, and occupied the post until the middle
of 1551 - a period of forty-four years. 215 After reading the capitular acts covering this
long interval Mitjana announced that another Andalusian capital - Cordova (ninety
miles north of Mdlaga) - was Fernandez's home. His mother's maiden name was proba
bly IxSpez, the evidence being the fact that Fernandez's brother used L6pez, for a last
name. Fernandez's immediate predecessor at Malaga, one Juan de Valdolivas, acted
as master of the boy choristers from the close of 1499 until 1507. To the upbringing of
the boys the cathedral chapter added the duties of the succentorship during Fernandez's
first two years in Mdlaga. Towards the end of 1509 Juan de Le6n became sochantre in
Fernandez's stead. In the same year Encina became archdeacon of Malaga.
On August 18, 1512, Fernandez's brother, Fernando Lopez, became cathedral
organist As a matter of cathedral bookkeeping this brother was in 1513 allowed to draw
chapelmaster's pay, Fernandez meantime receiving the salary of a cathedral chaplain.
*** Another transcription in Angles, La mfaica a Catalunya fins al segle XIII, opposite p. 298.
215 Mitjana, "Nuevas notas al 'Cancionero musical de Jos siglos XV y XVI* publicado por el Maestro
Barbieri," Rev. de fil. esp., April- June, 1918, p. 125. The 1895 discoveries were printed in Mitjana's pamphlet,
Sobre Juan del Encina, and later reprinted in Estudios sobre algunos m&sicos . . . (Madrid, 1918), pp. 32-36.
During the Reigns of Ferdinand and Isabella 291
Not until 1519 was the titular post of cathedral organist created. Although the act of
May 27, 1513, naming Fernandez to a prebend required him to sing the whole Office, the
chapter on January 4, 1516, relieved him of so much of this obligation as pertained to
vespers and compline, on condition that he diligently teach the choirboys harmony and
counterpoint. This obligation was reimposed in acts dated January 5, 1519, and
January 27, 1524. When on January 9, 1523, he applied for leave of absence to visit his
home the chapter voted that such leave could not be granted until a competent substi
tute teacher had been secured. The same condition governed when he asked leave to
visit the court on private business during I525. 216
In 1528 he and the dean of the cathedral clashed during a Corpus Christi procession.
Fernandez, wishing to stop at the door of a rich Genoese merchant residing in Malaga
and to conduct his choristers in the singing of a specially prepared motet, was prevented
by the dean from making any such gesture. Injured by the dean's order, financially as
well as socially, Ferndndez complained to the chapter. Justice was evidently on his side,
for the chapter heavily fined the dean. Though he appealed the case, higher diocesan
authority sitting on the case did no more than to reduce his heavy fine.
By 1535 Fernandez had so lost his vigor (the cathedral act specifically mentions his
"advanced age and sicknesses") that he was allowed to stop giving the choirboys their
daily lesson in harmony and counterpoint and instead to engage a deputy. He was not
so old in 1537 however that the chapter would allow him respite from his duty of com
posing Christmas music. On December 7, 1537, having heard that he planned to
rehearse his choir in only six new chanzonetas instead of the customary nine, the ca
thedral chapter ordered him to proceed with the usual nine. 217 He died in 1551, probably
during the forepart of August. Announcement of a competition to fill the vacancy left
by his death was made by the cathedral chapter on August 18. The post was filled on
November 27 following by no less eminent a successor than Crist6bal de Morales.
Angles rejects Mitj ana's attempt to equate this Diego Fernandez with the composer
of the two songs in CMP, Tres moricas m'enamoran (no. 25) and De ser mal casada (no.
197), the first of which is an arrangement a 3 of a previously existing villancico and the
second a nervous quintuple-meter song a ^. 218 He contends that the Mdlaga candidate
is too late a person for CMP. On the other hand if the Mdlaga chapelmaster was quite
old in 1535 he could easily have been born in 1470. Even Encina was born only one year
earlier.
The first of Fernandez's songs charmingly describes three Moorish maidens from Ja&x
who have stolen the poet's heart. Axa, Fdtima, and Marien when they draw water at the
fountain are even "prettier than any girls from Toledo." The poet swears by the "Koran
in which you three believe" that they have collectively thrown him into a lover's frenzy.
They courteously reply, "Sir, though your lineage and honor are in high repute, yet to
have three lady loves is to have none at all; one man for each maid is what Axa, FAtima,
2i Mitjana, "Nuevas notas," p. 126, adds that the cabildo at first wished to stop his salary while he
attended the court but later thought better of the idea and paid him 987 ruttes.
217 Ibid., p. 126. Another evidence of deterioration in his last years is the notice of December 2, 154**
showing that the cathedral on that date owned practically no polyphonic music books.
*i DML, I. 889, c. 2.
292 Secular Polyphony
and Marien desire." This sophisticated poem, except for its short refrain, pursues a
different course from the lyrics set by some anonymous composer on the upper half of
the same manuscript page. The music of the anonymous Tres morillas m'enamoran, on
the other hand, sufficiently resembles Fernandez's Tres moricas m'enamoran. The
treble, except at cadences, is indeed identical. As for differences, the anonymous's
"harmonization" is simpler, the spondaic rhythm of the treble reaching downward into
the lower voices as well. In the anonymous setting only one crotchet is to be found
intruded anywhere into the steady procession of semibreves and minims (tenor, m. 13)
as against fifteen such crotchets in Fernandez's arrangement. The closing chords differ;
anonymous ends over E, Fernandez over C.
By a stroke of fortune these two CMP items mentioning Axa, Fitima, and Marien
have aroused more literary interest than any other pieces in the whole of Palacio. Julidn
Ribera (1858-1934), the great Arabist, fastened especially on the anonymous version as
a prime example of Moorish song. 219 In truth, however, neither harmony nor melody of
CMP, no. 24, differs in any crucial sense from that found in scores of other CMP items.
The anonymous's "harmonization" though simple is neither novel nor singular. If one
concentrates only on the treble melody, its intervals in both the anonymous setting (no.
24) and in Fernandez's alio modo (no. 25) must also be conceded to be utterly common
place - an upward fourth, downward second, two successive downward thirds, followed
by stepwise motion upward. As for the contour of the melody, one may call it "Arabian"
or not, as he pleases - there being no certified Arabian melodies with which to compare
it. But if the shape of the melody is called "Arabian" then Felix Mendelssohn's Andante
con moto in his Italian Symphony also contains an "Arabian" melody, its opening phrase
being a close "transcript" of the treble melody in Tres morillas m'enamoran.
THE INITIALS "P.F." standing at the head of Cucu, cucu, cucucu (CMP, no. 101) have
been taken by both editors of PaLacio, Barbieri 22 and Angles, 221 to stand for Pedro
Fernandez. P.F/s cuckoo-song strongly resembles Encina's (CMP, no. 94). As for the
lyrics, the opening estribillo in both songs is identical. The coplas differ: but develop the
same idea, namely, that husbands should stand guard against cuckoldry. Each song
opens with a cuckoo-call in one part which is immediately taken up in a point of imi
tation by the other three voices. Encina's setting starts in duple but changes to triple
meter. P.F.'s version adheres throughout to jaunty triple meter.
Giacomo Fogliano, one of the more prolific frottolists, is known to have composed
L'amor donna cKio ti porto (CMP, no. 91) - an anonymous item in Petrucci's Frottole
Libro septimo (f ol. 20) - from a concordance at the Bibliothque Nationale in MS R6s.
Vm 7 676 at fols. iiov.-iu.
21 * For a sympathetic discussion of this great Arabist's musical adventures see Miguel Asfn Palacios,
"La musica arabe ..." (in Ribera y Tarrag6, Disertaciones y optisculos [Madrid: Estanislao Maestre Pozas,
1928], Vol. i, pp. LXXXVII-CIII). The part Las tres morillas (CMP, no. 24) played in setting Ribera off
on his spirited chase of medieval Moorish music is mentioned at p. XCII.
220 Barbieri, p. 40.
221 MME, V, 126. Mitjana suggested that "P.F." might equal Pedro Fernandez de Castilleja in "Nuevas
notas," p. 129.
During the Reigns of Ferdinand and Isabella 293
GARCIMUNOZ (= Garcia Munoz) composed the longest piece of music in the Palace
Songbook, Una montana pasando (no. 154). Its nearest competiter is Millan's Sen ana
del bel mirar (no. 71). Both pretend to be autobiographic tales told by a traveller who
has journeyed through the mountains. In Millan's piece the wayfarer has encountered a
pretty maid who sings him two sad ditties. In Garcimufioz's, the traveller meets two
mountain maids instead of one. Each sings him a single forlorn ditty. Insofar as text is
concerned, then, the Millan and Garcimufioz items not only treat similar subjects but
also resemble each other structurally. In each, the lyrics "frame" two sad ditties sung by
mountain maids. Millan's entire piece is in triple meter, but Garcimufioz dramatizes the
moment when each maid begins singing her ditty by shifting from duple to triple meter
(mm. 17 and 80). Though he stays consistently in F Major throughout (signature of one
flat in every voice) Garcimunoz pleasantly varies his cadences so that phrases will close
with every triad except the leading-tone and supertonic. Aside from F-chords (19
times), his most frequent ending-chords are built on C (7 times). It cannot be merely the
result of chance that neither at the 33 cadences nor anywhere else in this long piece does
an unprepared fourth between tenor and treble obtrude itself. He shows no such qualms
when writing intervals between tenor and altus (see mm. 77-79 for a chain of fourths).
At the very end of the piece he shifts from Spanish into Latin. In fabordon-style his four
voices intone this verse: "How shall we sing a new song in a strange land?" (Ps. 136
[137] .4), drawing out the cadence on their last word like a long plagal Amen.
Garcimufioz's two other songs (CMP, nos. 166 and 389) are villancicos of conventional
length. Both are clearly in major keys: F and C. As in Una montana, he makes gestures
towards imitation in each of these. In Pues bien para esta (no. 389) a girl, the youngest
of four sisters, hears that soldiers are coming to town and jumps for joy. Since her father
is dead she can hope for no better match. In dialogue-fashion her mother begs her to
remember that she is the youngest, and pleads with her not to wreck her future. Finally
the mother promises to find her a husband before the soldiers arrive. This particular
song is one of the choicer in CMP, and has proved invariably effective in performance.
JUAN PEREZ DE Gij6N, composer of two songs in CMP, was also a contributor to CMC.
Compare page 232 above. Josquin des Prez's In te Domine speravi composed while he was
in the service of Ascanio Sforza (cardinal after 1484), 222 appears at fol. 56 in our manu
script with this ascription. " Jusquin dascanjo." A later addition to the MS, this frottola
was copied in such a small blank space that the scribe could not start each of the four
voice-parts on a fresh staff. Reference is made to Pedro Lagarto at pp. 235-236, to Juan
de Le6n at pp. 237-240, and to Juan Fernindez de Madrid at pp. 177-179 and 240-242.
Lope Martines's three-voiced setting of the border ballad, Cavatteros de Alcald (CMP,
no. 100), is his only surviving piece. Though sharing many of the conventional romance-
222 Ascanio Sforza (1455-1505), brother to Ludovico il Moro, duke of Milan, lived sumptuously in Rome
after being created cardinal. Serafino de' Ciminelli (1466-1500), one of the most renowned poets of the epoch,
recorded that Josquin was a fellow-servant in the cardinal's household. See L* Rime di Serafino de* Cimi
nelli da&Aquita, ed. Mario Menghini, vol. I (Bologna: Romagnoli-dalTAcqua, 1894), pp. 34-3^. Serafino's
sonnet to Josquin (p. 112) should also be read. This poet was himself trained for music as a profession, and
was therefore an apt critic.
294 Secular Polyphony
traits, his setting is distinguished by a larger use of "incomplete" changing-notes, eight
to be precise, than is to be found customarily in CMP romances. Mention was made of
Fernand Perez de Medina above at pp. 180-183. Six villancicos by Jacobus de Milarte
survive (CMP, nos. 210, 264, 266, 268, 360, and 398), half a 4 and the rest a 3. One of
these, A sombra de mis cabdlos (no. 360), is an arrangement a 4 of Gabriel's three-voiced
villancico of the same name (no. 132). Milarte skilfully weaves the Vonmitation back
into his added lowest part. For stylistic reasons, Angles's guess that he was a peninsular
composer 223 seems likelier than Barbieri's that he was a Fleming. 224 "Milarte" does of
cf course resemble "Maillart." Pedro Maillart, as Barbieri observed, was a canon of
Cambrai and later a singer in Philip II's choir. Moxica, a contributor to both CMC and
CMP is referred to at pp. 242-243.
Alonso de Mondejar's eleven villancicos (all exhibiting spillover rhyme-schemes)
enter CMP at nos. 134, 164, 230, 237, 256, 261, 280, 294, 299, 349, and 373. At least ten,
and perhaps also the eleventh (no. 237), were added to the original corpus of Palacio by
some later hand. All are in duple meter throughout. Ten are for three voices, the last
(no. 373) being the only one a 4. None is in dorian; five end with G-chords, three with
F-chords (Bb in the signature), and two with C-chords. One of those ending on C, Mios
fueron, mi cor agon (no. 294), is Mond6jar's arrangement for three unchanged voices of the
Millan song bearing the same name (no. 185) for three mixed voices. His sole four-
voiced exemplar, Oyan todos mi tormento (no. 373) starts as if it were to be a psalm
instead of a villancico. The last line mentions the Ne recorderis sung at matins in the
Office of the Dead. But the theme is the gallant's "death" because of his mistress's
hardheartedness - and not any sacred subject. 225
Robert Morton's cancion to lyrics by Monsalve, Pues servipio vos desplase (CMP, no. 27) ,
is his, only in respect of the tenor and outer voices. The clumsy fourth voice was added
in the MS by a later hand. Francisco de Penalosa's contributions to CMP are listed
above at pp. 152-153. Antonio de Ribera, alluded to above at p. 189, is represented by
two items - a rigidly chorda! setting a 4 of Encina's romance For unos puertos arriva
(CMP, no. 107) and a hypophrygian villancico a 3 entitled Nunca yo, senora (no. 192).
This latter vents the suitor's customary sorrows.
J. Rodriguez, contributor to CMC as well as to CMP, is discussed at pp. 243-244
above. Rom4[n]'s first name is not divulged, 226 and his four-voiced piece entitled voy
*** DML % II, 1532.
224 Barbieri, op. cit. t p. 39.
225 Gabriel's setting a 4 of the same text (CMP, no, 401) must be considered earlier than Mondejar's for
the following reasons: (i) Gabriel's is in simple homophony throughout, Mondejar's in imitation at the open
ing of first and second phrases; (2) Monde*jar's is altogether more cursive with its frequent passing notes.
The treble of Oigan todos mi tormento (Horte"nsia cancioneiro, no, 60 [p. 95]), a three-voiced setting, so closely
resembles the treble of Gabriel's a 4 that paraphrase either of Hort&isia or of some other primitive version,
will have to be conceded. Monde"jar's setting however is based on Gabriel's rather than the Hort&nsia anony-
mous's version.
