The court of don Fernando de Aragón, Duke of Calabria in Valencia, c.1526-c.1550: music, letters and the meeting of cultures

1.

Orpheus playing the vihuela, the frontispiece to Luys Milán, Libro intitulado El Maestro (Valencia, 1536) (London, British Library K.8.e.8, f.1v; by permission of the British Library)

In memoriam Jeremy Black

... y no solamente fue [el] duque de Calabria afficionado a musica, sino a letras: assi divinas como humanas ...¹

During the 16th century Valencia was one of the most important centres for the arts and scholarly activity in Spain, entertaining numerous intercultural relations with Italy and northern Europe. Its position on the Levante and its role in sea trading encouraged a more far-reaching outlook than was usual in cities in mainland Spain, thus facilitating contact with movements across the Mediterranean. This cosmopolitan awareness was a definite trait in its cultural endeavour from at least the late 15th century onwards. In music this is reflected in the work of Guillermo de Podio (Ars musicorum, 1495), one of a circle of music theorists aware of developments by their contemporaries in northern Italy; in the visual arts it found expression particularly during the first third of the 16th century in the work of painters who had trained in the circles of Leonardo and Raphael.² A steady growth of scholarly interdisciplinary activity was ensured by the foundation in 1500 of a university, established along the same lines as those in Paris, Bologna and Salamanca, for example. As a logical outcome, the printing industry, which had become a major concern in Valencia since the late 1490s,³ aspired to monopolize the hispanic market, producing works in Latin, Castilian, Catalan and Valencian, and supporting the upsurge in literary endeavour at that time. The influence of humanism, and the 'Erasmisme' that entered Spanish intellectual society had a marked effect on religious and philosophical dialogue, and gave rise to numerous translations of important and influential texts by Erasmus and others,⁴ as well as of biblical and theological works, the majority of which were to be censored and burned at the 1551 inquisition. Instrumental in preaching doctrines relating to humanist philosophies at that time was the leading scholar and friend of Erasmus at Valencia University, Juan del Vives, whose own works were widely printed and circulated. In the late 15th and early 16th centuries, techniques and designs used in Valencian printing demonstrate an infiltration of ideas from the 'gothic north'. These were later adapted to more complex 'Renaissance' or mannerist influences from Italian presses in Venice and Rome. Italy also played an important part in book distribution. While it is known that commissions were made from Valencia to Venetian publishers as early as the 1480s,⁵ we also have instances of the importing of precious and finely illustrated books specially made for Spanish clients during the first few decades of the 16th century from such firms as that of Luc'Antonio Giunta, a member of a family of Italian music printers. Luc'Antonio, known also as a leading music publisher, specialized mostly in the printing of missals⁶ and breviaries, and fellow Italian booksellers who had settled in the city frequently called upon his services. His and other imported Italian works undoubtedly influenced tastes and fashions in book illustration and design. Throughout most of the 16th century correlations existed also between printers and booksellers in Valencia and in other foreign cities (including those in Lyon and Montpellier for example)-all of which adds to our picture of the extent of commissions and possible influences during this time.⁷ The principal clients were members of the aristocracy in and around Valencia, and included Rodrigo de Mendoza, the Marquis of Cenete (a great bibliophile),⁸ the Count d'Oliva, and the Dukes of Calabria, Segorbe and Gandia.

The Duke of Calabria and the court at Valencia

Established within this atmosphere, the court of don Fernando de Aragón, Duke of Calabria (1488-1550), and Queen Germana de Foix (d 1536) became a leading centre of cultural activity,⁹ developing into a veritable Athenaeum that was frequented by writers, musicians, philosophers and theologians. Literary-musical activities, pastimes and musical performance at the court were very much imbued by the spirit of the joint inheritance of Germana and Fernando-her Franco-Spanish courtly background and his upbringing in the Neapolitan court of his father, King Federico (d 1504).¹⁰ While she encouraged a certain elegance and refinement to courtly behaviour and the dramatic productions that she patronized, and also the dancing, he injected the court with increased awareness of Italian cultural trends, encouraging contacts with other ducal courts and musical circles abroad.

The complex set of political circumstances and intrigue leading to the abdication in 1501 of don Fernando's father as King of Naples, and hence the ultimate exile of the young duke to Spain, has been recounted on a number of occasions.¹¹ In summary, after the king's abdication and flight to the island of Ischia, his wife, Isabella del Balzo, and their children, minus the young duke, fled to France, where they remained under the protection of Louis XII in the duchy of Anjou. After Louis's death in 1507 they sought further refuge among members of their family in northern Italy, and by 1508 they were housed by Alfonso I d'Este, Federico's nephew in Ferrara. On Isabella's death in 1533, the duke's sisters Isabella and Julia set sail for Valencia to join their brother. The young duke had remained in Italy to fight the cause, but was soon (in 1502) captured by the Spanish. He was, however, received with honour in Spain, where he remained for the rest of his life. For many years he lived at the court of the king, Fernando 'el Católico'; but in 1512 he was taken captive when the king discovered an earlier attempt to return the duke to his family in France, and the plot by Louis XII and Alfonso I (d'Este) to restore him to his rightful inheritance of the Neapolitan throne. Don Fernando was imprisoned in the fortress in Játiva (near Valen-cia) for 11 years. He was released by Charles V in 1523. Three years later he was offered the hand in marriage of Queen Germana de Foix, the recently widowed wife of Margrave John of Brandenburg, and former consort of the late Catholic king. The wedding took place in Seville shortly after that of Charles V and Isabella of Portugal, and in November 1526 the couple made their solemn entry into Valencia as joint viceroys ('simul et in solidum').¹² After Queen Germana's death in 1536 the duke married (in 1540) the daughter of the Marquis of Cenete, doña Mencía de Mendoza, who was to outlive him by four years, maintaining the court as a flourishing court of music and culture.¹³

