Any suggestions, corrections or other comments will be most welcome: just email martin@luteshop.fsnet.co.uk. downloadable files are provided in Fronimo and Tab formats below. I may add PDF in the future. Any non-lutenists should note that the sound on this page bears little resemblance to a real lute and is played by a robot!

Duo: fecit potentiam
Miguel de Fuenllana's Orphenica Lyra, published in Valladolid in 1554, is a treasure house of music for vihuela and four-course guitar. Some of the first pieces in the book are duos, taken from mass movements by composers such as Josquin, Morales, Guerrero and Gombert. Apart from being excellent music, these pieces are wonderful instructional material for learning to play 16th century polyphony intelligently. Often Fuenllana gives us an intabulation of a mass movement or motet, followed by his own fantasia based on it. In this case we have a Fecit potentiam by Morales, followed by a more extended duo based on the same material by Fuenllana. Watch out for those tritones!

I have not seen the Morales original so the score is just my own interpretation of Fuenllana's tablature.

fecit.ft2

fecit.tab

 To download the latest version of Fronimo go to the Fronimo Users Group site.  For previous pieces of the month, go to the Piece of the Month Archive.

Back to home page