226 Concerning Roma[n] see El Comendador Roman: Coplas de la Pasidn con la Resurrecion, facs. of Toledo
print c. 1490 with introduction by H. Thomas (London: British Museum, 1936), pp. 2-3. Roman's probable
dates: 1430-1500 (p. 4). He was a retainer in the Duke of Alva's household c. 1470 and in about that year
wrote a Glosa suya a una cancion del duque dalua que dize nunca fue pena mayor. This glosa was commissioned
by Dofia Juana, wife of Henry IV of Castile ("the impotent") sometime between 1469 and 1474. The glosa
During the Reigns of Ferdinand and Isabella 295
(no. 358) survives textless in all parts. The temptation to consider it a purely instru
mental item is however weakened by the vocal character of its melodic lines. Since a
bad misprint occurs in the critical edition at m. 18 (contra II), one may hope that the
string of four parallel fifths between treble and contra I at m. 14 is also attributable
either to a scribe's error or an editorial miscalculation, rather than to the composer's
blundering. Salsedo (= Salcedo = Sarzedo), represented by Que bien me lo veo (CMP,
no. 129), was well enough known in Portugal to be called the "fountainhead of singing"
(Sarzedo, Fonte cantar) by Garcia de Resende in his Miscellania. 2 ^ Juan de Sanabria,
mentioned above at p. 193, was a composer of more power and versatility than either
Roman or Salsedo. He contributed an unusual villancico (Mayoral del hato, no. 118)
when he interspersed spoken text before every refrain. For a Palacio piece it again is
unusual in containing a chain of parallel fourths between the tenor and treble. As for
his other villancico (Descuidad d'ese cuidado, no. 377), it also shows a few exceptional
touches. He jumps up from one accented crotchet (his time-value) to another, dissonant
with both tenor and contra (m. 3). An upward octave-skip in minim-motion would be no
rarity in a lower voice, but in his treble it must be classed as such (m. 4).
Sant Juan's grave cancion, El bien qu'estuve esperando (no. 68), throws into relief
an unusual number of "inversions." As a rule, Spanish stylists in both CMC and
CMP preferred root-position chords at all rhythmically emphatic moments, but
Sant Juan at mm. 7, 17, 20, 23, 32, 37, 39, 40, 41, 43, 48, 52, 62, 65, 66, 67,
and 68, chooses the thinner-sounding inverted triad on strong beats. Even when
writing a root-position chord he often thins its sonority by omitting one of the triad-
notes. Through the skilful use of imitation, by overlapping his phrases in the three
voice-parts, and by carefully distributing motion, he obtains a smoother flow than
that running through lover's laments by Encina. Since his closed-form cancion belongs
to the original corpus of CMP, where it interleaves songs by Madrid and Medina
(composers who flourished in the 1480*5), he ought probably to be grouped with them
on external as well as stylistic grounds. Sedano, composer of the young girl's protest
against marrying a rich old man with no teeth (Viejo mala en la mi cama, no. 455), on
the other hand belongs almost certainly in Encina's generation, or even later.
On the two singers named Tordesillas see page 193. Alonso de Toro (nos. 370 and 371)
is one of at least four composers in CMP bearing the first name of "Alonso." The com
poser ambiguously called "Alonso" without any identifying "last" name shares his
bawdy literary tastes. Toro is however the less technically adroit composer. The second
Toro item, Al fedds, purports to be the cry of a sieve-vendor trying to "sell" a lady.
But as with many of its class the language is throughout sexually connotative. The last
four bars of the refrain have an extremely commonplace sound.
proves incidentally that the first Duke of Alva wrote Nunca fu4 pena mayor - a fact that might otherwise
not have been certified. See Roman's glosa in Candonero general nueuamente aitedido (Toledo, 1520), fol.
LXXXV, c. 2.
227 Resende, op. cit., fol. 164, c. i (line 2). The immediately preceding strophe has to do with events of
1499. Sarzedo ( Salsedo} may have served at Queen Lianor's court. There was also at Charles V*s court,
1518-1525, a [Martin de] Salcedo, who was an organist (see A M, X, 94). The three-voiced Que bien me la veo
contains a tenor which is duplicated in the anonymous setting a 4 of the same lyrics (CMP, no. 139).
296 Secular Polyphony
Concerning Triana (CMP, nos. 235 and 243) see above at pp. I95~*99 an d 208-218.
Vox clamantis (no. 105) with lyrics by Serafino dall'Aquila was composed by the
celebrated frottolist, Bartolomeo Tromboncino : Petrucci's being the authority for the
attribution (Frottole Libro tertio, fol. 60) .
If Troya, composer of two sacred songs and one secular (nos. 55, 413, and 187), is right
fully to be identified with the Alfonso de Troya who was a papal singer, I50i-i5i6, 228 he
perhaps wrote his two religious pieces before leaving Spain. One reason would be that both
were included in the original corpus of the manuscript. For another, the first shows
cadential melodic progressions, such as the ascending octave skip in contra or tenor
to avoid consecutive fifths, which do not characterize CMP songs that can be dated
after 1500. Troya's one secular item, Quien tal drbol pone (no. 187), is on the other hand
a later addition to the MS. Significantly, it exhibits the spillover rhyme-scheme popu
larized by Encina, whereas neither of his sacred pair do. Moreover it lacks the archaic
octave-leaps at cadences seen in santa clemens (no. 55 : mm. 10, 15, 39). In the MS, the
subtitle of no. 187 reads Endecha (= dirge).
For references to Johannes Urrede see pp. 203-204 and 225. Concerning Juan de
Valera see pp. 168 and 170. Valera is represented by Ya no quiero aver plaser
(CMP, no. 439) - a hypophrygian villancico a 3 (with several parallel fourths
between tenor and treble) set to lyrics constructed on the Encinianplan. On internal
as well as external grounds he therefore can be grouped with the later CMP com
posers. In chronological order the external facts read as follows. On January 15,
1505, he was appointed maestro in Seville Cathedral in succession to Alva; the choirboys
were placed in his charge; and he was permitted to move into the large house formerly
occupied by Alva, but on condition that he share it with the cathedral stained-glass
window-makers. 229 On April 12, 1507, Fernando de Soils took the choirboys temporarily
in charge. 230 On June 7, 1507, Francisco de Troya was named interim organist at the
rate which had previously been paid Valera. 231 This particular notice suggests that
228 Haberl, Bausteine . . ., Ill, 59-60. Angles suggests in MME, IV, 4, that "Troya" in this case may
refer to the Francisco de Troya who was appointed organist of Seville Cathedral on "July 2, 1507." This
identification must however be studied in the light of the following facts. The notice in the Autos Capitulares,
1505. J5oo*. 1507. 1510. 1523. 1524., mentioning the latter's appointment on June 7, 1507 (fol. 23ov.) reads
as follows: "On this day the chapter placed Francisco de Troya, priest, in charge of the organs of the cathe
dral, both those of the coro as well as those of the Antigua [Chapel] until the chapter can obtain some qualified
person (fasta tanto que el cavildo provea de persona avile pay a ellos), the said Francisco de Troya to be paid
for his services as from June i, and at the salary which was paid Juan Valera." Valera, the Sevillian chapel-
master, had just died.
Further proof that Francisco de Troya was only an inferior temporary substitute is found in the auto dated
June 30, 1507 (fol. 233) appointing "Diego Hernandez" player of the cathedral organs. This act specifically
states that the cathedral lacked a good player (vista la avilidad de diego Hernandez e quanta mengua tiene
esta yglesia de un tanedor). The Juan Bernal whom Angles mentions MME, IV, 4, would moreover have
been not the cathedral organist but rather the organero who repaired and tuned the cathedral organs [A ..,
1505- *5<>6- 1507. 15*0- 1523- 1524*. fol. 252V. (Nov. 10, 1507) and A.C., 1508. 41 v. (July 19, 1508)].
As for Alfonso de Troya's career in Rome, his salary rose from 8 florins a month in February, 1501, to 10
in September, 1507. Leo X made him a papal notary. He died in December, 1516.
239 A.C., 150$. 1506. 1507. JT5I0. 1523. 1524., fol. 88v.
230 lUd., fol. 223.
231 [bid., fol. 23ov. (see note 228 above).
During the Reigns of Ferdinand and Isabella 297
Valera had served not only as choirmaster but also as organist. On May 15, 1508, the
cathedral acts refer to him as several months dead. 232 That he died prematurely is cer
tain. He could not have been hired in one year if he were so old that his death was
expected the second year following. His one villancico is unfortunately all that survives.
Copied in as a later addition to the MS, it shows a glaring scribal error. The tenor
should have moved from e to f on the final beat of m. 3 rather than on the first of m. 4.
Vilches, the last of those CMP composers whose names have been recovered, is repre
sented by a four-voiced villancico, Ya cantan los gallos (no. 155). The tenor is quite
evidently borrowed. Not only does it proceed in longer values, but also it recurs in the
Hortensia cancioneiro with new outer voices. Vilches's three added voices are infinitely
finer, however, than the two added in HortSnsia. They are more lithe and supple, they
fill their chords more completely, and each line taken alone is independently interesting.
The estribillo-text in Hortgnsia closely enough resembles Palacio. But the coplas of the
CM H version do not match those in CMP. As is so often the case when literary variants
are studied, the Palacio version seems the more polished and graceful from every
vantage. In the CMH lyrics the maid urges her lover to arise because the cocks are crow
ing. In the CMP expanded version he replies that he welcomes death in her arms. In the
third strophe she urges him not to expose himself to peril. In the fourth he counters that
death in her arms is victory indeed. In the fifth and last she reminds him that she too is
endangered. Just as a mere scene in CMH flowers into a miniature drama in CMP, so
also the rather colorless CMH musical setting grows under Vilches's tending into a
1 "trellised garland of morning-glories/'
Anonymous Spanish Songs in the Palace Songbook
APPROXIMATELY 178 of the 458 items in CMP refuse to yield the identity of their com
posers, either directly or from concordances. Properly to study these anonymous pieces
it would be necessary to begin by drawing up a melodic index of at least all the trebles
and tenors in Palacio , 233 Just as it was unexpectedly discovered that Millan's repertory
includes two songs with identical music though set to different lyrics, and another two
with opposing lyrics but with music that differs by the mere addition of a second contra
together with some rhythmic adjustments in the first phrase - discoveries not ap
parently made by any editors of this songbook - so it seems likely that a painstaking
survey of the anonymous items might disclose other similarly unsuspected doublets.
Already it is known, for instance, that after its time-values were reduced by one-half,
the monodic Reyna y Madre de Dios (no. 19) was requisitioned by some other anony-
232 A.C., 1508, foh 30. . .
233 The tenors axe especially important, since it is in this voice that borrowed material is usually to be
found The negative results which Marius Schneider announced after searching CMP for traces of folksong
influence would not have seemed so conclusive had he taken account of tenors as well as trebles. See < Exis-
ten elementos de musica popular en el 'Cancionero Musical de Palacio' ?" in Anuario Musical. VIII (1953),
pp. 177-192.
Secular Polyphony
Que me quereys [el] cauallero
Salinas, De musica libri septem (1577), p. 325*
J J J J J.
J J J j J J J.
Que me que-reys el co-ua lie TO Co sa da me say, ma-ri do ten 30
CMP, no. 198 ** Anonymous
jQueme que reis, ca-faa He no? .. . .
Que mas gUa mi y> lo quie ro;. Ca-aa dasoy, ma ri-
S
i
*W
^
ff
^
^
-* ^r
r
-do ten
go.
Cd-
Cbn
Bien
5a
u
da
ca
My ya
-ba lie PO
bien
mi gna
mqy hon-rra.-
cri a
-do
do,
-do.
[D.C]
* What axe you seeking, Sir Knight? I am married; I have a husband.
** What are you seeking, Sir Knight? I am married; I have a husband. I am worthily matched with an
honorable gentleman, good-looking and well-bred. What is more, I love him.
mous composer to serve as the treble of the secular villancico which closely follows, Yo
con vos, senora (no. 21).
A melodic index will also expedite the search for concordances with f olktunes quoted
by Salinas. At present the best that can be done is to search CMP and Salinas for items
with identical titles. The anonymous Que me quereis, caballero (CMP, no. 198) is found
after comparison to show affinities with Salinas's Que me quereys el cauallero (De musica
libri septem, p. 325) not only textually, but musically as well. The tenor in the Palacio
anonymous's setting indeed so closely matches the cantione usitatissima quoted by
Salinas that folksong paternity must immediately be conceded. If such a literary con
cordance can lead to the discovery of a parallel musical concordance, it seems at least
During the Reigns of Ferdinand and Isabella 299
possible that other tenors in CMP matching Spanish popular tunes quoted in Salinas
exist, but have thus far defied discovery because the literary texts associated with tenor
and f olktune differ.
As for anonymous items containing borrowed material other than Salinas's folktunes:
I The unknown composer of Lo que queda es lo seguro (no. 99) quotes in his middle voice
the treble of a song ascribed elsewhere in Palacio to Escobar (no. 216). 234 That the
anonymous composer was here the borrower - not Escobar - was Barbieri's opinion. 235
Aside from the paleographical evidence that no. 99 was the later setting, two other
facts support such a conclusion : (i) tenors were often made out of previously existing
trebles; (2) other arrangements for equal voices to be found in Palacio have always
proved to be of later date than the corresponding material when the alternate setting is
for mixed voices. II The tenor in the anonymous Que bien me lo veo (no. 139) duplicates
the tenor in Salsedo's song of the same name (no. 129). In this instance both songs per
haps embed a pre-existing popular tune. The anonymous Que bien could be guessed to
be the later setting since it is composed a 4 whereas the Salsedo was written a 3. Ill
Whatever one thinks of Que bien it cannot be doubted that the anonymous setting a 4
of Tristeza, quien a mi os did (no. 112) was composed later than the setting a 3 of these
same Tristeza lyrics by Alonso (no. 18). The treble is identical in each instance; but the
anonymous composer has contrived an ingenious Vorimitation and has broken down
Alonso's block-chords - moving in semibreves and breves, into supple counterpoints -
running in crotchets and minims. IV The greeting to the nightingale at daybreak a 4,
with Dindirindin for its refrain (CMP, no, 359: text in Catalonian), obviously follows the
Italian Dindiridin&3i&]/Lvnit Cassino MS 871 N. The CMP arranger switches tenor and
treble, and inserts a new contra between them. He retains the same bass. Federico
Ghisi has published the Italian original in "Canzoni profane italiane del secondo
Quattrocento in un codice musicale di Monte Cassino/' Revue Beige de Musicologie, II
(1948), p. 14. Isabel Pope first drew attention, however, to the CMP concordance in her
study of Spanish music at Naples (1954).
Secular tunes were not the only ones borrowed. Plainchants were requisitioned as
well. Plega a Dios (no. 58) quotes, for instance, the antiphon to be sung on Sundays
at compline: Salva nos, Domine^ In the top voice the singer implores God (in
Spanish) to wreak revenge on his hardhearted mistress by letting her fall in love with
someone who will despise her. Meanwhile the tenor intones an Office prayer (in Latin)
for aid through the night, his part proceeding in solemn breves and semibreves. A striking
parallel with Plega a Dios is found in Gijon's Ruego a Dios (no. 41). Both are canciones
a 3] both are archaically bitextual, the top voice venting a revengeful lover's spleen
against his lady, the tenor meanwhile intoning a Latin chant in cantus f innus style.
OTHER PROBLEMS of the anonymous repertory can here be only briefly confronted.
The first such problem is that of chronology. Do the anonymous items copied in
234 This is one of the three Escobar songs also in CMH (no. 9). See Joaquim, op. <#., p. 43.
235 Baxbieri, p. 102 (item 146).
236 Chant in LU (1939 edn.), pp. 271-272,
300 Secular Polyphony
the forepart of the manuscript by the original scribe differ in any significant musical
ways from those added by later copyists at whatever blank spaces they could find?
Does the "musical dating" of an anonymous item tally with the 'literary dating" that
can be surmised either from the poet's biography or from the circumstantial evidence of
spillover rhyme ? To both questions an interim answer of yes can be given. Certainly the
music of anonymous items 39, 58, 64, 93, 115, 119, and 128 must predate 1490.
