Francisco Valls
Encyclopedia
Francisco Valls was a Spanish composer, theorist and maestro de capilla
. Among his most known works are the mass Missa Scala Aretina and tract Mapa Armónico Práctico.
, to the post of Maestro de capilla at Barcelona Cathedral. He wrote 10 mass
es, 17 psalm settings, 30 motet
s, several other sacred items and 141 secular compositions. Many of these are manuscripts lodged in the Biblioteca de Catalunya in Barcelona.
(prominently audible in the Kyrie
), caused a major musical controversy between 1715 and 1720, initiated by a pamphlet against Valls by the organist and theatre composer Joaquín Martínez de la Roca
. Pro and anti groups were roughly equal, the famous composer Alessandro Scarlatti
had given an opinion, mildly opposed to Valls' ideas. In the Qui tollis at bar 120 (López-Calo edition) the second soprano
enters on an unprepared 9th chord causing a gratuitous semitonal dissonance
with a bflat, a, f, d and low g sounding simultaneously on the words miserere nobis. The unpreparedness of the entry rather than the discord is the problem. It is doubtful whether such a chord would have raised highbrows in England where the dissonant music of Henry Purcell
or William Lawes
had been admired at court and church. Many of Valls' other works, however, use harmony
which was highly unconventional at the time (see below).
The original singing parts of the Missa Scala Aretina are well worn and often turned, suggesting that the Missa was performed many times.
The Missa Scala Aretina is scored for 3 vocal choirs, (SAT) (soloists), (SSAT) (soloists) and the choir (SATB). Instruments are 2 oboes doubling 2 violins, 2 trumpets and violone (cello?). Choir I has harp continuo, choirs II and III separate organs, each with a doubling violone or bassoon.
The Missa Scala Aretina is a typical baroque piece, sounding reminiscent of Biber's Missa Salisburgensis but also looking back to Italian Colossal Baroque
music. The Kyrie
is sumptuous but diatonic with strong trumpet lines. Aching suspensions are not long in arriving however when the text requires them such as the mysterious et incarnatus. Like Biber
's mass the Credo is highly coloured, with descendit being a descending scale and coelis ascending. The Crucifixus begins in D-major but sinks a tone to a C-minor tierce de Picardie cadence. This is answered by an A-major resurrexit.
The Latin choral works in the Mapa are of particular interest. They include 4 solo sacred aria
s, one duet, a series of sacred canon
s, motet
s and movements from the Mass
(including the Christe Eleison from the Missa Scala Aretina) and from the Te Deum
. Some of these works are polychoral and/or have more or less full accompaniment. Many of the works use highly unconventional (for the time) musical techniques. Examples with particularly interesting use of dissonance include Valls' motets, Domine vim patior, Cor mundum meum and O vos omnes.
There are a number of magnificent accompanied pieces. These include the 10 part In te Domine speravi with full orchestral accompaniment including an opening trumpet fanfare and a movement, Cum sancto spiritu, from an unidentified mass.
Valls' sacred choral works (both Latin and Spanish) frequently focus on the Virgin Mary. These works include his best known motet, Tota pulchra es
(not included in the Mapa) which was the only work, apart from the Missa Scala Aretina, to be performed regularly in the centuries following his death. There are also a number of canons, motets and villancico
s in the Mapa on the same subject.
The sacred works in Spanish from the Mapa come in two distinct categories. First there are a series of 4 part villancicos (or extracts). These are less adventurous in musical technique than the Latin works. Secondly there are some more ambitious complete villancicos in 8 or 12 parts. These include Quien será decid and Al combite que Amor hoy previene. The lyrics of these villancicos are mostly quite obscure.
Valls appears to have had an interest in medieval philosophers. His works include a setting of Saint Thomas Aquinas
' hymn O memoriale mortis. He also composed a rather overblown 8 part ode to that saint in Spanish with full orchestral accompaniment. More impressive is his three part motet setting of the prayer by Saint Augustine of Hippo
O sacramentum pietatis (from the latter's Tractates on the gospel of John). In this motet Valls uses variations in rhythm, time signatures and dynamics to express the changing mood of the text.
The Mapa includes two operatic works in Italian style, one of these is for chorus. One is a mournful tenor aria apparently composed for the character of Mark Antony
in Egypt
.
