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“Sexto Tono” from Mudarra’s Tres libros de música en cifras para vihuela (Seville, December 7, 1546)

• Sexto Tono is from Mudarra’s Tres libros de musica en cifras para vihuela (Seville, December 7, 1546), published shortly after the composer became a canon at Seville Cathedral on October 18, 1546. Mudarra’s vihuela book is best known for one piece, the wonderfully inventive Fantasía que contrahaze la harpa en la manera de Ludovico, with its cross rhythms and false relations that imitate the style of Ludovico, harpist of Ferdinand III of Aragon. But Tres libros contains a wealth of other equally creative compositions: variation pieces (Romanesca and Conde claros), fantasias, intabulations, dances, and songs. In addition, it is the earliest published book to include compositions for the guitar; in the Renaissance the guitar was a four-course instrument.

• Scott Zeidel has a BM and MA in guitar performance from California State University, Fullerton, and is a PhD candidate in musicology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is an adjunct professor at Mt. San Antonio College and Cypress College.