Milán C 1500 - A 1560

Miln, Luys [Luis]
(b c1500; d after 1560). Spanish musician and writer. He is best

known as the author of the first printed vihuela music, the Libro de
musica de vihuela de mano intitulado El maestro (Valencia,
1536/R1975; ed. R. Chiesa, Milan, 1965, and C. Jacobs, University
Park, PA, 1971). Along with his earlier booklet, Libro de motes de
damas y cavalleros, intitulado El juego de mandar (Valencia,
1535), it was composed during his residence at the Valencian court
of Germaine de Foix, where he remained until at least 1538.
Nothing of Miln's earlier life is known, although it is possible that
he was the nobleman of the same name mentioned in Valencian
documents in 1516. His last book, El cortesano (Valencia, 1561),
clearly inspired by Castiglione, offers valuable insight into life at the
Valencian court and Miln's own musical practice. With an air of
self-assurance and conceit, Miln refers to himself in El maestro as
a second Orpheus. Testimony to his musical ability is found in
poems published in the 1560s by Juan Fernndez and Gil Polo.
El maestro is the earliest Spanish collection of independent solo
instrumental music and accompanied songs, and is the first printed
Spanish tablature. It is also the earliest known music to provide
verbal tempo indications. In most cases, a single tempo prevails
throughout each piece, expressed in terms such as algo apriessa
(somewhat fast), comps a espacio (a slow measure) or con el
comps batido (with an agitated beat). For works in the gallant
style (de taer de gala), which alternate passages of chords and
diminutions, he advocated a more flexible tempo in which all that is
chordal is to be played slowly and the diminutions fast, pausing
briefly at each fermata. El maestro is unique among Spanish
tablatures in being notated in a similar way to Neapolitan tablatures
with the highest line of the staff indicating the highest-pitched
course.
The prefatory texts of El maestro, as well as its title the teacher,
advertise that it was designed with a didactic purpose, with the
pieces arranged in increasing difficulty following the same manner
that a teacher would do with a student who had never played.
Even the easiest pieces, however, call for considerable
instrumental dexterity. The book instructs in the reading of
tablature, selection of strings and the tuning of the vihuela. It also
includes an explanation of the modes that specifies the superius
rather than the tenor as the voice by which mode is determined.
The book is further arranged symmetrically in two parallel libros,
each of which is formed by a combined cycle of genres, modes,
and styles: fantasias (modes 14), idiomatic works (modes 18),
fantasias (modes 58), pavans (modes 18; only in bk 1), Spanish
and Portuguese villancicos, romances, Italian sonnets. Despite its
novelties, El maestro is also a unique link with past generations of
instrumental improvisors. The style of Miln's music sets itself apart
form the work of all later Spanish instrumental music and,
according to the author's own testimony, it is the work of a selftaught musician, an improviser who composed directly on the
vihuela, later committing his works to notation.
The largest group of pieces in El maestro is the 40 fantasias,
designated as such by Miln because they proceed from the
imagination and industry of their author. As the first known
examples of their genre in Spain they display a high level of
sophistication and stylistic maturity. They are composed of multiple
independent episodes that achieve coherence through their
narrative continuity. They are based on a simple rhetorical model
and unified by strong adherence to the modes. Thematic material
is derived from the composer's reservoir of improvisatory formulae,
many of which recur almost identically in different works. These
range from occasional passages of strict imitation to others based
on idiomatic devices, chiefly passage work or occasionally
arpeggios. Miln's textures usually evoke an imitative style, but
they are most frequently crafted as pseudo-imitation, built from
short, accompanied melodic units that are reiterated at different
pitches or in sequences to create the illusion of an imitative texture.
The fantasias follow a characteristic tripartite scheme, beginning
with an extended episode based on imitation or a combination of
polyphonic and idiomatic devices, and continuing with a series of
shorter episodes. The final episode is nearly always repeated as a
signal of approaching conclusion, and a brief coda is frequently
added. This style and structure also applies to the tentos in the
gallant style. Also designated as fantasias, because they are
original works, the six pavanas are similarly composed, within the
confines of the dance rhythm. Two of these are based on Italian
melodies, and the final one, in triple metre, is given as a galliard in
at least one other contemporary source.
Miln's songs are notated with the sung melody shown in the
tablature in red. This is a clear indication that the vihuelist would
normally also have been the singer; the pitch register of the sung
part is often quite high. Miln described himself as singing to his
own accompaniment on a number of occasions in El cortesano.
The Spanish and Portuguese villancicos are settings of popular
love poetry and follow the formal pattern ABBA. Two versions are
provided for 10 of the 12 of them, simple homophonic settings in
which the singer embellishes with quiebros (trills) and glosas
(diminutions), and alternative versions where the vocal part is to be
sung unadorned while the vihuela part is written with added rapid
dimiutions. The romances also have embellished accompaniments.
Three of them deal with frontier themes of the reconquest, while
one is based on the siege of Troy. All the Italian sonnets are
through-composed settings. In one of them, Madonna per voi ardo,
Miln suggests that the diminutions may be omitted from the
accompaniment. The only sonnet by a known poet, O gelosi
d'amanti by Sannazaro, was also set as a vihuela song by
Mudarra.
For an illustration from El maestro, see Vihuela, fig.2; for an extract

see Tablature, fig.6.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
BrownI
A. Paz y Mlia: Coplas de Juan Fernndez en contra D. Luis de
Miln, Revista de archivos, bibliotecas, y museos, vi (1876),
258, 275
J.B. Trend: Luis Miln and the Vihuelistas (London, 1925)
J.M. Ward: The Vihuela de Mano and its Music (15361576) (diss.,
New York U., 1953)
J. Romeu Figueras: Mateo Flecha el Viejo, la corte
literariomusical del duque de Calabria y el Cancionero llamado
de Upsala, AnM, xiii (1958), 25101
I. Pope: La vihuela y su msica en el ambiente humanstico,
Nueva revista de filologia hispnica, xv (1961), 36476
J. Moll Roqueta: Notas para la historia musical de la corte del
Duque de Calabria, AnM, xviii (1963), 12335
G. Simpson and B. Mason: The Sixteenth-Century Spanish
Romance; a Survey of the Spanish Ballad as Found in the
Music of the Vihuelistas, EMc, v (1977), 518
M. Lindley: Luis Miln and Meantone Temperament, JLSA, xi
(1978), 4548, 5762
R. Chiesa: Storia della letteratura del liuto e della chitarra, XXXIX.
Il Cinquecento: la vihuela; Luys Milan, El maestro, Il Fronimo,
xxxix (1982), 1927
J. Griffiths: The Vihuela Fantasia: a Comparative Study of Forms
and Styles (diss., Monash U., 1983)
J. Sage: A New Look at Humanism in 16th-Century Lute and
Vihuela Books, EMc, xx (1992), 63343
L. Gasser: Luis Miln on Sixteenth-Century Performance Practice
(Bloomington, IN, 1996)
JOHN GRIFFITHS

Milán C 1500 - A 1560

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Milán C 1500 - A 1560

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Miln, Luys [Luis]

(b c1500; d after 1560). Spanish musician and writer. He is best

For an illustration from El maestro, see Vihuela, fig.2; for an extract

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