El Parnaso Hyspano: South American Baroque Music

Canciones de Ida y Vuelta - a concert of rarely performed songs for voice and vihuela from the Spanish Renaissance.
About this Event

The program, performed by Rafael Montero (tenor) and Hideki Yamaya (vihuela), will include songs from the ‘Cancionero de la Colombina’, compiled in the second half of the 15th-century. It will also include works by Luis de Milan, the very first composer whose collection of songs with vihuela accompaniment was published in 1536. The term ‘Colombina’ suggests a connection to Latin America, and pre-colombian indigenous songs from the same period will be included as well.

This music was composed in Spain during the times of the first encounter between Spain and America, and the songs are in Spanish. The ‘vihuela de mano’ is an instrument of Spanish origin which then spread throughout Europe; it was an instrument that was esteemed in Spain throughout the 16th-century. It was brought to America, where it was played by the populace, including by indigenous musicians. The Andean Indigenous musicians developed their own instruments, adapted from the vihuela.