Spanish Renaissance Music

Accidentals are not always precisely indicated in old Spanish sources for Keyboard music, either for neglect or for this corresponds to the usual practice of not indicating them, letting them to performer’s opinion (semitonia subintellecta). As a way to find a solution to the resulting problem for performance practice, the purpose is to examine similar settings in contemporary works for vihuela, since tablature for this instrument actually reflects the precise pitch of the notes.
Key words: Semitonia subintellecta, musica fi cta, Cabezón, organ, vihuela.

In the Spanish style”: Spanish polemics on dance in 16th and 17th centuries.
In 16th and 17th centuries popular, theatrical and courtesan dances had different moral, social and economic values. Apart of the extant music and of the treatise by Esquivel Navarro, most available information about dance of that time appears in literature, particularly in plays for stage, documents concerning the polemics about moral and social status of theatre, or contracts. These contracts were signed with dance companies for the Corpus parades/processions, or with masters in order to teach noblemen or wealthy citizens to dance. Although these documents mention few musical and choreographic features, on the contrary, they reveal relevant aspects for the study of dance’s uses and meanings during that time as well as elements of the political and social tensions. In this context, Father Juan de Mariana’s recommendation to dance “in the Spanish style” (A la manera de España) involves a political use of dance in a new and modern sense.

Study of the music manuscript Barcelona, Centre de Documentació de l'Orfeó Català (CEDOC), Ms. 5, with codicological description and inventory. It contains works by Josquin, Obrecht, Isaac, Peñalosa and Richafort, as well as by minor composers Alonso de la Plaja, Bartomeu Cots and Marturià Prats. See a later article, by Ros-Fábregas,
"Script and Print: The Transmission of Non-Iberian Polyphony in Renaissance Barcelona". Early Music Printing and Publishing in the Iberian World, eds. Iain Fenlon and Tess Knighton. Kassel: Reichenberger, 2006, pp. 299-328. For this manuscript, see also the website / database Books of Hispanic Polyphony: https://hispanicpolyphony.eu/source/13118

Notas para el CD 'Cabezón', de Juan de la Rubia, publicado en 2017 y gravado en el claviórgano Hauslaib del Museu de la Música de Barcelona.

Músico ciego del siglo XVI, Antonio de Cabezón pasó la mayor parte de su vida al servicio de Felipe II. Al empezar su siglo, la Tierra era el centro del mundo, plana y católica. Al acabar, en cambio, la Tierra gira alrededor del sol, es redonda y está dividida entre católicos y protestantes. Un siglo así no puede sino esconder grandes historias, y la de Cabezón es una de ellas.

This article reflects upon research in the area of the iconography and organology of early vihuela, the verification that results between finding matching details when examining pictorial and iconographical sources, such as the cut out windows, sometimes M-shaped, in vihuela bridges instead of the drilled holes usually used in lutes. The first part of the article assimilates this information into more recent discussions of the way vihuela soundboards were made and barred, and the implications on tonal character, sound production and performance. The second part of the essay reviews the current state of research concerning the vihuela in the fifteenth century, especially through refuting the false organological distinctions between “fiddles” and “vihuelas” propounded in the 1980s, and re-examining the organological evidence with the larger sample of instruments that results.

XV Aniversario del SEMINARIO DE MÚSICA EN LA NUEVA ESPAÑA Y EL MÉXICO INDEPENDIENTE y del sistema Musicat en el marco del X Aniversario de la inscripción en la lista del patrimonio mundial del Campus Central de la Ciudad Universitaria de la UNAM

Review of Esteve Roldán, Eva: Magníficat a tres y cuatro voces del ms. 2/3 (c. 1520) de la catedral de Tarazona. Obras de Pedro do Porto, Rodrigo de Morales, Antonio Marlet, Juan de Anchieta, Pere Vila y Pedro o Alonso Hernández de Tordesillas. Polifonía Aragonesa, XX. Zaragoza, Institución Fernando el Católico, Diputación de Zaragoza, 2017.

"Música, nobleza y mecenazgo" explora por primera vez la música patrocinada por los siete primeros duques de Medina Sidonia, uno de los linajes más poderosos de la alta nobleza española. Más de cuatrocientos músicos sirvieron a la Casa Medina Sidonia entre 1445 y 1615, entre ellos Pedro Guerrero y Luys de Narváez. La extraordinaria corte musical de los duques de Medina Sidonia en Sevilla y Sanlúcar de Barrameda nos ofrece una nueva perspectiva de la catedral de Sevilla, un referente musical internacional, y de personajes ilustres como los Reyes Católicos, don Juan de Austria o el propio VII duque de Medina Sidonia, capitán general de la Armada Invencible. Este libro aborda temas diversos y aún poco estudiados como el papel de la mujer en la música, los esclavos músicos o el comercio musical europeo. Todo ello apoyado en una amplia documentación hasta ahora inédita del Archivo General Fundación Casa Medina Sidonia.