The duke is particularly renowned as bibliophile and for a vast and impressive library of books and manuscripts that he had inherited from the famous collection of the Neapolitan kings, amassed in the first instance by Alfonso V ('the Magnanimous'), his great grandfather. Some 830 books of the original 2,000-3,000 reached his palace via the court in Fer-rara in c.1527,¹⁴ all of which he was to bequeath to his new monastery of San Miguel de los Reyes (see below).¹⁵ These are now mainly preserved in the university library in Valencia.¹⁶ Surviving inventories of his collection list these individually, briefly describing a wealth of works ranging from liturgical, sacred and theological literature (including writings of the great Doctors of the Church), to masterpieces of classical antiquity-works of Ovid, Vergil and Plutarch-and a large proportion of works by humanist authors of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, including Dante, Boccaccio and Petrarch. Among surviving items, there is a large number of richly illuminated manuscripts copied for the court at Naples during the later 15th century, numbering among them the famous Tinctoris manuscript¹⁷ and a large collection of sacred literature that includes bibles, missals, breviaries and illuminated Books of Hours. Also among the collection of books he was to leave to the monastery were some that formerly belonged to his sisters (inscribed 'de las infantas' in the inventory): works such as breviaries that were made when they were in the Este court circle. Some of these incorporated special devotions to saints revered at Ferrara.¹⁸

As patron and friend of the arts, don Fernando de Aragón was often praised by writers and historians, and referred to as music's 'beloved friend' in Flecha's ensalada La viúda. He was known as a great singer, and even a poet and composer.¹⁹ The duke and Queen Germana owned a number of musical instruments, numbering among them vihuelas, a chest of vihuelas de arco, two lutes (presumably Italian), an organ inherited from Naples, and various other organs and keyboard instruments, as well as a number of 'Turkish' drums.²⁰ He was honoured in Italy also. Probably the most famous and intriguing homage paid to him was the Missa Ferdinandus dux Calabriae, a soggetto cavato Mass composed by Jacquet de Mantua in c.1535, who earlier had also composed a lament in memory of the duke's younger brother Cesare, who had died in 1520.²¹ Among the various theories put forward to offer a possible reason why this Mass was composed is that Ercole II d'Este commissioned it as a mark of respect for his exiled cousin.²² It is also interesting that in addition to its appearance in the Scotto print (Venice, 1540)²³ along with the companion soggetto cavato Mass Hercules dux Ferrariae by Jacquet, its first known appearance is with Maistre Jhan's Missa omnes sancti et sancte in Bologna 25, a manuscript dating from the mid-1530s. This Mass was composed by Ercole II's maestro di capella to commemorate his receipt of the dukedom of Ferrara in 1534.²⁴ The same honour may be implied for Fernando de Aragón, although in a Mass that was composed somewhat later than his release from captivity as exiled duke of Calabria and elevation to the status of viceroy of Valencia in Spain.²⁵

