Ruiz de Ribayaz Lucas, *baptised 15 October 1626 Santa María Ribarredonda (near Burgos), †after 1677?, Spanish guitarist and harpist. He received his education at the collegiate church in Villafranca del Bierzo, where he later became a canon. He pursued his musical studies whilst in the service of the Count of Lemos, the Count of Andrade and the Marquis Don Fadrique de Toledo. In 1677, he visited Peru with the entourage of the Count of Lemos. The biographical details are taken from Ruiz de Ribayaz’s only known work, Luz y norte musical para caminar por las cifras de la guitarra española y arpa, Madrid 1677 (facsimile edition by M.R. Calvo-Manzano, Madrid 1982). It is a comprehensive manual on playing the Spanish guitar and double harp, containing tablature for compositions by G. Sanz, A. Lorente and Juan del Vado, as well as an extensive collection of dances (mainly Spanish, including the folia, sarabande, passacaglia, españoletta, jácara, matachin [Danza de Matachines], villano, dança del Acha, mariona, as well as the pavane, galliard and canario), probably composed by Ruiz de Ribayaz, constituting a valuable source for understanding the Baroque dances of this cultural circle.
Literature: R. Strizich A Spanish Guitar Tutor. Ruiz de Ribayaz “Luz y norte musical (1677)”, “Journal of the Lute Society of America” VII, 1974; M.J. Yakeley, M. Hall El estilo castellano y el estilo catalan: An introduction to Spanish guitar notation, “The lute: The journal of the Lute Society,” XXXV, 1995; J.A. Clemente Buhlal, Evolución y análisis estructural del método de guitarra, “Nassarre: Revista aragonesa de musicología,” XX, 2004; F.A. Valdivia Sevilla Las cifras de punteado en Luz y norte musical de Lucas Rruiz de Ribayaz, “Hispánica lyra: Revista de la Sociedad de la Vihuela,” II, 2005.
Luz y norte musical, facsimile edition, Geneva 1976
