Francesc Valls (c.1671-1747)
- Missa Scala Aretina (1702)
Performers: Hеlеna Mаеs (soprano); Bаrt Uvyn (alto); Dеnzil Dеlаеrе
(tenor); Joris Strοοbаnts (bass);
Vοx Mаgo; Patrick de Brаbаndеrе
(conductor)
Engraving: Anoniem - Barcellona (c.1700)
Further info: Francesc Valls (c.1671-1747) - Tonos divinos españoles
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Spanish composer and theorist. His birth date is usually given as 1665,
but Pavia i Simó (1990) proposed a date of about 1671, based on evidence
from Valls’s Missa regalis. In 1688 he was placed in charge of the
music at the Mataró parish. Later that year he was made maestro de
capilla at Gerona Cathedral, and early in 1696 took up a similar
appointment at S María del Mar, Barcelona. When Joan Barter retired as
maestro de capilla of Barcelona Cathedral in December 1696, Valls was
appointed to succeed him, first as substitute, then as interim and
finally, on 18 February 1709, as titular maestro. According to Martín
Moreno (Historia de la música española, IV: Siglo XVIII, 152-154,
417-419, 425; 1985), Valls had retired from the post by 1726; León Tello
(La teoría española de la música en los siglos XVII y XVIII, 550-579,
1974), however, placed his retirement much later, at 1741. Valls was a
prolific composer, and his works survive in archives throughout Spain,
but he was known in his lifetime (and has been remembered since)
primarily for the controversy that surrounded his Missa ‘Scala aretina’
and for his impressive treatise Mapa armónico. The polemics to which the
mass gave rise centred on the second soprano’s entry on an unprepared
9th at ‘miserere nobis’ in the Gloria. Gregorio Portero, maestro de
capilla at Granada Cathedral, fired the first salvo in 1715; he was
joined the following year by Joaquín Martínez de la Roca, the organist
at Palencia, who argued that ‘music consists of established principles
and general rules; when these are broken the very essence of music is
destroyed’. Valls defended himself ‘not so much for my own reputation as
for the freedom and honour of the art of music’. Over 50 Spanish
musicians joined the debate in writing, and even Alessandro Scarlatti,
in Italy, became involved. Other issues touched on in the dispute
included the question of whether or not the 4th should be viewed as a
consonance (Valls argued that it should), the use of B in the scale on
F, and matters of text expression. Valls’s treatise Mapa armónico,
dating from 1741-42, was not published in his lifetime, but circulated
widely in Spain. It contains a wealth of information on modal theory,
harmony and counterpoint, continuo realization, instruments, national
styles, genres and matters affecting performance. There are numerous
music examples, many of them complete compositions.
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