The viceroys entertained lavishly, inviting nobles both from within the city and from outside, as well as statesmen, poets and writers. The visits to Valencia by the royal court of Charles V, with whom don Fernando maintained a close relationship throughout his life, and thereby encouraging numerous political and cultural contacts, were marked with considerable circumstance, inside the court and in the city. In 1528, for example, the king experienced four typical Valencian spectacles at the invitation of the duke: a juego de cañas, the fiesta de las damas de Valencia, a Corpus Christi procession, and a considerably less tasteful auto de fe.²⁶ It was on hosted occasions such as these that magnificent liturgical ceremonies took place in the cathedral also, marked by great pageantry and instrumental music, and with the capilla real performing in tandem with the local musicians.²⁷ The duke's own musical chapel also was reputably about the finest establishment (and largest) in the Spanish kingdom during the first half of the 16th century, vying only with that of the royal Habsburg chapel of precisely the same period.²⁸ Among the many musicians there in the 1530s was Pedro de Pastrana, the duke's maestro de capilla (from 1532), and former chaplain to Charles V.²⁹ By the 1540s the most prominent musicians associated with the duke's chapel were Pastrana's successor Juan de Cepa, who became maestro de capilla at Malaga Cathedral in 1554,³⁰ and Bartolomeu Càrceres, a local Valencian composer both of sacred music and of numerous villancicos. While we lack precise documentary information concerning the formation of the chapel during the period of the Germana-Fernando alliance (1526-36), records dating from between 1546 and 1554 indicate that at least 40 musicians were employed at the Calabrian court. In 1546, for example, there were 19 cantores (headed by Cepa), three organistas (comprising players and an organ builder), a harpist, one sackbut player, and seven shawmists, eight trumpeters, two drummers and two music copyists: Bartolomeu Càrceres and Pompeyo de Russi-the latter likely to have been of Italian origin.³¹ In addition, there were eight chapel officers headed by the Bishop of Fez, don Francisco Mexía, including a sacristan (sacristan mayor) and his second in command, an almoner (limosnero) and a master of theology. There were also three moços de capilla listed-either servers (in the sacristy or at the altar) or general helpers in the chapel; possibly even choirboys.³² By 1550 there were 22 cantores in the chapel under Cepa's leadership. Besides their regular performance in the ducal chapel, we learn also of the participation of the duke's musicians in the cathedral-often in tandem with the cathedral's own choir-and during secular entertainments at court such as described in Luys de Milán's famous literary work El Cortesano. However, we have little remaining evidence to testify to the activities of the choir in liturgical performance other than an inventory of the chapel music collection made in 1546, when the duke's possessions were allegedly passed over to the newly founded monastery of San Miguel de los Reyes, and one or two surviving polyphonic books and works that only in relatively recent times have been linked to the Calabrian establishment. The inventory lists some 17 polyphonic choirbooks of Masses and motets, but naming only Josquin and Peñalosa as composers among them. A second inventory of the royal collection made in the early 1550s (during doña Mencía de Mendoza's time at court), recently unearthed by Roberta Schwartz, impressively indicates that some of the music sung by the choir was scored for up to 12 vocal parts. The extant material demonstrates that polyphony performed in the chapel was evidently characterized by an unusually eclectic collection of repertories both by Spaniards, including local composers (especially Càrceres and Pastrana), and by Franco-Flemish and Italian composers of the 'post-Josquin' era, some known to have been working in Italy at that time. This has had wide-reaching implications, providing important information concerning the dissemination and performance of especially northern Italian repertories in Valencia during the middle decades of the century. A more detailed examination of the inventories and a discussion of repertories performed at the ducal establishment is given below.

Music and letters at the court, c.1526-c.1536

We find copious evidence for customs, entertainments and styles of musical performance at the court of Germana and Fernando in Milán's El Cortesano (Valencia, 1561).³³ The main inspiration for its composition, so Milán relates, was Castiglione's famous 'manual for the perfect courtier' Il Cortegiano;³⁴ however, there is much in the work to betray inspiration also from a number of literary works and traditions, both Italian and Catalan-Valencian. The raison d'être of the piece, according to the author, was to show modes of discourse at court ('burlar a modo de palacio'), representing that of Queen Germana and Duke Fernando, as he perceived it, during a particular six-day period in April-May 1535.³⁵ Amid lively conversation, replete with anecdotes, repartee and parlour games similar to those given in Milán's Libro de motes printed in 1535, the work incorporates a hunting scene, a masque, pageants and tournaments, and climaxes with the famous Fiesta del Mayo, characterized by elaborate staging, lively music and dancing. It is also injected with numerous poems, sonnets based on learned poetry, and popular songs and romances (many found also in the Cancionero General) performed to the vihuela. Conversation in El Cortesano frequently turns to music and to a number of performing issues, including questions relating to vocal ornamentation.³⁶

While resembling aspects of Castiglione's work, the form of El Cortesano, with its plan of six jornadas, has actually more in common with Boccaccio's Decameron (in turn an inspiration for Castiglione, to which he refers on several occasions)-a work organized in ten days and including musical performance and named musicians.³⁷ Yet this type of structure also fell within the tradition of Valencian drama. El Cortesano was preceded especially (and topically) by Joan Fernández de Heredia's Coloquio de las damas valencianas, known as La Visita, written to be performed at the court during the wedding celebrations of Germana de Foix and John of Brandenburg in 1519, and performed again at the Duke of Calabria's second marriage in 1540.³⁸ Presented in a series of five jornadas, La Visita also has an Italian-style tournament and musical interpolations, and, like all Valencian theatre pieces of the time, was multilingual, using Castilian, Valencian and Portuguese. The idea of setting the scene in contemporary society in Valencia was another aspect of the Valencian literary tradition.³⁹

Milán was enticed by the idea of courtly manner and entertaining according to ancient classical traditions, such as were enacted in many circumstances in Italy from at least the 15th century-plays combining dialogue, poetry and music, often in theatrical contexts involving elaborate staging and mechanical props. For example, the farces of San-nazaro (presumably known to the duke) were played at the court of Naples.⁴⁰ We also have contemporary evidence of such entertainments at Ferrara, where farces and comedies took place in the garden,⁴¹ somewhat akin to the huerta of the Palacio el Real in Valencia. Many of the ideas and sources of theatrical inspiration seen in El Cortesano-especially the masques and tournaments⁴²-seem to derive from Italian models, and are based on passages from classical literature, including Greek mythology. Milán's Máscara de los Troyanos, for example, was inspired by the Trojan War, in which the battle is stopped by the intervention of Syringa singing to the accompaniment of Apollo on his cithar.⁴³ Likewise, Milán's Montería de las damas y caballeros de Troya is steeped in classical myths involving allegorical representations of the Trojan conflict with the Greeks.