Another such problem has to do with the "written-in" accidentals. Less than twenty of
the 178-odd anonymous items show any written-in accidentals, other than Bb's. Only a
single written G# has been localized in the entire anonymous repertory (no. 133) ; and only
three items carry c#'s (nos. 133, 270 and 434). In Encina's 6o-odd songs are to be found
on the other hand not less than eleven "written-in" g#'s (nos. 79, 162, 178, 275, 281, 289,
313, 406) and twenty-seven c#'s (nos. 77, 79, 83, 126, 163, 167, 174, 178, 179, 181, 249, 282,
289, 305, 314, 412, 438). In only the dozen songs by Ponce are to be found at least
four obligatory g#'s (nos. 156, 328, 343). Such a difference in statistics must surely be
one of the reasons why the anonymous pieces seem on the whole rather colorless. 237
The anonymous repertory does apparently sound one dramatic clash between an
f# and an fifc; at the same moment. Both notes rest atop Bti (no. 348, m. 8). This conflict
was probably intended ; even though it lasts only an instant. The lyrics tell the barnyard
fable of a small fox who slips in among the hens, who is however discovered by the
watchful cock, and who then pretends that he came to pay only a social call. The cock
holds such sly nonsense in derision and reminds the fox that the blood of his own dis
tinguished ancestors is not yet dry on reynard's coat. This droll fable is so aptly set in
every other way that the clashing accidentals seem wholly right and proper. 238 There
is also reason to believe that the parallel fifths on "Zango-" of the onomatopoetic
word, Zangorromango, were an intentional, and not a haphazard, stroke.
As for structure : the most artfully organized of all the anonymous pieces - and indeed
one of the finest things in the entire Palace Songbook - is the four-part A los bams del
amor (no. 149). The lyrics voice the complaint of an unwed maiden who has loved not
wisely but too well. Treble and first and second contras sing: "To the baths of love I
shall go alone, and bathe in them: || in order that I may cure this illness which causes me
misery, for this is an affliction so mortal that it ruins my figure. || To the baths of sorrow
I shall go alone, and bathe in them." Instead of beginning simultaneously with the other
three voices, the tenor rests a longa, after which he sings four breves: so la mi re (G A
E D). Having done, he rests another longa before again repeating the four-breve
ostinato - G A E D. This goes on throughout the entire song, coplas as well as estribillo.
The solmization-ostinato serves not only a musical purpose, but also a literary. The
syllables so la mi re equal "Sola m'ire" - which in Spanish means : "I [feminine] shall go
alone."
Here then virtuosity reaches an unusual height. Poet and composer are completely
interdependent. Yet the poetry has the stamp of complete naturalness and sincerity.
237 Significantly, the three anonymous songs with higher sharps (c# and gf ) match via dolorosa lyrics.
In no. 133 the poet paraphrases the Stabat mater.
238 Barbieri, item 442 of his edition, specified d 1 ^ rather than f 1 .
During the Reigns of Ferdinand and Isabella
A los banos del amor
no. 149
301
Anonymous
A 1
os ba nos
de tris-tp p- *
f^^P
P/l _il ^rt
i 2 i fLrf
Jf \ J
Q -$ ^ \ 4 "+ ft
So la m'i
J
4^ ! MI
re
* M
so la rn^i re
- 3 r -p
^
e llosme ba ^na
r '^ r H '
/
\~
mi . ,. re y en
m i rv "\f an
/
n
>V. f f M f P >H-
A Q 10
_j *
r f
^ ' Y ' n +--
- n f- ti;
*r rr r
?' Tr if*f 7
5' 7 i? f i
, r r^-Vf r i
Pcp-qu
Ou'es u
if ii. i j
=tMy= f ' Qja^
^ ^r =:== ^
mal Qoe me ccu~5a
tal Qoedes tru ; ye
\, ,1 ^.
4fl c f
I' [FINE]
P*"*-* i i . 1 -.' -t ^:
F 1 - jLjl
J r
JL.
:gi : r f
rr | r-f;
So la m'i
it J i j |l F
'^^/ito^fcrt'f.
-re' ' ' so la* m'i Sre
ig T u* t] r i: r rJr fr^=^ :
:^- = f, :
9 * - ? | J
IT r r i r r
.-.-. ^J .
Spanish musical genius always glows brightest when some learned device - such as the
unifying ostinato - is made to serve an expressive -purpose. Here, even better, a truly
Spanish "soggetto cavato" is made to serve both as poetic theme and unifying ostinato.
That this example should appear in Palacio is of vital importance for the historian of
Spanish sixteenth-century music. Mitjana, as long ago as 1918, called attention to the
fact that Morales particularly favored the tenor-ostinato, using it as a unifying device in
many of his finest motets. But in so doing, Morales trod no new paths. His conception
302 Secular Polyphony
of "canon" was already current in peninsular tradition. Our Palacio anonymous set the
stage when he called his tenor-part a canon, and thus explained: "[the tenor] will wait
through two rests and will then sing so la mi re."
Concluding Remarks concerning the Palace Songbook
I. The Palace Songbook is essentially a collection of courtly lyrics set by courtly
composers.
II. The most illustrious Spanish poets of the fifteenth century - the Marques de
Santillana, Juan de Mena, Juan Rodriguez del Padron, and Jorge Manrique, for
instance - found composers for their lyrics in CMP. But there is no reason to believe
the literary taste of CMP composers, like that of the frottolists, 239 notably improved as
time went on. Indeed the songs composed earliest are often joined to the most dis
tinguished poetry.
III. In CMP, a gratifying correlation is to be observed between the literary structure
and the date of musical setting (when ascertainable). The older lyrics are stamped, not
only externally by the dates of the poets who wrote them, but by reason of their
"closed" form: the sense and rhyme of the strophe always ending before the refrain
starts. The newer lyrics (after about 1490) are on the other hand in "open" form: the
sense and rhyme of the strophe spilling over into the refrain (= da capo). Torre is the
most prolific composer of closed-form canciones in CMP, Encina of open-form villan-
cicos.
IV. Slightly less than one-tenth (44) of the surviving pieces in CMP are romances. The
latest generation of CMP composers neglected this genre. The musical form convention
ally called for four long phrases, each opening in anapest rhythm, each closing with a
fermata. Low-pitched homophony was the rule, the dorian mode the most usual.
Romances never included a refrain.
V. The older group of CMP composers- Cornago, Enrique, Madrid, Gijon, and Torre, for
instance - show their age in the archaic cadences which they used, the rigid stratifica
tion of their voices, and the hegemony of their tenors as the voice from which con
sonances were to be counted. The middle group, headed by Encina, used mixed signa
tures less frequently, avoided the "under-third" cadence, indulged in the contra octave
skip upwards much less frequently at cadences, and occasionally allowed unprepared
fourths to intrude between tenor and treble on principal beats. The last generation, typi
fied by Ponce, subordinates the tenor still further (requiring him, for instance, to end on
another note than the final of the mode), eschews mixed signatures, never writes in
slow triple meter, and makes more of a formal principle of imitation.
239 On the literary improvement of frottole published between 1507-1520, see Alfred Einstein, The Italian
Madrigal (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1949), I, 107.
During the Reigns of Ferdinand and Isabella 303
VI. Taken as a whole, CMP composers do not favor triple meter: and more especially
tlie slow kind designated with a circle. In the first hundred items, triple meter governs
more frequently than later in Palacio. But even in the first hundred songs only 29
instances of triple meter can be found. Of these 29, only thirteen are in perfect time of
the less prolation. In the Pixerecourt Chansonnier, on the other hand, the first 100 items
show 36 instances of triple meter. Of these 36, no less than thirty are in perfect time of
the less prolation.
VII. CMP composers overwhelmingly favor the ( mensuration sign. They also use
C,C2; O, 0, O3> 3, d>t;C3,Ct3.<li. O m >3 O f,Cf; f, 3 2 . Some of these seventeen
different varieties may be explained as mere whim, no more crucial than a modern
composer's choice between C and J. On the other hand, most of the varieties can be
rationalized as tempo-indicators. That they do on the whole tell something more
than the "number of units in the measure" can be proved by the varieties appearing in
the songs of only one composer, Encina. The most unusual meters are those in fives.
Both "slow" and "fast" quintuple signatures enter CMP.
VIII. All bawdy songs frisk in fast meters - usually triple. 240 Lover's plaints go in slow
meters. Even in slow songs, however, strongly accentual rhythm seems usually to be
implied.
IX. No song is composed a 5. Roughly two-thirds are scored a j, one third a 4. Only
two duets enter CMP, one by Penalosa, the other by Ponce. But throughout the
villancicos, momentary voice-pairing is a common enough event. The more skilful
composers vary voice-texture by dropping individual parts from the ensemble.
X. The parts do not range widely. The treble rarely sings higher than e 1 nor the second
contra lower than GI, these being the conventional vocal limits of contemporaneous
plainsong. Moreover each individual voice tends to stay within a hexachord. Wide
leaps in the treble are virtually unknown.
XI. All the songs are treble-dominated works. Occasionally another voice, or even all
the other parts, will be texted - in which case vocal concerted performance is to be
inferred. Instrumental accompaniment was probably the rule in songs lacking text in
the lower parts.
XII. The following "written-in" accidentals are found: Bb, Eb, Ff, Qf, Gf. But not
Ab nor A#. Signatures with Bb in all voices are frequent; and with Bb in only the contra
fairly common in the older pieces. Very occasionally an Eb is to be seen in a contra
signature (though never in that of higher part).
XIII. Short incisive melodic phrases are the rule. Treble melodies always cadence
where punctuation is implied in the lyrics. In many instances, successive melodic
240 Dale, si U das, one of the most outspoken, is however in duple meter.
304 Secular Polyphony
phrases rise stepwise to a "central tone." Successive treble phrases in the simpler
anonymous items ring changes on melody-types as fixed as a maqam. Even the named
composers often spin their melodies as a series of variants (unequal in length) on some
pungent formula (ci-b-g-e in Lagarto's Andad, pasiones, andad, for instance). 241
XIV. Although reiteration of coplas and estribillo is the cornerstone of the villancico
structural plan, repetition of a melodic bit within the estribillo or coplas is resorted to
but rarely. Even more infrequently do CMP composers repeat a harmonic complex
(involving all voices). The baldest example of direct harmonic repetition probably
occurs in the coplas of utegon E singuel (no. 357). A more artistic use distinguishes
Encina's Oy comamos y bebamos (no. 174). Alonso's Pero Gonfales contains blocs of
direct repetition. One must search in order to find such examples. Sequence - harmonic
as well as melolic - is oftener encountered than direct repetition. But CMP composers
make no habit of it. They prefer diferencias.
XV. Phrase-structure, except in very fast pieces, is usually asymmetrical. Sharp
cut-offs between phrases are the rule in all but the oldest Palacio songs.
XVI. Tonic-dominant harmony rules in the peninsular pieces, or tonic-subdominant
when the more unusual deutems modes are in use.
XVII. Learned devices do not appeal to CMP composers. Those which they do consent
to use are made to serve an affective purpose.
XVIL As a rule borrowed material, sacred and secular, goes in the tenor. Types of
borrowed material include (i) folksongs (2) plainchants (3) trebles of previously
composed courtly songs.
XIX. Subject-matter, literary form, and musical settings do on occasion fall into
stereotypes. The literary stereotypes are oftenest seen in the rhymes and the musical
at cadences.
XX. The finer composers, however, show truly individual profiles which can be dis
cerned merely for the trouble of looking at their repertories. Generalizations carried
too far lose significance in the face of individual variants encountered among men of
stature such as Encina, Gabriel, Escobar, Torre, Ponce, and Penalosa.
XXI. The "national" style of the Spanish songs in CMP - like the "national" style
in the paintings of Bermejo and Master Alfonso - is more a matter of temperament than
of technique. As such it is not always self-vindicating. If it were, the Spanish editors
of CMP would not have attributed Pues servipio vos desplase (no. 27) to "Enrrique,"
241 See p. 237. Also, Marius Schneider, "Gestaltimitation als Kompositionsprinzip im Cancionero de
Palacio/' p. 418.
During the Reigns of Ferdinand and Isabella 305
when it is now known to have been composed by an Englishman. Obviously, mere
structure and even a Spanish text do not prove the peninsular origin of a CMP song. 242
But if not as blatantly national as "Spanish" music of the last two centuries, the Palacio
repertory compensates by being measurably more aristocratic, subtle, and personally
varied. The best songs are instinct with that peculiar gravedad reposada for which
Isabella herself was so famous.
XXII. Among the qualities of spirit that give CMP its national flavor are the gnomic
brevity, swift succinctness, and intense fervor everywhere manifest in the native
repertory. Juan de Vald6s was to aver in his Didlogo de la lengua (1536) : "All good
Castilian speech consists in saying what you want to say in the fewest words you can,"
and was to praise refranes as the epitome of good Spanish style. The CMP songs at
their finest have all the virtues of refranes.
XXIII. During the decades when CMC and CMP were being compiled, the national
Spanish flavor was considered so distinctive that composers abroad could subtitle their
calate and ricercari alia spagnola (e.g., Dalza in 1508 and Capirola ten years later).
XXIV. Just as the frottole in CMP prove the acceptance that Italian music enjoyed
at the Spanish court, so also compelling evidence survives to prove the vogue that
Spanish canciones enjoyed in Italian courts. 243
XXV. Although the nucleus seems to have been formed at Alba de Tonnes, CMP
eventually vindicated its right to be known as the most catholic collection of Spanish
songs assembled during the era of los Reyes Catdlicos by including representative items
from every peninsular center - from Catalonia to Portugal, from the Pyrenees to
Gibraltar. On every account, the luster of the composers, their geographic spread, the
variety of the songs, and above all, their musical worth, CMP deservedly shines as the
brightest secular monument of an age when las Espanas were reaching out to com
prehend the world.
242 Morton's song (CMP, no. 27) had, previous to the discovery of the Palacio concordance, been charac
terized by Bukofzer as the only characteristically English thing that the tkappelain anghis ever wrote,
243 *A ducal singer named Rayner wrote a letter as early as July 3, 1473. to Galeazzo Maria Sforza (Duke of
Milan) in which he highly praised tre canti spagnoli. He began by saying that he certainly considered these
three Spanish songs to be fine and beautiful. He guaranteed that he had copied the parts accurately and
promised that if only they were sung sweetly and softly - soito vote - they would be sure to please. The spe
cific songs are not named in Rayner's letter from Pavia, but they could easily have been any of the sad,
sweet songs of Cornago or Madrid. See Emilio Motta, "Musici alia Corte degli Sforza," Arckimo stonco
lombardo, XIV, iii (Milan, Sept., 1887), pp. 53-53i- For further data on the favor shown Spanish mus*c and
musicians in northern Italy a 1490, see Motta, p, 54 1 ; a k **IV> i, 5*-
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List of Abbreviations
ActaM Acta Musicologica
AfMW Archiv fiir Musikwissenschaft
AH Archive Hispalense
AM Amiario Musical
BH Bulletin hispanique
BRAH Boletin de la Real Academia de la Historia
HS Hispania Sacra
JAMS Journal of the American Musicological Society
MD Musica Disciplina
ML Music & Letters
MQ Musical Quarterly
NA Note d'archivio
RBM Revue Beige de Musicologie
RdM Revue de Musicologie
RFE Revista de Filologia Espanola
RH Revue hispanique
SFG Spanische Forschungen der Gorresgesellschaft
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SIM Sammelbande der Internationalen Musikgesellschaft
TSM Tesoro Sacro-Musical
ZfMW Zeitschrift fiir Musikwissenschaft
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Index
Religious, academic, and rank distinctions do not enter the index, except when essential to
identification. Dates are omitted likewise - unless prerequisite to identification. For a running list
of subjects and for the titles of musical excerpts in this book, see the analytical table of contents at
pages vii-viii and the list of musical examples at pages ix-x. Italicized entries witt be found the mare
important, when several page references are given. Names and subjects in the footnotes are not
indexed, except when especially significant. No systematic attempt has been made to index geo
graphic names that crop up so often as Toledo and Seville. As a rule, titles of the musical works
already gathered into alphabetical order at pages 124, 136, 151, i66 t 172, 186, 194**, and 209-213,
are not repeated in the index below. Alphabetizing carries through to the first punctuation, regardless
of the number of words. Several members of the same family are usually grouped under one entry
(e.g., Fermoselle), but not unrelated possessors of a common name (e.g., Fernandez).
