El "Arte de Música" (Valladolid, 1592) de Francisco de Montanos y la explicación de la modalidad polifónica en la España del tardío Renacimiento

Abstract

The Art of Music theory and practice (Valladolid, 1592), of the chapel music composer Francisco Montanos, is an important book made up of six treaties dedicated, respectively, to plain singing, organ music, counterpoint, composure, proportion and commonplaces. This work very much appreciated at his time, is not as well known today as it deserves. This work offers, as a demonstration of its theoretical and practical value, an explanation by Montanos, outlined in the treaties of composure and common places, of the polyphonic modality as an essential element of music compositions. He clearly defines his support to the model of the most important technical and practical Spanish treaty writers (eight-note system, based on the fundamental grades of each note) versus the new twelve-note system, of glareano-zarliniana inspiration, received in Spain and disseminated by the most erudite and speculative Salinas.