The Fiesta del Mayo is the most evocative representation in El Cortesano of Italian popular traditions. Its inclusion may perhaps also be interpreted as a gesture by Milán to honour don Fernando. The author recounts how it came about as the result of a request from the duke to have the event sung and celebrated 'as it is done in Italy', and thereby incorporating instumental music, dancing in procession and singing by his chapel members. It represents one of the favourite festas celebrated in the Florentine republic especially, but it was also staged at the Este court in Ferrara from the late 15th century on, for example, and at their residence in Modena during the time of Ercole II.⁴⁴ With a backdrop of a painted blue sky and informal garden setting, Milán's version focuses on the entrance of the standard bearer (confalconer) on his white steed adorned with flowers and a golden chain, accompanied by the choir dressed as nymphs and singing 'Bien venga el Magio, el confalconer selvagio', the whole accompanied by a diverse band of instruments.⁴⁵ The verse, 'Welcome May', was a direct imitation of one of Poliziano's canzoni a ballo, 'Ben venga maggio'.⁴⁶ The representation is clearly steeped in the pagan-classical tradition, and visually reminiscent of neoclassical allegorical paintings of the era, representing the flowering of spring. The Italian influence can also be seen in the rhyme scheme of verses given by Milán, which suggest a somewhat stately musical pattern found in the Florentine 'Maggi', which was likewise mixed with more popular elements.⁴⁷

Besides the duke and the queen, a number of prominent personages at the court appear in this work in various guises, though not without some degree of irony: the poet Francisco de Fenollet, Heredia, 'Canon Ester' (who was probably attached to the capilla at one time) and singers named Olivarte and Pedro de Salazar. Milán himself is doubtlessly represented by the principal musician 'Miraflor de Milán' (his alter ego) in the Fiesta del Mayo. Throughout the work, an impression is gained of Milán extolling the poet-musician as courtly entertainer, singing and playing 'in the manner of Orpheus', the great muse and musician of classical antiquity.⁴⁸

Much of the music in Milán's vihuela book El Maestro (Valencia, 1536) could even perhaps be seen to represent the style of music performed in these settings. Here we have him in the guise of the great Orpheus on his vihuela (illus.1) in a work bringing together a corpus of fantasias, pavanas 'in the Italian style',⁴⁹ and songs that include romances and sonnets in Castilian, Portuguese and Italian-the latter being identified as settings of poetry by Sannazaro and Petrarch:⁵⁰ two of the great poets of the humanist era whose poetry was often set to be sung to the accompaniment of the lute.⁵¹ This is the first vihuela tablature to be printed in Spain, and is unique among Iberian collections for containing purely instrumental works called fantasias, which Milán said were expressions of the composer's imagination and 'industry',⁵² and for being the only music book to be devoted to a single composer.⁵³ Milán was also alone in adopting a system of tablature similar to the Neapolitan type employed by Francisco da Miláno in a lute publication of the same year. Other details-for example the system of placing note values over each note above the staves-suggest an acquaintance with Petrucci editions (including, for example, Spinacino's and Dalza's lute tablatures).⁵⁴ His knowledge of Italian forms and styles enters the fantasias and pavanes-two of the latter being identified with well-known Italian tunes, and several recalling Dalza's in design. Other pieces may well have their source of inspiration in music that we can presume he heard on a visit to Italy. These include his sonnet 'Madonna per voi ardo', whose melody can also be traced in a madrigal setting by Verdelot.⁵⁵ In El Maestro we also find Milán uniquely providing information about contemporary performance practice-both by means of verbal instructions relating to tempo and style in the fantasias, and to vocal production and manner in the songs.⁵⁶

Aside from Milán, the other composer frequently cited in connection with Valencia and musico-literary circles there was Mateo Flecha (the elder). He is chiefly known as composer of numerous ensaladas, a virtually indigenous Valencian musico-poetic genre that evidently enjoyed enormous popularity during at least the reign of the duke of Calabria and up to the last two decades of the 16th century. The typical ensalada combines both popular secular and sacred polyphonic idioms, includes written passages in different vernacular languages, and may even incorporate snippets from biblical and liturgical Latin contexts-the latter evidently cited with a wry humour that is unparalleled in Spanish musical literature, but which may also be encountered in contemporary Valencian literary works (including Milán's El Cortesano).⁵⁷ Flecha's use of solo and dialogue with chorus

2.

Title-page of Villancicos de diversos autores (Venice: Scotto, 1556)

refrain, is not dissimilar to trends in Valencian theatre also. His close association with Valencia has been largely speculated through his famous ensalada La viúda, which by all accounts would appear to date from the late 1530s. Here he refers with evident respect to the duke of Calabria, 'the beloved friend of music' ('El duque de Calabria es con quien no á ovido revés: es su amiga muy amada'), and hints in what has been interpreted to be an autobiographical work to other patrons who include the Duke of Mendoza, don Diego Hurtado.⁵⁸ It is also clear from the use of certain colloquial terms in his ensaladas that Flecha was well acquainted with local traditions and with Milán's El Cortesano-if not with Luys Milán himself. Furthermore, some of his songs have been identified in the collection entitled Villancicos de diversos autores (Venice: Scotto, 1556-see illus.2),⁵⁹ sometimes known as the Uppsala cancionero, and also as the Cancionero del duque de Calabria.