The instrumental works in the Mapa include fugues, "trocados" (works using contrary motion) and cancrizans canons. There is a composition for strings which uses what Valls calls the "enharmonic sharp", but which seems different from the orthodox conception of that expression. Valls' enharmonic sharp appears to raise the notes A, C, D, F and G by three quarters of a tone and the notes B and E by a quarter tone.
The first performance of the Missa Scala Aretina in modern times in Barcelona was given by an English choir, the London Oratory Choir at the International Music Festival as late as 1978.
There are many other compositions by Valls surviving in the archives of the Biblioteca de Catalunya in Barcelona and elsewhere. Most of them are unedited, but critical editions of some of the works are available from Dinsic Publicacions Musicals. Others works are available from Scalaaretina, the Choral Public Domain Library, Musica de Hispania and the Werner Icking Music Archive. (see links below).
Kapellmeister
Kapellmeister 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...
. Among his most known works are the mass Missa Scala Aretina and tract Mapa Armónico Práctico.
Life
In 1696 Francisco Valls was headhunted from the Church of Santa María del Mar, BarcelonaBarcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
, to the post of Maestro de capilla at Barcelona Cathedral. He wrote 10 mass
Mass
Mass can be defined as a quantitive measure of the resistance an object has to change in its velocity.In physics, mass commonly refers to any of the following three properties of matter, which have been shown experimentally to be equivalent:...
es, 17 psalm settings, 30 motet
Motet
In classical music, motet is a word that is applied to a number of highly varied choral musical compositions.-Etymology:The name comes either from the Latin movere, or a Latinized version of Old French mot, "word" or "verbal utterance." The Medieval Latin for "motet" is motectum, and the Italian...
s, several other sacred items and 141 secular compositions. Many of these are manuscripts lodged in the Biblioteca de Catalunya in Barcelona.
Composition of the Missa Scala Aretina
The Missa Scala Aretina, so called because it uses a scale based cantus firmusCantus firmus
In music, a cantus firmus is a pre-existing melody forming the basis of a polyphonic composition.The plural of this Latin term is , though the corrupt form canti firmi is also attested...
(prominently audible in the Kyrie
Kyrie
Kyrie, a transliteration of Greek κύριε , vocative case of κύριος , meaning "Lord", is the common name of an important prayer of Christian liturgy, which is also called the Kýrie, eléison ....
), caused a major musical controversy between 1715 and 1720, initiated by a pamphlet against Valls by the organist and theatre composer Joaquín Martínez de la Roca
Joaquín Martínez de la Roca
Joaquín Martínez de la Roca was a Spanish composer.In 1715, when organist of Valencia Cathedral Martínez initiated the five year long pamphlet war against Francisco Valls for the unconventional dissonances in the Miserere of Valls' Missa Scala Arentina.-Works:* Los Desgravios de Troya , composed...
. Pro and anti groups were roughly equal, the famous composer Alessandro Scarlatti
Alessandro Scarlatti
Alessandro Scarlatti was an Italian Baroque composer especially famous for his operas and chamber cantatas. He is considered the founder of the Neapolitan school of opera. He was the father of two other composers, Domenico Scarlatti and Pietro Filippo Scarlatti.-Life:Scarlatti was born in...
had given an opinion, mildly opposed to Valls' ideas. In the Qui tollis at bar 120 (López-Calo edition) the second soprano
Soprano
A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...
enters on an unprepared 9th chord causing a gratuitous semitonal dissonance
Dissonance
Dissonance has several meanings, all related to conflict or incongruity:*Consonance and dissonance in music are properties of an interval or chord*Cognitive dissonance is a state of mental conflict...
with a bflat, a, f, d and low g sounding simultaneously on the words miserere nobis. The unpreparedness of the entry rather than the discord is the problem. It is doubtful whether such a chord would have raised highbrows in England where the dissonant music of Henry Purcell
Henry Purcell
Henry Purcell – 21 November 1695), was an English organist and Baroque composer of secular and sacred music. Although Purcell incorporated Italian and French stylistic elements into his compositions, his legacy was a uniquely English form of Baroque music...
or William Lawes
William Lawes
William Lawes was an English composer and musician.-Life and career:Lawes was born in Salisbury, Wiltshire and was baptised on 1 May 1602...
had been admired at court and church. Many of Valls' other works, however, use harmony
Harmony
In music, harmony is the use of simultaneous pitches , or chords. The study of harmony involves chords and their construction and chord progressions and the principles of connection that govern them. Harmony is often said to refer to the "vertical" aspect of music, as distinguished from melodic...
which was highly unconventional at the time (see below).
