Life
Luis de Narváez was a Spanish composer and vihuelist born in Granada around 1500, whose exact birth and death dates remain unknown. By 1526 he served in the household of Francisco de los Cobos y Molina, secretary of state to Emperor Charles V, and lived with him in Valladolid until the patron’s death in 1547. There he published Los seys libros del delphín (1538), a six-volume collection of vihuela music. By 1548 he was a musician of the royal chapel, teaching choristers alongside keyboard composer Antonio de Cabezón and accompanying the Spanish court on its travels. Narváez was celebrated in his lifetime for his ability to improvise four contrapuntal parts over another four at sight.
Impact
Luys de Narváez’s Los seys libros del delphín contains the earliest known instrumental variation sets, including his famous diferencias on Guárdame las vacas, establishing the theme-and-variations form that would become central to later Spanish and European instrumental music. His polyphonic fantasias, modeled on Francesco da Milano, and his intabulation of Josquin’s Mille Regretz as the “Canción del Emperador” remain cornerstones of the vihuela repertoire.
Repertoire
Diferencias sobre “Guárdame las vacas”, 1538
The earliest known instrumental variation set, spinning seven diferencias over the ostinato Guárdame las vacas bass.
Luis de Narváez: Cuatro diferencias sobre Guárdame las vacas (Janne Malinen, vihuela) — Performed by Janne Malinen
7 diferencias sobre “Guárdame las vacas” Luys de Narváez 1538 — Performed by Facundo Fernandez Luna
Canción del Emperador (Mille Regretz), 1538
Narváez’s vihuela intabulation of Josquin des Prez’s chanson Mille Regretz, said to have been a favorite of Charles V.
Cancion del Emperador by Narvaez, played by Juan Carlos Rivera — Performed by Juan Carlos Rivera
Luys de Narváez – Mille regretz “La canción del emperador” – Evangelina Mascardi vihuela — Performed by Evangelina Mascardi