Vicente Lusitano New Light on His Career

Author(s): Robert Stevenson

Source: Journal of the American Musicological Society , Spring, 1962, Vol. 15, No. 1
(Spring, 1962), pp. 72-77
Published by: University of California Press on behalf of the American Musicological
Society

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/830056

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 72 JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN MUSICOLOGICAL SOCIETY

VICENTE LUSITANO

NEW LIGHT ON HIS CAREER

Every student of Renaissance music knows of Vicente Lusitano's struggle

with Nicola Vicentino; from Hawkins to the present every historian has told
the story of their debate on the genera, ending in a decision for Lusitano.
Actually, his victory was a Pyrrhic one. Vicentino, rather than Vicente, has
captured the sympathies of the historians.'
As a result, the only biographical information available-even in so up-to-
date an encyclopedia as Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart2-does not
go beyond the data supplied by Diogo Barbosa Machado, who wrote as follows
in his Bibliotheca Lusitana (Lisbon: Ignacio Rodrigues, 1752), Vol. III, p. 779:

Vicente, whose family name is unknown, was born in the small town of Olivenga in
Alentejo province. Priest of the habit of St. Peter, and a noted musician, he taught in
the cities of Padua3 and Viterbo with great success, receiving high fees from his stu-
dents. He wrote the Introduttione facilissima, et novissima, di canto fermo, figurato,
contraponto semplice, et in concerto4 published by Francesco Rampazetto at Venice
in 1561 5 in large quarto, and dedicated to Marc' Antonio Colonna,6 Duke of Marsi.
Antonio Possevino cites this work in his Bibliotheca Selecta de ratione studiorum
[Vol. II, p. 223, Cologne edition of 1607]; so does Fabiano Giustiniani in his Index
universalis alphabeticus, appendix under the word "musica" [Rome, 16i2]. Canon
Bernardo da Fonseca translated this work into Portuguese in I603.7

Emil Vogel in 1892 called attention to a madrigal published by Lusitano in

II Primo libro delle Muse, a tre voci, and sixty years later Manuel Joaquim
brought out the first transcription.8 Eitner in 1902 advertised the presence of

SJohn Hawkins, A General History What of he says about added parts echoes
the Science and Practice of Music (Lon- Bermudo's Declaracidn ( 555), Bk. V.
don: T. Payne, 1776), Vol. III, p. 98, saysCh. 31.
that Lusitano in effect confessed that 5Two prior issues are registered: An-
Vicentino should have been the victor in tonio Blado, 1553 (see Giuseppe Baini,
their debate, and that he showed "great Memorie storico-critiche ... [Rome:
want of candour" in not making a public Soc. Tipografica, 1828], Vol. I, p. 345n.)
confession. and Francesco Marcolini, 1558.
2 Vol. VIII, cols. 1328-30. In col. 1329, 61This Colonna espoused Spanish in-
the author relies on Eitner for the title terests against the papacy, and for his
of Vicente's motet-collection. services was later named viceroy of Sicily
3 He was not chapelmaster in Padua. (died in 1584, at Medinaceli in Spain).
7 F6tis (Biographie universelle des
See Raffaele Casimiri's lists in "Musica e
musicisti nella Cattedrale di Padova nei musiciens, 2nd ed., Vol. V, p. 379),
sec. XIV, XV, XVI," Note d'archivio claimed that Fonseca published his trans-
XVIII (194'), pp. ioi-Ii8; neither was lation; this is not so.
he organist nor singer in the cathedral 8 Gazeta Musical, Ano II, No. i6 (Jan.,
(ibid., pp. x18-129). 1952), PP. 4-5. See also Joaquim's interest-
4According to MGG, improvised ing discussion of the original imprint, Il
counterpoint is the main concern of the Primo libro delle Muse, a tre voci (Ven-
Introduttione; but Vicente treats of the ice: Girolamo Scotto, 1562) in Gazeta
Guidonian hand, mutations, psalm intona- Musical, Oct.-Nov., 1951, pp. 13-14. He
tions, ligatures, mensuration signs, pro- shows a facsimile of the basso. Lusitano's
portions, alteration, cadences, canon, and equal-voice All'hor ch'ignuda is a charm-
several other topics before he tells how ing Hypomixolydian madrigal in three
to improvise an added part at fol. 14'. dovetailed sections (mm. 1-22, 22-35, 36-

