Francisco Millan (? c.1500) A chaplain and singer in
the court of Queen Isabella, Millan composed a number
of songs all of which were secular in nature. Twenty
four settings are contained in the collection in the
"Musical songs of the palace." Most of the songs were
arranged as villancicos and contend with the theme of
courtly love often in hyperbolized manners. These love
songs, often emoting melancholy, were arranged for a
single singing voice with instrumental accompaniment.
If they were scor...(+)
Francisco Millan (? c.1500) A chaplain and singer in
the court of Queen Isabella, Millan composed a number
of songs all of which were secular in nature. Twenty
four settings are contained in the collection in the
"Musical songs of the palace." Most of the songs were
arranged as villancicos and contend with the theme of
courtly love often in hyperbolized manners. These love
songs, often emoting melancholy, were arranged for a
single singing voice with instrumental accompaniment.
If they were scored for more than one voice, Millan's
predominant practice was to set them for four voices.
The `lower' voices move so much, in comparisn to other
vocal works, that they were most probably written for
instruments. Three songs, "Mios fueron mi coracon," "O
dolce y triste memoria," and "Sy no piensas remediar,"
were all set for three voices. Millan primarily
employed the Mixolydin mode with some of the cadences
ending on C, E or F. Usually he employed duple meters
but three villancicos change to triple meters in the
two lower voices. Traditional ballads were arranged by
Millan for four voices. Openings of brief imitations
was the typical characteristic of Millan's
compositions.
Although this piece was originally written for 3 Voices
(SAB), I created this interpretation of the "O Dulce y
Triste Memoria" (Bittersweet Memory) for String Trio
(Violin, Viola & Cello).
PARTITION