Villancicos de diversos autores

The collection Villancicos de diversos autores has long been associated with the duke of Calabria's court owing both to the number of pieces identified as the work by composers and writers associated with it, and to the global representation of canciones written not only in Castilian, but also in Valencia/Catalan and Portuguese. It contains 54 villancicos, of which a dozen or so were written for Christmas ('de Navidad'). There are also eight monophonic melodies in each of the modes and eight duos (likewise arranged tonally). With the notable exception of the work ascribed to Gombert, his five-voice Dezilde al cavallero, the songs were entered anonymously. However, a sizeable proportion has now been identified as the work of Pastrana, Càrceres (both by way of concordances found in manuscripts in Barcelona and Tarazona),⁶⁰ Flecha,⁶¹ also Cristóbal de Morales⁶² and possibly Enriquez de Valder-rábano.⁶³ Likewise, a number of poems have been identified with writers who include Joan Fernández de Heredia and Luys Milán.⁶⁴ Cristóbal de Morales's possible association with Valencia shortly before his departure for Italy in 1534 may additionally account for the work identified through a concordance to be by him in the cancionero: his setting of Boscán's Si n'os huviera mirado-one of two poems found also in the popular Cancionero General and among a number known also to Milán.⁶⁵ The inclusion of the work by Gombert is less easy to account for, although it will be remembered that the imperial court sojourned in Valencia on more than one occasion, thus providing opportunity for musical gifts and exchanges. In many respects the cancionero could be construed as a companion to El Cortesano (with which there are six concordances of poems)⁶⁶ in a way recalling Doni's Dialogo della musica (Venice, 1544), perhaps, particularly in view of the association in Milán's book of discourse interspersed with song.

The circumstances of the compilation and printing of this volume in the Scotto atelier in Venice has never satisfactorily been accounted for. As yet no documents have been located giving the instance of this commission, nor references made to the cancionero in Valencian literature. As an hypothesis, it would seem likely that the Duke of Calabria approved of such a book's being compiled and printed in the manner both of cancioneros of poetry and what was known of song (and madrigal) collections printed in Venice to be used in courtly circles-in particular that of the court of his cousins in Ferrara, and also in Mantua.⁶⁷ While the latter were issued in part-books, the Villancicos de diversos autores, however, was a single but small octavo-size volume. It also seems likely that one of the composers attached to the ducal court would have had a hand in the preparation of the volume for the Venetian press: at least one connection can be found between sacred repertories at the court and Venice during that period.⁶⁸ However, the cancionero was printed only after the death of doña Mencía, thus adding to the difficulty of tracing a more precise history of its production.

The foundation of San Miguel de los Reyes (1546)

The monastery was founded primarily as the result of the duke's wish to execute the clause in Germana's will of October 1536, requesting the establishment of a Hieronymite monastery to serve as a mausoleum for herself and for their respective families. She specified that the location should be the then somewhat dilapidated Cistercian convent of San Bernardo ('without the walls'), a foundation that had been the site of royal concern since the days of the reconquest of Valencia in 1275, but used as a monastery only from the second half of the 14th century onwards.⁶⁹ She also specified that the monks of this monastery should commemorate the anniversary of her death 'with the customary absolutions' and celebrate three Masses daily: the first, a sung Mass for the 'purity' of the Virgin (the festal celebration they adopted was that for the Immaculate Conception);⁷⁰ the second and third for the name of Jesus and the Passion respectively.⁷¹ It was not easy to request the Cistercians to retire, and resistance was met especially from the abbot (previously nominated by the duke), Pedro de Pastrana. Eventually the duke was obliged to ask the head of the Hieronymite order in Spain, as well as to apply for the permission of the pope (all with the emperor's consent) to fulfil the obligation. Finally a papal bull was drawn up on 1 November 1541 dismissing the order, so that it would be possible to convert the monastery to a Hieronymite foundation. It was renamed San Miguel de los Reyes supposedly because of the devotion of the duke and Queen Germana to St Michael the Archangel and to the Feast of the Epiphany.⁷² Also instrumental for this choice of name was the association of the saint with the Order of the Knights of St Michael (de Armiño),⁷³ of which the duke was head.

The duke, his court, members of the nobility of Valencia, and a new core of Hieronymite monks took possession of the monastery for the first time on 2 July 1546, the Friday within the Octave of Corpus Christi, in a manner reported to have resembled a solemn entrance in the kingdom of Naples.⁷⁴ It was consecrated on 4 July with a pontifical Mass and Vespers in honour of the feast of the Visitation, celebrated by the duke's own bishop, Don Francisco de Mexía de Molina (Bishop of Fez).⁷⁵ Attended by the duke, his wife doña Mencía, courtiers, members of the nobility and other dignitaries, this event was accompanied by processions with instrumental and vocal music performed in style by the duke's musicians and by the newly appointed monks.⁷⁶ Don Fernando had ambitious projects for the monastery, wishing also to set up a college for the humanities and theology, and to rebuild the church by calling on the best architects of the day (Alonso de Covarrubias and Viadana), and by drawing up extensive plans. The proposal signed by Covarrubias preserved in accounts of the monastery's foundation describes the fashioning of additional chapels and tribunes, decorated with the latest al romano designs, and allowing for 'large and medium-sized organs' to be placed in the capilla mayor.⁷⁷