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 STUDIES AND ABSTRACTS 73
Lusitano's Liber Primus Epigramatum que vulgo motetta dicuntu
quinque sex & octo vocibus in the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek. Both Lu
madrigal and motet publications take priority as historic "firsts"--
prior publications of their kind having been attempted by Portugu
posers.9 Edward E. Lowinsky added one detail not to be found in
Hawkins's or Baini's accounts of the controversy with Vicentino,
identified Vicente Lusitano as a "Portuguese singer at the Papal Ch
Rome" at the time of the debate.1'
However, with Barbosa Machado's entry, and the added identific
made by Vogel, Eitner, and Lowinsky, data on Lusitano stops shor
seems to have noticed to date that Vicente was a prot6g6 of the Po
ambassador to Julius III, Dom Afonso de Lencastre; that he had se
Lencastres at Obidos before coming to Rome, that he was already on t
some intimacy with the madrigalist Giovanthomaso Cimello before both
the service of Marc' Antonio Colonna, and that after publishing his In
tione facilissima he turned to the writing of a much more ambitious t
that survives in Spanish-and was published as anonymous by Henri Col
1913-

Olivenga, Lusitano's birthplace, served as seat of a diocese from 142o

I570; in all likelihood, Lusitano started his musical studies as a choriste
hometown cathedral." The bishop from 1549 to 1569 was Jaime de Len
but it is likely that Lusitano had entered the household of Afonso de L
before 1545.12 Dom Afonso, high commander of the Order of Christ,1
of one of the oldest and most respected Portuguese houses, had h
Obidos, some fifty miles north of Lisbon. In his Latin dedication (i 55
tano addresses Dom Afonso's twenty-year-old son, Dom Dinis de Le
as a paragon of musical learning. So diligently has Dom Dinis applied h
to study under Lusitano that he perfectly comprehends its scienc
qubd optima calleas) and delights in only the purest harmony. Wit
patronage of the Lencastre family, Lusitano could not have begun to m
headway in the musical world (sine qua me nihil posse haud inficior).
The dedication of Lusitano's I551 motets explains how he was able to
Rome in the company of the Portuguese ambassador to the Holy S
thirteenth motet in the collection, the words of which are entirely se

62). In contrast with his motets,

11 Gustavohe
dehere
Matos Sequeira and An-
uses accidentals in a restrained way; Junior
tonio da Rocha and (Olivenpa [Lis-
only once throws the cantus into ses-
bon: Portugalia Editora, 1924], pp. o14-
quialtera proportion. Io9) discuss the history of Ceuta diocese,
9 Damiio de Goes's motet a the
describe 3, Santa
Ne lae-
Maria Madalena
Church
taris inimica mea, came out thatyears
five served as
be-cathedral, and out-
fore Lusitano's collection;
line but was a sin-
the i6th-century history of the dio-
gle example of the Aeolian mode
cese and its bishops.in
Glareanus's Dodekachordon ('547),
12 In his pp.he says that he had
dedication
264-265, in comparison with
been aLusitano's
long time in23 Lencastre service,
motets. and owed all that he had become to
10Nicola Vicentino, L'Antica Musica
Lencastre favor. If these statements are
(Documenta Musicologica. Erste Reihe:
literally true, he began before he reached
Druckschriften-Faksimiles, XVII;
Rome. Kassel
and Basel: Birenreiter, 1959), Postface.
13 A Portuguese order, founded in 1319.

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74 JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN MUSICOLOGICAL SOCIETY

Quid montes Musae colitis, are addressed to Dom Dinis, and tell how the youth-
ful Maecenas had gladly exchanged the harsh austerity of his ancestral seat at
Obidos, the rockiness of the surrounding terrain, and the forbidding chills of
the ancient castle, for the warmth of Rome-whither he had come to enjoy the
rewards that Phoebus and Pallas rain on their devotees.
Cimello, whose gifts Einstein did not admire, contributes the ten-line lauda-
tory poem prefacing Lusitano's motets. Lusitano only two years after publishing
his motets was in the service of Marc' Antonio Colonna, the great friend of the
Spanish crown who was later to win fame as the hero of Lepanto. Cimello also
served Colonna, but at an unspecified time.14
At the close of Lusitano's motet publication he inserts a papal copyright
privilege of ten years (per decem annos post illarum seu illorum impressionem),
which was to be valid everywhere that papal prerogatives were recognized
(tam in Italia quam extra Italiam). The ten-year limit perhaps explains why the
figure "I" in the Roman numeral date of publication has been changed to
"V" in the copies at the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek. Diego Ortiz obtained
from Julius III an almost identical copyright privilege, with two exceptions.
Excommunication would be the penalty for breaking Lusitano's copyright, but
a fine the punishment for infringing Ortiz's 1553 Trattado de Glosas sobre
Clausulas copyright. Lusitano enjoyed copyright everywhere, but Ortiz only
in papal dominions in Italy.

