Esteban Daza, also known as Estevan Daça, was a Spanish composer and vihuelist of the Renaissance, born around 1537 in Valladolid. He was the eldest of fourteen children in a middle-class family. He studied at the University of Valladolid, graduating probably in the early 1560s. There is no evidence that he ever practised a profession; he lived on income from his family’s investments. He stayed in his parents’ home until at least his father’s death in 1569. He died in Valladolid between 1591 and 1596.

The only known book of music published by Daza is El Parnaso, printed in Valladolid in 1576, containing works for solo vihuela and for vihuela and voice. The collection is divided into three parts of fantasias and transcriptions for vihuela of polyphonic songs, motets, villancicos, villanescas and sonnets by other composers. Daza’s fantasias have been edited in modern notation by John Griffiths. He was among the last major vihuelists of the 16th century, as the instrument’s popularity was overtaken by the guitar.

Sources:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esteban_Daza
• https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q326420