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The Art of Playing the Fantasia (Libro Llamado El Arte de Taner Fantasia)
[Valladolid 1565]

Article  in  Notes · March 1995

DOI: 10.2307/899298

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Arthur J. Ness
University of Southern Calfornia, and SUNY Buffalo, United States. Retired.
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Review
Reviewed Work(s):
The Art of Playing the Fantasia (Libro Llamado El Arte de Tañer Fantasia)
[Valladolid 1565]
by Fray Thomas de Sancta Maria, Almonte C. Howell, and Warren E. Hultberg
Review by: Arthur J. Ness
Source: Notes, Second Series, Vol. 51, No. 3 (Mar., 1995), pp. 919-920
Published by: Music Library Association
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/899298
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Book Reviews 919

Virdung
Virdungtotothe theimplicit
implicitauthority
authorityhe hadhe had
cion General de Relaciones Culturales,
before
before1957,1957,largely
largely
ignoring
ignoring Schlick
Schlick
and and
1959]), Eta Harich-Schneider (The Harpsi-
Lenneberg
Lennebergand anddisputing
disputingRipin
Ripin
and and
Strad-Strad-
chord, 2d ed. [Kassel: Barenreiter, 1960])
ner.
ner. Whatever
Whatever Virdung's
Virdung'smerit
merit
or lack
or lack
of andof Diana Poulton (" 'How to Play in Good
it, that is, whether the faults are his or his Style' by Thomas de Sancta Maria," Lute
printers, they are nevertheless real. Con- Society Journal 12 [1970]: 23-30). Coeditor
sidering that the documentary material has Hultberg penned a critical evaluation as his
been available in modern French since 1964 doctoral dissertation at the University
1980, Bullard has produced a non-book, of Southern California. The Arte de taier
one that librarians will resent because it fantasia is available in facsimile editions
requires funds that should be spent on published by Gregg (Farnborough, 1972),
more essential material, that scholars do Minkoff (Geneva, 1973), and El Arte
not need, and that will hardly be eagerly Tripharia (Madrid, ca. 1975).
seized on by undergraduates or the com- The term taner fantasia means to impro-
mon reader. vise, either in a manner that springs, seem-
HANS LENNEBERG ingly spontaneously, from a player's delight
in digital display, or in a style controlled
by the intellect (phantasma) and an under-
standing of the formal elements of musical
composition. Fray Thomas eschews the
The Art of Playing the Fantasia glister of the former, allotting only a dozen
(Libro Llamado El Arte de Tafier pages to those figural ornaments (glosas, re-
Fantasia) [Valladolid 1565]. By Fray dobles, and quiebros), which play such a
Thomas de Sancta Maria. An editi6n prominent role in the treatises by Sylvestro
Ganassi dal Fontego (Fontegara [Venice,
prepared by Almonte C. Howell, Jr., 1535; Rome: Societa italiana del flauto
and Warren E. Hultberg. (Explora- dolce, 1991]) and Diego Ortiz (Tratado de
tions.) Pittsburgh: Latin American Lit-glosas [Rome, 1553; New York: Baren-
erary Review Press, 1991. [2 vols.-in-1: reiter, 1967]). Instead Fray Thomas advo-
lvii (facsim.), xxiii, 283 p. (v. 1); 424 p. cates improvisation in a polyphonic style
(v. 2). ISBN 0-935480-52-8. $99.95.] (taner a concierto), and with this as a goal,
he sets out to provide the essential frame
Little is known about the Dominican friar for a thorough training in music. Begin-
Thomas de Santa Maria (ca. 1500-1570), ning with the rudiments of sixteenth-
other than what may be gleaned from hiscentury music (pitches, rhythm, solmiza-
incisive treatise on improvisation on thetion, the hexachord system, mutation), the
clavichord and other instruments capabletreatise proceeds progressively from treat-
of playing three or more parts. He served ment of dissonance and harmonization of
as organist in various Dominican monas- melodies to chapters on imitative counter-
teries and at the Iglesia de San Pablo in the point in two-, three- and four-parts, which
Hapsburg resort city of Valladolid, where conclude with two illustrative pieces titled
he met Prince Philip's favored organist, "fantasia a concierto." There is an impor-
Antonio de Cabez6n, with whom (among tant discussion of fabord6nes over psalm
others) he consulted while writing his trea- tones in the soprano, alto, or tenor parts,
tise. Starting in 1541, Fray Thomas de- with fully worked out music examples in
voted 16 years "undergoing innumerable each of the eight modes, which resemble
and unbelievable labors day and night ... Cabez6n's faborddnes. Fray Thomas adds
[to] set down in perfect form and through that villancico and soneto melodies may be
universal rules" (p. vii) the art of impro- similarly improvised with parallel thirds in
vising in the polyphonic manner on the the upper parts. An extended chapter pro-
clavichord, the instrument of choice in the vides ten formulas to play ascending and
training of organists. Recent scholarship descending harmonic sequences, the de-
has made occasional use of portions of the scending version sometimes being a retro-
treatise, notably Charles Jacobs (La inter- grade of the ascending one.
pretacion de la musica espanola del siglo XVI The Arte contains over five hundred
par instrumentos de teclado [Madrid: Direc- music examples, some being complete

