This information sheet was prepared by John Collins in connection with his talk given at the BCS all-day event ‘A Golden Age: Iberian Instrumental Music before 1700’ at the Art Workers Guild, London, on 29 March 2003.

The Titles

The titles of Iberian works offer considerable information for the player as to the type of composition, and occasionally registration; these notes are designed to assist the non-Iberian speaker to understand this information. It may also be opportune to mention the divided registers which are such an important element in the Iberian organ, especially for the great majority of instruments with only one manual, and to point out the difference between 'Medio Registro', which refers to a stop which functions over half of the keyboard only (i.e. Corneta in the treble and Bajoncillo in the bass), and 'Registro Partido', in which the pipes relating to the compass up to c¹ and from c#¹ have individual stop-knobs on either side of the console. To use the rank over the full compass it is necessary to draw both knobs.

According to Jesús Ángel de la Lama in El órgano barroco español (vol. 1, pp. 249 ff.), the first instrument with a Medio Registro for which records survive was constructed by P. Serrano in Valencia in 1547 (this was an exception in being on a two manual instrument), and the first with a Registro Partido was by G. de Lupe in Zaragoza in 1567. In 1579, the Jorge organ in Seville Cathedral was built with all its registers divided, but this was an exception, the majority of provinces adopting this scheme in the early 17th century. It should also be remembered that the batteries of horizontal reeds were a product of c. 1695 onwards, the normal scheme being 8 + 4 + 2 in the LH and 16 + 8 + 4 in the RH. Before then J. Echevarría, in Alcalá de Henares in 1659, was apparently the first to place a single Clarín (for the treble only) horizontally. For further detailed information see El órgano barroco español (vol. 1, pp. 283 ff.).

The term Tiento (Spanish) or Tento (Portuguese) is a generic term, used both for pieces that are imitative, and for pieces which are homophonic, closely approaching the Toccata in conception. Some pieces by Jiménez and Cabanilles in such a style are subtitled Sin Paso. The term Phantasia is sometimes used by Portuguese composers to denote non-imitative works, as in the pieces by Pedro de Araújo on the 4th and 8th Tone. The Tiento/Tento or Obra (terms which appear to be synonymous, given that the same piece may be entitled Tiento in one source and Obra in another) can be subdivided into the following basic types; the word Tiento may or may not be present in the title.

• Falsas: a slower-moving, quiet piece with suspensions and dissonance, similar to the Italian Durezze e Ligature. There is a Ligaduras para la Elevación in MS 1357, the term Elevación being synonymous with the Italian Elevazione, indicating that the piece was to be played at the Elevation of the Host during the Mass. This title does not appear in the Portuguese sources.
• Lleno (Cheio or Chão in Portuguese): a piece which uses the same stops over the whole compass of the keyboard, identical stops being drawn for treble and bass. The stop called Lleno, which is a mixture stop of up to 8 ranks of the Flautado family, may well be drawn, but the term does NOT carry the same implications as Organo Pleno.
• Partido or Medio Registro (Meio registo in Portuguese): a piece which requires separate tone colour for each hand, this term being further qualified by Alto/Tiple/Mano Derecha for right hand or Vajo/Baxón/Mano Izquierda for left hand to indicate the voice carrying the solo. Because the registers were divided at c¹/c#¹, some pieces, including some by Aguilera, Correa and Jiménez, are impossible to play on undivided keyboards (i.e. on the great majority of instruments outside of the Iberian Peninsula) because of the intervals between parts. However, because either the solo part or the accompaniment as written exceeds the available compass, some Tientos Partidos are playable only on two separate manuals in Spain itself, e.g. Correa, Tiento XXXIV and Gabriel Menalt, Tiento partido de mano izquierda 8 Tono, in which the bass ascends to d¹, Gabriel Menalt, Tiento Gaitilla partido de mano izquierda 1 Tono, in which the bass ascends to e¹. In Menalt's Tiento de Mano derecha the left hand ascends to d¹, intruding into the right-hand solo compass. In MS 1607 at Porto, in the Obra de 8 Tom de dois tiples, the alto descends to c¹. Several pieces were composed for either two trebles (tiples) or two basses (bajos; baixos in Portuguese), the earliest surviving being by Correa for treble and Aguilera for bass. A few Tientos Partidos contain sections in which the solo register takes over two voices for the second part of the piece: examples include Bruna (2 dos tiples, one of which is in Porto MS 1577, 2 dos bajos) and Cabanilles (3 dos tiples, 2 dos bajos). If Portuguese composers required such effects, the pieces have not survived. Very occasionally the precise stop to be used is included - most frequently Clarín.
• Tiento de Contras: a piece which contains long held pedal notes, over which the figuration unfolds, normally played as a lleno. Cabanilles left 7 examples, and San Agustín one, combining partido with contras (Partido de mano derecha con contras Tono 8 in Barcelona MS 1011 at f. 73). No such pieces seem to have survived from Portuguese composers.
• Batalla (Batalha in Portuguese): the first piece of this genre to survive for keyboard in Spain is the Tiento XXIII by Correa de Arauxo, which he describes as being 'on the first part of the Batalla by Morales'. This piece of 298 bars sets the pattern for others, including an imitative opening, homophonic sections, and lots of echo effects. Such pieces are normally on the 6th Tono, and include examples by Jiménez (2), Bruna (1), Joseph de Torrelhas and Martín y Coll. Cabanilles left at least 10, several of which are on other Tones and specify Registo Partido (as in MS 386, pp. 148-153), and in some cases registration (as in Tiento de Batalla y Clarines, MS Felanitx 1 ff., 208v-212). The Batalla Imperial ascribed to him in MS387 at Barcelona and at Felanitx MS1 is actually by Johann Kaspar Kerll. Portuguese batalhas include examples by Pedro de Araujo, Diego de Coneição and António Correia Braga. In MS 964 at Braga, The Modo de Batalha com suas tréguas ('The battle piece with its truces') is unusually in the 2nd Tone.
   
