Francisco Guerrero

For other uses, see Francisco Guerrero (disambiguation).

Francisco Guerrero
Portrait of Guerrero by Francisco Pacheco, in his Libro de descripción de verdaderos retratos de ilustres y memorables varones, Seville, 1599.
Born	(1528-10-04)October 4, 1528
Died	November 8, 1599(1599-11-08) (aged 71)
Occupations	Priest, chapel master, composer, singer
Known for	Renaissance and Baroque music; Polyphony; voice
Movement	Religious vocal polyphony
Chapel master of Jaén Cathedral
In office 1546–1549
Preceded by	Antonio de Viana
Succeeded by	Martín de Gante
Chapel master of Seville Cathedral
In office 1574–1599
Preceded by	Pedro Fernández de Castilleja
Succeeded by	Ambrosio Cotes

Francisco Guerrero de Burgos (Seville, October 4, 1528 – ibid., November 8, 1599) was a Spanish Catholic priest and chapel master who, together with Tomás Luis de Victoria and Cristóbal de Morales, is one of the great names of the sacred music of the Renaissance and one of the greatest Hispanic composers of all time. His works were disseminated and appreciated not only in Europe but also in the territories of the Spanish Crown of the time, especially in the great American cathedrals such as those of Puebla and Cuzco.

Biography

He was born in Seville on October 4, 1528, the son of the painter Gonzalo Sánchez Guerrero and of Leonor de Burgos. He entered the choir of Seville Cathedral, and there he received his first musical training from his brother Pedro and from the poet and chapel master Pedro Fernández de Castilleja. He also received instruction, in 1545–46, from Cristóbal de Morales at Toledo Cathedral. In 1546, at the age of 17, he was appointed chapel master of Jaén Cathedral, a city in which he remained until 1549, when he returned to Seville to join its cathedral as a prebendary. He himself recounts this at the beginning of El viaje de Jerusalén (1590):

From the earliest years of my childhood I was inclined to the art of music; and in it I was taught by a brother of mine, named Pedro Guerrero, a very learned master. And he pressed me so hard with his teaching and discipline that, with my good will to learn and my talent being suited to the said art, within a few years he had some satisfaction from me. Afterwards, in his absence, always desiring to improve myself, I availed myself of the teaching of the great and excellent master Cristóbal de Morales, who guided me in the composition of music sufficiently to be able to aspire to any mastership. And so, at the age of eighteen, I was received as chapel master of the cathedral church of Jaén, with a prebend, where I stayed three years. At the end of this time I came to Seville to visit my parents, and the Chapter of the holy Church ordered me to serve them as a singer with an ample salary. And I, to show gratitude for this favor and to obey the command of my parents, left what I had in Jaén, considering a great honor the one that was done to me in this, although the loss of what I was leaving was greater.

Before turning thirty he had consolidated an exceptional reputation and his work was being published abroad. He was appointed chapel master of Málaga Cathedral after the death of Cristóbal de Morales, who had left the post vacant; he competed for it against five rivals, among them Juan Navarro Hispalensis of Marchena, teacher of Tomás Luis de Victoria. Guerrero, however, never came to reside in Málaga, before being employed by the choir of Seville Cathedral, where he was appointed master of the choirboys, with the promise on the part of the cathedral Chapter that he would succeed master Castilleja upon the latter's death. He would obtain the post definitively in 1574.

He traveled widely through Spain and Portugal, in the service of the Emperor Maximilian II, and later spent a year in Italy (1581–1582). At the age of 60, after the death of his parents, he decided to visit the Holy Land, which he did between the summer of 1588 and the spring of 1589. For this he took advantage of the time he had to wait in Venice for the publication of several of his works. Shortly before returning to Spain, he was taken captive by French pirates and had to be ransomed, as was common at the time, by the payment of a considerable sum. He narrated the adventure in the book El viage de Hierusalem ("El viaje de Jerusalén, que hizo Francisco Guerrero, racionero y maestro de capilla de la santa iglesia de Sevilla", "The journey to Jerusalem made by Francisco Guerrero, prebendary and chapel master of the holy church of Seville"), published in Valencia by the press of the heirs of Juan Navarro in 1590. This work was a great success and was reprinted many times (up to thirty, the last in the year 2000). The book is interesting for how frankly and plainly it is written, and among other things it describes with great amazement the great city of Damascus. Because of debts incurred in the editing and publication of his works, in August 1591 an order of imprisonment was issued against him, and he experienced the Royal Prison of Seville. The Seville Chapter, in consideration of the services rendered by Guerrero, agreed to pay his debts, which allowed him to leave the prison. He was hired again for the choir of Seville Cathedral, where he ended his days as chapel master, when the plague of 1599 took his life. His tomb lies in the Chapel of Our Lady of La Antigua, next to that of his colleague the organist Francisco de Peraza. Apart from music, he was a member of the Holy Office.