Foreword to number 69 of the music yearbook "Anuario Musical (Revista de Musicología del CSIC), this time dedicated monographically to the figure of the composer and organist of Philip II of Spain, Antonio de Cabezón. Prólogo al número 69 de "Anuario Musical (Revista de Musicología del CSIC)", en esta ocasión dedicado monográficamente a la figura del compositor y organista de Felipe II, Antonio de Cabezón.

Reseña del libro "Companion to Music in the Age og the Catholic Monarchs", editado por Tess Knighton (Leiden: Brill, 2016).
Review of "Companion to Music in the Age og the Catholic Monarchs", ed. by Tess Knighton (Leiden: Brill, 2016).
https://revistas.ucm.es/index.php/CMIB/article/view/62296/4564456548582

Este artículo se centra en el análisis iconográfico-musical de varios ejemplos de la pintura valenciana del siglo XVI, que se han seleccionado siguiendo varios criterios. El primero es la aparición de temas importantes de la iconografía musical religiosa. El segundo criterio ha sido elegir piezas que abarcan una cronología amplia dentro del siglo XVI. Por último, se dedica una especial atención a Joan de Joanes.

In the context of the reform of Gregorian chant entrusted to Palestrina, Fernando de las Infantas (Córdoba, 1534-c.1609), a musician and theologian, will stand as the champion scholar who defends the sacred songs with such boldness and wisdom that will avoid it from being carried out. In line with these events, his musical production will come to light, which first release will be Liber Primus* (Venice, 1578). The present study will address this book of motets from both points of view historical and musical. In addition to other aspects, such as the update of the author’s prominent biographical characteristics, a proposal of his compositional stages, or the historiographic journey of this unicum, the thirty-seven motets that make up the book will be examined and its main characteristic elements analyzed: these being the text, the notation, the mode and, above all, the exclusive consideration of the author: Excelsus Gregorianu cantu. Through the relations with the writers of the time and the analysis of the canon that appears at the head of the work, it will become apparent the great musical knowledge of the composer, which will be used in the heated defense of the full validity of the Sacred Chants.



* Sacrarvm Varii Styli Cantionvm Titvli Spiritvs Sancti Liber Primvs cvm Qvatvor Vocibvs –RISM: I/A I 37; E-Mc (ATB), E-Mn (C)– de Fernando de las Infantas (1534-c.1609), impreso por Angelo Gardano en Venecia, en 1578

El trabajo original está siendo revisado. Para consultarlo envíe un correo a / The original work is currently under review. If you have any interest please send an email to: psrr.nexus5@gmail.com

Resumen Mi intención es conocer la representación de la práctica musical femenina en los princi-pales modelos culturales vigentes para la nobleza y la burguesía. En primer lugar, estudio el pensamiento de Vives sobre la moralidad de la música expresado principalmente en su Tratado acerca de la educación de la mujer cristiana (1524). Hay una diferencia radical entre sus ediciones latinas e hispanas, ya que estas últimas fueron las únicas que prohibieron la práctica musical femenina. En segundo lugar, confronto este modelo con el propuesto en Il cortegiano (1528). A pesar de que ni Vives ni Castiglione recogen todos los contextos en los cuales entonces las mujeres hacían o escuchaban música, el estudio de dos libros de conducta de difusión extraordinaria se muestra particularmente revelador acerca de la actividad musical de las mujeres. Palabras clave: Juan Luis Vives, moralidad de la música, Castiglione, práctica musical de las mujeres, religión. Abstract «Traditions and translations: Female musical practice in Juan Luis Vives' De Institutione foeminae christianae (1524)». My aim is to know the representation of musical practice by women in the main cultural models addressed to the nobility and bourgeoisie. Firstly, I begin studying Juan Luis Vives' thought on the morality of music as expressed in his Treatise on the Education of Women (1524). There is a radical difference between the Latin and the Spanish editions, as the latter were the only ones to ban the feminine practice of music. Secondly, I compare the model of Vives and the one proposed in Il Cortegiano (1528). Even though neither Vives' nor Castiglione's treatises took into consideration all the contexts where women made or listened to music in the Renaissance, studying two works of such an extraordinary diffusion proves particularly revealing about the musical activity of women.