The original singing parts of the Missa Scala Aretina are well worn and often turned, suggesting that the Missa was performed many times.
The Missa Scala Aretina is scored for 3 vocal choirs, (SAT) (soloists), (SSAT) (soloists) and the choir (SATB). Instruments are 2 oboes doubling 2 violins, 2 trumpets and violone (cello?). Choir I has harp continuo, choirs II and III separate organs, each with a doubling violone or bassoon.
The Missa Scala Aretina is a typical baroque piece, sounding reminiscent of Biber's Missa Salisburgensis but also looking back to Italian Colossal Baroque
Colossal Baroque
The Colossal Baroque style is a name which has been coined to describe a number of compositions from the 17th and 18th centuries composed in an opulent, magnificent and large-scaled style. Such works frequently make use of polychoral techniques and often feature instrumental forces considerably...
music. The Kyrie
Kyrie
Kyrie, a transliteration of Greek κύριε , vocative case of κύριος , meaning "Lord", is the common name of an important prayer of Christian liturgy, which is also called the Kýrie, eléison ....
is sumptuous but diatonic with strong trumpet lines. Aching suspensions are not long in arriving however when the text requires them such as the mysterious et incarnatus. Like Biber
Biber
The Biber was a German midget submarine of the Second World War. Armed with two externally mounted 21-inch torpedoes or mines, they were intended to attack coastal shipping. They were the smallest submarines in the Kriegsmarine.The Biber was hastily developed to help meet the threat of an Allied...
's mass the Credo is highly coloured, with descendit being a descending scale and coelis ascending. The Crucifixus begins in D-major but sinks a tone to a C-minor tierce de Picardie cadence. This is answered by an A-major resurrexit.
Treatise Mapa Armónico Práctico
In retirement Valls wrote a treatise on harmonic theory, Mapa Armónico Práctico. A facsimile of the manuscript was published in 2002. It contains an exposition of the author's views on musical theory and practice and a large number of musical examples from his works. All the vocal music by Valls from Mapa Armónico Prácticoand a few instrumental pieces have been transcribed and are in the public domain. See links below.The Latin choral works in the Mapa are of particular interest. They include 4 solo sacred aria
Aria
An aria in music was originally any expressive melody, usually, but not always, performed by a singer. The term is now used almost exclusively to describe a self-contained piece for one voice usually with orchestral accompaniment...
s, one duet, a series of sacred canon
Canon (music)
In music, a canon is a contrapuntal composition that employs a melody with one or more imitations of the melody played after a given duration . The initial melody is called the leader , while the imitative melody, which is played in a different voice, is called the follower...
s, motet
Motet
In classical music, motet is a word that is applied to a number of highly varied choral musical compositions.-Etymology:The name comes either from the Latin movere, or a Latinized version of Old French mot, "word" or "verbal utterance." The Medieval Latin for "motet" is motectum, and the Italian...
s and movements from the Mass
Mass
Mass can be defined as a quantitive measure of the resistance an object has to change in its velocity.In physics, mass commonly refers to any of the following three properties of matter, which have been shown experimentally to be equivalent:...
(including the Christe Eleison from the Missa Scala Aretina) and from the Te Deum
Te Deum
The Te Deum is an early Christian hymn of praise. The title is taken from its opening Latin words, Te Deum laudamus, rendered literally as "Thee, O God, we praise"....
. Some of these works are polychoral and/or have more or less full accompaniment. Many of the works use highly unconventional (for the time) musical techniques. Examples with particularly interesting use of dissonance include Valls' motets, Domine vim patior, Cor mundum meum and O vos omnes.
There are a number of magnificent accompanied pieces. These include the 10 part In te Domine speravi with full orchestral accompaniment including an opening trumpet fanfare and a movement, Cum sancto spiritu, from an unidentified mass.
Valls' sacred choral works (both Latin and Spanish) frequently focus on the Virgin Mary. These works include his best known motet, Tota pulchra es
Tota pulchra es
Tota pulchra es is an old Catholic prayer, written in the fourth century. It is one of the five antiphons for the psalms of Second Vespers for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. The title means "You are completely beautiful" . It speaks of her immaculate conception...
