The tono humano (secular song) was one of the main genres of 17th Century Spanish and Portuguese music. [1]
In the early 17th Century the main vernacular forms for Spanish and Portuguese composers were the villancico, usually a Christmas song, and the solo tono; tono humano if secular, tono divino if sacred. The cantata form had not yet been introduced from Italy. At this point tonos were generally strophic songs (coplas) with a refrain (estribillo). [2] [3] However by the end of the 17th century some tonos had begun to include recitative and aria sections, as the cantada, Spanish form of the cantata became known around 1700. The tono humano and tono divino could also have 2, 3 or 4 voices. [4]
Nearly all tonos humanos and semi-sacred villancicos were preserved only in manuscript. The best copies were in the Royal Palace in Madrid and in the nearby Buen Retiro, both of which were lost in fires. This, and the fall from fashion of the tono and villancico in the Iberian Peninsula, means that sources in Ibero-America are relatively important to recovery of this part of Iberian musical heritage. [5] [6] [7]
The Libro de tonos humanos Madrid 1656 (Biblioteca Nacional, M-1262) is the most substantial Iberian cancionero of the 17th Century with over 200 songs, almost all romances with estribillo in 4 voices. [8] Additional surviving sources include the Mackworth manuscript. [9]
The tono was used both in theatre music, domestic music and church music. Composers active in the composition of tonos humanos include:
In the New World the tono was taken up by:
In recent years the tono humano has been the focus of intersemiotic study by musicologists. [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20]
Juan del Encina was a composer, poet, priest, and playwright, often credited as the joint-father of Spanish drama, alongside Gil Vicente. His birth name was Juan de Fermoselle. He spelled his name Enzina, but this is not a significant difference; it is two spellings of the same sound, in a time when "correct spelling" as we know it barely existed.
The villancico or vilancete was a common poetic and musical form of the Iberian Peninsula and Latin America popular from the late 15th to 18th centuries. Important composers of villancicos were Juan del Encina, Pedro de Escobar, Francisco Guerrero, Manuel de Zumaya, Juana Inés de la Cruz, Gaspar Fernandes, and Juan Gutiérrez de Padilla.
Carlos Serrano is a recorder and early woodwinds player. He completed high school studies at Colegio San Carlos in Bogotá. After studying recorder at Oberlin Conservatory in Ohio and Mannes College of Music in New York with Philip Levin, and with Pedro Memelsdorff in Italy, he graduated from the Early Music Institute at Indiana University as pupil of Eva Legene and Michael McCraw. In 1988 he founded the early music ensemble Musica Ficta (Colombia), with which he has specialized in the performance of Latin-American and Spanish renaissance and baroque music. With this ensemble he has performed in Europe, the Americas, the Far and Middle East. He has recorded for the labels Jade (France), Arion (France), Centaur (USA), Arts Music (Germany), Etcetera (Belgium) and Lindoro (Spain). He taught music at Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Bogotá.
Música Ficta is an early music ensemble founded in Bogotá, Colombia, in 1988. The ensemble is specialized in the performance of Latin-American and Spanish renaissance and baroque music. It has performed in Europe, the Americas, the Far and Middle East, and it has been reviewed, among others, by The Washington Post, Goldberg Magazine, Fanfare, AllMusic and Le Monde de la Musique.
Al Ayre Español is a vocal and instrumental ensemble specialized on early music founded in 1988 by harpsichordist Eduardo López Banzo.
Juan Hidalgo de Polanco was a Spanish composer and harpist who became the most influential composer of his time in the Hispanic world writing the music for the first two operas created in Spanish. He is considered by many to be the father of Spanish opera and of the zarzuela.
Guatemalan literature is literature written by Guatemalan authors, whether in the indigenous languages present in the country or in Spanish. Though there was likely literature in Guatemala before the arrival of the Spanish, all the texts that exist today were written after their arrival.
Sebastián Durón was a Spanish composer.
Juan Francés de Iribarren was a Spanish late baroque composer.
Cristóbal Galán was a Spanish Baroque composer.
José Marín was a Spanish Baroque harpist, guitarist, cantor, and composer noted for his secular songs, tonos humanos.
Juan Arañés was a Spanish baroque composer. His tonos and villancicos follow the style of those preserved in the Cancionero of Kraków.
Benito Bello de Torices was a Spanish composer, maestro at the Convent of Las Descalzas Reales and professor of music at the Royal College of Pages of His Majesty, Madrid, during the reigns of Charles II and Philip V. His family was minor gentry. His surviving works include villancicos, estribillos.
Marta Almajano (Zaragoza) is a Spanish soprano. She was part of Al Ayre Español from its foundation in 1987 until 2004, and often in connection with this group, been part of the revival of baroque zarzuelas such as “Tetis y Peleo” by Juán de Roldan, “Acis y Galatea” of Antonio de Literes, and “Viento es la dicha de Amor” by José de Nebra. She teaches singing at the Escuela Superior de Música de Cataluña, in Barcelona.
The tonada is a folk music style of Spain and some countries of Hispanic America. In modern-day Spain, the traditional sung piece known as tonada is considered as having been originated in Asturias and Cantabria, although tonada is a Spanish word which can mean anything sung, played or danced, musicological usage in Spanish and English is more specific.
Raquel Andueza is a Spanish soprano. She has been a member of La Colombina vocal quartet led by baritone Josep Cabré since 2003. In 2011 she launched her own record company Anima e Corpo.
Fray Bernardo Murillo was a Spanish composer of tonos humanos and villancicos. The main body of work of friar Bernardo are 16 tonos humanos for 4 voices found in the Libro de Tonos Humanos in the Biblioteca Nacional de Madrid.
The Cancionero de la Sablonara is a Spanish manuscript containing polyphonic canciones from Spain and Portugal, composed in the first quarter of the 17th century.
The Cancionero de Turin or Cancionero Musical de Turin is a musical manuscript that contains Spanish secular polyphonic works from the period between the end of the 16th century and the beginning of the 17th century, in the transition period between the Renaissance and the Baroque eras.
El folklore de Chile Volumen 2, also known as Acompañándose en guitarra, is an album by Violeta Parra released on the Odeón label in 1958. It was the second full-length album by Parra. The album features Parra singing and accompanying herself on guitar. The album contains 16 songs, including songs collected in the countryside and original compositions.