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920 NOTES, March 1995

compositions that have entered the modern what Fray Thomas calls gallana (elegant)
organ repertory in editions by Pierre Froi- style. Writing in the years 1541-57, Fray
debise ((Euvres transcrites de l'Arte de taier Thomas appears to be among the first to
fantasia, Orgue et liturgie, 49 [Paris: tdi-report on this sometimes controversial
tions musicales de la Schola Cantorum, convention, the other being Loys Bour-
1961]), Jose and Lupe de Azpiazu (Vein- geois (Le Droit chemin de musique [Geneva,
ticinco fantasias des Arte de taner fantasia [por] 1550; Kilkenny: Boethius, 1982]).
Tomas de Santa Maria [Madrid: Union mu- The editors provide a particularly thor-
sical espafiola, 1965]) and Filipe Pedrell ough translation by consulting and collat-
(Hispaniue schola musica sacra [Barcelona,ing seven of the dozen known surviving
1897; New York: Johnson Reprint, 1971]).exemplars (fifteen hundred copies were
Students of Renaissance instrumental mu- printed), and report the variants in their
sic will recognize in Fray Thomas's exam- preface and endnotes. Some twenty facsim-
ples the point of imitation technique, di- ile pages reproduce various states of print
alogue style, rolling sequential episodes, and the fascinating contract between Fray
and consistent part writing encountered in Thomas and the printer Fernando Fran-
the mature ricercars, tientos, and fantasias cisco de Cordova, which is also transcribed
by Fray Thomas's contemporaries, such as and translated. Ample endnotes identify
Francesco da Milano, Marco dall'Aquila, personages mentioned in the text, and in
Adrian Willaert, and Julio da Modena in the case of composers (Josquin, Philippe
Italy, Lufs Milan, Alonso Mudarra, and Verdelot, and others), modern editions of
Cabez6n in Spain, and Jean Paul Paladin the cited work. Where needed, the editors
and Albert de Rippe in France. Sometimes have emended apparent contradictions, in-
misleadingly dubbed motet-fantasias, such consistencies, and non sequiturs, and pro-
pieces reconcile the compositional proce- vide useful glosses and cross-references
dures of vocal music of the Josquin gen- when the text presents difficulties. The lit-
eration with a true instrumental idiom by erate English translation of the often com-
employing more animated subjects, and an- plicated original text preserves much of
gular, sweeping melodic lines. Thus, Fray Fray Thomas's convoluted prose. Conse-
Thomas's treatise is not solely of parochial quently the Arte de taner fantasia becomes
interest, but reflects international practices rather tedious at times, but those who work
of the first half of the sixteenth century. their way through the dense verbiage,
Although the vihuela is mentioned on thoughtfully studying and playing the mu-
the title page, only brief descriptions of itssic examples, will be rewarded with a fuller
fingerboard, frets, tuning, and tablature understanding of how Renaissance musi-
are provided. In contrast, the discussions of cians and composers conceived the theo-
the clavichord and its playing technique are retical basis for their art, one which differs
among the most detailed to come down to markedly from our academic concepts ex-
us. Fray Thomas describes the clavichord trapolated from vocal music of the Palest-
keyboard with short octave and relates rina generation. Libraries serving students
its keys to "singable" and "unsingable" of music theory and musicology, and es-
solmization syllables. The chapters on play- pecially those with an active early music
ing proscribe proper hand and arm posi- program, will want to own the translation
tions, and how to strike the keys to produce as a companion to the facsimile edition. A
a full and spirited, yet smooth and sweet virtual vade mecum of Renaissance con-
sound. Right- and left-hand fingerings are trapuntal technique and keyboard playing,
demonstrated with music examples that the present critical English translation will
show use of the thumb and special finger- make Fray Thomas's pithy discourse acces-
ings for ornaments. Of particular interest sible to a wider community of students,
are discussions of articulation, and a de- performers, and scholars. Howell and
scription of three species of rhythmic Hultberg
in- have served us well.
equality in which the player pauses on some
notes and hurries the others. The third
species, in which the player hurries three ARTHUR J. NESS
notes and pauses on the fourth, creates Boston, Massachusetts

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