Reworking in the motets of Francisco Guerrero

Journal article

The printed motet collections of Francisco Guerrero provide an invaluable opportunity to study the composer’s habit of revising his music. A large proportion of his motets were published in two or more collections, and comparison of the readings involved reveals a great abundance of reworkings. Although the alterations show considerable variety of approach, they nevertheless disclose much about Guerrero’s priorities and ideals (and changes in these) with regards to, for example, the most effective ways of fitting music and text together. The piece which Guerrero subjected to the most substantial revision (amounting to recomposition), Beatus es, is used as a detailed case-study of Guerrero’s revisions on both small and large scales, and how they might be interpreted. Thereafter, the article considers cases of reworkings in various motets which cast light on Guerrero’s evolving approach to the relationship between text and music (contextualised through reference to the views of Zarlino), and revisions which are related to matters of counterpoint and sonority. Brief attention is paid to Guerrero’s habits of reworking as revealed also by his work in other genres, and comparison is made with Victoria, who likewise frequently published his works in more than one collection.

Authors: Rees,

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Spanish Musicology Society
• Journal: Revista de Musicología
• Volume: 40
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 17-56
• Publication date: 2017-06-01
• Acceptance date: 2017-03-09
• DOI: 10.2307/24938853
• ISSN: 0210-1459
• Keywords: revision; Guerrero; recomposition; motet; text setting