Luogo e data di registrazione		Kirche Neumünster, Zürich (Svizzera) - ottobre 1972
	Registrazione: live / studio		studio
	Producer / Engineer		Gerd Berg / Johann-Nikolaus Matthes
	Prima Edizione LP		EMI Electrola "Reflexe" - 1C 063-30 116 - (1 lp) - durata 47' 33" - (p) 1973 - Analogico
	Prima Edizione CD		EMI "Classics" - 8 26484 2 - (1 cd) - durata 47' 33" - (c) 2000 - ADD
	Note		-

THE INSTRUMENTAL VARIATION OF SPANISH RENAISSANCE MUSIC A. Cultural Influences on the ,,Siglo de Oro“ The cultural influences determining the development of Spanish music through the changing periods of its history to the extreme richness of the ,,Siglo de Oro“ go very far back and were highly diverse. All of the cultures that made themselves felt in Spain for centuries - the Greek, Roman and West Gothic traditions, the Jews who had been in Spain since early antiquity and, of course, the Arabs (eighth to eleventh centuries) who had swept up nearly the entire peninsula - have left their traces in full breadth and variety. Their influence on the instruments, dances and tunes of folk music was particularly strong. Artistic exchange with France, Germany and England in the twelfth, thirteenth and fourteenth centuries proved also fruitful. These many influences formed the fultural soil in which Spanish music could develop to full maturity during the reign of the Catholic kings and of Charles V and Philip II (1474- 1598). This epoch is especially interesting, in terms of both the quality as well as the originality of the repertory that has come down to us. It is the time when the borders were finally opened for Spanish artists and composers, as is confirmed by the international fame that many Spanish musicians acquired even during their own liftetime: Francisco Guerrero, Cristóbal Morales and Tomas de Victoria, for example, as composers of sacred music and Antonio de Cabezón, Mateo Flecha, Diego Ortiz and Juan Vasquez for their secular music. The magnificent development of the repertory for keyboard, harp, vihuela de mano (Spanish lute), vihuela de arco (gamba) and- other instruments - which included development of the variation (also called “diferencia”, “discante”, “recercada” or “glosa”) - is one of the main aspects of Spain’s contribution to European music of the Renaissance. The instrumental literature that has been preserved has significance even if it is not very comprehensive due to reasons like the false egoism of which Bermudo speaks in his “Declaracion de instrumentos musicales” and which caused several composers to retain their best works for themselves. Moreover, propagation was difficult as printers in Spain were rare, and then, too, many manuscripts were destroyed in fire and war. Among the composers, the most striking personalities were Antonio de Cabezón, Francisco Pérez Palero, Francisco de Soto, Diego del Castillo, Pedro Vila (for keyboard instruments), Luys Milán, Luys de Narváez, Enríquez de Valderrábano, Alonso Mudarra, Miguel de Fuenllana (for vihuela de mano) and Diego Ortiz (for vihuela de arco). All have left works to us that excel in beauty and profound ideas and that are admired for the lightness of skillful inventiveness. B. The Instrumental Variation When we consider the long and intensive tradition of instrumental music-making on the peninsula, it is not surprising that sixteenth century Spain brought forth instrumental music of high quality, for its music could call upon an abundance of “romances”, “cantigas”, folksongs and even sacred vocal music. Quite surely there had long been the custom of playing many vocal pieces on instruments (particularly on plucking and keyboard instruments). Certain forms of instrumental music were developed out of the accompaniment of dances and songs, which might be considered the forerunners of the variation or, to use the Spanish word, “diferencia". This basically improvized method became popular during the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, after which time it became a standard procedure that was to serve as a pattern to innumerable musicians of future generations. The basis of each variation was always the “glosa", a kind of melismatic ornamentation. The “glosa” might have developed as follows:     1. in the form of ornamented variations on a melody     2. in the form of contrapuntal variations on a principal voice (cantus firmus)     3. in the form of melodic or harmonic variations on a polyphonic composition. All of these various procedures might have been mixed in any combination, so that a Renaissance composer had practically an unlimited number of artistic possibilities at his disposal. Our most important sources are the publications of vihuelists like Luys de Narváez, Mudarra, Valderrabano and Pisador; harpsichordists or organists like Antonio de Cabezón; works found in the collection of music for keyboard instruments, harp harp and vihuela of Venegas de Henestrosa; and also the essay on the "glosa" by the violinist Diego Ortiz. Attention must be called to the following forms: “Diferencias” on a theme or melody which were then sometimes already known as “romances viejos”. Themelody appears as discant or as cantusfirmus. Dances with variations - The “pavana", the “gallard", the “folia”, etc., are used as the basis for the development of variations, especially in the outer voices (discant and bass). Works with a descriptive character, like “Tientos