Given the importance of the ducal chapel from the point of view of royal associations and its size, it can be assumed that dignified commemorations would have taken place on occasions such as the anniversaries of the deaths of members of the royal families. Many more solemn rituals and observations (involving both polyphony and chant) may only have taken place after the foundation of San Miguel de los Reyes, and a number of Chapter Acts dating from 1546 onwards enforced many of these.⁷⁸ Certainly, a weekly tradition of 'processions for the dead' took place every Monday, for example, which, at least after the duke's death in 1550, were preceded by sung responses for the souls of the duke, Queen Germana and his two sisters at their tombs.⁷⁹ By all accounts, the anniversary of his own death on 26 October was celebrated with great solemnity, having a liturgical format similar to that for the exequies of the emperor, the empress and other royal members at the Spanish royal chapel.⁸⁰ This comprised vigils (Matins) of three lessons and invitatorio, and Mass the next day in the capilla mayor.⁸¹ No specific mention is made of the style of music: failing a full-scale polyphonic Mass, this would almost certainly have involved simple polyphony in fabordón style as well as chant.⁸² A papal bull of 1547 ensured the carrying out of Germana's request for a sung Mass for the 'purity' of the Virgin ('missa de la concepción de nuestra señora'),⁸³ as well as a Requiem Mass.⁸⁴

Music and musical sources at the court chapel and monastery

The famous inventory of the Duke of Calabria's collection of music books was published in 1963 in Moll's account of music at the Valencian court.⁸⁵ We may presume this collection formed the nucleus of repertories of liturgical polyphony and plainchant once performed in his palace chapel. Dating from 1546, the year of the foundation of San Miguel de los Reyes when the duke allegedly transferred his belongings and artefacts there, this inventory formed part of a longer historical account of the foundation of the monastery ascribed to Francisco de Villanueva.⁸⁶ The inventory published by Moll is taken from the earliest of three extant copies now preserved at the Archivo Nacional in Madrid.⁸⁷Table 1 is derived from a slightly later copy that includes details not apparently legible on the document seen by Moll.⁸⁸ Some 17 books of polyphonic music are listed (Libros de canto de organo), and 11 of chant (Libros de canto llano) of which one with 'the Office of St Michael' (item A. IV) also included items of polyphony. In addition, there were also nine fascicles with motets. Of the polyphonic books, as many as seven were formed of Masses, three of motets, one of Compline music, one of (presumably) Vespers music consisting of Magnificats and hymns, and four or five more of unspecified works of polyphony. Evidently contrasting with a few polyphonic books described as 'very old' or 'old', there was a 'new' book 'de los tonos' (possibly fabordón formulae for the psalm tones).⁸⁹ Besides the curious entry of the box formerly containing four small parchment books taken on the duke's hunting parties (presumably partbooks of villancicos or other types of songs), a postscript indicates that the collection also included a number of cancioneros.⁹⁰ Among the chant books is a substantial group of pasioneros compiled from Aragonese (possibly known through the editions of Jorge Coci),⁹¹ Toledan and Valencian chants, that may indicate customs at the court that were at variance with Roman traditions. According to the scribe of the inventory, not only was the duke's music collection of the highest quality, but the books themselves were sumptuously bound, and contained several fine and large illuminations: a collection 'worthy of a king'. All items on the inventory were identified by their binding and the colour of their leather covers.

As it stands, however, the inventory (typically) offers little insight into precise polyphonic repertories sung at the court: the only composers mentioned are Josquin ('Jusquin': items B. VI and XIV) and Peñalosa (item B. XVII); contextually, we are also given a description of two books of Masses 'hechos en Barcelona' (item B. VII).⁹² The book with the '15 Masses of Josquin' may in all likelihood be identified with the Liber quindecim missarum published by Antico in Rome in 1516,⁹³ a compilation volume of 15 Masses in total by Josquin, Brumel, Fevin, Pierre de La Rue, Mouton, Pipelare and Roselli. It was a book that was clearly quite widely distributed (no doubt forming a desirable item), frequently appearing on inventories of books of bibliophiles and in other chapel collections.⁹⁴ (Three Masses attributed to Josquin head this particular book, which may well explain the association in the description.) The book of 'the twenty Masses of Josquin' listed here, however, is more difficult to place. Nevertheless, one can assume that there was a similarity with the book containing the 15 Masses, as the latter was described as having been sold for a sum of 4 crowns because it duplicated in some way the other book (described as 'rather old').⁹⁵ It could therefore have been an identical copy with an appendix in manuscript of five more Masses, or (a further hypothesis) even a manuscript volume containing 20 polyphonic Masses that they had come to associate with Josquin.⁹⁶ However, it is interesting that both books reappear on the newly found inventory compiled for doña Mencía in c.1553 which also gives us further information about the duke's former collection. ⁹⁷Table 2 is a transcript of this document.⁹⁸ Here we learn that three of the books were in fact copied by the duke's puntador Pompeyo de Russi, of which the first (corresponding to either items B. XV or XVI on the 1546 inventory) contained a Requiem Mass by 'Lebrun' (possibly Fevin),⁹⁹ presumably copied at the Valencia court in c.1545. But of especial interest is the 'green book' of Masses (item M. XII)-possibly the same as item B. XII on the 1546 inventory described as decorated with the duke's coat of arms-containing settings for eight and 12 voice parts. We may surmise that this book therefore included Brumel's Missa Ecce terremotus (the only 12-voice polyphonic Mass known to us today), a work that reached Philip II's court chapel also.¹⁰⁰ Otherwise, there are only a few books that we can confidently identify as definitely remaining in the collection: the parchment book with the St Michael Office; the book of Salves and motets; the book of Compline music; and the majority of the chant items.