Aaron, see Aron
abecedarium (preces), 12
Abu'l Salt, 19
accidentals: higher, 49, 5** 9, 96, 179, 231. 3<x> 237 ;
"written-in," 215, 231, 300, 33; see also conjuntas
Acelayn (Fleming), 131
Acisclus, St., 15
acitabulum, 6
Ad mortem festinamus (Llibre Vermeil), 43
Adordmoste, Seftor (Torre), 194 s00 * 283
Adrian VI, pope, 175* 260
Ad superni regis decus, Calixtine codex, 34
Ad te levavi animam meam, 52
adufe, 22
Aegidius Zamorensis, see Gil, Juan
Afflighem, John of, see Cotton
Affonso V, of Portugal, 56, 168
Affonso, Dom (1509-1540), 96-97* J 7*
Agatha, St., 77
Agricola, Alexander, i3* 104 > *44 2 68
Aguilar, Caspar de, 93-94
Ah, Mingo, qwtdaste airds (Endna), 265
ajabeba axabeba =* exabeba, 22-23, 45, 46 14 *
Ajofrin, Francisco de, 285
Alba, Alonso de, see Alva
Alba de Tonnes, 56 16 , 185*^, 203!*, 254-256, 272,
279, 305
Albert, Master, of Paris, 33~34
Albertus de Rosa, see Rosa
Albi, 12
Albinus, 6
albog6n, 21-22, 45
albogue, 45
Alburqveirqve, Alburquerque, 250
AlcaJi, Juan de, 91
Akali de Henares, 84, 89, &*, 232
Al$ala vos, pregcmtro, 251
AlfeddsCToTo], 295
Alcira, 74
Alconetar (Garrovillas), 64
Alderete, Diego, 1838^
Al dolor quc siento (Millan), 275
Aldomar, Pedro Juan, 204, 285
Aleppo, 1 8
Alexander VI, pope, 74> **6> 74. 256-257
Alexandria, 238
322
Index
alfado = alpha, 69, 78
Al-Farabi, 18-21
Alfonso IV, of Aragon, 23
Alfonso V, el Magndnimo, 49, 121, 183
Alfonso VI, of Castile, n
Alfonso VIII, de las Navas, 30, 35
Alfonso X, el Sabio, 24-28, 31, 47
Alfonso XI, of Castile, 46
Alfonso de Arag6n, see Arag6n
Alfonso de Castilla, see CastiUa
Alfonso de Palencia, see Fernandez, Alfonso
Alfonso, Master, painter, 146, 304
Alhambra, 17
Alicante, 189
All Eziqua, instrumentalist, 23
alleluias, Visigothic liturgy, 9, 15-1?
Alme Virginis, Mozarabic sequence, 17
Almorox, Juan, 163-164, 250, 286
Alonso, contributor to CMP, I25 6 3, 253, 285i 95 , 286-
287
A los banos dell amor, 285, 300-301
Al Shaqandi, 22
alia (Torre), 194-195, 281, 283
Altamira, Viscount of, 251, 290
Alva, Alonso de, 163-167, 171, 250, 286-287, 296228
Alva, dukes of, 54, 185***, 2O3 19 , 2O4 25 , 254-256,
294 226
Alvares, Alfonso, in 32
Alvarez, Jacome, 238
Alvarez de Toledo, Fadrique, 254
Alvarez de Toledo, Garcia, 203, 254
Alypius, 6
Ambrose, 14
Ambrosian chant, 14, 87, 94
Amor con fortuna (Encina), 264
Amores tvistes crueles (Badajoz), 288 205
Amor por quien yo padesco (Fermoselle), 254 134
anafil, 21-22, 45
Anchieta, Anade, 131-132
Anchieta, Juan de, 59, 127-145, 153, W I 73 181,
186, 199-200, 235, 245-246, 249-250, 262, 279, 288
Anchieta, Jose* de, 135
Ancona, 259
Andad, pasiones, andad (Lagarto), 208, 236-237, 304
Andre's, Juan, 17-18
Andrew, St., 16
Angles, Higinio, 13, 25, 27-28, 32, 35, 37~39, 43. 49,
*35i79> 193* *96> 199, 20i 2 , 270-271, 277, 291-
292, 294
Anima mea liquefacta est, 192
Anonymous (Coussemaker) I, 48; IV, 44
Antico, Andrea, 175
Antigua chapel (Seville Cathedral), music in, 296 228
Antiphonarium et graduate (1491), 104
Antiphoner of Le6n, 10, 13-17
Apel, Wffli, 175
Apt, 49 1 ' 5
Apuleius of Madaura, 6
Aquella mora garrida (Gabriel), 278
Aquella morica garrida (Salinas), 278
Aquila, Serafino dalT, 251, 293 222 , 296
Aquinas, Thomas, 109
Arabian music, influence of, 20-21, 45, 237, 292
Aragrin, Alfonso de (c. 1440-1514), 73-74
Arag6n, Alfonso de (1470-1520), 103, 107
Aragonia, Johannes de, see Yllianas
Arag6n y Navarra, Juan de, 104
Aranda, Diego de, 99-100
Aranda, Matheo de, 96-97* l6 -
Arbas = Arbos, 130, 131"
Arciniega, Gregorio, 53
AreValo, Faustino, 5
Arevalo, Juan de, 239
Arianism, 9
Anon, 185
Aristotle, 18-19, 56^
Aristoxenus, 2, 89
Arnaldus [de Monte], 33 111 , 65, 66 4 , 88, 100
Aron, Pietro, 56 24 , 59, 63, 264
ars antiqua, 36
AYS mensuvabilis et immensurabilis cantus, 53-55
Ars musice (Juan Gil), 47-48
Arsmusicorum (Despuig),- 73-82, 89, 180
Arteaga, Esteban, i8 55
Arte de poesia castellana (Encina), 254, 259 145
Asenjo Barbieri, Francisco, I28 75 , 135, 156, 170, 193,
206, 231, 240-241, 265-266, 272, 276, 292, 294* 299
A sombra de mis cdbellos (Milarte), 294
Asperges me (Madrid), 179
Astorga, 65
atabal, 8, 22, 45, 206
Aubry, Pierre, 25
Augustine, 2, 5, 88
Aunque no spero gozar (Millan), 276
Auto da Cananea (Vicente), 169, 174
Auto del repelon (Encina), 263
Ave, color vini (Ponce), 185, 284
Ave Maria, plainsong, 156
Ave Maria (Rodrigues) , 36, 39
Avenary, Hanoch, 19
Avicenna, 20, 6g 49
Avila: 2, 110-112; liturgical books of, 114
Avila, Francisco de, friar, 289
Axa, 291-292
Ayo visto lo mappa mundi, 121-122
Ay, que non se rremediarme (L^on), 237, 239, 243,
282 192
Azagra Codex, 9
Azores, 122
Azpeitia, 128-130, 132, 135
Bacon, Roger, 19
Badajoz el musico, 279, 288
Baena, Alonso and Bernaldino de, 289 210
Baena (or Baeza), Garcia de, 190
Baena, Juan Alonso de, 46 151 , in 82 , 2o6 34
Baena, Lope de, 20 1 3 , 289
Baeza, 10, 55
Baghdad, 18
bagpipe, 22, 45, 258 144
baldosa, 45
Balduigius of Ercdvica, 14
ballade, 46 147 , 48-49, 209
Bal y Gay Jesus, 25O 116
bandore, 7, 22, 45
barbat, 19
Barbieri, see Asenjo Barbieri
barbitos, 6
Index
323
Barbosa, Ayres, 97
Barbosa Machado, Diogo, 95 112 , 169-170
Barcelona: 66, 83, 94, 130; cathedral of, 74, 91,
2368, 285; diocesan use of, 103; MSS at, 135, 151,
171, 183-184, 189, 192, 201, 227; rebellion at, 245
Barros, Joao, de, 169
Bartholomaeus Anglicus, 3-4
basse danse, 195
Batman, Stephen, 6
Baza, I28 47 , 246
Beatus serous, 52, 84
Beethoven, 177
befabemi, problems involving, 68, 86, 92 105 , 94, in 82 ,
*75
Be 1 jar, Diego de, 65
bells, 8, 23, 44-45
Belmonte, 207, 227, 229-231
Bembo, Pietro, 149
bemol, in, I75 258 > 176
Benedicamus (medieval Spanish MSS), 33-39
Benedicamus Domino, plain song, 103
Benedicamus Domino \ Rivafrecha, 192; Triana,
196-197. 209
Benedicite omnia opera, Mozarabic, 118
Benedict XIII, antipope, 47
Berceo, Gonzalo de, 45
Bermejo, Bartolome', 145, 304
Bermudez de Pedraza, Francisco, I46 145
Bermudo, Juan, 4, 20, 50, 69, 76, gi* 02 , 93 105 > 94> *37>
I?5 258
Bernal, Juan, 296*28
Bernard of Clairvaux, 88
Bilbilis, i
bitextuality, 232, 274, 299
Biue leda, 2o6 34
Boabdil, 247
Bobadilla, Francisco de, 92
Bodleian Library, 203
Boethius, 54, 62*1, 65, 75, 83-84, 89, 93, loo^i
Bologna, 55-56, 61, 73~75> 77, 20733 237
bombard, 46
Bonadies, Johannes, 125
Bonaventura de Brixia, 6668
Borja, Rodrigo, see Alexander VI
borrowed material, use of: Alonso, 286; anonymous
composers, 297-298; Belmonte, 227, Encina,
268-272; Escobar, 280; Fernandez, 292; Gabriel,
278- Gij6n, 232; Millan, 274; Mondjar, 276;
Torre, 283 (III.); Vilches, 297; see also tenor
Bossinensis, Francesco, 2O2 7
Bourges, 34, 40
Braga, 108-109
Braulio, 3, 10
Bredemers, Kerry, 231
Brihuega: Bernaldino de, 289; Rodrigo, 289
Brocco, Giovanni, 250, 289
Brou, Louis, 13, 15* *7
Bruges, 203
Brumel, Antoine, 145
Bruns, Pedro, 85*?
Brussels, I3i 104 , 135
buccina, 7. 48
Bukofzer, Manfred, 39, 53 231, 251
Burgo de Osma, 92
Burgos, 13, 35, 77, 85, 88-92, I33~i34> *47
Burney, Charles, 6 23 , 50
Burzio, Niccolo, 55 9 " 10 , 63, 93, 264
Busnois, Antoine, 56, 145
Busoni, Ferruccio, I74 255
Byzantium, 9
Cabez6n, Antonio de, 190, 195, 203*2, 226 60 ,
ca9a, 40-41
Qacon, Salom6, 46 148
Calabria, 126
Calahorra, i, 190
calamus, 7, 48
Calasanz, Antonio, I74 257 , 176
calate (Dalza), 305
Caldero y Have (Encina), 202 1S , 266
Callen todas las galanas (Lagarto), 236, 281
Calui vi calui, 45
cambiata, 176, 265
Cambrai, 294
Cancioneiro Musical e Portico da Biblioteca Publia
Hortensia, 168, 171, 202, 280-281, 294^, 297,
299234
Cancionero deBaena, 46* 61 , in 82 , 206*4
Cancionero de Ramon de LJabia, 46
Cancionero de Upsala, 3i 10 *, 204, 250, 285
Cancionero general (Castillo), 288
Cancionero general (Najera), 276
Cancionero Musical de la Biblioteca Colombina, 183,
201, 206-246
Cancionero Musical de la Casa de Medinaceli, 250
Cancionero Musical de Palacio (Palace Songbook),
76, 93, 177, 180, 185, 201-202, 249-305
Cannuzio, Pietro, ioo 142
can6n, instrument, 22, 45-46
canons: earliest in Spain, 40-41; enigmatic, 61;
verbal, 61-62, 156, 167, 302
Canti C (Petrucci), 203
Cantigas de Santa Maria (Alfonso X), 21, 24-30
cantorales, Mozarabic, 117
Capella, Martianus, 5, 7, 61
Cape Verde islands, 122
Capirola, Vincenzo, 2O3 18 , 305
Cappella Giulia, Rome, I46 141
Carabanchel, 240
caramillo, 45
Cdrcel de Amor, 185
Cardefia, n, I47 1H
Carmona, archdeaconate of, 150
Caron, Firmin or Philippe, 54
Carrasco, Miguel, 96 120
CarriUo de Acuna, Alfonso, 236
Carrillo de Albornoz, Alfonso, no-ui
Carridn, Jacome de, 238
Cartagena, 3
Casa da Suplicacao, 171
cascabel, 8, 45
Case, John, 4-5
Caspe, 103*
Cassiodorus, 5-7, 62* 1
castanets, i, 22
Castellanis, Mir>^ de, 24 s5 , 66
Castenda, Alvarode, 237
Castilla, Alfonso de, 64, 85
3^4
Index
Castilla, Diego de, 124, 223^
Castilleja, I72 247
Castillo, Diego del, 190
Castillo, Fernando, 66
Castillo, Hernando del, 288
Castrillo Hernandez, Gonzalo, 135
Catania, in
Catholicon de Musica, 6g 49
Cavalleros de Alcald (Martines), 293
Ced.it frigus hiemale, conductus, 39
Celestina, 258
Censorinus, 6
Cerone, Pietro, 92 104 , 95
Cervantes Saavedra, Miguel de, 23, 127, 263
chansonniers, French: Biblioteca Colombina, in 81 ;
Bibliotheque Nationale, 125, 202, 303; Yale
University, 203
chanzonetas, 45, in 32 , 120, 291
chapurrado, texts in, 125, 2O2 6 , 208
Charles V, 38 189 , 77, 134, 147, 184, 258-259, 29522?