Guerrero spent more time in Spain than Victoria or Morales, who resided for a long time in Italy, and he also composed a greater proportion of secular works. He is also distinguished from them by an abundant instrumental output, in addition to the main body of his work, made up of sacred vocal works. He stands out for the variety of emotions he was able to put into his music, from mystical recollection to exaltation, from the greatest joy to despair. His work, very popular, continued to be performed for a long time, especially in the American cathedrals, until the end of the 17th century, and it was praised by authors of treatises such as Pietro Cerone. Like his Spanish contemporaries, he preferred homophonic textures, with one dominant voice and the others subordinate to it. He anticipated functional harmony, which led to one of his Magnificats, whose anonymous score was found in Lima, being considered for a long time a work of the 18th century.

Tributes

In Seville, a Professional Conservatory of Music bears his name.

Works

Among his works we can highlight 17 masses, 2 offices of the dead, 23 hymns, some 105 printed motets and a cycle of Magnificats (he was always known in Spain as a fervent singer of the Virgin). Also notable are the Canciones y villanescas espirituales, unique in their genre for being in the vernacular language. Several of his compositions of various genres are contained in the Cancionero musical de la casa de Medinaceli.

Masses

• Batalle Escoutez
• Beata mater
• Congratulamini mihi
• De Beata Virgine (two versions)
• Dormendo un giorno
• Ecce sacerdos magnus
• In te Domine speravi
• Inter vestibulum
• Iste Sanctus
• El hombre armado (two versions)
• Pro defunctis
• Puer qui natus
• Saeculorum amen
• Sancta et immaculata virginitas
• Simile est regnum caelorum
• Super flumina Babylonis
• Surge propera

Motets

• Accepit Jesus panes
• Alma Redemptoris mater
• Ambulans Jesus
• Ascendens Christus
• Ave Maria (two versions, for 4 and 8 voices)
• Ave Regina caelorum
• Ave Virgo sanctissima
• Beata Dei Genitrix Maria
• Beatus Achacius
• Beatus es (two versions)
• Beatus Johannes
• Canite tuba
• Cantate Domino
• Caro mea
• Clamabat autem mulier
• Conceptio tua
• Cum audisset Johannes
• Cum turba plurima
• Dedisti Domine (two versions)
• Dicebat Jesus
• Dixit Dominus Petro
• Ductum est Jesus (two versions, for 4 and 5 voices)
• Dulcissima Maria
• Dum aurora
• Dum complerentur dies Penthecostes
• Dum esset Rex
• Duo Seraphim
• Ecce accendimus Hierosolimam
• Ecce nunc tempus
• Ego flos campi
• Ego vox clamans
• Elisabeth Zachariae
• Erunt signa in sole
• Et post dies sex
• Exaltata est
• Gabriel Archangelus
• Gaude Barbara
• Gaudent in caelis
• Gloria et honore
• Gloriose confessor Domini (two versions)
• Hei mihi Domine
• Hic est discipulus
• Hic vir
• Hoc enim bonus est
• Hoc est praeceptum meum
• Ibant Apostoli
• In conspectu Angelorum
• In illo tempore, assumpsit Iesus
• In illo tempore cum sublevasset
• In illo tempore, erat Dominus Iesus (two versions)
• In passione positus Iesus
• Inter vestibulum
• Iste Sanctus
• Istorum est enim
• Laudate Dominum
• Magne pater Augustine
• Maria Magdalena
• O altitudo divitiarum
• O crux benedicta
• O crux splendidior
• O Doctor optime
• O Domine Iesu Christe (two versions)
• O Gloriosa Dei Genitrix
• O Sacrum Convivium
• O Virgo Benedicta
• Pastores loquebantur
• Pater Noster (two versions, for 4 and 8 voices)
• Peccantem me quotidie
• Petre, ego pro te rogavi
• Per signum Crucis
• Pie pater Hieronyme
• Post dies octo
• Prudentes virgines
• Quae est ista
• Quasi cedrus
• Quasi stella matutina
• Quis vestrum
• Quomodo cantabimus
• Recordare Domine
• Regina caeli (two versions, for 4 and 8 voices)

