Silvestre Peña Ortega
Socio de la AGA
Una lectura del Early Music vol.26 nº3, de agosto de 1998, pp 396-397. Las negritas son mías:
There is no doubt that Charles II, like other princes, had acquired some musical knowledge—he was then receiving harpsichord lessons from Juan del Vado, organist of the royal chapel—although there is no evidence to show a special interest in music on the part of the king. In contrast, his father, Philip IV, was a passionate music-lover and composer, and during his reign (1621-65) the musical life of the court was truly magnificent. Of particular interest here is that Philip IV himself and his court witnessed experiments in alternative tunings for different musical instruments.
One of these experiments was proposed by Juan de Espina in an extended brief written c.1632 and addressed to the king himself: in it Espina opposes the temperament usually adopted on fretted string instruments (i.e. equal temperament or an approximation to it)." His proposals are somewhat vague, but he appears to be describing a musical circle with equal intervals in which it is possible to play 'all the enharmonic diesis in the diapason', and so restore the enharmonic genus. Although it is not altogether clear, this is probably a reference to the division of the octave into 19 parts. Certainly, he had had a guitar, a viola da gamba and a lyra-viol made with more than the usual number of frets; according to him, these instruments, which he termed 'perfect', were played and praised by distinguished members of the royal chapel. His innovations were also approved by Hugh Sempel, one of the professors of mathematics at the Colegio Imperial. On his death in 1642, Espina bequeathed 24 musical instruments to Philip IV.
There is no doubt that Charles II, like other princes, had acquired some musical knowledge—he was then receiving harpsichord lessons from Juan del Vado, organist of the royal chapel—although there is no evidence to show a special interest in music on the part of the king. In contrast, his father, Philip IV, was a passionate music-lover and composer, and during his reign (1621-65) the musical life of the court was truly magnificent. Of particular interest here is that Philip IV himself and his court witnessed experiments in alternative tunings for different musical instruments.
One of these experiments was proposed by Juan de Espina in an extended brief written c.1632 and addressed to the king himself: in it Espina opposes the temperament usually adopted on fretted string instruments (i.e. equal temperament or an approximation to it)." His proposals are somewhat vague, but he appears to be describing a musical circle with equal intervals in which it is possible to play 'all the enharmonic diesis in the diapason', and so restore the enharmonic genus. Although it is not altogether clear, this is probably a reference to the division of the octave into 19 parts. Certainly, he had had a guitar, a viola da gamba and a lyra-viol made with more than the usual number of frets; according to him, these instruments, which he termed 'perfect', were played and praised by distinguished members of the royal chapel. His innovations were also approved by Hugh Sempel, one of the professors of mathematics at the Colegio Imperial. On his death in 1642, Espina bequeathed 24 musical instruments to Philip IV.
Cristina Bordas & Luis Robledo
"Jose Zaragoza's box: science and music in Charles II's Spain"
"Jose Zaragoza's box: science and music in Charles II's Spain"
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