Pompeyo de Russi is only first found on the payrolls of the duke's chapel in 1546. He was evidently a scribe of some distinction who later joined the Habsburg capilla real as copyist, having already executed commissions for Prince Philip, apparently.¹⁰¹ Both his and Càrceres's roles in the augmentation of the duke's library of music books for the capilla on the occasion of the move to the new monastery were evidently significant. This means that many of the new books could well have included coeval polyphonic repertories ('canto de su tempo'), coming both from Italy and from Spanish sources.¹⁰² We also learn, however, that the duke's promise to provide even further libros de coro for the monks of San Miguel de los Reyes within a period of two years, remained unfulfilled owing to his untimely demise in October 1550.¹⁰³

The duke's keenness to augment the musical repertory of his musical establishment is known chiefly through the example of the acquisition of Jan Nasco's (St Matthew) Passion, allegedly also given by him personally to Valencia Cathedral sometime before his death.¹⁰⁴ The evident regard with which this music was held is witnessed by the numerous inscriptions accompanying transmissions or copies of sections of this work, particularly in manuscripts associated with El Escorial: for example, 'Esta pas-sio( n) entrego el duq(ue) de Calabria a la iglesia cathedral de Valençia por cosa rara'.¹⁰⁵ Although later copies of the work may have been adapted to some extent to suit the particular choirs by which it was to be performed,¹⁰⁶ the instance of a newly identified copy of the chorus sections of this work in the Royal Palace Library in Madrid, which we can now almost certainly identify as having been copied at Valencia Cathedral during the first decade or so of the 17th century, and which includes the inscription 'parece que fue dadiva del Duque de Calabria', demonstrates that even after a period of some 50 years it (or at least the original exemplar) was still associated with his initial gift to the cathedral in the 1540s.¹⁰⁷

The interest in (principally northern) Italian repertories at this court, evidently encouraged by its close links with the Este court especially, contributes to our understanding of musical transmission to Spain at this time. We may be certain that other polyphonic repertories reached the court from

Table 1.

Music books of the Duke of Calabria's chapel in 1546*

Table 2.

Inventory of music books in Doña Mencía de Mendoza's collection, c.1553*

Italy, owing to the recent discovery of an important repertory copied into Barcelona, Biblioteca de Catalunya m.1166/1967 (hereafter BarcBC 1166/ 1967)-a source that has only relatively recently come to be associated with the ducal chapel, but which has also sometimes (erroneously) been referred to as the Cançoner de Gandía.¹⁰⁸ As I have described elsewhere,¹⁰⁹ this source offers copies of works (some of them unica) by Costanzo Festa, Noel Bauldeweyn, Cristóbal de Morales and Philippe Verdelot in addition to music by Pastrana, Juan de Cepa and Bartomeu Càrceres (the three composers that we may associate with the court chapel) and villancicos concordant with the Villancicos de diversos autores (see table 3). With the possible exception of Verdelot's Gabriel archangelus, all were transmitted in manuscript.¹¹⁰ The most substantial work is the anonymous six-voice 'parody' Mass on Josquin's Inviolata.¹¹¹ There are also two sets of litanies, choruses from another St Matthew Passion, and a Te Deum that speak of transmediterranean contacts. In the context of the Nasco Passion and the duke's homage Mass by Jacquet de Mantua, this is to be expected (also in the light of his sisters' alleged aid in acquiring music for the court).¹¹² Moreover, the scribe's use of the term supranus for the top voice virtually throughout the source, and also other notational characteristics, is probably indicative of its having been copied in the main by Pompeyo de Russi.¹¹³ Particularly intriguing, however, is the special compilation-by Càrceres apparently-of a set of Propers for the feast of the Espousals of the Virgin, which was first permitted and celebrated in Italy only in 1517, and then again in 1537. Chants for this feast were prepared for publication by the Giunta firm in Venice in 1543-4 involving the musicians Willaert and Giovanni Del Lago.¹¹⁴ If indeed these are the same chants, then the transmission here is a possible witness of a close involvement of the duke, or members of his chapel (Càrceres or Pompeyo de Russi), with new developments in the Veneto region. As the date adopted for this feast was probably 7 March,¹¹⁵ the chants included in the choirbook allow for use both inside and outside the Paschal season. They may, of course, have been casually indirectly transmitted via routes connected with Willaert and

3.

