Luis de Narváez facts for kids

Luis de Narváez was a Spanish composer and vihuelist (someone who plays the vihuela, a stringed instrument similar to a guitar). He lived a long time ago, from about 1526 to 1549. During his lifetime, he was very well-known and respected. Today, Narváez is famous for his important music collection called Los seys libros del Delphín. This book contains many pieces for the vihuela, including some of the earliest known "variation sets." A variation set is when a composer takes a musical idea and changes it in different ways. Narváez was also important because he was one of the first vihuela composers to use the popular Italian style of lute music.

Life of Luis de Narváez

Francisco de los Cobos, who supported Narváez, painted around 1530.

We don't know the exact year Luis de Narváez was born, but we know he was from Granada, Spain. The first records of him show that by 1526, he was working for Francisco de los Cobos y Molina. Francisco de los Cobos was a powerful and successful person who loved and supported the arts. He was the Secretary of State for the kingdom of Castile under Emperor Charles V.

Narváez lived in Valladolid with his patron, Francisco de los Cobos, until Cobos passed away in 1547. For a short time, between 1539 and 1540, Narváez also worked for the Duke of Medina Sidonia. It was during this period that he published his large music collection, Los seys libros del delphín, in Valladolid in 1538.

A painting from the 1500s showing Valladolid, where Narváez lived and worked for over 20 years.

By 1548, Narváez became a musician in the royal chapel. He also taught music to the young singers there. One of his colleagues was the famous keyboard composer Antonio de Cabezón. Both Narváez and Cabezón worked as musicians for Felipe, who was the Regent of Spain and later became Philip II of Spain. They even traveled with him on his many journeys. The last time we hear about Narváez is from one of these trips: he was in the Low Countries (modern-day Netherlands and Belgium) during the winter of 1549.

People thought very highly of Narváez during his life, especially for his amazing vihuela playing. It was said that he could improvise (make up music on the spot) four different musical parts over another four parts just by looking at them!

Narváez's Music Works

The title page and a music example from Los seys libros del delphín.

Narváez's most important music that we still have today is found in his book, Los seys libros del Delphin de música de cifras para tañer vihuela. This title means "The Six Books of the Dolphin of Music in Numbers for Playing the Vihuela." It was published in Valladolid in 1538 and is a collection of six volumes of music for the vihuela.

The book starts with a special message where Narváez dedicates his work to his supporter, Francisco de los Cobos. After that, there's a short explanation of the musical notation he used. Then comes the table of contents and a list of any mistakes found in the book.

The first two volumes of the collection contain fourteen fantasias. These are like free-form musical pieces, similar to Italian music of that time. They show Narváez's skill in writing smooth, flowing music with two or three different voices (or melodies) playing together.

The third volume is special because it only contains intabulations. These are arrangements of music originally written by other composers. For example, it includes pieces from masses by Josquin des Prez, who was a very famous composer. It also has Josquin's well-known song Mille Regretz, which was nicknamed "La canción del Emperador" (The Emperor's Song). This probably means it was Emperor Charles V's favorite song! There are also songs by Nicolas Gombert and Jean Richafort.

Volumes four to six have a mix of different types of music. The most important pieces here are Narváez's six diferencias, which means "variations." These are the earliest known examples of this musical form. In these variations, Narváez took both religious and popular tunes and changed them in many creative ways. There are also two sets of variations based on repeating musical patterns, called ostinato harmonies. These are Guardame las vacas and Conde claros, both found in volume six. The rest of the music includes villancicos (Spanish folk songs), romances (ballads), and a Baxa de contrapunto (a type of dance piece).

Besides two motets (religious vocal pieces), no other music by Narváez has survived. However, he must have composed a lot more vocal music during his lifetime.

See also

In Spanish: Luis de Narváez para niños