Fuenllana, Miguel de

(b Navalcarnero, nr Madrid; fl 155378). Spanish vihuelist and

composer. He was blind from birth. The earliest evidence of him is
the printing licence for Orphenica lyra (Seville, 1554/R1981; ed. C.
Jacobs, Oxford, 1978), issued on 11 August 1553 by crown prince
Philip, which affirms his presence at court in Valladolid. On 29
March 1554, now resident in Seville, Fuenllana contracted with
Martn de Montesdoca to print 1000 copies of Orphenica lyra. The
edition was completed on 2 October, though Wagner has shown
the surviving copies to represent two variants of the same
impression. In 1555, Fuenllana is described as a citizen of Seville
in a legal action initiated to suppress a fraudulent edition of the
book. According to Bermudo (Declaracin, 1555), Fuenllana was in
the employ of the Marquesa de Tarifa at this time, but he would
have left her service by 1559 after the appointment of her husband,
the Duke of Alcal, as viceroy of Naples. From 1560 until June
1569 he served Isabel de Valois (d 1568), third wife of Philip II, with
an annual salary of 50,000 maraveds. On 15 May 1574 Fuenllana
entered the service of Don Sebastin of Portugal in Lisbon, with an
initial contract for three years and an annual salary of 80,000
reales. Contradictory evidence clouds his life after 1578. Angls
claimed that Fuenllana's descendants received retrospective
payment from the court in 1591 for money owed to their deceased
father, while Jacobs cites a petition of 20 August 1621 presented to
Philip IV by Doa Catalina de Fuenllana claiming that her father
served Philip II and Philip III for more than 46 years, thus perhaps
until 1606. Fuenllana's instrumental mastery was recognized by
Bermudo who had witnessed him perform and cited him as a
consummate player, praise echoed by Cristbal Surez de
Figueroa (Plaza universal, 1615).
Divided by genre into six books, Orphenica lyra contains 160 works
for six-course vihuela, nine for five-course vihuela, and another
nine for four-course guitar. Approximately one third of the works are
original compositions: 51 fantasias, 8 tientos, 2 duos, counterpoints
on secular melodies and hymn chants, a gloss on Sermisy's Tant
que vivray, and an original motet Benedicamus patrem. Among the
119 intabulations are found motets, mass movements and other
sacred works by Francisco Guerrero, Morales, Josquin and
Gombert, 12 madrigals by Arcadelt and Verdelot, 12 villancicos by
Vsquez, 6 villanescas by Pedro Guerrero, and 7 works by Flecha
(including three complete ensaladas). The texted works are
presented either with the voice to be sung if desired printed in red
ciphers as part of the tablature or with the vocal part notated
separately in mensural notation. Fuenllana offers concise
information on performing practice, including detailed descriptions
of various aspects of instrumental technique, particularly plucking
techniques: he is among the earliest to advocate alternation
between the index and middle fingers. His explanation of placing

the modes on any part of the vihuela also suggests an instrument

in equal temperament. Fuenllana's music is notable for its high
level of technical difficulty. Although he seems to have been a
progressive with regard to technique, his aesthetic values appear
more conservative. With only a few exceptions, the intabulations
are unadorned reductions of their vocal models, because he was
of the opinion that with glosses and ornaments the truth of a work
is obscured. The 51 fantasias display an exceptional mastery of
instrumental
composition
and
demonstrate
Fuenllana's
acknowledged debt to vocal style. Characteristic mid-century
imitation is predominant, the remainder being non-imitative
polyphony. The fantasias are built of episodes of 2030
semibreves welded into cohesion by their narrative continuity. In
most cases, successive episodes are linked by their internal logic
into two or three larger periods that produce clearly discernible
architectonic symmetry. Of the 23 fantasias paired with motets, two
(nos.14 and 23) are parodies, which do not quote literally from their
models but rework their materials with remarkable ingenuity.
Fantasias 34 and 50 are based on an ostinato, while no.51 is
based on idiomatic redobles. The tientos are short idiomatic works
that present a modal cycle with some inexplicable anomalies.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
A. Koczirz: Die Gitarrekompositionen in Miguel de Fuenllana's
Orphnica lyra (1554), AMw, iv (1922), 24161
M. Sousa Viterbo: Subsidios para a historia da musica em
Portugal (Coimbra, 1932)
H. Angls: Dades desconegudes sobre Miguel de Fuenllana,
vihuelista, Revista musical catalana, xxxiii (1936), 14043
J. Bal [y Gay]: Fuenllana and the Transcription of Spanish LuteMusic, AcM, xi (1939), 1627
J. Ward: The Vihuela de Mano and its Music (153676) (diss., New
York U., 1953)
M. Agull y Cobo: Documentos para las biografas de msicos de
los siglos XVI y XVII, AnM, xiv (1969), 22021
C. Jacobs: Introduction to Miguel de Fuenllana: Orphnica Lyra
(Oxford, 1978)
K. Wagner: Martn de Montesdoca y su prensa: contribucin al
estudio de la imprenta y bibliografa sevillana del siglo XVI
(Seville, 1982)
J. Griffiths: The Vihuela Fantasia: a Comparative Study of Forms
and Styles (diss., Monash U., 1983)
JOHN GRIFFITHS