de Batalla" and “Ensaladas”, in which programmatic ideas areexpressed. Variations on ostinato basses (the Italien “tenores”). In general they take their starting point from dances like the “romanesca”, the“passamezzo”, the “folia", etc., which,basically unchanged, become the “bassoostinato" or ground bass of the variation. Variations on a cantus planus (cantus firmus).The basic element consists of a liturgicalor secular tune which appears in the form of a “cantus planus” or plainsong (i.e., inlong note values) while, as a rule, the variations are developed in a contrapuntal style (“contrapunto concertante”). Ornamented chansons (“g|osas” onvillancicos, chansons, etc.), i. e., works that reveal the direct influence of the art of improvized decoration, especially in connection with instrumental settings of vocal works, in which at least one (and often several) sections of the work are ornamented. The- style is determined by the technical possibilities of the instrument (vihuela, viola da gamba, harpsichord, organ) for which the arrangement was made. Preambles or variations on “fabordones” or liturgical themes (derived from Gregorian psalmodies) that were played chiefly during worship services. C. The “Ministriles” and Their Instruments during the Spanish Renaissance The “ministriles” were musicians who, at least from the fifteenth century on, had to provide the “musica da camara" at court and bourgeois festivities. On August 24, 1420, Alfonso el Magnánimo wrote his organ-builder in Valencia a letter in which he gave him the following advice: “Prengats càrrec de obrar los dits òrguens petits, que sien intonats ab los ministrés” (Take care that the little organs are tuned according to the instrumentalists). The “ministriles” also took part in performances of sacred polyphonic works until 1572, when Philip II, for unknown reasons, forbade them to enter his chapel. According to a document of 1572, it had been ordered “que no sirban en la capilla como lo solian hazer”, that is, they were no longer to play in the chapel they had been previously wont to do. The documents preserved in the archive of Simancas do not state the exact kinds of instruments played by the musicians who belonged to the “Ministri|es de la Casa Real” (Minstrels of the Royal House). There is simply mention of a “menstril de flauta", “de vihuela de arco” or “musicos de tecla”. On the other hand an inventory list of Queen Mary of Hungary (the sister of Charles V, who died in Spain on October 28, 1558) affords us an idea of the great variety of instruments used by the “ministriles”. The following instruments are among those found on the list:     5 violones de arco, que llaman de braço (viols, also called “de braço" - arm viols)     14 vihuelas de arco, grandes y pequeñas (gambas, large and small)     6 vihuelas de arco, hechase en Alemania (gambas built in Germany)     8 sacabuches (trombones)     6 pifanos de farfil (ivory fifes)     15 pifanos (files)     15 pifanos (fifes)     1 corneta de marfil (ivory cornetto)     14 cornetas negras (black cornettos)     16 cornetas de Alemania (from Germany)     6 cornetas de madera (wooden cornettos)     8 cornetas acordadas con las chirimias (cornettos tuned to the shawms)     4 regalas a manera de chirimias (shawm-sounding regals)     2 contrabajos grandes de chirimia (bass shawms)     1 chirimia grande (large shawm)     5 chirimias mas pequeñas (smaller shawms)     2 chirimias pequeñas (small shawms)     2 chirimias tiples (discant or soprano shawms)     19 flautas grandes y pequeñas (large and small recorders)     7 flautas de Alemania (transverse flutes)     9 orlos de Alemania (cromornes - crummhornes)     1 fagot contralto (alto bassoon)     2 fagotes contrabajos (bass bassoons)     1 dulçaina (dolcian or cromorne)     3 clavicordios or monicordios (harpsichords or spinets)     4 laudes (lutes) Despite the use of all these instruments, after 1538 only the works printed for vihuela de mano, vihuela de arco and key board instruments have been preserved. Nonetheless, the fact that “músicos tañedores de tecla” (keyboard artists) like Francisco de Soto or Antonio de Cabezón performed in the small instrumental ensemble of the “ministriles” proves that the ensemble’s repertory was easily combined with the organ or harpsichord and thus could not have been very different. This assumption is confirmed for us by Hernando de Cabezón who wrote in the foreword to the “Obras de música para tecla, arpa o vihuela” of A. de Cabezón that also the “ministriles” could profit from the book as they would find diminutions in it on the compositions and would be able to see how each voice can have its freedom without encroaching upon the other parts. This would appear in many motets, chansons and fauxbourdons, and, with a little effort, the could derive their voices from the tablature presented. All of our historical sources verify that the repertory of the “ministriles” consisted of polyphonic (tientos, madrigaIes, chansons) and homophonic works (fauxbourdons, ostinato basses. dances) on which there were improvisations in “glosas” or “diferencias”. That is why the variation that has com down to us in versions for keyboard instruments, vihuela de mano or vihuela de arco is an invaluable aid in appraising the improvising skill of Spanish “ministriles” in the sixteenth century. (Translation: E. P. Echols)
EMI Electrola "Reflexe"