(not included in the Mapa) which was the only work, apart from the Missa Scala Aretina, to be performed regularly in the centuries following his death. There are also a number of canons, motets and villancico
Villancico
The villancico was a common poetic and musical form of the Iberian Peninsula and Latin America popular from the late 15th to 18th centuries. With the decline in popularity of the villancicos in the 20th century, the term became reduced to mean merely "Christmas carol"...
s in the Mapa on the same subject.
The sacred works in Spanish from the Mapa come in two distinct categories. First there are a series of 4 part villancicos (or extracts). These are less adventurous in musical technique than the Latin works. Secondly there are some more ambitious complete villancicos in 8 or 12 parts. These include Quien será decid and Al combite que Amor hoy previene. The lyrics of these villancicos are mostly quite obscure.
Valls appears to have had an interest in medieval philosophers. His works include a setting of Saint Thomas Aquinas
Thomas Aquinas
Thomas Aquinas, O.P. , also Thomas of Aquin or Aquino, was an Italian Dominican priest of the Catholic Church, and an immensely influential philosopher and theologian in the tradition of scholasticism, known as Doctor Angelicus, Doctor Communis, or Doctor Universalis...
' hymn O memoriale mortis. He also composed a rather overblown 8 part ode to that saint in Spanish with full orchestral accompaniment. More impressive is his three part motet setting of the prayer by Saint Augustine of Hippo
Augustine of Hippo
Augustine of Hippo , also known as Augustine, St. Augustine, St. Austin, St. Augoustinos, Blessed Augustine, or St. Augustine the Blessed, was Bishop of Hippo Regius . He was a Latin-speaking philosopher and theologian who lived in the Roman Africa Province...
O sacramentum pietatis (from the latter's Tractates on the gospel of John). In this motet Valls uses variations in rhythm, time signatures and dynamics to express the changing mood of the text.
The Mapa includes two operatic works in Italian style, one of these is for chorus. One is a mournful tenor aria apparently composed for the character of Mark Antony
Mark Antony
Marcus Antonius , known in English as Mark Antony, was a Roman politician and general. As a military commander and administrator, he was an important supporter and loyal friend of his mother's cousin Julius Caesar...
in Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
.
The instrumental works in the Mapa include fugues, "trocados" (works using contrary motion) and cancrizans canons. There is a composition for strings which uses what Valls calls the "enharmonic sharp", but which seems different from the orthodox conception of that expression. Valls' enharmonic sharp appears to raise the notes A, C, D, F and G by three quarters of a tone and the notes B and E by a quarter tone.
Editions and Modern performances
- Francisco Valls, Missa Scala Aretina, edited by José López-Calo, (Novello, 1975). (From Ms. M. 1489, Biblioteca de Catalunya, Barcelona.).
The first performance of the Missa Scala Aretina in modern times in Barcelona was given by an English choir, the London Oratory Choir at the International Music Festival as late as 1978.
There are many other compositions by Valls surviving in the archives of the Biblioteca de Catalunya in Barcelona and elsewhere. Most of them are unedited, but critical editions of some of the works are available from Dinsic Publicacions Musicals. Others works are available from Scalaaretina, the Choral Public Domain Library, Musica de Hispania and the Werner Icking Music Archive. (see links below).
Selected discography
- Valls: Missa Scala Aretina; dir. John Hoban, The London Oratory Choir, CRD, 3371 1994
- Valls: Missa Scala Aretina; Heinrich Biber: Requiem, dir. Gustav LeonhardtGustav LeonhardtGustav Leonhardt is a highly renowned Dutch keyboard player, conductor, musicologist, teacher and editor. Leonhardt has been a leading figure in the movement to perform music on period instruments...
, Netherlands Bach Society Chorus, DHM. - Tonos divinosTono humanoThe tono humano was one of the main genres of 17th Century Spanish and Portuguese music.In the early 17th Century the main vernacular forms for Spanish and Portuguese composers were the villancico, usually a Christmas song, and the solo tono; tono humano if secular, tono divino if sacred. The...
A todo correr; Pues oy benignas las Luzes; Quando Antonio glorioso; Sagrado portento de amor; Que estruendo de clarines; Espiritu ardiente en llamas; La que en el jardin serafico. A Corte Musical, dir. Rogerio Goncalves. PAN 2004
External links
- Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas - Publishers of Mapa Armonico Practico