The Regina coeli in Lusitano's motet collection may possibly be the very
composition that Baini says gave rise to the dispute with Vicentino at the end
of May, 55 1. Baini says that the piece was based on plainchant.15 In two partes,
Lusitano's Regina coeli adheres to the Gregorian Mode VI compline melody
throughout. The treble paraphrases the chant, and the other voices freely imi-
tate. But Lusitano at once betrays his individuality by intruding an Ab chord
(first inversion) as early as the beginning of measure 8. The passage is so strik-
ing as to deserve quotation (Ex. i).

Ex. I

Regina coeli, mm. I-8

SSATBS =J Re-g-na ce-i lae - - - re.Al-le-

Re - 9 - na

Re- gi-na coe - li lae-a - - -

gR - 91 co -

14 Emil Vogel, Bibliothek der academy in the palace of Messer Bernardo

gedruck-
ten weltlichen Vocalmusik Italiens (Ber- Acciaioli Rucellai, living at the Tiber.
lin, 1892), Vol. I, p. 423 (Martelli, G. B.). Baini, Vol. I, p. 343n.
15 He says also that it was sung at an

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 STUDIES AND ABSTRACTS 75

lu - , ia, al - le-IL - ;a
I i t

coe - 'i ~ Lae.-'a - (re)

'L I 1 n t It ; I I -

re. AI- le- lu ..- ia.

ii lae-ta - - - re. A - le-lu- -i

Re- - gi - na Coe -i

In this motet, as in all his five-voice compositions, Lusitano keeps all his voices
continuously busy. Like Gombert, he dislikes pausas and stocks his motets with
full harmonies. Now that the Clamabat autem mulier Cananea formerly ascribed
to Cipriano de Rore has been subtracted from his repertory,16 and shown to be
by Morales instead, Lusitano, Guerrero, and Morales seem to be the only
composers whose motets of this title were published in the I6th century.
Lusitano also challenges comparison with Morales in another motet, Emende-
mus in melius. What strikes the hearer immediately in the Lusitano version is
the modal impurity, the rich store of ab's in a piece ending on the G-chord,
the dense harmonies with five voices intertwining in the middle register, and
the motivic treatment of the first melodic idea. Lusitano avoids ostinati in the
quintus, if he is writing a S. But he does revert to ostinati when he challenges
comparison with Josquin des Pres in his two motets a 8-Inviolata integra and
Preter rerum. In this last pair, Lusitano not only quotes the same plainsong
melodies that Josquin used, but also employs Josquin's mensurations. In Preter
rerum, Lusitano imitates Josquin's O 2 mensuration while at the same time
citing the Wolfenbiittel 677 (fol. 194v) source melody.17
To summarize Lusitano's preferences in his 1551 motets: 13 of the 23 are
in two partes, one in three partes, the rest undivided; i8 call for bb in the
signature; 14 begin with ( mensuration, 8 with C; Dorian modality, though
with frequent excursions into other modes,1s is the favorite. Like the true ex-
hibitionist that he shows himself to be on other occasions, Lusitano likes vaunt-
ing his learning in his motets with ligatures that were already half a century
out of date in i55i. Videns crucenz Andreas affords several examples. His cut
and uncut mensuration signs (d4 and C; 02 and dq) can be ra-
tionalized as tempo-indicators, with the minim moving faster in the uncut signa-
tures. His daring-so far as accidentals are concerned-extends to the use of g#

16 Alvin Johnson, review of Cipriano terial that Josquin does in every section.
de Rore, Opera omnnia, Volume I, Notes See Reese, Music in the Renaissance
of the Music Library Association, Second (New York, '954), p. 252, n. 348b.
Series XVII (1960), p. 467. 1s Gombert was another composer who
17 Josquin's Praeter rerumn seriem is at mixed modes with what seemed reckless
pp. 2 I-28 in Motetten, Bundel VII (1938). abandon to Spanish-born theorists (see
Lusitano divides into two partes, just as Bermudo, Declaracidn [1555], Bk. IV,
Josquin; and uses the same derived ma- Ch. 40).

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76 JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN MUSICOLOGICAL SOCIETY
and eb in the same voice (bassus) of Hic est Michael. No Spanish composer of
his century ever published motet collections calling for g# and ab in the same
set; Lusitano did. He paid the penalty for his daring when no publisher chose
to anthologize his motets, and no Liber secundus was called for to match his
hopeful Liber primus.19 Another factor militating against success of these motets
was the difficulty of the inner voices, which in such motets as Clamabat autem,
Emendemus, and Preter rerum, seem to be instrumentally conceived.
In the outer voices, Lusitano often writes sequences, separated by rests. This
method of spinning a part recalls Morales, of course. Sum servus, a 6, invites
comparison with Guerrero's Gloriose confessor (1570), since both motets have
a blank space in the text that can be filled in with the name of any bishop or
saint that the choir wishes to celebrate. After 37 measures, the second soprano
begins with an ostinato, as in Example 2. This voice then waits 16 measures to
repeat a variant, then five for another variant-always of the plainsong antiphon
used by Palestrina as a tenor in his first Mass (1554), Ecce sacerdos.
Ex. 2

Sopr. I1
.N. sa - cer-dos ma - gnus

.N. sa- cer - dos ma - gnus .N.