Charles, Prince of Viana, IO4 6 , 231
Chartres, 33-34, 4
Chateaurenault, 34
Chaucer, Geoffrey, 26-27, 34, 44-45
chelys, 2
Chigi, codex, 179
Chindasvinth, 9
chirimla = cherimia, 206
choirs: size of, 145; see also Ferdinand and Isabella,
choirsingers of; mogos de coro; Seville and Toledo,
cathedrals of
Chopin, 177
choristers, boy, see mo5os = mozos de coro
Cicero, 2, 5, 3i 105 , 32, 61
Cifuentes, Count of, 251
Ciminelli, Serafino de', see Aquila
Circumdederunt me, 268
Ciruelo, Pedro, 92 104 , 96, zoo 14 *
cithara, 2, 7, 48
citole, 45
Ciudad Rodrigo, 93
classicum, 7
claustrero, office of, 235-236, 281
Clamdbat autem (Escobar), 173-174, 200
clausulas, 70, 91, 192-193, 196
clavicordios, 289
Clavijo del Castillo, Bernardo, ioo 141
Clement VII, pope, I47 148 , 175, 261
Clement of Alexandria, 6
clivis: Mozarabic, n; printed (diamond), 106
Coca, servant of Fadrique Enriquez, 276-277
Coci, George, 88 94 , 106, ii2 88
Codax, Martin, 30-32
Codex Calixtinus, 18, 33-35, 38, 40
Cohen, Albert, 136126
Coimbra, n, 95, 99, 135-136, 151-152, 169, 189, 203
Collet, Henri, 177
Columba, 16
Columbus, Christopher, 86, 181, 267
Columbus, Ferdinand, 88 93 , 196, 201
Comento sobre lux bella, 64, 68-69
compas, 70
Compendium musicale (Nicholaus de Capua), 54
Compere, Loyset, 135, I36 130 , 202 18 , 274
Como estd sola mi vida (Ponce), 186, 252, 284-285
Complutensian Polyglot, 115-116
Conantius of Palencia, 10
Conceptio tua (Illario), 84 88
Conditor alme siderum (Anchieta), 137, 139
conductus, 33, 35, 37
Congaudeant catkolici, Calixtine codex, 33-34
Congregati sunt, respond, 105
conjuntas, 51, 59, 67-68, 85-86, ioo
Constance, 104
Constantinus Africanus, 48 158
Con temor biuo ojos tristes (Triana), 209
Con temor de la mudanga (Hurtado), 234
contra, Spanish composers' attitude toward, 179,
218-223, 230, 235, 239, 241, 284, 288-289
Contreras, Antonio de, 289-290
Coracon triste so f rid (Escobar), 280
Corbin, Solange, 53
Corcoles, Bias de, 238
Cordeiro, Antonio, 92
C6rdoba, Alonso de, 286, 290
Cordova: 2, n, 17-19*, 23-25, 85, 148, 290; cathedral
of, 195
Coria, 64
Cornago, Johannes, 75, 12088, 121-124, 179, 196, 207,
2o8 42 , 213, 218-226, 231, 240-241, 250, 271, 275,
290, 302, 305 248
cornemuse, 44-45, 46 148
corneta, 7
Correa, Manoel, 170
Cortes, Hernando, 21, 64, 85, I72 24 ?, 181
C6rtes de Jupiter (Vicente), 171, 232, 243
Cosmas and Damian, SS., 16
cos[s]ante, 31, 206
Coster, Adolphe, 127
Cotarelo y Mori, Emilio, 253, 260
Cotes, Ambrosio, 171
Cotton, John, 48
Council of the Indies, 85
counterpoint: improvised, 70-71 ; rules of, 60, 70, 86,
98-99
Coussemaker, E. de, 49, 83
Crawford, J. Wickersham, 268
Cromberger, Jacob, 63, IO9 28 , no
Cruz Brocarte, Antonio de la, 73
cuckoldry, songs against, 177, 266, 286, 292
Cucu, cucu, 177, 266, 292
Cuenca, 126, 147
Cuenca, Beraaldino de, 165
Cucufatus (Cugat), 16
Cuncti simus (Llibre Vermeil), 42
Curiel, Joanes, I33 111
Cursus quattuor mathematicarum (Ciruelo), 96, ioo 141
futegdn E singuel, 304
cymbala, 7, 48
Cyprian, 16
da capo, use of, 208, 213
Dalza, Joan Ambrosio, 305
Dama, mi grand querer (Moxica), 242
Damascus, 18
Damiano, Tommaso, 183
Damos gracias a ti (Torre), I94 800 , 282
Dance of Death, 43
Index
325
Dante, 268
D'aquel fraire flaco (Lagarto), 236-237
Daroca, ioo 141
De artibus ac disciplinis liberalium litterarum
(Cassiodorus), 5
Declaration de instrumentos: (1549), 4; (1555), 54, 69
De divisione philosophic (Gundissalinus), 19
deduciones, 68, 90
De ecclesiasticis officiis (Isidore), 9
De la dulce mi enemiga (Gabriel), 278
De Musica libri Septem (Salinas), 43, 45, 74-75, 278,
298
De nuptiis philologiae et Mercurii (Martianus Capel-
la), 6
Deo ac Domino nostro, Mozarabic chant, 119
Deo dicamus gratias (Fernandez de Castilleja), 176
De officiis (Cicero), 32
De ortu scientiarum (Al-Farabi), 20
De profundis, chant, 232
De proprietatibus rerum (Bartholomaeus Anglicus),
3-4
Derrada, Pedro, 85
Descuidad d'ese cuidado (Sanabria), 251, 295
Desembargo do Pa9o, 171
De ser mal casada (Fernandez), 263, 291
deshecha, 249 112 , 266
Desidme, pues sospirastes (Encina), 266
Des Pres, see Josquin des Prez
Despuig, GuiUermo, 66, 696, 7J-#2, 89, 90, 96, 101
De totes biens plaine (Hayne van Ghizeghem), 156
Deus in adjutorium meum, psalm, 191
De vevir vida segura (Madrid), 240, 242
De vos i de mi quexoso (Urrede), 2O6 34 , 207, 225,
237 87 , 240, 284
Deza, Diego de, io8 22 , in, 257
diaphonia, 6 23
Diaz, Pedro, 163-164, 167
Diaz de Segovia, Pedro, 147
Diaz de Toledo, Pedro, 238
Dicit Dominus: Ego cogito, 84
Diego de Valencia, Mar, 46 151
diferencias, 304
Difesa della musica moderna (Joao IV), 204
Dime triste coracon (Torre), 194* 2 44
Dindiri[n]din, 299
Dinis, Dom, 3I* 08
Dinos donsella (pars 2 of Dinos madre), 215
discante, 71
Dixit Dominus (CMP), 185
Dom Duardos (Vicente), 276
Dominator Deus, plainsong Mass, 153, 155
Domine Jesu Christe (Anchieta), 142-144
Domine, ne memineris (Anchieta), 137, 140-141
Domine, ne memineris iniquitatum (Madrid), 17?
Domine, non secundum peccafa nostra (Anchieta),
134, 137
Domine, non secundum peccafa nostra (Madrid), 177
Dominicans, music among* 104-105
Donde estds (Cornago), 124, 223
Don Quixote, 23
Donsella, por cuyo amor (J. Rodriguez), 243
Das anodes* 127, 262-263
Dreves, Guido, 183
drum[s], 22, 45
Dufay, Guillaume, 54, 61, 101
dul$ema, 45
dulzaina = ducayna, 206
Dunstable, John, 54-54, 101
Duran, 289
Duran, Domingo [Marcos], 4, 55, 56", 63-73, 84-87,
89, 101, 165
Duran, Profiat, 19
Durand, Guillaume, 66, 181
Durandarte, Durandarte, 273-274
Ebro, i, 103
Ecce serous, laudes-type, 16
Egidio de Murino, 49, 52, 69**
gloga de Fileno y Zambardo (Encina), 268
gloga de Pldcida e Vittoriano (Encina), 257-258
Eguia, Miguel de, log 28 , iio-ni
Einstein, Alfred, I75 280 , 32 289
Ekkehard II, 14
El bevir triste me haze (CMP), 251
El bien qu'estuve esperando (Sant Juan), 295
Elche, 189
Eleanor of England, 35
El Escorial, 18-19, 25-26, 39 139 , 53 Io6
El que tal senora tiene (Encina), 265
Eisner, Joseph Xaver, 177
Eliistiza, Juan B. de, 135, 199
Elvas (Portugal), 202
El Viage entretenido (Rojas), 267, 268 4
Emericus, Joannes, 105
Emendemus in melius, 52
Emeterio, St., 146
Emilianus = San Millan, 16
Enchiridion musices (Odo), 57
Encina, Juan del, 132, 168-169, 171, 177. >x 4 ,
202 15 , 204, 207, 239, 250, 252, 253-272, 274, 277,
279, 281-282, 284, 291-292, 295, 302-304
endecha, 285***, 296
En memoria d'Alixandre {Anchieta), 128, 245-246,
287
Enrricus, see Knoep
Enrique, 207, 231-232, 290, 302
Enrfquez, Fadrique, Admiral of Castile, 184, 203**,
276-277
Enrfquez de Ribera, Fadrique, Marquis of Tanfa,
259
En seume&ant (Trebor, 1389), 49
Entwistle, W. J., 3* 1W
Ephesus, 34
Erfordia, Joannes de, 125**
Eritea, 258
Erlanger, Rodolphe d*, 20
escaquer, see exaquier
Escobar, Cristdbal de, 83-86, 89-90, 93
Escobar, Pedro de, 59, 163-165, 167-174, 181, 250,
253, 272, 282, 299
Escobedo, Bartc4om6, 48
Escribano, Alfonso, 175
Escribsuao, Juan, 164, 17^-176, 200
escritor de koras, duties of, 192
Eslava, Hilan6n, 177
Espinosa, Juan de, 89, 9^-95* 9^-97 290
Espinosa Maeso, Ricardo, 253
estampie, 46
Index
Estanques, Alonso de, 134
Estevan, Fernand, 51-53, 67
estranbotes, CMP, 252
Estremoz (Portugal), 256
Et in terra -pax (Madrid), 178-179
Etymologies (Isidore), 5-8
Euclid, 6
Eugene IV, pope, 2358
Eugenius : II of Toledo, 9-10, 16; III, 13
Eulalia, St., 16, 92, 116
livora, 96-97, 99, 169
exabeba, see ajabeba
exaquier, 46
Excitatio quaedam Musicae artis (Hothby), 58
Eximeno, Antonio, 63
Exult et iam angelica turba, log 26 , 112-115
fabord6n, 191, 293
Faenza, 125
Farmer, H. G., 18, I9 61
Fata la parte (Encina), 251, 263
Fate (trumpeter), 22
Fatima, 291-292
Faugues, Guillaume, 54
Fenollar, Bernat, 7388
Ferdinand II, of Le6n, 30
Ferdinand III, of Castile, 31, 47
Ferdinand V, of Aragon, 54, 56, 103, 129-130, 145,
147, 164, 257-258; choirsingers of, 121, 179, 183-
184, 241, 276-277, 285, 289
Ferdinand, Infante, 147-148
Fermoselle: Antonio de, 256; Diego de, 132, 253-
254, 290; Francisco de, 256; Juan de, 253; Miguel
de, 253, 261
Fermoselle del Encina, Francisco, 261
Fernandez, Diego, 279, 290-292
Fernandez, Isabel, 64
Fernandez, Juan, 99 187
Fernandez, Lucas, 251, 256-257
Fernandez [de Castilleja], Pedro, 163-164, 171,
I72 247 , 276-777, 292
Ferndndez de Heredia, Gonzalez, 126
Fernandez de Madrid, Juan, see Madrid
Ferndndez [de Palencia], Alfonso, 6
Ferrante, Don Ferdinand I of Naples, 54, 121-
122, 124, 202
Ferrara, 268
Fetis, F. J., 623, 95 ii2
FeVin, Antoine de, 173
fides, 2, 7
fifths, consecutive, 59, 163 (bars 16-17), *97 (bar 9),
205 (bars 12-13), 217 (bar 15), 218 (bar 43), 221
(bar 22), 225 (bar 31), 226 (bar 45), 229 (bar 7),
230, 241, 246 (bar 20), 247 (bar 16), 300
fistula, 7, 48
flauta, 7-8, 45
Flecha, Matheo, 20 1 3
Florence, 26, 56, 61
Flores de Mtisica (Martin y Coll), 22660
Flores musice (Spechtshart), 6g 49
Florimo, Francesco, 125
Fogliano: Giacomo, 251, 292; Lodovico, 63, 93
folia = follia, 287
folksong, borrowings from, 43, 45, 127, 270, 278, 287,
297 23 3, 298
Fonseca, Alfonso III de, 64
Fonseca, Juan de, see Rodriguez de Fonseca
Fox, Charles Warren, 92
Franfia, cuenta tu ganangia, 184-186
Francis I, 77
Franco, Cirillo, 268 171
Franco of Cologne, 65
Frias, Alfonso, I74 256
frottole: Escribano, 175; CMP, 249-252, 289, 292-
293, 302 239 , 305
frottolists, 265; ser also Brocco, Fogliano, Trom-
boncino
Frouvo, Joao Alvares, 2O4 27 , 263 159
Fuenllana, Miguel de, 4
Fuenpudia, Pascual de, 89
Fuions de ci (Jacomi, 1382), 49
Gabriel, see Mena
Gaeta, 164
Gae.ta nos es subjeta (Almorox), 250, 286
Gaffurio, Franchino, 4, 9, 56, 60, 62-63, 65, 70, 76,
78-79,86-87,93,125
gaita = ghaita, 22, 45
gaitero, 258 144
Galicia, 18, 33~34
Galician, literary use of, 27, 31
galliard, 266
Gallicus, Johannes, 59
Garcia Boiza, Antonio, 2O4 25
Garcia de Anchieta: Martin (I), 128; Martin (II),
I3i 101 ; Pedro, 128-129
Garcia de Lazcano, Lope, 128
Garcia de [Onaz y] Loyola, Martin, 129-130, 131"
Garcirmmoz, 293
Guarnier, Guilelmus, 125
Gasaje'monos de husia (Encina), 255-256
Gaudeamus igitur, student song, 185
Gaudeamus omnes in Domino, introit, 77, 96, 177
Gaude Maria, 52
Gaudentius, 6
Gautier de Ch^teaurenault, 33 114
Gautier de Coincy, 27
genera, diatonic, chromatic, and enharmonic, 61, 84,
93-94
General estoria (Alfonso X), 25
Genoa, 125, 288-289, 291
Gentildama (Cornago), 124, 290
Gerard of Cremona (d. 1187), 19
Gerber, Rudolf, i66 2 i, 203^
Gerbert, Martin, 83
Gerona, 24
Gherardo di Giovanni del Fora, 6i 40
ghina', 19
Ghisi, Federico, 299
Gibrale6n, Garcia de, 260-261
Gil, Juan, 47-48, 51-52, 60
Gij6n, Juan Pe"rez de, 2oi 4 , 207, 232, 293, 302
Gilbert of England, bishop, 97
Giralda, Seville, 17
Giraldo, friar, organ-builder, 120
giterne, 44
Giusto, Giovanni di, 122
Index
327
Glockner, Thomas, 104
Gloria Patri, intonations for, 67
Goes, Damiao de, 97124
Golden Legend, The, 26
Gombert, Nicolas, 173
Gombosi, Otto, 2O3 18
G6mez, Fernando, 195
G6mez de Cantalapiedra, Martin, I32 110 , 254
G6mez de Portillo, Gonzalo, 190-191
Gonsalez, Juan, 27
Gonzaga, Federico, 25 7 143
Gonzalez, Maria (fl. 1325), 30, 36
Gonzalez de Mendoza, Pedro, archbishop, 92, 242
Goscaldus, Johannes, 66, 83-84, 88, 100
Gracchus, Gaius, 2
Granada, 17-19, 24, 95 116 , 129, 133, 238-239, 247-
248, 249 118 , 266-268, 289
Grangasajo siento yo (Encina), 255
Grassi, Paride de, I22 48 , 149
Greek rite, music for, 259
Gregory I, pope, 3, 9, 84
Gritos davan (Alonso), 286
Guadalajara, 92
Guadalquivir, 281
Guarcees, Isabel and Catarina, i7i 243
Guardaos d'estas pitofleras (Alonso), 287
Guerrero, Francisco, 52, 171, I73 254 , 176-177, 186,
199, 254, 259
Guido d'Arezzo, 6 23 , 57-58, 62-63, 65, 76, 83, 88-89,
9i
Guillelmus Monachus, 66
guitar, 7, 22, 45-46, 46 148
Gundissalinus, Dominicus, 19
Gutierrez, Gerdnimo, 116
Gutierrez, Juan, 94
Haec dies, plainsong, 52, 84
Hagenbach, Peter, 107, 116
Handschin, Jacques, 33 112 , 44
Hannibal, i
Ha, Pelayo, qu desmayo, 285
Harder, Hanna, 49
harp, 7, 44-46* 4 148
Hawkins, John, 50, 86 88
Hayne van Ghizeghem, 156
Heather, William, 47
Hechos del Condestable (1466), 205-206
Henry IV, of Castile, 132, 20319, 294 22
Henry V, of England, 246
Henry V (Shakespeare), 246, 249!"
