First book for key published in the Iberian Peninsula. Printed in Lisbon in 1540, it disappeared immediately, leaving no more trace than a royal privilege granted in 1536. The only known copy is preserved today in the Library of the Royal Palace of Madrid, and contains, in addition to the repertoire specifically destined for the keyboard , transcriptions of vocal pieces by Spanish and French-speaking authors.
His ingenious system of letter-based notation, designed so that beginners and amateurs could access the repertoire without previous musical knowledge, gives us important information about the interpretation. Thanks to Baena's book, we can find out what music the keyboardists played at the beginning of the 16th century in the Iberian Peninsula and how they interpreted it.
This transcription of Gonzalo de Baena's book is the result of the ex-perience of the author of ...read more