Alonso Mudarra
Alonso Mudarra (c. 1508; † April 1, 1580 in Seville) was a Spanish composer and vihuela player of the Renaissance.
Life and work
His place of birth is not known, nor is his exact date of birth and early life known. However, in the introduction to his Tres libros he reported that he grew up in Guadalajara in the house of the third and fourth Duke of Infantado, from Hurtada Diego de Mendoza (1461-1531) and Iñigo López de Mendoza ( 1493-1566 ). In service of this Dukes he has there likely to receive his musical education. He was probably in 1529 in the wake of the fourth Duke of Infantado coronation as Emperor Charles V. to Italy. After his return to Spain he was, possibly in Palencia, ordained a priest and later, became on 18 October 1546 canon at the Cathedral of Seville. In this city he had a major influence on the musical life and remained there even 34 years until his death.
His duties at the cathedral included the management of all musical activities; there are many reports about it in Seville. This included the commissioning of instrumentalists, buying and managing the construction of a new organ and the close collaboration with composer Francisco Guerrero (1528-1599) for the various festive occasions. He died in Seville, and his considerable fortune was distributed according to his will to the city's poor.
Art and meaning
Mudarra belongs to the group of seven Spanish Vihuelisten of the 16th century, along with Luis de Milán ( 1500-1561 ), Enríquez de Valderrábano ( 1500-1557 ), Esteban Daza ( 1537-1591 ), Diego Pisador ( 1510-1557 ), Miguel de Fuenllana (1500-1579) and Luis de Narváez (1500-1555), whose innovations in instrumental and vocal music were so important that their work is respected up to the present time. Mudarra wrote numerous pieces for the vihuela and the guitar vierchörige, all of which are included in the three-volume collection Tres libros de musica en Cifras para vihuela, published in Sevilla on December 7, 1546. The work was printed by Juan de Léon in Seville, dedicated Luis Zapata (1526-1594), a member of the Council of the Catholic Monarchs and Charles V. the work consists of 44 pieces for the vihuela alone, 26 pieces for vihuela and voice, six pieces for solo guitar and a piece for guitar and organ or harp. The six pieces for guitar, the earliest known pieces for the guitar vierchörige that were ever published. The guitar, a development of the vihuela, at that time was a relatively new instrument. The tablature music for vihuela consists of own compositions and transfers for vihuela alone and for vihuela and voice of other composers of the Renaissance, such as Josquin des Prez (1452-1521), Nicolas Gombert (1495-1560), Adrian Willaert (1490-1562 ), Antoine de Févin (1470-1512) and Pedro de Escobar ( 1468-1535 ). The second book of the said collection is notable in that it contains eight multi-movement works, all by tono, the key, respectively. The compositions contained in this publication are fantasies, variations (including a series on La Folia ), Tientos, pavan, galliard and songs. Mudarra making it next to Luis de Milán one of the first composers who published a collection of songs with tablature for the vihuela. Today's listeners is also most likely his Fantasia X familiar, a well-known Renaissance piece for guitar, which the main subject for shooting Mudarras has been music for years. The songs are in Latin, Spanish and Italian, and include romances, canzoni, and sonnets villancicos. Another innovation introduced by him were separate symbols for the different tempos: slow, moderate and fast.
The lyrics of the songs date back to Spanish authors such as Jorge Manrique ( Recuerde el alma dormida ), Juan Boscan ( Claros y frescos ríos ), Garcilaso de la Vega ( 1503-1536 ) and other anonymous poets (Si por amar, el hombre water amado; Isabel, perdiste la tu Faxa; ¿ Qué son llantos aquestos and others), with Italian Francesco Petrarca (La vita fugge ) and Jacopo Sannazaro (O gelosia d' amanti ) and on Latin authors such as Ovid ( Hanc tua Penelope )? , Horace ( Beatus ille ) and Virgil ( Dulces exuviae ). Among the romances anonymous poet of the text Triste estaba el Rey David y el Señor Durmiendo yva be mentioned. In Mudarras songs of the Italian influence on his music is obvious. They are among the oldest solo songs with independent instrumental accompaniment. An exception among his instrumental pieces, the Fantasia que contrahaze la harpa en la manera de Ludovico dar. awareness in the antiquated style of Folia Variations composed imitates the typical chromatic play of Ludovico ( dates unknown ), a then-known harpist at the Castilian court.
Literature (selection )
- JM Ward: "The vihuela de mano " and Its Music 1536-1576, doctoral dissertation at New York University 1953
- M. Schneider: Un de Alonso de Mudarra villancico procedente de la música popular granadina in " Anuario Musical 10 ", 1955, page 79 to 83
- R. Stevenson: La música en la Catedral de Sevilla 1478-1606: documentos para su estudio, Madrid 1985
- G. Braun: The Spanish vihuela songs in the 16th century, dissertation at the University of Heidelberg in 1993
- T. Binkley / M. Frenk: Spanish Romances of the Sixteenth Century, Bloomington 1995
- John Griffiths: The Vihuela: Performance Practice, Style and Context, in: " Lute, Guitar, and Vihuela: Historical Performance and Modern Interpretation ," edited by V. Coelho, Cambridge 1997, 158-179
- O. Beautiful: The vihuela de mano in Spain in the 16th century, Frankfurt am Main 1999
- John Griffiths: Improvisation and Composition in the vihuela songs of Luis Milán and Alonso Mudarra in " Troy 2 ", 2003, page 111 to 131