7 - Conclusions

Summary

THIS STUDY has attempted to outline the facts of Esquivel's life as far as they can be ascertained, and has examined in some depth the characteristics of the master's compositional technique as demonstrated in his three known publications. What conclusions can be drawn concerning his place in the history of Spanish Church music and his standing as a composer within that tradition?

If quantity of works alone were to be regarded as a measure of a composer's skill, then Esquivel would score highly: eleven mass ordinaries, two Requiem masses, seventy-two motets, eight psalms, thirty hymns, sixteen Magnificat settings, four Marian antiphons and further additional items for use in Matins, Lauds and Compline and in Masses for the Dead. This is a substantial body of material – a rich legacy. But there are still questions that remain: how good a composer was Esquivel, and where does he stand in the hierarchy of composers of his time? In order to find an answer to these questions, we look first at the writings of contemporary Renaissance theorists.

Regrettably, they are remarkably silent when it comes to offering criteria for critical appraisal of the music of their time. They recognise the achievements of composers we admire greatly today – Josquin, Morales, Palestrina, Lassus, and many more – but their vocabulary tends to lack precise meaning, as does that used by fellow-writers when offering a critique of the visual art of the period. In the latter case, for example, we find paintings described as having a ‘virile air’ (aria virile), or a ‘good air’ (bona aria); as being ‘very sweet’ (molto dolce); or they are done with the ‘best method’ (optima regione) and ‘complete proportion’ (integra proportione). These descriptors are useful as a means of recording personal impressions, but they are subjective and say nothing of the technique employed to create the paintings viewed.

Similar terminology pervades writings on music, and offers little help when we are seeking to establish contemporary criteria for assessment. However, one Italian theorist, Lodovico Zacconi, does offer descriptors which are more helpful in making judgements.

In the second part of his Prattica di musica, published in 1622, he records topics of a conversation held in 1584 with, among others, the composer and theorist Gioseffo Zarlino.