Working on music by Mudarra

Working on the music of Alonso Mudarra (ca 1510 – 1580), a Spanish composer, from his 1546 publication Tres libros de musica en cifras para vihuela (three books of music in numbers for vihuela). It’s quite refreshing after the dense and complex music of Fuenllana. Of course, reading Spanish tabulature is always challenging as it’s upside down to our modern notation. I’m starting with the first two libros (books) which are for vihuela or guitar only. The third and thickest libro has both vihuela and voice presented in separate staff lines which are aligned, much like a modern multi-part score (the music of Milan had the vihuela/voice lines combined but in different colours with the voice noted in red). I’ll need to learn how to read the voice notation, which makes arranging both challenging and enjoyable.

Subsequently, in April 2022, three books of instrumental music were published and, in May 2022, two books of vocal/instrumental books were published. Several versos and psalmos where were also made available for free.