Compositional theory and practice in mid-sixteenth-century Spanish instrumental music: The 'Arte de taner fantasia' by Tomas de Santa Maria and the music of Antonio de Cabezon

The present dissertation is an analytical study of the music of Antonio de Cabezon (1510-1566) from the perspective provided by Tomas de Santa Maria's Arte de taner fantasia (Valladolid, 1565) and other contemporary treatises. Santa Maria's treatise, on instrumental technique, composition, and improvisation, was examined and approved by Cabezon. This association of theorist and composer results in one of the infrequent cases in music history in which a major treatise deals with current compositional practice as represented by the works of a major contemporary composer.;The first part of the dissertation provides the background for the understanding of Santa Maria's and Cabezon's works. An analytical methodology derived from the treatise is presented and compared to existing, and conflicting, methodologies for the analysis of Renaissance music.;The second part of the dissertation concentrates on the analysis of Cabezon's organ compositions. The analysis focuses first on modal organization, and then on compositional techniques and formal processes. The dissertation includes detailed analyses of five representative tientos by Cabezon and two fantasias by Santa Maria, as well as analytical graphs for each of Cabezon's remaining tientos and for nine of Santa Maria's fantasias.;The Arte proves to be a valuable source for the understanding of Cabezon's music on its own terms. The eight-mode system followed by both Santa Maria and Cabezon is found to be a mature and fully-articulated construct which was well established at the theoretical and practical levels by mid-sixteenth century. The study shows the existence of a consistent set of criteria and modal elements which define each of the eight modes, and suggests that Santa Maria and Cabezon thought of mode as a precompositional entity which provided a mold for their compositions. The molds were not restrictive, but their presence can be traced in most of the tientos and fantasias by the two authors. Thus the modes furnish not only the principles that rule pitch organization in this music, but also a formal frame around which the compositions are organized. The system provides us with one of the keys to the underlying unity of Renaissance music.