Bartolomeu Càrceres, Introit of Mass for the Feast of the Espousals, Egredimini filie Sion (Barcelona, Biblioteca de Catalunya, M.1166/1967, ff.125v, 75r)

Table 3.

BarcBC 1166/1967: A source for the court chapel of the Duke of Calabria

Ferrara.¹¹⁶ Càrceres provides two cantus firmus settings of the Introit-notated in a style we associate with contrapunto for four parts, here with the chant set in the tenor (see illus.3).¹¹⁷ The source as a whole has a number of possible contextual interpretations connecting both with the foundation Mass of the monastery in 1546 and with Queen Germana's obit request.¹¹⁸

The fate of the duke's collection of music sources following the demise of his second wife, doña Mencía, has never been ascertained, but I present here a few hypotheses for the transmission of some of the repertory, including BarcBC 1166/1967 itself. First of all, among the inventories compiled at Valencia Cathedral in the early 17th century is listed a manuscript containing 'diverse things', and described as formerly belonging to the duke.¹¹⁹ Certainly the Barcelona source is a concoction of pieces somewhat haphazardly ordered, functioning for Mass, Vespers, Compline and other occasions. But more particularly it appears also to have been used at the cathedral at a later date: at least two additions to the manuscript (entered on previously unused folios) are attributed to Juan Pérez, maestro de capilla at the cathedral in the late 16th century.¹²⁰ Second, we can almost certainly surmise that some of the books (or repertories) would have found their way to such institutions as the Spanish royal chapel, due to the subsequent employment there of the duke of Calabria's copyist Pompeyo de Russi, by whom at least one book is listed in the inventory of Philip II's collection.¹²¹ As already noted, copies of the choruses of the St Matthew Passion by Jan Nasco (which include inscriptions indicating their origin in Valen-cia) are found in books used at El Escorial (founded by Philip II in 1563). Third, we can almost be certain that a great proportion of the repertory found its way to Tarazona Cathedral before 1570, owing to the number of 'concordances' found between items in BarcBC 1166/1967 and in manuscripts listed in the set of two corresponding inventories preserved there, dating from 1570 onwards.¹²² This may have been due to the intervention of Pedro de Pastrana, by whom numerous (now lost) works are included in the cathedral's former collection. As indicated in table 3 the set of concordances include unica-the motets by Noel Bauldeweyn and Alonso, and the Lamentations by Càrceres (see illus.4), and the set of Lamentations for Good Friday by Morales, copied with those by Càrceres into fuente 4. While some of Pastrana's work itself may have originated from his time as maestro de capilla at Prince Philip's court (from 1547, in succession to Basurto), it is indicative that fuente 3, for example, with Bauldeweyn's motet, includes no fewer that 13 works by Pastrana, one by Juan de Cepa and eight by Basurto, in addition to several works by composers active in Ferrara and northern Italy including Masitre Jhan, Verdelot and Jacquet de Mantua-composers whose music features in the majority of the original Tarazona sources. Furthermore, there is a concordance of a villancico included in Villancicos de diversos autores with a version copied into a set of partbooks containing works by Pastrana which is still preserved (TarazC 17)¹²³ and which has scribal similarities (including the use of the term supranus) with Bar-cBC 1166/1967.¹²⁴ Finally, yet another link may be found with one other of the few surviving manuscripts at Tarazona: TarazC 5 (fuente 11 in the 16th-century inventories). The significant portions here are parts II-III (ff.25(v)-94 which were copied before 1550).¹²⁵ These folios include music by Peñalosa, Pastrana (ten items) and Basurto (especially his Mass cycle In agendis mortuorum). An association with the court of the duke of Calabria has already been suggested.¹²⁶ But our attention may be drawn to a new connection with BarcBC 1166/1967. In Tarazona 5 there are two works attributed to Johannes Stich or Estiche (a composer whose name may suggest Valencian or Aragonese origin), of which one, a four-part setting of the first verse of Ave maris stella, is closely related (virtually concordant) to the 'Sumens illud ave' verse added to the main body of BarcBC 1967 sometime after the bulk of it was copied (before 1546). We have no knowledge of this composer's career, let alone any association with the Valencian court or monastery. Nevertheless, we may conjecture that an isolated motet setting attributed to him-Sancte Michael ('en quatro hojas')¹²⁷-which was evidently (before 1570) once piled with the extensive series of ensaladas listed in the Tarazona inventories,¹²⁸ could originally have been associated in some way with devotions at the Valencian court or San Miguel de los Reyes.

4.

Bartomeu Càrceres, Lamech. O vos omnes, from the Lamentations for Maundy Thursday (Barcelona, Biblioteca de Catalunya, m.1166, ff.1v-2)

What we learn of musical repertories at the Calabrian court chapel, particularly through the Barcelona source, tells us of the great importance of this establishment in terms of having been the recipient of a varied repertory of foreign works that might never have been identified or (with regard to the Nasco Passion) appreciated in terms of their intrinsic significance in Valencia. Enlightened maecenas, theologian, mathematician and astrologer, don Fernando de Aragón, music's 'beloved friend', was clearly one of the greatest patrons of the arts in Spain, and who constantly encouraged links with cultural endeavour across the Mediterranean.