Santiago de Murcia: a survey of his Baroque guitar books

Orlando Fraga
November 1997

Spain in context

As an introduction to this paper, a few remarks concerning the Spain

itself come in order for a better understanding of the consequences its
geography, economy and social context applied upon its art. Due to its
peculiar location, Spain was subject to the direct influence of Europe, Africa,
and the eastern Mediterranean countries.

To the south and east, trade routes have enriched Spain over the
centuries with many cultural influences which contributed to the continuous
flow of art and politics. Despite that, Spain suffered external isolation, and
had to struggle with internal political separatism due, in large part, to its
demographics. Spain is divided in four main structural geographic areas not
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very well accessed from one to another because of a steep relief. In few
places in Spain can one travel more than fifty miles without having to climb a
mountain. Furthermore, the rivers could barely be used as a means of trade
and transportation. Thus, serious consequences were unavoidable on both
agricultural and commercial development.

In the seventeenth century, Spain went through a substantial

commercial decline first due to a series of disastrous trade agreements that
opened the country to low-cost imports. Second, the loss of international
trade routes.1 The monarchy of the Felipes’ during the seventeenth-century
was a disastrous, in what monetary affairs was concerned, as well. This
trigged a chain of anti-labour ethic: “any no-good wretch would die of hanger
before he would take up a trade”.2

Upon the death of Charles II of the Hapsburg House of Austria in

1556, who left no Spanish heir to the throne, Louis XIV of France claimed
the crown in the name of his grandson, Phillipe of Anjou, a Bourbon. Phillipe
brought with him French mannerism and the ideas of the emerging
Enlightenment that led Spain back to a healthy economic and political
environment. In the same scope was the culture. Overall, the internal and
external trade were revitalized and the consequences were the rebirth of a
new and stable middle class. However, the most important development
towards a centralized administration, no doubt, was the creation in 1714 of
four central “ministries” for state, e. i., church affairs and justice, war, navy,
and treasury.3 The American empire was at this point fully consolidated and
unprecedented quantities of silver invaded Castile. The exhausting French
wars were ended with the Treaty of Cateau-Cambrésis, in 1559. So began
Spain's “Golden Age” of culture and art, which would continue for a century.
At this time a convenient relationship between Spain and Portugal was
flourishing, since the former controlled territories in Asia, Africa, and Brazil.

1 Vives, Jaime V., Na Economic History of Spain Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1969
2 Anonymous novel Lazarillo de Tormes Vives, Jaime op. cit.
 3

Exercising a big rule in the court was the Inquisition. Felipe V tried to
control the state but he was defeat by the Italian faction in court. The situation
remained unresolved until the expulsion of the Jesuits in 1767. Perhaps the
most important activity of the Inquisition, relative to this study, was the control
over the Spanish Index. The Index was a list of prohibited or expurgated
books indexed by them. It was originally used as a tool to prevent heretical
(mainly Protestant) ideas. Generally, the censorship in the 1700s, was
applied first by the more outstanding intellects of the time, and then by the
“ignorant and small-minded clergy”.4 In a second stage, the Inquisition
started to ban entire books, not only the offending passages, as it was
previously. Finally, they chased and suppressed any concept of equality,
freedom, and tolerance.

Italian Music in Spain

In 1703, Felipe V’s first wife, the Italian María Louisa, brought the first
Italian opera company to Madrid. After that, it took over the musical scene in
Madrid, as it did with much of Europe in the first half of the century. Italian
musicians also controlled many of the important positions and received royal
support and protection. Of course, not without raising protests from Spanish
artists. Undoubtedly, the most famous Italian musician to settle in Madrid
during the reign of Felipe V was the castrati Carlo Broschi, the Farinelli.5
However, one of the earliest indication of the Italian influence in Spain is
found in the Resumen de Acompañar la Parte con la Guitarra (1714), by
Santiago de Murcia. In this book, Murcia not only includes pieces with Italian
titles, such as Tarantelas, Los Paysanos, and La Saltarelle, but also makes
reference to the estilo antiguo from estilo de Iitalia.6 We know from the
dedication of Resumen . . . that María Louisa, who died in February of 1714,

3 Ibid, 233
4 Herr, Richard. The Eighteenth-Century Revolution in Spain. Princeton, NJ: Princeton
University Press, 1958.
5 Cotarelo y Mori, Emilio. Orígenes y establecimiento de la ópera en España hasta 1800.

