, 1462 – Azpeitia

Azpeitia

Azpeitia is a town and municipality within the province of Gipuzkoa, in the Basque Country of Spain, located on the Urola river a few kilometres east of Azkoitia. Its population is 13,708 . It is located 16 miles southwest of Donostia/San Sebastián.Azpeitia is the birth place of Ignatius of Loyola...

, 1523) was a leading 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...

 Basque

Basque people

The Basques as an ethnic group, primarily inhabit an area traditionally known as the Basque Country , a region that is located around the western end of the Pyrenees on the coast of the Bay of Biscay and straddles parts of north-central Spain and south-western France.The Basques are known in the...

 composer

Composer

A 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...

 of the Renaissance

Renaissance music

Renaissance music is European music written during the Renaissance. Defining the beginning of the musical era is difficult, given that its defining characteristics were adopted only gradually; musicologists have placed its beginnings from as early as 1300 to as late as the 1470s.Literally meaning...

, at the Royal Court Chaplaincy in Granada

Granada

Granada is a city and the capital of the province of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence of three rivers, the Beiro, the Darro and the Genil. It sits at an elevation of 738 metres above sea...

 of Queen Isabel I of Castile.

History

Born into a leading Basque

Basque people

The Basques as an ethnic group, primarily inhabit an area traditionally known as the Basque Country , a region that is located around the western end of the Pyrenees on the coast of the Bay of Biscay and straddles parts of north-central Spain and south-western France.The Basques are known in the...

 family, his mother was a great-aunt of Ignatius of Loyola

Ignatius of Loyola

Ignatius of Loyola was a Spanish knight from a Basque noble family, hermit, priest since 1537, and theologian, who founded the Society of Jesus and was its first Superior General. Ignatius emerged as a religious leader during the Counter-Reformation...

, founder of the Society of Jesus

Society of Jesus

The Society of Jesus is a Catholic male religious order that follows the teachings of the Catholic Church. The members are called Jesuits, and are also known colloquially as "God's Army" and as "The Company," these being references to founder Ignatius of Loyola's military background and a...

. In 1489 he was appointed to the chapel of Queen Isabella

Isabel

Isabel is a Romance-language given name. It is related to Isabelle , Catalan, Provençal), Isabella , and the English Elizabeth.-Etymology:...

 and in 1495 became maestro di capilla to Prince Don Juan, returning to the Queen's service after the Prince's death in 1497, and in 1504 to that of the new Queen, Joanna the Mad

Joanna of Castile

Joanna , nicknamed Joanna the Mad , was the first queen regnant to reign over both the Crown of Castile and the Crown of Aragon , a union which evolved into modern Spain...

. He held various church benefices, from 1518 as Abbot of Arbós, town located at the province of Tarragona, as a chaplain at Granada

Granada

Granada is a city and the capital of the province of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence of three rivers, the Beiro, the Darro and the Genil. It sits at an elevation of 738 metres above sea...

 Cathedral, spending his final years in a Franciscan

Franciscan

Most Franciscans are members of Roman Catholic religious orders founded by Saint Francis of Assisi. Besides Roman Catholic communities, there are also Old Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, ecumenical and Non-denominational Franciscan communities....

 convent he had founded in Azpeitia

Azpeitia

Azpeitia is a town and municipality within the province of Gipuzkoa, in the Basque Country of Spain, located on the Urola river a few kilometres east of Azkoitia. Its population is 13,708 . It is located 16 miles southwest of Donostia/San Sebastián.Azpeitia is the birth place of Ignatius of Loyola...

.

Sacred Music

Some thirty of Juan de Anchieta's compositions survive, among them two complete Masses

Mass (liturgy)

"Mass" is one of the names by which the sacrament of the Eucharist is called in the Roman Catholic Church: others are "Eucharist", the "Lord's Supper", the "Breaking of Bread", the "Eucharistic assembly ", the "memorial of the Lord's Passion and Resurrection", the "Holy Sacrifice", the "Holy and...

, two Magnificat

Magnificat

The Magnificat — also known as the Song of Mary or the Canticle of Mary — is a canticle frequently sung liturgically in Christian church services. It is one of the eight most ancient Christian hymns and perhaps the earliest Marian hymn...

s, a Salve Regina

Salve Regina

The "Salve Regina", also known as the Hail Holy Queen, is a Marian hymn and one of four Marian antiphons sung at different seasons within the Christian liturgical calendar of the Roman Catholic Church. The Salve Regina is traditionally sung at Compline in the time from the Saturday before Trinity...

, four attributed Passion

Passion music

In church music, Passion is a term for sung musical settings, normally at least partly choral, of the Gospel texts covering the Passion of Jesus, the events leading up to the Crucifixion of Jesus, and emphasising his suffering...

 settings, with other sacred works and four compositions with Spanish texts. The two Masses and many motets which survived, show extensive use of plainsong

Plainsong

Plainsong is a body of chants used in the liturgies of the Catholic Church. Though the Eastern Orthodox churches and the Catholic Church did not split until long after the origin of plainchant, Byzantine chants are generally not classified as plainsong.Plainsong is monophonic, consisting of a...

 and much chordal writing. He was among the leading Spanish composers of his generation, writing music for the ample resources of the court chapel of the Catholic Monarchs

Catholic Monarchs

The Catholic Monarchs is the collective title used in history for Queen Isabella I of Castile and King Ferdinand II of Aragon. They were both from the House of Trastámara and were second cousins, being both descended from John I of Castile; they were given a papal dispensation to deal with...

.

External links

• http://www.hiru.com/es/artea/erreportaiak/110487. On noteworthy sculptor, Juan de Anchieta, born also at Azpeitia, some 60 years later. He worked in close association with notorious Navarrese artist Juan de Landa.
• JUAN DE ANCHIETA: escultor del Renacimiento by García Gainza, María Concepción, Univ. Professor. ISBN: 9788493505448. Madrid: Fundación de Apoyo a la Historia del Arte Hispano, (2008). 30cm., hardcover, 245pp. text and oeuvre catalogue with numerous color plates.