Henry VII, of England, 58
Henry VIII, of England, 65
Herbs de Fils, Magnus, 104
Hermosilla, Pedro de, 253
Hernandez, Diego, organist,
Hertzog, John, 112
Hewitt, Helen, 202*3 203**
Hispanic Society of America, The, 103-104, 109, 1 16 35
Hodie scietis, plainsong, 52
hocket, see In seculum; hocketing, 46
Hofhaimer, Paul, 65
Hojeda, Andres de, 165
Holy Sepulchre, Church of the, 260
Hothby, John, 56 21 , 58, 61, 69^, 88, 1256*
Hrabanus Maurus, 3
Huelgas, Las : codex of, 35-39, 44 ; convent of, 30, 35,
38, 46
Huntington Library, 105!, io8 25
Hurtado de Xeres, 207, 232-235
Hurtado de Mendoza, Diego, archbishop, 92, 150,
238
Hurras: John, 46, 104; Paul, 104, 106
Hymnorum Intonationes (1500), no
Ibn Said al-Maghribi (d. 1280), 22
Ibn Slna, 20, 69 4
Icart: Bernardo, 124-125, 286 198 ; Francesc, 125
Ihsd'al-'ul&m, 19
Ikilanus, Abbat, 13
Ildephonsus, 10, 14, 113
Illarius, Johannes Illario, Juan, 84, 164, 177
imitation: Cornago's use of, 222-223; Encina's use
of, 266; Gij6n's, 232; Madrid's, 242, Millars,
272-273; Triana's, 209-210; 212-213; Urrede's,
284; see also Vorimitation
Improperia, Mozarabic, 15
incunabula, music printing in, 102-1 19
index of prohibited books, 280
indica, 7
In Enchiridion (Despuig), 73~75, 77-7$, *&>
Ingeniosa comparacidn entire lo antiguo y lo presente
(1539), 145
In hoc festo (Rodrigues), 39
In manus tuas, Domine, plainsong, 52
In passi one positus (Penalosa), 151, 157
Inperayritz de la ciutat ioyosa (Llibre Vermeil), 40-41
In seciduin, hocket, 44 140
Institute Espafiol de Musicologia, 164, 2Oi s , 277
instruments: making of, 2, 21-22; nomenclature,
6-8, 22, 44-45
In te Domine speravi t frottola, 250, 293
Interemata Dei Mater (Ockeghem), 219
Intonationes segun vso delos modemos (Bizcargui), 89
lo mi uoglio lamentare (Brocco), 250-251, 289
Iranzo, Miguel Lucas de, 201
Isaac, Heinrich, 184, 195
Isabella : character of, 245, 305 ; court singers of, 129,
133, 164-165, 170, 180, 183, 272, 279; death of,
129, 133, 240 101 , 255, 265, 289; instrumentalists,
289; travels of, 133, 180
Isabella, wife of Charles V, 276
Isidore of Seville, 2-9, 10, 14, 17, 54> 9
Isis, 824
Italian Symphony (Mendelssohn), 292
Ite missa est, 16, 103, 106
Jacques de Liege, 51
Ja6n, 25, 55, ioS-iii, 206, 291
Jaime II, of Aragon, 23
Janequin, Qe^memt, 249
Jdtiva, 23
Jerez, 232
Jerome, St., 3
Jerome of Moravia, 20, 5 1 1
Jeronymites, music among the, 38 1 **, 104, 107
Jerusalem, 34, 259
Jesv, Redmptor omnium, plainsong, 52
328
Index
Joanna "the Mad," 129, I3i 104 , I33~i34> *45> 148,
i93 259
Joannes of Saragossa, 10
Joao III, 96, 169, 279, 288
Joao IV, 5620, 204
joglares, 27, 31
Johan dels orguens, 46
Johamves Alamanus, 49 165
Johannes Carthusinus, see Gallicus
John, Prince (d. 1497), 127-129, 131, 133, I46 141 ,
240, 259 145
John Baptist, 16
John of Parma, 47-48
John of Seville, 19
John of Trevisa, 3, 6
Jose* de Sigiienza, Jeronymite, 107
Josquin des Prez, 76, 126, 145-146, 173, 177, 184,
250, 293
Juan I, of Aragon, 23, 46, 48-49
Juan II, of Aragon, 46, 74, IO4 6 , 245
Juan II, of Castile, 23, 49^
Juan, Don (d. 1497), see John, Prince
Juana, Dona, wife of Henry IV, 294*26
Juana la loca, see Joanna
Juanes, 207, 235
Jubilate Deo omnis term (Morales), 77
Judah, Rabbi, 66
Julian of Toledo, 10, 12, 14
Julius II, pope, 174, 257
Jumieges, 12
Justa, St., n, 16, 100, 116
Justa fue mi pevdifidn (Torre), I94 300 , 251, 283-284
Juste Judex (Triana), 196-199, 210
Juvenal, i, 3
Juysio fuerte serd dado, I96 305 , 210, 290
Kaaba, 17
kaithara, 22
Keinspeck, Michael, 66-68
Kellman, Herbert, 179285
Kilwardby, Robert, 19
Kinkeldey, Otto, 63
Kitab al-Musiqi, 18
Kitabas'-Sifa' (Avicenna), 20
Knoep, Henry, 54
Koran, 291
La betta mal maridada (Gabriel), 278
Lagarto, Pedro de, 20 1 4 , 207-208, 235-237, 281, 293
La ilustre fregona (Cervantes), 127
Lamentaci6n (Ponce), 285
lamentations, Spanish, n 38 , 122
Lamentationum (Petrucci, 1506), 125
La mi sola, Laureola (Ponce), 185-186, 284-285
La moQa que las cobras cria (Triana), 210, 215
L'amor donna ch'io te porto (G. Fogliano), 251, 292
Landini cadence ("under-third"), 206, 218, 234, 240,
280, 302
Languebroek, Constans de, 54
La pena sin ser sabida (Vincenet), 2O9 46
La que tengo -no es prisidn (Torre), I94 3(M) , 251, 282-
283
Laredo, 85
La representation del nacimiento de Nuestro Senor
(1450), 268
La Rue, Pierre de, i3i 104 , *44> 158, 161-162, 180,
2O2 13
Las Casas, Bartolom6 de, 85, 181
Las liciones de Job (Sanchez de Badajoz), 268" 1 , 280
Las mis penas madre (Escobar), 280
Las siete partidas (Alfonso X), 25, 28
Lassus, Orlandus, 185
Latricotea (Alonso), I25 63 , 286
Laudafilia, laudes-type, 16
Laudemus Virginem, round, 40
laudes, Mozarabic, 15-16
Leander, 3, 9-10
Lebrixa, see Nebrija
Le eure e venue (Agricola), 270
Le Fevre d'taples, Jacques, ioo 141
Leo X, pope, 91, 97, 126, 130, 145-146, 148-149,
174-175, 258, 260
Ledn: 10-11, 13, 25, 190; cathedral of, 258-261
Le6n, Juan de, 207, 237-241, 265, 282192, 290 , 293
Le<5n, Jorge de, 239 101
Le"onin, 35
Le paure amant qui est t 207-208
Levanta, Pascual (Encina), 266-267
L'Homme armd, use of, 137, 153
L huom terren (Escribano), 175200
Lianor, queen, 29522?
Libellus orationum, Visigothic, 10
Libera me, responsory (Torre), 19429^
Liber de arte contrapuncti (Tinctoris), 54
Libro de buen amor, 21, 44-45
Liege, 51, 54
ligatures, theories concerning, 70, 78
Lindsay, W. M., 5
Lisbon, 96-97, 99, 108, 169, 171, 243
Llavia, Ram6n de, 46
Llibre Vermeil, 39-43
Llorens Cister6, Jos< M., 174, 2368
Lobo, Alonso, 171
Lodovicus of Barcelona, ioo
Logrofio, 190
LongfeUow, H. W., 26
L6pez, Fernando, 290
L6pez de Anchieta, Maria, 128
L6pez de G6mara, Francisco, 21
L6pez de Mendoza, Ifiigo, see Santillana, Marques de
L6pez de Ofiaz y Loyola, Pedro, 130, 132
L6pez Ferreiro, Antonio, 65, 237
Lo que queda es lo seguro: anonymous, 299; Escobar,
2O2 1 *, 280
Lorenzana, Juan de, 260
Lorenzo, Pedro, 27
Loreto, 259
Los bragos trayo cansados (Millan), 273
Los Milagros de Nuestra Sennora (Gonzalo de
Berceo), 45
Los set gotxs (Llibre Vermeil), 40, 42-43
Lowinsky, Edward E., 6i 3 *
Loyola, Ignatius, 127, 129-130, i32 106
Lucan, 2
Lucca, 58
Luchas, attribution to, 277
Ludwig, Friedrich, 33
Index
329
Lugo, 87
Luschner, John, 109-110
Lull, Ramon, 66
lute, 8, 22, 44-46, 46 14 *
Lux bella (Duran), 63-68, Q2* 04
Lux videntis (Molina), 87-88
lyre, 6-7, 48
macaronic, texts in, 2O2 6 , 210, 274
Machaut, Guillaume de, 49 69 , 52, 101
Macrobius, 61, 89
Madrid, Juan Fernandez de, 75, IJJ-IJQ, 207, 240-
242, 250, 265, 271, 280, 282, 293, 295, 3O5 243
maestro de capitta, typical duties of, 191-192
- Magdeburg, 3
Magellan, 85
Magnificat[s] : Anchieta, 136-137, 144; anonymous
(CMC), 20788; Escribano, 175; Icart, 125; Marlet,
180; Monde"jar, 183; Pefialosa, 152, 203 24 ; Quixada,
189; Ramos de Pareja, 61; Segovia, 193; Urrede,
203
Maillart, Pierre, 294
Malaga: archdeaconate of, 257-259, 290; cathedral
of, 238-239; music at, 290-291
Malegolo, Pantaleone, I25 60
Malos adalides (Badajoz), 2I9 55 , 288
Mandad' ei (Codax), 33
mandurria, 45
Mane nobiscum, chanzoneta, 45
Manipulus curatorum, 102
Manrique, G6mez, 268
Manrique, Jorge, 251, 276, 302
Manrique de Lara, Bernaldino, 65
Mantua, 59
Manuale Toletanum (1494), 105-106
Manuel I, of Portugal, 97, 168, 171
Maomet, instrumentalist, 22
maqam, 237, 304
Maravyllome (Triana), 210, 215
Marchettus of Padua, 65, 84, 93
Marcos, Juan, 64
Marcos Duran, Domingo, see Duran
Margarita philosophica, 20
Mariam matrem, 40-43
Marien, 291-292
Marineo, Lucio, 147-148, 184-186, 284
Marlet, Antonio, 163-164, 179-180
Martial, I, 121
Martianus Capella, see Capella
Martines, Lope, 293
Martinez, Alfonso, 120
Martinez, Juan, 94-96
Martinez de Bizcargui, Gonzalo, 50, 53-54> 73. 77
85, 88-90, 91, 96-97* I 3i 104
Martinez de Fontova, Alfonso, 235-236
Martinez del Puerto, Catalina, 85
Martinez Siliceo, Juan, archbishop, 108
Martini, Johannes, 54
Martin y Coll, Antonio, 226 60
Mary Magdalene, 255
mascherata, 175
Mascum ahat, instrumentalist, 23
Masses: acoustical environment for, 145; display of
learning in, 281 ; Mozarabic, 16, ii7 36 ; nuptial, 106;
see Missa, Missale
Mds vale trocar (Eucina), 263, 265
Mater Patris (Brumel), 145
Mater patris filia, Huelgas codex, 39
Matheus Flandrus, 102
Maynete, Juan, 2032
Mayoral del hato (Sanabria), 193, 295
Mecca, 17
Medicean gradual, 98
Medina, Fernand Perez de, 163-164, 180-183, 186,
250, 294-295
Medina del Campo, 133, 2O3 21 , 28o 190 , 289
Medula de la mtisica theorica (Cruz Brocarte), 73
Mettis stilla, Huelgas Codex, 37
Mellon, chansonnier, 203
Memento mei t Deus, plainsong responsory, 232
Memo, Dionisio, 65
Memorare piissima (Escobar), i72 249
Mena, Gabriel, 2oi 3 , 250, 253, 276-279, 282, 294, 304
Mena, Juan de, 251, 254, 302
Mendelssohn, Felix, 292
Me*ndez, Diego, 150
Mendizdbal, Domingo de, 129
Mendizabal, Juan Alvarez, 35
Mendoza, Diego de, 195
Mendoza, Martin de, 92
Menendez Pidal, Ramdn, i8 58 , 23, 49 164
Menendez y Pelayo, Marcelliao, 24 85
Mercury, modal influence of, 264-265
Mexico, holy office in, 94 109
Mexico City, 22
Meyer, Wilhelm, 12
Mezonzo, Pedro de (d. 1003), 180
Michael de Castellanis, see Castellanis
Micrologus (Guido of Arezzo), 65
Miedo vridde Chiromiro (Contreras), 290
Mihi est propositum in taberna mori, 185
Milan, 86, 94
Milarte, Jacobus de, 294
Milldn, Francisco, 250, 253, 262, 264, 272-276, 277,
282, 293-294, 297
ministriles, 206
Mios fueron mi cor agon: Millan, 272, 275-276,294;
Mond^jar, 294
Mi querer tanto vos quiere (Enrique) , 231, 290
Missa: Almorox, a 3, 164; Alva, a 3, 166-167, de
beata Virgine, 165 ; Anchieta, Ea iudios a enfardelar t
127-128, quarti toni, 137-138, 145, I53 Rex
virginum, 136-138; Cornago, mappamundi, 121-
123; Dufay, Se la face ay pale, 61; Escobar, a 4,
172-173, pro defunctis, 172; Escobar-Penalosa-
Hemandes-Alva, Rex virginum, 172, 176; Josquin
des Prez, L'Homme anne' Sexti toni, 76; La Rue,
Nunqua fue pena maior, 158, 161 ; Madrid, [Gawle-
amtts], 177-179; PefLalosa, Ave Maria peregrina,
I53-I54. i57Nuncafwpenamayor t 156-161, 163,
del o/o, 193; Quixada, a 3, 189; Ramos de Pareja,
61; Ribera, a 4, 189; Tordesfflas, a 4, 193;
Urrede, de beaia Virgine, 204, tmtitled, 225 60 ;
see also, Tournai.
