Luis de Milán

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Luis de Milán (also known as Lluís del Milà or Luys Milán) (c. 1500 – c. 1561) was
a Spanish Renaissance composer, vihuelist, and writer on music. He was the first
composer in history to publish music for the vihuela de mano, an instrument
employed primarily in the Iberian peninsula and some of the Italian states during
the 15th and 16th centuries, and he was also one of the first musicians to specify
verbal tempo indications in his music.
Frontispiece to Libro de música de vihuela de mano intitulado El maestro

He probably lived all his life in Valencia, though details are sketchy at best. He
seems to have been employed by the ducal court until around 1538. In 1535 he
published his first book, a parlor game with music called El juego de mandar. The
next year he issued what would be his most important book.
Contents

1 El Maestro (1536)
2 Late works
3 Legacy
4 Bibliography
5 Recordings
6 External links
6.1 Sheetmusic

El Maestro (1536)

Milán’s Libro de música de vihuela de mano intitulado El Maestro was printed in

December 1536 and dedicated to King John III of Portugal. The dedication, and the
inclusion of six villancicos in Portuguese, suggests that Milán traveled to that
country and spent time there.

El Maestro is the first collection of vihuela music in history, and was in part
intended for students of the instrument, with scores presented in grades from
simple to complex so that vihuelists could proceed from elementary to harder
pieces. The set divides into two books, one for the vihuela alone and the other for
voice and vihuela. (A breakdown of its 72 works is at Spanish Wikipedia.) There are
forty fantasías, six pavanas, and four tientos in the instrumental volume. For
voice there are twelve villancicos, four romances, and six sonetos (sonnets). All
of these are to Castilian texts, except for the sonetos, which are in Italian, and
half of the villancicos, as already noted.

Much of the collection requires considerable virtuosity. Still, not all the
ornamentation is provided in detail. The style of the compositions varies from
simple homophony to polyphony and virtuoso passage-work; unusual chromaticism also
occurs, including strange double-inflections which were quite rare in music from
other parts of Europe at the same time. It appears that the book was prepared with
great care; alternate passages are given for players who wish to avoid more
virtuosic parts, sections of pieces are indicated as optional, and he provided
verbal tempo indications, for example ni muy apriessa ni muy a espacio sino con un
compás bien mesurado ("neither too quickly nor too slowly, but with a moderate
measure").
Late works

Milán’s last publication, El cortesano (1561), modeled on Il Cortegiano by

Baldassare Castiglione, gives a vivid and entertaining picture of life in the
Valencian ducal court. While it contains no music, it is a valuable account by a
professional musician at the time.
Legacy

The music of Luis de Milán is popular with performers on the present-day classical
guitar because it can be adapted very easily to their instrument.
Bibliography

Articles "Vihuela" and "Luis de Milán," in The New Grove Dictionary of Music
and Musicians, ed. Stanley Sadie. 20 vol. London, Macmillan Publishers Ltd., 1980.
ISBN 1-56159-174-2
Ruggero Chiesa: Luys Milán: El Maestro, Zerboni, Milano 1974 (commentary and
transcription for guitar)
Luis Gásser: Luis Milán on Sixteenth-Century Performance Practice, Indiana
University Press, Bloomington & Indianapolis 1996
John Griffiths: Luys Milán, The New Grove, New York 2001
Ralf Jarchow: Luys Milán – El Maestro, Vol. 1–3, Jarchow, Glinde 1995
(commentary and transcription for guitar; German and English translation of Milán)
Gustave Reese: Music in the Renaissance. New York, W.W. Norton & Co., 1954.
ISBN 0-393-09530-4
John M. Ward: The Vihuela de Mano and its Music (1536-1576), New York 1953
(Dissertation)

Recordings

Luis de Milán interpreted by Jordi Savall, [1]

Listen on-line (Magnatune) to "El Maestro" performed by Edward Martin or by
Jacob Heringman and Catherine King.
2005 – Dulcis Melancholia. Biographie musicale de Marguerite d’Autriche.
Capilla Flamenca. MEW 0525. Contains a recording of Pavane 4 and Pavane 5 (La bella
franceschina) by Luis Milan.

External links
Sheetmusic

Libro de musica de vihuela de mano, intitulado El Maestro (click "View options"

JPG icon) - Biblioteca Nacional de España info
Free scores by Luis de Milán at the International Music Score Library Project
(IMSLP)

Authority control Edit this at Wikidata

BNE: XX1079689 BNF: cb13928479v (data) CANTIC: a10581959 GND: 119525011 ISNI:
0000 0000 7980 1601 LCCN: n81047974 MusicBrainz: 98c5c9bd-6add-4a5c-92cd-
dfde0cfa2a0c NDL: 01078788 NKC: jn20031218016 NTA: 070370435 ICCU:
IT\ICCU\SBLV\252766 SELIBR: 214565 SNAC: w6sq97cf SUDOC: 067273335 VIAF: 99920521
WorldCat Identities (via VIAF): 99920521

Categories:

1500s births1561 deathsRenaissance composersComposers for the classical

guitarMale classical composers

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