From internal evidence, the anonymous treatise in Spanish published from a
Bibliotheque Nationale manuscript by Henri Collet in 191320 can be assigned a
writer who spelled many Spanish words in the Portuguese manner, and who
had some personal knowledge of Rome.21 Whoever wrote the treatise, whether
Lusitano or another, obviously knew the music of Gombert to perfection,22
and that of Josquin only slightly less well.23 On the other hand, he did not
know the music of any Spanish masters, except the Ortiz who wrote a
L'Homme armd Mass.24 The most telling evidence that Lusitano wrote the
treatise published by Collet is the musical examples. Several are identical with
those in Lusitano's Introduttione facilissima. The fact that the plainchant on
19 Lusitano set such familiar texts as Rome (p. 63) leads us to infer a per-
Aspice Domine--Muro tuo, Ave spes sonal visit.
nostra, Elizabeth Zachariae, Isti sunt due22See p. 38 of Collet's introduction;
olive, and Sancta Maria, mater Dei; but and musical examples 96-113 (based on
Eitner's Bibliographie der Musik-Sam- the Kyries of Gombert's Philomena
melwerke des XVI. und XVIJ. Jahrhun- Mass); also examples I 4, 115 based on
derts knows of no collection in which the "Et resurrexit" from the same Mass.
any of Lusitano's motets were used. 23 See Collet's edition, pp. 35, 36, 40,
48, 53, 54, 57, 58, 60, 62, 63, 76, 77, o104,
20 See his "Descripci6n del Manuscrito"
105. Josquin was by all odds the best
at pp. 13-14, his discussion of the author-
known
ship problem at pp. 15-33, and his analysis European composer in Spain
of the contents of the treatise at pp. throughout
35- the i6th century.
43. 24Diego Ortiz intended to publish his
21Consonamcia, arismetica, and pe- Masses, he said in the introduction to his
quenho appear on one page, 65; each ad- 1565 book of hymns, psalms, Magnificats,
hering to the Portuguese Renaissance and motets. Another Ortiz is represented
spelling; other examples occur on every in Enriquez de Valderr~ibano's Silva de
page; what he says of the Pantheon at Sirenas (Valladolid, 1547).

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 STUDIES AND ABSTRACTS 77

which nearly all counterpoints in both the Introduttione and the a

treatise are based is the Alleluia verse, Dies sanctificatus (third Mass
mas)25 makes the identification of the concording examples all the
Once the identity of Lusitano as the writer of the hitherto a
Spanish treatise is conceded as a likelihood, any number of cor
parallels between the Introduttione and the Spanish treatise begin a
Their topics and their order of presentation are the same at pag
the Collet and fols. ISv-~7~ of the Introduttione (contrapunto conce
unusual a topic in the native Spanish treatises that only Bermudo [
de instrumentos, Bk. V, Ch. 26] goes into it). The notational id
and the explanations for them are alike in the anonymous Spanish
the Introduttione. For instance, at page I25 of the printed Span
X is given as the sign for the diesis and * for the minor semitone,
the small semitone is made up of two dieses." The Introduttione, fo
exactly the same thing. What Lusitano says at fol. 7 on retorte

[2 and ) ] and on the mensurations 0 and C duplicates all t

in Spanish at page I 1 3 of the Collet edition. Two concording exam
will show how closely the music in Introduttione and Spanish treat

Ex. 3
Introduttione, fol. I 2 (=Collet, Ex. 27)
45- """ _A , WIWI0 (S (&

Introduttione, fol. 12 (=Collet, Ex. 31)

. j A jj
-rA Lm- BC~~

The analysis of Lusitano's Spanish treatise, if it be his, must await anoth

occasion. But a preliminary judgment of its worth is apropos. Lusitano, or
Spanish double, carried erudition to its ne plus ultra. The canons that he d
vises to accompany the Kyrie of Gombert's Philomena Mass, the enharmon
motet a 3, Heu me, Domine, and the elaborate study of proportions go
beyond anything attempted by Bermudo, Santa Maria, or any indigenous S
ish writer of the century. Even Salinas, who wrote in Latin but whose sym
pathies were more with monody than polyphony, does not exceed this show
of learning. At the end, the student lays aside the treatise feeling as did Fes
when judging Paul: "Thou art beside thyself; much learning doth make
mad."

University of California at Los Angeles ROBERT STEVENSON

25In his Introduttione he quotes only Spanish treatise he uses the entire melody
the first incise of the chant, but in his
frequently.

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