Fuenllana, Miguel de
Fuenllana, Miguel de
Fuenllana, Miguel de, blind Spanish vihuela virtuoso and composer; b. Navalcarnero, Madrid, early in the 16th century; d. place and date unknown. He was chamber musician to the Marquesa de Tarifa, and later at the court of Philip II, to whom he dedicated his Libro de musica para vihuela, intitulado Orphenica Lyra (1554; modern ed. by C. Jacobs, London, 1979). From 1562 to 1568 he was chamber musician to Queen Isabel de Valois, 3rd wife of Philip II. The Libro gives evidence of a high state of musical art in Spain during the 16th century; besides fantasias and other compositions for vihuela by Fuenllana and old Spanish ballads (such as the famous Ay de mi, Alhama), it contains arrangements for vihuela of works by Vasquez, Morales, P. and F. Guerrero, Flecha, Bernal, and several Flemish masters.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire