Fuenllana, Miguel de

(b Navalcarnero, nr Madrid; fl 1553–78). 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
Martín 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 (Declaración, 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 Alcalá, 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 maravedís. On 15 May 1574 Fuenllana
entered the service of Don Sebastián 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. Anglés
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 Doña 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 Cristóbal Suárez 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 Vásquez, 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 20–30 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
Orphénica lyra (1554)’, AMw, iv (1922), 241–61
M. Sousa Viterbo: Subsidios para a historia da musica em
Portugal (Coimbra, 1932)
H. Anglès: ‘Dades desconegudes sobre Miguel de Fuenllana,
vihuelista’, Revista musical catalana, xxxiii (1936), 140–43
J. Bal [y Gay]: ‘Fuenllana and the Transcription of Spanish Lute-
Music’, AcM, xi (1939), 16–27
J. Ward: The Vihuela de Mano and its Music (1536–76) (diss.,
New York U., 1953)
M. Agulló y Cobo: ‘Documentos para las biografías de músicos de
los siglos XVI y XVII’, AnM, xiv (1969), 220–21
C. Jacobs: Introduction to Miguel de Fuenllana: Orphénica Lyra
(Oxford, 1978)
K. Wagner: Martín de Montesdoca y su prensa: contribución al
estudio de la imprenta y bibliografía sevillana del siglo XVI
(Seville, 1982)
J. Griffiths: The Vihuela Fantasia: a Comparative Study of Forms
and Styles (diss., Monash U., 1983)
JOHN GRIFFITHS