Hymns

• Ad caenam agni providi
• Aurea luce
• Ave maris stella
• Christe redemptor omnium (two versions)
• Conditor alme siderum
• Deus tuorum militum
• Exultet caelum laudibus
• Hostis Herodes impie
• Iste confessor
• Jesu corona virginum
• Jesu nostra redemptio
• Lauda mater ecclesia
• O lux beata trinitas
• Pange lingua
• Quicumque Christum quaeritis
• Sanctorum meritis
• Te Deum laudamus
• Tibi Christi splendor Patris
• Tristes erant apostoli
• Urbs Jerusalem beata
• Ut queant laxis
• Veni creator spiritus
• Vexilla regis prodeunt

Magnificat

• Two Magnificats on each of the eight tones, that is, sixteen in total.

Passions

• According to Saint Matthew
• According to Saint Mark
• According to Saint Luke
• According to Saint John (two versions)

Bibliography

• Abelló, Jordi: "Un genio desatendido" in Ritmo, no. 714, November 1999, Madrid.
• Álvarez Márquez, M. Carmen: El mundo del libro en la iglesia catedral de Sevilla en el siglo XVI, Diputación Provincial de Sevilla, 1992
• Bruner, G. Edward, DMA: "Editions and Analysis of Five Missa Beata Virgine Maria by the Spanish Composers: Morales, Guerrero, Victoria, Vivanco, and Esquivel." DMA diss., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1980. Facsimile: University Microfilms International, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
• Casas, Vicente: "Cantar a Dios. Francisco Guerrero y la Edad de Oro de la música española", in Amadeus no. 80, December 1999. Barcelona
• García, V. and Querol, M.: Guerrero in Opera omnia: I y II: Canciones y villanescas espirituales, MME XVI-XIX, Barcelona, 1955 and 1957 respectively
• Lloréns Cisteró, José María; Müller-Lancé, Karl H. (1978). "Volumen 1 de Opera Omnia, Francisco Guerrero: Motetes I-XXII". In Instituto Español de Musicología (ed.). Monumentos de la Música Española XXXVI (in español). Barcelona: Editorial CSIC - CSIC Press. p. 136. ISBN 8400043804.
• Pacheco, Francisco: Libro de descripción de verdaderos retratos de ilustres y memorables varones, Seville, 1599. Ed. by Pedro M. Piñero and Rogelio Reyes, Seville, Diputación Provincial, 1985.
• Reese, Gustave: Music in the Renaissance. New York, W.W. Norton & Co., 1954. ISBN 0-393-09530-4
• Rubio, Samuel: Historia de la música española. Desde el "ars nova" hasta 1600, Alianza, Madrid, 1983, pp. 164–171
• Sandoval, Prudencio: Historia de la vida y hechos del Emperador Carlos V, 1604-1606, B.A.E., Madrid, 1956
• Stevenson, Robert: La música en la catedral de Sevilla 1478-1606, Sociedad Española de Musicología, Madrid, 1985
• Stevenson, Robert: La música en las catedrales españolas del Siglo de Oro, Alianza, Madrid, 1992
• Stevenson, Robert: "Francisco Guerrero." The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. Stanley Sadie. 20 vol. London, Macmillan Publishers Ltd., 1980. ISBN 1-56159-174-2
• Various authors: "Francisco Guerrero", in Scherzo no. 139, November 1999, Madrid.

Recordings

• Francisco Guerrero, Missa Sancta et Immaculata, Motets, Etc. James O'Donnell, Westminster Cathedral Choir. Helios 55313
• Francisco Guerrero, Missa Super flumina Babylonis. Michael Noone, Ensemble Plus Ultra. GCD922005
• Francisco Guerrero, Missa Surge Propera. Peter Philips, Tallis Scholars. CDGIM040

External links

• Free scores by Francisco Guerrero in the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)
• Free scores by Francisco Guerrero at the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP)
• «Francisco Guerrero», complete works at tomasluisdevictoria.org