Enríquez de Valderrábano (c.1500-after1557) was a Spanish

Spain

Spain , 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...

 vihuelist

Vihuela

Vihuela is a name given to two different guitar-like string instruments: one from 15th and 16th century Spain, usually with 12 paired strings, and the other, the Mexican vihuela, from 19th century Mexico with five strings and typically played in Mariachi bands.-History:The vihuela, as it was known...

 and composer. There is little biographical data on this composer of early music

Early music

Early music is generally understood as comprising all music from the earliest times up to the Renaissance. However, today this term has come to include "any music for which a historically appropriate style of performance must be reconstructed on the basis of surviving scores, treatises,...

, but there is some from the prologue to his book of music, Libro de música de vihuela intitulado Silva de Sirenas, published in Valladolid

Valladolid

Valladolid is a historic city and municipality in north-central Spain, situated at the confluence of the Pisuerga and Esgueva rivers, and located within three wine-making regions: Ribera del Duero, Rueda and Cigales...

, Spain in 1547. It reveals that Valderrábano worked for the Duke of Béjar

Béjar

Béjar is a town and municipality in the province of Salamanca, western Spain, part of the autonomous community of Castile and León. It lies had a population of 15,016 .-History:...

—Francisco de Zúñiga—but does not contain the details of his musical education or career.

Valderrábano's book of music has seven parts containing fugue

Fugue

In music, a fugue is a compositional technique in two or more voices, built on a subject that is introduced at the beginning in imitation and recurs frequently in the course of the composition....

s, contrapunto

Counterpoint

In music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more voices that are independent in contour and rhythm and are harmonically interdependent . It has been most commonly identified in classical music, developing strongly during the Renaissance and in much of the common practice period,...

s, sonetos, bajas, vacas, discant

Discant

Discant was a style of liturgical setting in the Middle Ages, associated with the development of the Notre Dame school of polyphony. It is a style of organum that includes a plainchant tenor part, with a "note against note" upper voice, moving in contrary motion...

es, pavanas, proverbios, canciones, romances, and villancicos—ordered by level of difficulty. It includes pieces for two vihuelas, for vihuela and another instrument, and for vihuela and voice.

Valderrábano's book is considered an important source of knowledge on the vihuela music of the Spanish Renaissance

Spanish Renaissance

The Spanish Renaissance refers to a movement in Spain, emerging from the Italian Renaissance in Italy during the 14th century, that spread to Spain during the 15th and 16th centuries...

 of the sixteenth century and European instrumental music in general, as it includes transcriptions of pieces by other significant composers of the time, including Cristobal de Morales

Cristóbal de Morales

Cristóbal de Morales was a Spanish composer of the Renaissance. He is generally considered to be the most influential Spanish composer before Victoria.- Life :...

, Josquin des Prez

Josquin Des Prez

Josquin des Prez [Josquin Lebloitte dit Desprez] , often referred to simply as Josquin, was a Franco-Flemish composer of the Renaissance...

, Nicolas Gombert

Nicolas Gombert

Nicolas Gombert was a Franco-Flemish composer of the Renaissance. He was one of the most famous and influential composers between Josquin des Prez and Palestrina, and best represents the fully developed, complex polyphonic style of this period in music history.-Life:Details of his early life are...

, Philippe Verdelot

Philippe Verdelot

Philippe Verdelot was a French composer of the Renaissance, who spent most of his life in Italy. He is commonly considered to be the father of the Italian madrigal, and certainly was one of its earliest and most prolific composers; in addition he was prominent in the musical life of Florence...

, Jorge Baez de Sepulveda, Adrian Willaert

Adrian Willaert

Adrian Willaert was a Flemish composer of the Renaissance and founder of the Venetian School. He was one of the most representative members of the generation of northern composers who moved to Italy and transplanted the polyphonic Franco-Flemish style there....

, Vincenzo Ruffo

Vincenzo Ruffo

Vincenzo Ruffo was an Italian composer of the Renaissance. He was one of the composers most responsive to the musical reforms suggested by the Council of Trent, especially in his composition of masses, and as such was an influential member of the Counter-Reformation.Vincenzo Ruffo was born at...

, Diego Ortiz

Diego Ortiz

Diego Ortiz was a Spanish composer and musicologist, in service to the Spanish viceroy in Naples and later to Philip II of Spain. Ortiz published influential treatises on both instrumental and vocal performance....

, Juan Vásquez

Juan Vásquez (composer)

Juan Vásquez was a Spanish priest and composer of the renaissance. He can be considered part of the School of Andalusia group of composers along with Francisco Guerrero, Cristóbal de Morales, Juan Navarro Hispalensis and others.-Biography:Even relative to the standards of early music composers,...

, and Jean Mouton

Jean Mouton

Jean Mouton was a French composer of the Renaissance. He was famous both for his motets, which are among the most refined of the time, and for being the teacher of Adrian Willaert, one of the founders of the Venetian School....

.