Guerrero, Francisco (EN)

Guerrero Francisco, *4 October (?) 1528 Seville, †8 November 1599 Seville, Spanish composer. For a while, he studied under his brother, Pedro Guerrero (born around 1520 in Seville, author of six motets preserved in manuscripts, as well as a madrigal and nine sonnets printed in the form of vihuela intabulations), and then under C. Morales. From 3 April 1542, he sang in the boys’ choir of Seville Cathedral, and in 1546–49 he was maestro de capilla at Jaén Cathedral, then returned to the cathedral choir in Seville, with which he remained associated until the end of his life, initially as a singer, from 1551 as maestro de capilla sharing this function with his predecessor, and after the latter’s death (1574) as chief maestro di capilla and composer. Twice (in 1551 and 1554) he was elected maestro di capilla at the cathedral in Málaga; the second time he even accepted the position, but never took up the post. He travelled throughout Europe (he met Palestrina in Rome, and Zarlino in Venice) and made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, which he described in his book El viage de Hierusalén (Valencia 1590), which also contains a short autobiography of the composer. 

Guerrero’s surviving works include 18 masses, approximately 150 motets and other sacred works set to Latin texts, as well as nearly 100 sacred and secular songs (in reality, the number is smaller, as some are repeated with different texts). His style remains within the orbit of Palestrina and Morales, but differs from the latter in its greater lyricism. A stronger emphasis on dramatic effects – highlighted, among other means, by dissonant sonorities and the introduction of cross-relations or leaps involving diminished intervals – can be observed in Guerrero’s passions. Guerrero wrote canciones to texts by the most outstanding Andalusian poets of the mid-16th century, including Lope de Vega. Guerrero gained great recognition not only from his contemporaries, but also from subsequent generations; his works were still being copied in the 18th century. He enjoyed particularly long-lasting popularity in America, where many of his compositions have been preserved in Guatemala, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru.

Literature: R. Mitjana y Gordon Francisco Guerrero (1528–1599). Estudio critico-biográfico, Madrid 1922; H. Angles Cristóbal de Morales y Francisco Guerrero, “Anuario Musical” No. 9, 1954; G. Reese Music in the Renaissance, New York 1954, 2nd revised edition 1959; A. Llordén Notas históricas de los maestros de capilla y organistas de la Catedral de Málaga (1498–1583), “Anuario Musical” No. 16, 1961; R. Stevenson Spanish Cathedral Music in the Golden Age, Berkeley 1961; A. Llordén Notas históricas de los maestros de capilla y organistas de la Catedral de Málaga (1583–1641), “Anuario Musical” No. 19, 1964; R. Stevenson Renaissance and Baroque Musical Sources in the Americas, Washington 1970; L.F. Merino The Masses of Francisco Guerrero (1528–1599), thesis, University of California, 1972; H.E. Gundmundson Parody and Symbolism in Three Battle Masses of the Sixteenth Century, thesis, University of Michigan, 1976; D. Crawford Two Choirbooks of Renaissance Polyphony at the Monasterio de Nuesta Señora of Guadalupe, “Fontes Artis Musicae” No. 24, 1977; R.J. Snow Musica de Francisco Guerrero en Guatemala, “Nassarre” No. 3, 1987; P.R. Laird The Coming of the Sacred Villancico: a Musical Consideration, “Revista de Musicología” No. 15, 1992; R.J. Snow Liturgical Reform and Musical Revisions: Reworkings of the Vespers Hymns by Guerrero, Navarro and Duran de la Cueva, in: Livro de homenagem a Macario Santiago Kastner, ed. M.F. Cidrais Rodrigues, M. Morais and R.V. Nery, Lisbon 1992; R.M. Stevenson Francisco Guerrero (1528–1599): Seville’s Sixteenth-Century Cynosure, “Inter-American Music Review” No. 13, 1992; O. Rees Guerrero’s L’homme armé Masses and their Models, “Early Music History” No. 12, 1993; J.M. Llorens Cistero El MM.40 de la Biblioteca Municipal de Oporto fuente unica de la misa “L’homme armé” de Francisco Guerrero, Misa pequena de Cristóbal Morales y de otras novedades, “Anuario Musical” No. 49, 1994; K.H. Müller-Lancé Anmerkungen zu den Gloriakompositionen des 16. Jahrhunderts: Francisco Guerrero, Missa “Puer natus est”, “Anuario Musical” No. 49, 1994; C. Messa Poullet Una carta de Francisco Guerrero en la Archivo Catedralicio malagueño, “Cuadernos de arte de la Universidad de Granada” No. 26, 1995; G.G. Wagstaff Music for the Dead: Polyphonic Settings of the Officium and Missa pro defunctis by Spanish and Other Composers before 1630, thesis, University of Texas, 1995; S. Russomanno Sonido y fractals en la musica de Francisco Guerrero, “De Notas Preliminaries” No. 1, 1997; J.M. Llorens Cistero Francisco Guerrero en sus Opera omnia, “Anuario Musical” No. 54, 1999; S. Russomanno Materia unica: Suono e presenza nella musica di Francisco Guerrero, “Sonus” No. 11, 1999; O. Trachier Francisco Guerrero héritier de la tradition franco-flamande: onze pièces basées sur un ostinato, “Anuario Musical” No. 54, 1999; S. de Andrés Baylón La simbiosis músico-textual en las “Canciones y Villanescas Espirituales” de Francisco Guerrero, “Revista de Musicología” No. 25, 2002; M. Noone Cristóbal de Morales in Toledo, 1545-6: ToleBC 25 and ‘new’ works by Morales, Guerrero, Lobo, Tejeda and Ambiela, “Early Music” No. 30, 2002; O. Reese Recalling Cristóbal de Morales to Mind”: Emulation in Guerrero’s Sacrae cantiones of 1555, in: Ecomium musicae: Essays in Memory of Robert J. Snow, ed. D. Crawford, Hillsdale 2002; R.C. King The Canciones y Villanescas Espirituales of Francisco Guerrero and the Tradition of Sacred Song in Renaissance Spain, thesis, University of Toronto, 2004; J. Marín López “Por ser como es tan excelente música”: la circulacion de los impresos de Francisco Guerrero en Mexico, in: Concierto barroco: Estudios sobre música, dramaturgia e historia cultural, ed. J.J. Carreras, Rioja 2004; E. Ros-Fábregas Libros de polifonía en la Catedral de Pamplona, “Príncipe de Viana” No. 67, 2006; M. Restrepo Propagando la Contrarreforma: los madrigales de Francisco Guerrero en “Canciones villanescas espirituales” (Venecia, 1589), “Revista de Musicología” No. 37, 2014; O. Rees Reworking in the motets of Francisco Guerrero, “Revista de Musicología” XL, 2017; M. Restrepo A composer travels to the holy land: Francisco Guerrero’s El viage de Hierusalem (Valencia, 1590), “Studies in Travel Writing” No. 22, 2018; A. Bustos Sobre el Viaje de Jerusalén de Francisco Guerrero (1588): algunos aspectos biográficos, bibliográficos y literarios, “Hipogrifo” No. 9, 2021.