(Madrid, 1917).
 4

was already sick when the Resumen . . . was published later that year. Felipe
V married another Italian, Elizabeta Farnese, in September of the same year.
Thus, it is possible that Murcia have been attempted to demonstrate an
affection to Italian music in the hope of securing a place as a guitar teacher to
the new queen.

In spite of all that, it is true that Murcia was continuing a tradition begun
by guitarists such as Nicolas Doizi de Velasco (1640), Gaspar Sanz (1674),
Ruiz de Ribayz (1677) and Francisco Guerau (1694). The Resumen . . . is
anything more than a synthesis of Italian, French, and Spanish style in the
early baroque period.

The Guitar in the Spanish Society During the Baroque

As it is well known, the Renaissance lute never launched in Spain, the

preference being for the vihuela.

Vihuela: The musical and secular instrument of six courses . . . Up until the present,
this instrument has been most esteemed, and there have been excellent musicians on
it; but after guitar was invented, there are but a few who dedicate themselves to the
study of the vihuela. It has been a great loss because every kind of plucked music
was intabulated on it; and now the guitar is no more than a cowbell, so easy to play,
especially in the strummed style, that there is no stable boy who is not a musician on
the guitar.

Guitar: An instrument well known, and practiced much to the detriment of music;
previously, the vihuela was played, an instrument of six, and occasionally more,
courses. The guitar is a small vihuela in size and in the number of strings because it
has no more than five courses, and some are of only four courses. 7

6 Murcia, Santiago de Resumen . . . pp 28, 35, 43 (1714).

7 Sebastián de Covarrubias. Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española. Madrid: Sánchez,
1611. Trans. in Pennigton, The Spanish Baroque Guitar, 171.
 5

Despite this displeased description, the Spanish guitar soon raised to a

better stage among the fretted instruments in most of southern Europe during
the first decades of the seventeenth century.

There are many, my Lady, who ridiculate the guitar and its sound. But, if they would
consider it well, they would find the guitar the most tactical instrument for our times
that was ever seen. Because, if you are looking these days to save both the money in
your pocket and yourself from worry, the guitar is a true theater for this saving.

It is tonic for tranquility, for throwing off your cares and worries, a pastime for sad
people, a consolation for those who are alone . . .

Many things could be said in her [the guitar] favor, but I will leave them for only one
consideration; that is, two thousand people entertain themselves and pass their
thoughts and bad times with her. And, to further justify the merit of my guitar, I ask you
whether or not Kings, Princes and Gentlemen abandon the guitar for the lute as they
abandon the lute for the guitar. In addition to this, I do not find that those who attempt
to speak badly of the guitar are correct, because they not only offend me (which is a
small thing), but they offend the greater part of France.8

In fact, the guitar was to be played only in amateurs circles. A glance

at Juan Carlos Amat’s Guitarra española of 1596, the first Spanish guitar
treatise, will confirm that. Amat’s interactions are basically concerned with
how to strum an accompaniment. There is no sign up to the first quarter of the
seventeenth century that confirms the guitarists had been playing
contrapuntal music.

The guitar, however, moved once more one stage up, from amateurs
domain to that of professional. The next extant Spanish source after Amat’s
and Briçeños’, was the Nuevo modo de cifrar para tañer la guitarra, by
Nicholas Doizi Velasco (Naples, 1640) who speaks in a real musical
language. Velasco refused in his book the claim that the guitar is an imperfect
or inferior instrument, and do so by quoting authorities, among them Zarlino,
and refers to the guitar as an instrument as perfect as the organ, harp, lute, or

8 Briçeño, Luiz de Metodo mui facilimo para aprender a tañer la guitarra a lo español, Paris
1626. Geneva: Minkoff Reprints, 1972.
 6

theorbe. He points out that 1) the guitar can play in any key; 2) it can play in
each of the two modes: harmonic and polyphonic; and 3) it can play music for
three, four, or five voices. [sic.].9 Nevertheless, when Velasco specifies that
the lower octaves on the fourth and fifth courses is best for playing figures, it
strongly suggests a contrapuntal style, although the strummed one still in
vogue.

Next comes the Instruccíon de música sobre la guitarra española, by

Gaspar Sanz (Zaragosa, 1697). Sanz, a trained musician who studied in Italy
felt no necessity to defend the guitar: “the imperfection or perfection lies with
the player and not with the guitar”.10 Indeed, at this time, there were no need
to justify or refuse anything regarding past controversies, as it appears to
have been the case in both Lucas Ruiz de Ribayiz’s Luz y norte (Madrid,
1677) and Francisco Guerau’s Poema harmónico (Madrid, 1964).

