Ribafrecha, Martín de

Other names

Rivaflecha, Rivafrecha, Ribaflecha

Dates

first doc. 1503-d. 1528

Notes

A priest at Santo Domingo de la Calzada, he was appointed chapelmaster at Palencia Cathedral in December 1503 and remained linked to the institution until his death. However, there were some intermissions, due to disputes with the chapter. In the years 1521-23 he resigned and spent some time at Calahorra Cathedral as a singer. Upon his return in 1523, he obtained a prebend but was only named chapelmaster in 1525. He was deposed a month later and, after protestation, he was re-awarded the prebend (but not the chapelmastery). Regardless of the problems with the chapter, he was highly commended after his death. He was also praised by contemporaries such as Mateus de Aranda (Tractado de canto llano, 1533) and Cristóbal de Villalón (Ingeniosa comparación entre lo antiguo y lo presente, 1539).

Following BHP, the preferred spelling of the surname is Ribafrecha, as it is probably is a toponym.

Bibliography

Elústiza, Juan B. de, and Gonzalo Castrillo Hernández, Antología musical: Polifonía vocal, siglos XV y XVI (Barcelona: Rafael Casulleras, 1933), pp. xliv-xlvii

Knighton, Tess, “Rivaflecha, Martín de”, in Diccionario de la música española e hispanoamericana, ed. by Emilio Casares Rodicio, 10 vol. (Madrid: Sociedad General de Autores y Editores, 1999–2002), ix, 216-17

López-Calo, José, La música en la Catedral de Palencia, 2 vol. (Palencia: Diputación Provincial, Institución Tello Téllez de Meneses, 1980–1981), vol. 1, 454–62

Stevenson, Robert, Spanish Music in the Age of Columbus (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1960), pp. 190-93

External references

BHP

GroveMO

Works in this database

Quam pulchra es

Vox dilecti mei