Missale: Abulense (1500), xio-xxx; Auriense (I494>
106; Benedict* (1499), 109; Caesaraugvstanum
(1485), 103-104; Caesaraugustanum (149^), 106-
107; ComposteHanum, 102; Giennense (1499)*
330
Index
109; Mozarabe (1500), 115-119; Oscense (1488),
104; Tarraconense (1499), 109; Toletanum (1499),
107-108
Mitjana, Rafael, 24 85 , 32 1 * , 170, I72 249 , 23888,
239 94 , 290-291, 292 221 , 301
Mi ventura, el caballero (Gabriel), 278
mofos a= mozos de coro, 95, 148, 168, 190-192,
235-237, 254, 290-291, 296
modality, problems of, 28, 32
modes : affective qualities of, 223 ; church, 47-48, 60,
77, 84, 86, 91, 93-94, ii i ; Encina' s choice of, 263-
264; Escobar's, 280; Millan's, 275; Triana's, 213
Molina, Barfcolome' de, 87-89, 92
Molins de Podio, Guillenno, 74
Moll Roqueta, Jaime, 74
Mondejar, Alonso de, 164, 183, 2Oi 3 , 253, 276, 286,
294
money-values, 131 103
monicordio manichord, 46
Monle6n, archdeaconate of, 175
monochord, 47, 90
Monsalve, 294
Monserrate, Andre's de, 73, 92 104 , 95
Montanos, Francisco de, 76, 268 170
Monte, Arnaldus de, see Arnaldus
Monte, Juan de, 55, 59, 101
Monte Cassino, MSS at, 122-124, 183, 202, 218-219,
223 59 , 299
Monterrey, 106
Montserrat, 39, 43
Moore, Thomas, 26
Moors, music of the, 18-19, 21-24; see a ^ so Arabian
music, Granada
Morales, Crist6bal de, 52, 77, I22 48 , I3i 103 , 158,
I73 254 , 175-176, 186, 194, 199, 20i 8 , 281, 291, 301
Morales, Tomas de, 236
Morley, Thomas, 70
Morocco, 1 8, 66
Mor6n, collegiate church of , 258-259
Mortal trisfura me dieron (Encina), 268269
Morton, Robert, 231, 250-251, 294, 3O5 a4a
Motetti de la Corona (Petrucci), 135
Moxica, 207, 242-243
Mozarabic rite, music for, 10-17, 115-119
Mozart, W. A., soS 44
Mudarra, Alonso, I5o 169 , 173-174
Mufioz, Garcia, 293
Murcia, 25
Muris, Jean de, 52, 65, 84, 89
Muros, Diego de, bishop, 149
Muy crueles voses dan, 245, 250
Muy triste serd mi vida (Urrede), 2o6 84 , 207, 225-
226, 251, 284
Mynors, R. A. B., 5
nafir, 22
Nagera, cancionero of, 276
naker, 44
Naples, music at, 95, 121, 124-125, 164, 223 59 , 299
Nativitas tua, plainsong antiphon, 175
Navarre, 48
Navarro, Juan, 52, 199
Nebrija, Antonio de, 254
Neefe, Christian Gottlob, 177
Negro musicians, 2O3 19
Ne recorderis, plainsong, 294
neums: Aquitanian, 12; Mozarabic, n
Nice, 77
Nicholas V, pope, 56, 235 79
Nicholaus: de Capua, 54; de Saxonia, 108; de Senis,
49; de Tudeschis, 105
Nina, ergmdeme los ojos (Alonso), 286
Ninguno ?ierre las puertas (Encina), 255-256, 265
nira, 22
No consiento ni me plaze (Triana), 210-212, 215
No fie nadie en amor (Torre), I94 300 , 244
No me digays madre mal (Salinas), 287
No me le digdis mal (Alonso de Alva), 166, 287
Non toches a moi (Icart), 125, 286 198
No queriendo sois querida (Moxica), 242
No puedes quexar amor (Triana), 210, 212, 215
No tienen vado mis males (Encina), 264
Notker Balbulus, 12, 17
Nuevas te traigo, Carillo (Encina), 264
Nuevas te tray go , Carillo (CMC), 270
Numa Pompilius, 2
numerology, 61, 68
Nunca fue pena mayor (Urrede), 54, 61, 203, 207,
225, 227-229, 234, 237, 254, 282, 294 226
Nunc Sancte nobis, plainsong hymn, 79
Nunes, Ayras, 27
Nunes, Jose* Joaquim, 31
Nunes da Sylva, Manoel, 92 104
alto bien, 285 194
bone Jesu (Compere), 135, I36 180 , 152
Obreg6n, Antonio de, 258
obscenity: Alonso's handling of, 285 195 , 286; CMP,
303; Encina's, 266
Ockeghem, Jean, 55, 101, 123, I24 51 , 207-208, 218-
222
desdichado de mi (Badajoz), 288-289
devotzcueurs (Compere), 274
Odhecaton, I58 194 , 2O2 13 , 203, 270
Odo of Cluny, 6 23 , 57-58
Odivelas, Abbess of, 169
odre9illo, 45
dulce y triste memoria (Millan), 275
gloriosa Dei genitrix Virgo, conductus, 37
gloriosa Domina (Fernandez de Castilleja) 176-177
Oliva, of Ripoll, 47
Olson, Clair C., 44
Olvyda tu perdition Espana, 2I9 54 , 245, 247
Omnes gentes plaudite, 104
Ona, monastery at, n
Onaz, Beltran de, 129
Ondas do mar (Codax), 32
pena que me conbates (Triana), 212-213
Oporto, 279
qudn dulce serias (Torre), I94 300 , 282-283
Ordonez, Alonso, 65
Orfe6n Catalan = Orfe6 Catala, 39, i36 18 o, 151, 184
organa, Huelgas repertory of, 35
organs: 1388, 46; 1410, 52; 1418, 120; 1489, 289;
1494, 105; J507, 296 228 ; J525, 65
organum, 23-24, 46 145
Orgaz, Fernando de, 190
Oriental rites, music for, 259
Index
331
Oriola, Pietro, 183
Ornithoparcus, Andreas, 4, Sy 91 , 92, I22 48
Orphe'nica Lyra (Fuenllana), 4, 185
Orpheus, 185
Ortiz, Alfonso, 116
Ortiz, Diego, 96
Orto, Marbriano de, 126
Osma, 126, 147
Osma, Pedro de, see Pedro
Oviedo, 149, 175
Oviedo, Gonzalo Fernandez de, 133
Virgo Splendens (Llibre Vermeil), 40
vos omnes (Millan), 274
Oxford, 4, 14, 19, 47
Oya tu merged, 251
Cyan todos mi tormento (Monde" jar), 294
Oy comamos y bebamos (Encina), 255, 304
Palencia: 10, 97; cathedral of, 190-192
Palermo, 49 164
Palomares, Juan de, 174
Pamplona, 44, 48, 130
panderete, 22, 45
pandura, 7
Pange Lingua (Urrede), 2O3 22 , 226 60 , 227
Paradise and the Peri (Moore), 26
Paradisi porta (Escribano), 175-176
Para verme con ventura (Ponce), 185-186, 284
Pareja, 91
Pascua d'Espiritu Santo (Torre), I94 300 , 282
Pascual, shepherd character, 258, 264, 267, 271
Pascuala, shepherdess, 255
Pase'isme aor' alld (Escobar), 279
passamezzo, 266
Passio martyrum Caesaraugustanorum, 113
Passion according to St. John, singing of, 149
Pastrana, Pedro de, 2Oi 8
Patres nostri peccaverunt (Cornago), 122
Patris sapientia (Ribera), 189
Paul, St., 2, 13
pavane, 266
Pavia, 305 243
pecten, 2, 7
Pedraza, Juan de, 239
Pedro III, of Aragon, 23
Pedro IV, of Aragon, 23, 49 16S
Pedro de Osma, 56, 69*8, 10822
Pegnitzer, John, 104
Pelayo, tan buen esfuerco (Encina), 266
Peligroso pensamiento (Torre), I94 800 , 282-283
Pellisson, 49 16S
Pefiafiel, Council of, 181
Penalosa, Francisco de, 91, 14.5-163, I36 180 , 165,
170, 173, 175, 184, 199-200, 2oi 8 , 212, 238, 250,
252-253, 261, 281, 286, 294, 303-304
Pefialosa, Juan de, I46 141
Penalosa, Luis de, 150, 261
pefiola[s], 25
Perez, Fernando, 239
Pe"rez, Gonzalo, 257
Perez de Alva, Alonso, see Alva
Perez de Gij6n, Juan, see Gij<5n
Perez de Medina, Fernand, see Medina
P6rez de Rezola, Pedro, I74 25 *
Perez de Soto, Melchor, 94109
Perez Roldan, Juan, 226 60
Pero Gon$ales (Alonso), 287, 304
Perugia, 183, 231
Peter of Venice, 69^, 88
Petite camitsette (Ockeghem), 207-208
Petrarch, 268
Petrequin, 202 13
Petrucci, Ottaviano, 125, 135, i36 130 , 158 195 , 202-
203, 250, 252, 292
Philip the Fair, ii7 36 , 129, 133, 144-145, 148, 231
Philip II, 18, 38139, 294
phoenice, 8
Pipelare, Matthaeus, isS" 4
Pixerecourt chansonnier, 125, 202, 2O3 18 , 303
Pizarro, Gonzalo, 64, 181
Placida, 258
plainchant, accidentalizing of, 51-52, 67, 77, 84, 86,
95, in
borrowings from: Anchieta, 137, 153; anonymous
CMP, 299; Enema, 268; Escribano, 175; Gij<5n,
232, 299; Penalosa, 153-154, 156
oneline, 52-54, 68, 90, 100
Plaja, Alonso de la, 163, 184
planets, musical influence of, 60-61
Plaser y gasafo (Alonso), 286
Plega a Dios (anonymous), 299
Pliny the Younger, i
Podio, Guillermo de, see Despuig
Politian, 97 123
Polonus, Stanislaus, 104, 108
Polorum regina (Llibre Vermeil), 4243
Ponce, Juan, 148, 163-164, 181, 184-189, 250, 252-
253, 272, 281, 284-285, 303-304
Ponzetto, Ferdinando, cardinal, i89 285
Pope, Isabel, 3i 108 , 2O3 18 , 208, 220-221, 223 59 , 24o 102 ,
299
Popule meus, Mozarabic chant, 15
Por las gracias que teneis (Madrid), 240, 242
Por las sierras (Penalosa), 153, 156, 212, 252
Porque de ageno (Millan), 272, 274
Porque mas sin duda creas (Cornago), 218, 220, 224-
226
Porras, Juan de, 102, 106, in
Por serviros, triste yo, 285
Portalegre, Antonio de, 279
Pdrto, Pedro do, i64 197 , 169-170
Portugal: medieval music in, 53; music printing in,
94-97, 108
Possidius, 2
Practica musice (Gaffurio), 60, 70, 78, 86-87
Prado, German, 11-12, 33-34
preces, Mozarabic, 12
Prieto, Martin Rodrigo, I74 266
Prioress's Tale, The (Chaucer), 26, 29
PriscilUan, 2
Processionarium ordinis praedicatorum (1494)* IO 4~
105
Processionarium ordinis S. Benedicti (1500), 109-110
Processionariurn secundum consuetudinem ordinis
sancti Patris nostri Hieronymi (1526), log 2 *, in,
I25 6i
prolegendum, Mozarabic rite, 15
Propertius, 3
332
Index
Propinan de melyor (CMC), 244 106 , 245 107
proportions, 71, 79, 156 (I)
prosa, 33, 35
Prudentius, 2
psallendum, Mozarabic, 15
psaltery, 8, 22, 45-46, 48
Ptolemy, 6, 6s 41 , 89
Puerto, Diego del, 65, 85-87, 101
Pues bien para e'sta (Garcimufioz), 293
Pues con sobra de tristura (Enrique), 231, 290
Pues la vida en mal (Millan), 274
Pues mi dicha non consiente (Belmonte), 207, 227,
229-230
Pues que Dios te fiso tal (Cornago-Madrid), 124, 240-
241, 271, 280, 290
Pues que jamas olvidaros (Encina), 204, 263 159
Pues que todo os descontenta (Torre), I94 300 , 283
Puesservicio vos desplase (Morton), 231, 250-251,
294, 304-305
Puig, Pedro, 74
Pujol, Emilio, I74 255
Pulgar, Fernando del, 56 19
Pullois, Jehan, 54
Pythagoras, 2, 76
qanun, 19, 22-23
Quampulchraes: Marlet, 180; Rivafrecha, 192
Quatuor principalia musicae, 20, 48
Que bien me lo veo (Salsedo), 295, 299
Quedaos adi<5$ (Escobar), 281
Quddate, Caritto (Encina), 263, 266
Que 1 desgraciada sagala (Baena), 289
Que* mayor desaventura (Contreras), 251, 290
Que me quereis, caballero, 298
Que me quereys el cauallero (Salinas), 298
Querol Gavalda, Miguel, 249 113 , 25O 115
Querol Roso, Leopoldo, 2O4 26
Quesada, Cristdbal de, 239
Qu'es de ti, desconsolado (Encina), 245, 247
Qu'es mi vida preguntays (Cornago-Ockeghem), 123-
124, 207, 218-223
Quevedo, Juan de, 195
Quevedo Villegas, Francisco de, 127, 263
QuJvida ternd sin vos, 251
Que'xome de ti (Lagarto), 236
Quien tal drbol, 2851**
Quien te traxo cavalier o (Encina), 266
Quien vevir libre desea, 282 192
Quien vos dio tal senorio (Triana), 213-215, 237 87
Quintilian, 1-2, 5
quintuple meter, 262-263, 270, 279, 287-288, 291
Quir6s, Diego de, 251, 274!
Quixada, 163, 189
quodlibet, 153, 156, 212, 216-218
rabab, 19, 22-23
rabe" = rabel rabeu, 23, 45, 46 148 , 241
Raleigh, Sir Walter, 4
ramal, 21
Ramirez de Villaescusa, Diego, bishop, 238, 258
Ramos de Pareja, Bartolome", 4, 8-9, 50-51, 55-64,
69 49 , 7 73 75-77> 79, 83, 89-90, 101, 254, 264-265,
275, 280, 284
Raphael, 76
Rationale divinorum officiorum (1286), 181
Raymund of Toledo, 19
Rayner, singer, 3O5 243
Reaney, Gilbert, 48-49
rebeck, 22, 45-46, 240
Recciberga, queen, 9
Recesvinth, 3
recorder, 22, 45
Reese, Gustave, 43, 180
Regis, Johannes, 54
Reglas de Canto Piano (Estevan), 51-53
Reisch, Gregor, 20
Remigius of Auxerre, 84
Reminiscere Sunday, text for, 173254
Remon RanuSn de Ca?io, 52
Resende, Garcia de, 289, 295
responsories, 5, 67, 86
rests, within words: Le6n's use of, 240; Rodriguez's,
244
Retractaciones de los error es (Espinosa), 89
Reutlingen, Hugo von, see Spechtshart
Reveldse mi cuidado (Encina), 265
Rexit, instrumentalist, 23
Reyna y Madre de Dios (anonymous), 297
Reyneau, Gacian, 48
Riario, Raffaele, 146-147, 245 109 , 259
Ribera, Antonio de, 163-164, I74 256 , 189, 294
Ribera, Julian, 18, 27-28, 292
Ribera, Pedro de, 87
ricercari (Capirola), 305
Riemann, Hugo, 50
Ripoll, 39, 65
Rivafrecha, Martin de, 59, 85, 97, 163-164, 181, 186,
rpo-Jpj, 200
Roderick, Visigothic king, 247
Rodrigues, Johan, 36-39, 44
Rodriguet de la guitarra, 48-49
Rodriguez, J., 207, 243-244, 265, 294
Rodriguez de Fonseca, Juan, 85, 89, 13 1 104 , 190
Rodriguez del Padr6n, Juan, 2o6 34 , 251, 302
Rogatus of Baeza, 10, 14
Rojas, Agustin de, 267
Rojo, Casiano, 11-12
Roman, comendador, 294-295
romances: CMC, 245; CMP, 251-252, 273, 290,
293-294, 302
Rome, 1-2, 56, 91, 121, 146, 148-151, 196, 239, 256-
260, 296 228
Romeo and Juliet, 231
Romerico, tu que vienes (Encina) , 265
Ronda, 282
rondeau, 46 147
rondeles, 206
root position, Spanish preference for, 227, 295
Rore, Cipriano de, 17$*$*
Rosa, Albertus de, 52, 64 49 , 100
Rosa y L<5pez, Sim6n de la, 2o6 33 , 232 72 , 2358
Rosembach, Joan, 109
rotte, 22, 44-45, 46 148
Roussillon, 250
Rubinetus, 84, 88
Rubio Piqueras, Felipe, 194
Ruego a Dios (Gij6n), 232, 299
Rufina, 16; see also Justa
Index
333
Ruiz, Juan, archpriest of Hita, 21, 44-45
Ruiz de Lihory, Jose*, 74
Ruyz, Fenian, 46
Sabbato Sancto> musical importance of, 103, 107-108,
112
Sablonara, Claudio de la, 250
sacrificium, Mozarabic rite, 15
Safi al-Dm, 18
Salamanca, Alonso de, 237
Salamanca: cathedral of, 256-257; diocese of, 129;
liturgical printing at, 102, 106, 111-112; polyphonic
printing at, 71-73, 85; university of, 47, 56 16 , 61,
64, 83-86, 97 128 , 132, 174, 185, 284
Salcedo, Bernardino de, 131"
Salinas, Francisco, 43, 45 144 , 50, 56, 74-76, 127, 270,
278, 287-288, 298
Salinas, Garcia, I74 256
Salsedo = Salcedo = Sarzedo: 295, 299; Martin de,
29522?