During the first half of the eighteenth-century, the guitar had already
achieved a place of general acceptance. The circumstances that lead to this
are at least interesting to examine, since they are connected, in large degree,
to the court. When Felipe V, grandson of Louis XIV of France, took over the
Spanish throne in 1700, he brought along the atmosphere of Louis’ court, the
king himself being a guitarist:
I believe it is proof of the greatness of His Majesty that they say he equaled, after 18
months, his guitar master whom Cardinal Mazarin had brought from Italy expressly to
teach him to play this instrument, much in vogue at the time.11

The ‘guitar master’ was Francesco Corbetta. Behind Cardinal

Mazarin’s attitude was his political interests. While pursuing such matters as
music, the king would leave the path clear to the Cardinal to deal with the
state’s affairs. According to Voltaire, “the only thing he [the king] ever leaned
was to dance and to play the guitar”.12

9 P. 15f.
10 From “Prólogo al deseoso de tañer”.
11 Pennington, op. cit.
12 Ibid.
 7

When Louis grandson, Felipe V, arrived in Spain in 1700 to assume

his duties, he brought along French political concepts, reforms, and about
twenty members of the French court. Thus, it is not surprising to find that the
queen’s teacher then, Santiago de Murcia, included, first in his Resumen . . .
(1714), and then in the Passacalles y Obras (1732), a number of pieces from
Robert de Visée, François Campion, and Francesco Corbetta. Santiago de
Murcia functioned in a cosmopolitan court, and his attitudes along with his
music would reflect that. Furthermore, hidden well behind the state’s affairs
was the social life. And, leading the social life was the dance13.

13 In the late sixteenth century, it was universally assumed that joyous flirtation and the
exhibition through dance of delightful feminine charms and lusty male prowess were vital to
social intercourse. All occasions of state, great or small, were celebrated in the ballroom; thus
personal adornment and elegance were seen as important artistic contributions to the
theatrical ambiance of a ball, the social and political aggrandizement of the host, and the
matchmaking that was so essential to the perception of the social structure. Dancing skills
were cultivated in daily practice by the nobility and their emulators among the middle class,
with the assistance of ubiquitous dancing masters like Fabritio Caroso da Sermoneta. In
Sutton, Julia. Courtly Dance of the Renaissance - A New Translation and Edition of the Nobità
di Dance (1600). New York: Dover Publication, Inc., 1995.
 8

Murcia and his Books

The first book published by Murcia was Resumen de accompañar la

parte con la guitarra (1714). It must have been a famous one, for it was
frequently copied. Portions of it appears in the works of Pablo Minguet y Irol,
Joseph Trapero, and Manuel Valero. Yet, another portion is seen in other
three Mexican manuscripts. The Resumen . . . is organized in two parts: the
first one, covers theoretical descriptions. The main topics are chords of the
alphabet or ABCdario, the various tonos or keys, the use of suspensions in
cadences, how to accompany in the commonly used keys and time signature.
The second part focus in repertory itself. In this regarding, it is noteworthy to
say that the opening pieces in the Resumen . . . are not original compositions
by Murcia. Instead, the first eight dances were previously published by Raoul-
Auger Feuillet in his dance method Recueil de dances composées par M.
pecour...et mise sur la papier par M. Feuillet (Paris, 1700). The dances from
pages 66, 72, 83-85 of the Resumen . . . are copied from Feuillet’s Recueil de
contradances mises en chorégraphie.14 (see appendix I).

The next book by Murcia was printed in 1732: Passacalles y obras de

guitarra por todos los tonos naturales y acidentales. This book will be
considered in more detailed survey later. The next publication came to light
after an striking discover. The Códice Saldívar no. 4 was found in Mexico in
1943 by Mexican musicologist Gabriel Saldívar y Silva by complete accident.
It was then re-published in 1995 with a complementary study by Craig H.
Russell.15

Passacallas y obras . . .
Murcia’s first intentions in this book was to provide a passacalle in each
of the keys he refers at the beginning in the alfabeto. The alfabeto is certainly

14Russell, Craig. Santiago de Murcia: the French connection in Baroque Spain. Journal of the
Lute Society. Vol. XV, 1982.
 9

a tonal reference rather modal. Thus, from the twenty-four keys in the
alfabeto, the following are omitted:
A-flat major
A-flat minor

B major
B-flat minor

D-flat major
D-flat minor

E-flat major
E-flat minor

F minor
F-sharp minor

G-flat major

Actually, it is hard to justify these absences. It seems more likely that it

is due to idiomatic rather than theoretical considerations. A number of the
omitted keys are virtual transpositions, and thus, from the tonal point of view,
it would not matter at all.

