Diego Ortiz was a
SpanishSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
composerA composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
and musicologist, in service to the Spanish
viceroyA viceroy is a royal official who runs a country, colony, or province in the name of and as representative of the monarch. The term derives from the Latin prefix vice-, meaning "in the place of" and the French word roi, meaning king. A viceroy's province or larger territory is called a viceroyalty...
in
NaplesNaples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
(Pedro de Urries) and later to
Philip II of SpainPhilip II was King of Spain, Portugal, Naples, Sicily, and, while married to Mary I, King of England and Ireland. He was lord of the Seventeen Provinces from 1556 until 1581, holding various titles for the individual territories such as duke or count....
. Ortiz published influential treatises on both instrumental and vocal performance.
Biography
Very little is known about his life. He is believed to have been born in
ToledoToledo's Alcázar became renowned in the 19th and 20th centuries as a military academy. At the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936 its garrison was famously besieged by Republican forces.-Economy:...
and died in
NaplesNaples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
.
In 1553 Ortiz was living in the
viceroyalty of Naples. Five years later, the third duke of Alba, Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, appointed him
maestro di capellaKapellmeister is a German word designating a person in charge of music-making. The word is a compound, consisting of the roots Kapelle and Meister . The words Kapelle and Meister derive from the Latin: capella and magister...
of the
Chapel Royal of NaplesThe Chapel Royal of Naples was the sacred musical establishment of the Spanish court in Naples which began with the Catalan-Aragonese Court of Naples, and continued to the Habsburgs the Bourbons, and Joseph Napoleon....
. In 1565 Ortiz still held the post under the Viceroy
Pedro Afán de RiberaPedro Afán de Ribera, 1st Duke of Alcalá de los Gazules , also known as Pedro Enriquez Afan de Ribera, was a Spanish nobleman most notable for his twelve-year-long service as Viceroy of Naples.-Life:...
, duke of Alcalá.
Works
Ortiz published two music books:
Trattado de Glosas in 1553 and
Musices liber primus in 1565.
Trattado de Glossas
The
Trattado de Glosas is considered a masterpiece of literature for the viola da gamba. The work was published on 10 December 1553, in
RomeRome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
under the
SpanishSpanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
title
Trattado de glossas sobre clausulas y otros generos de punctos en la musica de violones nuevamente puestos en luz. Its Italian title is
Glose sopra le cadenze et altre sorte de punti in la musica del violone.
Musices liber primus
Ortiz published a collection of
polyphonicIn music, polyphony is a texture consisting of two or more independent melodic voices, as opposed to music with just one voice or music with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords ....
religious music in 1565 in
VeniceVenice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
.
Musices liber primus hymnos, Magnificas, Salves, motecta, psalmos includes sixty-nine compositions for four to seven voices, based on plainchant works.
Sheetmusic