  There are two pieces subtitled Famossa (Spanish) or Famoza (Portuguese), but there is no similarity between them. The Spanish one, found in MS 1357 of the Martín y Coll collection, is multi-sectional, with dos clarines being specified. Parts are headed llamada and arma, and although its 343 bars show a marked decline in compositional skills from the pieces by named composers, it does depict successfully the hurly-burly of a battle field not too differently from William Byrd a hundred years or so earlier! Another anonymous Batalla from the same source is thankfully shorter at 263 bars. The Portuguese work found in MS 1607 at Porto is similarly lacking. The genre was continued well into the 18th century, with examples by Vicente Rodríguez (Cabanilles' successor at Valencia), Manuel Narra, and Anselm Viola.

The final part of the title indicates the Tone or Mode in which the piece is written, showing the accidentals one would expect to find. The medieval classification of the 8 Tones, dating back to Cicero, aligning them with specific planets and heavenly bodies, and therefore taking on the appropriate character, appears in Bermudo's Declaración (Libro Quinto, Chapter V, folio cxxii) and is still mentioned in Nassarre's Escuela Musica 1723 (Part I, Chapter XVIII, pp. 75-80). Occasionally the piece retains the inherent characteristics of the Mode but is transposed, either up a Tone or down a Tone, i.e. Quinto Tono Punto Alto is presented with a key signature of 2 sharps. Only Correa de Arauxo uses the extra four Tones added during the Renaissance.

Mode or tone	Final	Ruling planet	Characteristics and effects
Dorian (Tone 1)	D	Sun	Happy as well as serious, modest. Disperses laziness, the sadness of the heart and heavy sleep
Hypodorian (Tone 2)	D	Moon	Moves to tears of sadness, induces sleep/dreams, laziness
Phrygian (Tone 3)	E	Mars	Inflames the heart to anger. Terrible and frightening. Provokes pride and lies
Hypophrygian (Tone 4)	E	Mercury	Moves to both sadness and happiness, to meekness
Lydian (Tone 5)	F	Jupiter	Moves to happiness. Very benevolent influences favouring human nature. Purifies foul air
Hypolydian (Tone 6)	F	Venus	Benign influences, promoting tenderness, devotion, piety and love of God
Mixolydian (Tone 7)	G	Saturn	Melancholic, induces a love of solitude, thoughtful but inconstant. Can make sad, and move to weeping, and to internal unrest
Hypomixolydian (Tone 8)	G	All planets and stars	Serious, pours spiritual joy into the soul and fervent yearning for the things eternal and a view of our Creator

Selected Spanish composers of the 16th century

António de Cabezón, c. 1510-1566, Madrid:

16 Tientos, a pavana and hymns etc. in Henestrosa 1557 and 124 pieces (12 tientos, 43 canciones y motets glosadas) in Obras 1578. Pieces in MS242 Coimbra.

Fernández Palero, fl. c. 1550-1570, Granada:

14 pieces in Henestrosa 1557 (including 3 Tientos, 4 Hymns, 3 motets glosadas).

Alberch Vila, 1517-1583, Barcelona:

2 Tientos in Henestrosa.

Francisco de Peraza, 1564-1598, Seville:

1 Medio registro alto, a form said to have been invented by him, as were the modulating figures or 'flores'.

Selected Spanish composers of the 17th century

(not including versos etc.)

Sebastián Aguilera de Heredia, c. 1561-1627, Zaragoza:

4 registros, 3 falsas, 8 tiento/obra.

Pablo Bruna, 1611-1679, Daroca:

11 registros, 3 falsas, 5 Tiento/obra, 1 batalla.

José Jiménez, c. 1610-1672, Zaragoza:

6 registros, 2 Tiento/obra, 2 batalla, differencias sobre las Folias.

Andrés de Sola, 1634-1696, Zaragoza:

2 registros, 1 obra.

Francisco Correa, c. 1575-1654, Seville, Jaén:

36 Registros, 26 Tiento/obra, 7 canciones glosadas.

Gabriel Menalt, c. 1657-1687, Barcelona:

3 Registros, 1 falsas, 2 Tiento/obra.

Juan Batista Cabanilles, 1644-1712, Valencia:

101 registros, 15 falsas, 104 Tiento/obra, 10 Batallas, 7 tocatas, 6 Gallardas, 6 passacalles, 4 Paseos, 1 Corrente Italiana, 1 Xácara.

Gregorio Clausells, d. c. 1737, Barcelona:

1 Tiento, 2 Tocatas.

Miguel López, 1669-1732:

3 Llenos (Tientos), 1 Registro, 1 ecos & contraecos.

José Perandreu:

5 Registros.

Cristóbal de San Jerónimo, 1605 entered El Escorial:

3 Tiento/Obra.

Pedro de Tafalla, 1606-1660, El Escorial:

2 registros, 1 Tiento/obra (incomplete).

Diego de Torrijos, c. 1640-1692, El Escorial:

1 Canción, 3 registros (1 untitled), 6 Tiento/obra (1 untitled).

Juan del Vado:

4 Tiento/Obra.

Diego de Xaraba, c. 1652-1714:

2 Tiento/obra.

Bartolomé de Olague:

10 Registro, 2 Tiento/Obra.

José Torrellas:

8 Registros, 1 Tiento/Obra,1 batalla.

António Martín y Coll, c. 1660-1740, Alcalá:

1 Batalla, 1 Obra, 3 'Clarines', 14 Canciones.

Major Spanish MSS sources of the 17th century

El Escorial (2) MS2186/7

Barcelona (8) MS 386, 387, 450, 729, 751.21, 1011, 1328, 1468

Madrid (5) MS 2267, 1357-60

Astorga

Felanitx (2)

Jaca

Major Portuguese MSS sources of the 16th century

Coimbra MS242

Selected Portuguese composers of the 16th century:

Heliadora de Paiva, c. 1500-1560, Coimbra:

3 Tentos.

António de Carreira, c. 1525-1597, Lisbon:

17 Tentos (mainly untitled in source), 1 Canção.

Major Portuguese MSS sources of the 17th century

Braga MS964

Porto (2) MS1577 (composers were almost certainly Spanish) and 1695

Selected Portuguese composers of the 17th century:

Coelho, c. 1555-1635, Elvas and Lisbon:

(24 tientos, 4 Susanas, versos) in Flores de Musica 1620.

Pedro de Araujo, c. 1640-1705, Braga:

7 Tentos/Obra, 1 Registo, 3 Phantasias, 1 Batalha.

return to top of page

back to home

updated 20 February 2009