Working on music by Fuenllana

I’ve started arranging the the music by Miguel de Fuenllana (ca 1500-79) in his publication Orphenica Lyra (1554), especially the pieces written by the composer. There are 188 pieces in the six volume set of which 62 are written by Fuenllana with 52 fantasias, 8 tientos and 2 duos. The rest are arrangements or transcriptions by other Spanish, Flemish and Italian Renaissance composers of hymns, masses, motets, villancicos, outrages, madrigals, dirges, romances and sonnets.

Update January 12, 2022 – Wow, the fantasies by Miguel de Fuenllana (ca 1500 – 1579) in “Orphenica Lyra” are challenging. They are pieces of “great solidity and complexity, with dense counterpoints”. Many of them are marked as “dificil” and only a few are “facil”. My arrangements may be just one of many possible interpretations. No wonder they’re not heard too often.

Update March 7, 2022 – Now finished, four books of vihuela music written by Miguel de Fuenllana. The works in Orphenica Lyra (1554) are challenging with even the “facil” (easy) pieces requiring advanced performance capabilities. The music is dense and difficult to interpret so my arrangements for ukulele may be only one of many possibilities. The books are available for sale and recordings are available on YouTube.

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