The Borrowings

As point out by Craig Russell, Murcia borrowed a number of pieces

from composers such as Arcangelo Corelli, Robert de Visée, Francesco
Cobertta, François Campion, François Le Cocq (see appendix II). In this
regarding, Neil Pennington suggests that

15Russell, Graig. Santiago de Murcia’s Códice de Saldívar no. 4 - A Treasury of Secular

Guitar Music from Baroque Mexico. University of Illinois Press, 1995.
 10

“De Murcia, who was employed as guitar teacher to the Queen, would undoubtedly
have performed for the Royal couple and their intimate circle (De Murcia speaks in the
Resumen . . . of practicing for his presumably Royal performance), and a request for
some pieces by well-known French guitarists as De Visée and Corbetta would have
been quite natural. Since it is logical to assume that some of the many French
members of Felipe’s court (who, it must be remembered, was the grandson of Louis
XIV and had just come from France in 1700) would have been familiar with these
pieces, they needed no identification. Additionally, since the Passacallas y obras is a
manuscript, De Murcia probably never considered that it would leave his personal
possession.”16

From this observation, we may assume that Murcia was not trying to
plagiarize it, but rather incorporate the music as a demonstrations of his
knowledge of foreign music. The court was cosmopolite and, to survive in this
environment, the musician had to follow the rules.

Tuning and Transcription

One of the most confusing aspects of baroque guitar is its tuning. It

imposes several problems regarding transcription to the modern notation. At
least five standard tunings were used on the baroque guitar:

16 Pennington, Op. Cit.

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The first two tunings were used in Spain by Ruiz de Ribayaz and
Gueráu; the third was common in France and later Italy; the fourth was
prevalent in Italy and was used by Sanz; and the fifth was also adopted in
Italy. Tuning 1 is good for plucked technique, i.e., it emphasizes contrapuntal
passages (and occasionally Tuning 2, as well). Re-entrant tuning 3, 4, and 5
were effective in strummed style. In the mixture style, as in Murcia’s music,
sometimes the lower courses function as a bass. At other times, the treble is
intended. The bass and treble strings of a baroque guitar are reversed from
that of a lute:

Thumb movement

Since the tablature used for baroque guitar music lacks a precise
indication of pitch but only the place where the note is to be pressed on, the
double interpretation of high and low for one course can be rather ambiguous,
mainly when dealing with passages in campanelas. For the sake of the
argument, let us consider the same passage in both regular and re-entrant
tuning:
 12

The consequent result would be quite different under each of the

proposed tunings:

On trying to determine the tuning Murcia employed, it poses an extra

problem: first, he did not say which system he intended to; second, more than
one of the above could fit adequately. Tuning 1, would fit better for
counterpoint style, but certainly it would not in strummed style, for the simple
reason it is not idiomatic. On the other hand, re-entrant tuning is perfect for
strummed style, although it causes an harmonic misspelling with awkward
inversions on plucked style. Since Murcia wrote in mixed style, it is fair to
assume that he may be used either Tuning 2 or 4. The final decision must
rely on the transcriptor knowledge and base the overall judgment on a good
portion of common sense. Let us consider anothher example:
 13

This transcription takes in account the Tuning 2. Two point must be

considered, regarding the pitch G on the sixth string in bar 39: first, there is
 14

the contrapuntal logic; second, Murcia himself left evidences that he was
aware of the 6-course guitar, already in use by that time. Furthermore, in his
Resumen de acompañar la parte con la guitarra (1714), from page 9 on, in
the section Declaracion, Murcia shows how to realize figure-bass on the 5-
course guitar. In many instances, the bass move to a region where the guitar
cannot reach:

To reinforce this idea, the Portuguese Antonio Abreu wrote in 1799

that when a guitarist plays in the orchestra (presumably the guitarist would be
realizing a figured-bass), extra bass strings may be added for more sonority.