saltarello, 266
Salva, Jaime, 24
Salva nos Domine, plainsong, 299
Salve Regina: Anchieta, 137-138, 186; endowed,
190; Fernandez de Castilleja, 176; Medina, 180,
182-183, 200; plainsong, 153, 156, 176; polyphonic
settings of, 163; Ponce, 186-189, 281; Rivafrecha,
192-193; singing of, 181
sambuca, 8, 48
Sanabria, Juan de, 193, 295
San Bartolome*, college of, 56* 6 , 85
Sanchez, Juan, 174
Sanchez, Luis, of Barcelona, 59-60, 93
Sanchez de Badajoz, Garci, 268"!, 280, 288
Sdnchez del Encina, Catalina, 253
Sdnchez de Santo Domingo, Pero, 235^
Sancho III, of Castile, 30
Sancho IV, Castile, 22, 47-48
San Clemente (Seville Cathedral), chapel of, 51, 257
Sancta et immaculata, 52
Sancta matey, istud agas (Pefialosa), 152, 157
Sancti Spiritus adsit nobis, sequence, 104
Sandoval, Lope de, dean of Cordova, 195
San Millan de la Cogolla, monastery of, 11-12
San Pedro de Cardena, monastery of, I47 152
San Pedro, Diego de, 185
San Sebastian de Soreasu, parish of, 129, 132
Santa Croce, Bernardo di, 49
Santa Maria, Tomas de, 76
Santiago de Compostela, 18, 25, 33-34, 38, 40, 64-65,
102, 106, I20 3 *, 180, 236 80 , 236-238
Santiago, Francisco de, 170
Santillana, Marque's de, 92, 208-209, 213, 251, 302
Sant Juan, 295
Santo Domingo de la Calzada, 190
Santo Domingo de Silos, Benedictine abbey of,
lo-ix, 13
Saragossa: 2, 10, 46; printing at, 88-89, 102-103,
106-107, 112-113
Saturn, modal characteristics of, 275
scandicus, Mozarabic, n
Scarlatti, Domenico, 204, 20 8 44
Scenes mignonnes sur quatre notes, 285
Schaeffler, Johann, 66
Schmidt-Go'rg, Joseph, 49
Schneider, Marius, 237, 297223
Scotland, 26
Seay, Albert, 61
Secdronme los pesares (Escobar), 280
Sedano, 295
Segovia: 133, 135, 148 ; cancionero of, 201, 282-283
Segovia, Juan de, 163, 193
selah, 15
S'elle m'amera je ne scay, 2o6 84
semitonium subintellectum, 59, 67, 91
Seneca, 2
Senora, despue's que 03 vi (Milldn), 251, 274-275
Senora, qual soy venido (Triana-Cornago), 196, 251
Sentluch Senleches, Jacomi de, 48-49
sequelae, 17
sequences: Gregorian, 103-104; Las Huelgas, 35;
Mozarabic, 12, 16-17; use of, 156, 186
Sequitur ars de pulsacione lambuti, 24 85 , 66
serpentin, 7
Serra, Jacobo, archbishop, 257
S err ana del bel mirar (Millan), 273, 293
Seville: 2-3, 5, 21-22, 25, 31, 46, 49, 51, 63, 94~95
238-239; cathedral of, 148, 165-168, 170-171,
295228 liturgical printing at, 104-105, 108, 112
Sforza: Ascanio, cardinal, 250, 293; Galeazzo Maria,
3Q5 243 ; Lodovico il Moro, 293 222
shabbaba, 22-23
Shakespeare, 22, 231
shawm, 22, 44-46
Sheffield, n
Shrove Tuesday, playlets for, 255
Si abrd en este baldrJs (Encina), 266
Sibyl: Song of the, 196; prophecy of the, 236, 290;
utterances of, 9 27
Si dolor sufro secreto (Millan), 274
S* ell espevanfa es dudosa (Millan), 274
Sienpre crepe mi serviros (Madrid), 240-241, 243
signatures: conflicting, 218, 241, 279, 282, 302
signs: mensuration, 71, 79, 87, 213, 227, 230, 262,
302-303
Encina's use of, 262 ; Escobar's, 279; Gabriel's, 278;
MiHan's, 275; Torre's, 282
Sigiienza, 175, 242
Silius Italicus, I
Silos, see Santo Domingo de Silos
Silva, Tristano de, 56, 59, 101, 168
Silva de sirenas (Valderribano), 278 187
Simancas, 146
Sisebut, king, 3
sistrum, 8, 48
sixth-chords, Madrid's use of, 179
Sixtus IV, pope, 195-196
Sobre Bcqa estdba el Key, romance, 245
soggetto cavato, 301
Sois emprantis (Silva), 59
Soissons, 34, 40
Sola me dexastes (Gabriel), 278 188
Sola m'ire*, 300-301
Solinus, 48 1 8
Solfs, Fernando de, 168, 296
solmization: methods of, 58-59, 68; songs based on
syllables used in, 285 1 * 5 , 300-301
Sol sol gi gi (Alonso),
334
Index
sonajas, 22, 45
song-motets, 196
Song of Solomon = Canticle of Canticles, 192
song-pairs, 266
Sosa, Lope de, 251
Sospitati dedit mundum (troped Osanna), 39
Spagna, basse danse, 195
Spanke, Hans, 39
Span" on, Alonso, 85, 131104
Spataro, Giovanni, 55-56, 59, 89, 225 60
Spechtshart, Hugo, 67, 69 49
Speculum doctrinale, 20
Speculum musicae, 51
Splendens ceptigera, 40-41
Stabat mater, 3oo 237
Stablein, Bruno, 49
Sternhold, Thomas, 3 6
Strabo, i
Straeten, Edmond Van der, 124-125
strambotto, 252
strene, 103
Subira, Jose, 79, 88 4
Sublimius diebus, Mozarabic sequence, 16
Sufriendo con fe tan fuerte (Millan), 272, 274
Sumer is icumen in, 3, 33 112
Simula de canto de drgano (Duran), 64, 69-72
Suriol, Gregori, 4142
Sursum corda, 103
Sy amor pone las escalas (Encina), 264-266
symbolism, musical, 167, 176, 200
symmetry, musical, 138, 157, 161, 287
symphonia, 6 23 , 8, 44-45
Syntrophilus, 2
Syria, 26
syrinx, 7, 45
tablature, guitar, 24
Taillandier, Antoni, 49 165
Taio, 34
Talavera de la Reyna: 92, 146; synod of, 181
Tamayo, Gonzalo, 239
tambourine, 8, 22, 45
tanabir, 19
Tan buen ganadico (Encina), 2O2 15 , 270
Tapia, Juan de, 251
Tapia, Martin de, 73, 76, 92, 175288
Tarazona, MSS at, 135, 164, 166, I72 249 , 176, 189,
192-193, 199, 203
Tarifa, Marques de, 259
Tarragona, 10, 66 46 , 73, 91, 179
Tavera, Juan de, 6444
Tebaldeo, Antonio, 268
Tel Aviv, 19
Temoroso de sufrir (Millan), 272-274
tenor, importance of the, 218, 242, 264, 275, 280,
283-284, 293, 302, 304
Terrellas, Mossen Pedro, 124
Terreros y Pando, Esteban, 6
Texerana, Gabriel de, 277
Thalesio, Pedro, 95-96
threni, 122; see lamentations
tibia, 8
Tienda, Domingo, 107
Timotheus, 185
Tinctoris, Johannes, 53, 70, 92, 124, 264
tintinnabulum, 8, 48
Tir' alia, que non quiero (Alonso), 286-287
Todo mi bien (Ponce), 284
Todo quanta yo sertfi (Baena), 2I9 55 , 289
Todos los bienes del mundo (Encina), 2O2 15
Toledo: 10-11, 13, 19, 25-26, 43; archdiocese of,
181 ; cathedral of,
choirbooks, 194
music in: 1418, 120; 1450, 235; 1483, 195;
235; 1502, 145; *
printing at, 105, 107, 112, 115-116
Toledo, Gutierre de, 254
Tordesillas, 134, 193
Tordesillas, Alonso Hernandez de and Pedro de, 163-
164, 193, 250, 295
Toro, Alonso de, 286, 295
Torre, Alfonso de la, 236
Torre, Fernando de la, 194
Torre, Francisco de la, 75, 164-165, Jp^-jp5, 200,
2oi 4 , 207, 230-231, 244-245, 250, 253, 272, 281-284,
302
Torre de la nina (Ponce), 284
Torrelobat6n, 276
Torres, Melchior de, 94 108
Torrijos, Fernando de, 254, 256
Tortosa, 73-74, 133
Toulouse, 4 7 , 66
Tournai, mass of, 35
Tours, 221
Tovar, Francisco, 73, 91-92, 150
Tractatus de diver sis figuris (CS, III, xii), 52
Tractato di musica (Spataro), 225 60
traste = fret, 22
Trebor, Jean, 49
Trend, J. B., 42, 287 202
trenos, Mozarabic, 15
Trent: codices of, 121, 123; council of, 181
Tres moricas m'enamoran (Fernandez), '291-292
Tres morillas m'enamoran (anonymous), 292
Triana, Juan de, 123, 164, ig$-igg, 207-218, 223,
226, 231-232, 235, 250, 296
Tribagia o via sacra de Hierusalem (Encina), 260
Trigueiros, Pedro de, 99
Triste Espana sin ventura (Encina), 254, 265
Triste estd la- Reyna (Contreras), 290
Tristesa, quien a mi vos did (Alonso), 286
Tristeza, quien a mi os did (anonymous), 299
tritones, license for, 59
Tromboncino, Bartolomeo, 251, 296
Troya, Alfonso de, 126, I74 256 , 296 228
Troya, Francisco de, 296
Troyes, 34, 40
Trujillo, 1 80
trumpet[s], 7-8, 22, 44-45, 206
trumpeter[s], 23
tuba, 8, 48
Tu lumen tu splendor Patris (Ramos de Pareja), 61-
62
tuning, systems of, 18, 57-59, 63, 75-77
Tunstede, Simon, 48
Tu que vienes de camino (Penalosa), 153, 252
tympanum, 8
Index
335
Uciredor, S., 48
Un' amigo tengo hermano (Encina), 265
Una montana pasando (Garcimunoz) , 293
Una sanosa porfia (Encina), 245
Ungut, Meinard, 104, 108
Uriarte, Eugenic, I28 75 , i29 90
Urrede, Johannes, 54, 56, 71, 156, 158, 161, 2oi 4 ,
203-204, 207, 225-231, 237, 240, 262, 282-284, 296
Urrestilla, 128
Urspmng, Otto, 40-41
*.
Valderas = Balderas, Jorge de, I3O 95
Valderrabano, Enriquez de, 77, 278
Valdes, Juan de, 305
Valdolivas, Juan de, 290
Valencia, 73~74 95
Valera, Juan de, 168, 170, 296
VaUadolid, 23, 135, 1^9, 184, 276
Valmar, Marques de, 26, 47 154
Van Dijk, S., 14
Vaqueras, Bertrandus, 126
Varazze, Jacopo da, 180
Vargas Carvajal, Gutierre de, bishop, 94108
Vasconcellos, Joaquim de, 9596
Vasquez, Juan, composer, 185
Vazquez, Juan, printer, 105
Vega, Garcilaso de la, 255
Vega, Pedro de la, Jeronymite, 107
Velazquez de Cuellar, Juan, I47 152
Vencedores son tus ojos (Escobar), 280
Venegas de Henestrosa, Luys, 226 60
Venice, 65, 105, 112, 259-260
Venus, 258
Vera, Juan de, 74
Verardi, Carlo, 245, 248-249
Vergel de m&sica (Tapia), 73, 76, 92
Verona, 10, 49, 250
Veronica, 255
Versa est in luctum (Pefialosa), 157-160
Versos fechos en loor del Condestable, 201, 204206
veyntena, clerigo de la (Seville), 170
Vicente, Gil, 168-169, 171, 174, 232, 243
Vicente de Burgos, friar, 4 7 , 6, 8 24
Victimae paschali, sequence, 104
Victoria, Tomas Luis de, 77, 177, 192
Viejo malo en la mi cama (Sedano), 295
Vigilia de la enamorada muerta (Encina), 268 171
Vigo, 31-32
vihuela: de arco, 45 ; de mano, 86, 280
Vilches, 297
Villa, Jaime de, 73*8
Villaamil, Gregorio Cruzada, 249
Villafranca, Luys de, 50-51, 73, 94-95
Villahermosa, Duque de, 74
VUlal6n, Cristobal de, 145
villancico: derivation of, 18; meaning of, 208, 252
Villancicos de diner sos autores (1556), 204, 25O 116
Villanovanus, Arnaldus, 65, 66 46
Villanueva, Jaime, 2485^ 39, 66
Villarino, 129130, 132
Vincenet, 203, 2O9 46
Vincent of Beauvais, 20, 66
Vindel, Pedro, 31-32, 83
violero, viol-player, 45 145
virelai, 39-41, 46 147 , 209
Virgen dina y muy fermosa (Alonso), 287
Virgil, 3
Virgilius Cordubensis, 2324
Virgo et mater (Anchieta), 138
Vitoria, 26
Vitry, Philippe de, 49, 52, 65, 83 79
Viva, viva, rey Ferrante, 24O 103
Vives, Juan Luis, 50, I34 116
Vola il tempo (Escribano), 175260
Vorimitation, 155, 219, 286, 294, 299
_ Vox clamantis (Tromboncino), 251, 274 178 , 296
Vox dilecti mei (Rivafrecha), 192
Vyrgen dina (CMC], 2o6 34
Wagner, Peter, 34
Waite, William, 35
Wamba, king, I3 44
Weerbecke, Gaspar van, 54
WhitehiU, W. M., 33
WiUaert, Adrian, 173
Wolf, Johannes, 49, 60, 83
Woolridge, H. E.,-5, 136130
Wynkyn [de Worde], Jan van, 3
xelamia, 46
Ximenez de Cisneros, Francisco, 107, in, 113, 115-
117, 238
Ximeno, Pedro, 64
Ya cantan los gattos (Vilches), 297
Yafiez de Loyola, Sancha, 128
Ya no quiero aver plaser (Valera), 296
Yale University, 203
Ycart, Bernardo, see Icart
Yllanes, Micheliangelo de, 126
Yllianas, Juan de, 126-127, I74 256 , 200
Yo con vos senora, 298
Yo me vollo lamentare (Brocco), 251
Yo me yua mi madre, 43
Yuhanna ibn Haylan, 18
Yuste, monastery at, 38 139
zajal == zejel, 18, 24
zambra, Moorish dance, 21
Zamora, 48, IO5 10
zampofLa 5anpona, 45
Zangorromango, 300
Zapata, Luis, 276-277
Zarlino, Gioseffo, 63
Ziryab, 20
zither, 7-8, 45
Zuniga y Pimentel, Isabel, 254
The printing of this booh was completed on December 20, 1960
2075
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