CD Notes
While the Spanish vihuela de mano has been somewhat of an enigma in the historical instrument movement of the past few decades, its music for the most part is very straightforward. Many performers have felt they have too few historical references on which to base a stylistic performance. What exactly is dedillo? How were ornaments used? What was the vihuela‘s place in society? What exactly is the difference between a vihuela and a guitar? These questions have never held much interest for me. The music speaks for itself. It is largely vocally based and its models were clearly Josquin and his successors. While scholars have pointed to the importance of the diferencia as the major contribution of the vihuelistas, I don’t think they themselves must have seen it that way. Fuenllana speaks with disdain of the popular styles and clearly believes the high art of the vihuela is achieved by imitating the polyphony of the masters.

I have included two examples of the diferencia on this CD. One, the popular Conde Claros of Mudarra, is a simple set of variations on a three chord progression not unlike a blues progression of today – a sort of beginner’s way of learning to jam – and the opposite style, the purely polyphonic O Gloriosa Domina of Narvaez.

Aside from the Ludovico fantasy of Mudarra, all the rest of the pieces here are polyphonic in nature. The skill of the vihuelista was most certainly judged on his ability to control the expression of multi-voiced textures. To this end, I believe the acoustic of the performance hall greatly enhances the sustaining quality of light plucked instruments and is essential to the character of the music.