In summary, the preferred tuning in Spain, particularly in Murcia’s,

remains to be considered closer. Since Murcia shows a strong French and
Italian influence, he probably used the re-entrant tuning. Yet, since it is likely
that Murcia’s music was played by Spanish guitarists using a variety of
tunings, the transcriber should bear in mind all the possibilities and judge
each case separately.
 15

Bibliography

Briçeño, Luiz de. Metodo mui facilimo para aprender a tañer la guitarra a lo
español, Paris 1626. Geneva: Minkoff Reprints, 1972.

Cotarelo y Mori, Emilio. Orígenes y establecimiento de la ópera en España hasta

1800 (Madrid, 1917).

Herr, Richard. The Eighteenth-Century Revolution in Spain Princeton, NJ: Princeton

University Press, 1958

Murcia, Santiago de. Passacalles y Obras de Guitarra por todos los Tonos naturales
y acidentales (1732). Monaco: Editions Chanterelle S.A., 1979.

Murcia, Santiago de. Resumen de acompañar la parte con la guitarra (1714).

Monaco: Editions Chanterelle S.A., 1980.

Pennington, Neil D. The Spanish Baroque Guitar with a Translation of De Murcia’s

Passacalles y obras, Vol. 1 and 2. Ann Arbor, Michigan: UMI Reaserch Press,
1979.

Russell, Craig. Santiago de Murcia: the French connection in Baroque Spain.

Journal of the Lute Society. Vol. XV, 1982.

Russell, Graig. Santiago de Murcia’s Códice de Saldívar no. 4 - A Treasury of

Secular Guitar Music from Baroque Mexico. University of Illinois Press, 1995.

Sutton, Julia. Courtly Dance of the Renaissance - A New Translation and Edition of
the Nobità di Dance (1600). New York: Dover Publication, Inc., 1995.

Vives, Jaime V. Na Economic History of Spain. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University

Press, 1969
 16

Appendix I

Murcia, Resumen page Feuillet, Recueil de dances page

Paspied viejo 57 Le Passepied 22-31
La Buree de Chil 58 La Bouree d’Achille 1-11
La Mariee 58 La Mariee 12-21
Rigodon 61 Le Rigaudon des Vaisseaux 37-42
La Borgogne 61 La Borgogne 43-53
La Saboyana 63 La Savoye 54-61
La Ferlana 63 La Forlana 62-67
La Contij 64 La Conty 68-72

Murcia, Resumen page Feuillet, Recueil de contradances page

Los Paysanos 66 Les Manches Vertes 17-24
La Bacante 72 Le Bacante 113-120
La Mathalote 83 La Matelote 121-128
La Jelousie 83 La Jalousie 5-8
La Vergene 83 La Bergere 9-12
Le Pistolet 83 Le Pistolet 6-13
Jeanne qui Saute 83 Ieanne qui Saute 8-65
La Libolaine 84 La Lirboulaire 70-75
La Bonne Amicicie 85 La Bonne Amitie 1-4
La Nouuelle figure 85 La Nouvelle Figure 184-186
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Appendix II
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Appendix III

I. Biographical Information

- Unknown dates
- His father, Gabriel de Murcia, was a instrument maker and worked for the court
- Personal guitarist and tutor to María Luisa Gabriela of Savoy, Queen of Spain
- Probably studied under the Mallorcan Francisco Gueráu

II. Output

- Resumen de acompañar la parte con la guitarra (1714):

I - Treatise on bass figure (suspension, cadences, clef transposition, modes,
and meter).

II - Music: danses à duex, danses de bal, contredanses; 26 minuets; 7

diferencias.
Note: the theoretical section appears in other books: Método de Guitarra (anon.), Juan Antonio Vargas y
Guzmán, Pablo Miguet Y Irol.

- Passacalles y obras de guitarra por todos los tonos naturales y acidentales (1732)
I - Set of passacalles based on the alfabeto
II - Set of 11 suites (borrowing: Corelli, de Visée, Corbetta, Campion, le Cocq)

- Códice Saldívar No. 4 (1732?)

Set of Danzas and Bailes

Danzas: more solemn (Alemanda, Baja, Espagñoleta, Gallarda, Rujero,

Pavana, Danza de las Hachas, etc.)
Bailes: more rambunctious and carefree (Conde Claros, Chacona, Ejecutor
de la Vara, Fandango, Jácaras, Marizápalos, Passacalle, Vacas,
Villano, Zarabanda)