Francisco Guerau (1649 – 1722) was a Spanish

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

composer. After being born on

Majorca Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest island in the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain and located in the Mediterranean. The capital of the island, Palma, is also the capital of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. The Bal ...

, he entered the singing school at the Royal College in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

in 1659, becoming a member of the Royal Chapel as an

alto The musical term alto, meaning "high" in Italian (Latin: ''altus''), historically refers to the contrapuntal part higher than the tenor and its associated vocal range. In 4-part voice leading alto is the second-highest part, sung in choruses by ...

singer and composer ten years later. Named a member of the Royal Chamber of King

Charles II of Spain Charles II of Spain (''Spanish: Carlos II,'' 6 November 1661 – 1 November 1700), known as the Bewitched (''Spanish: El Hechizado''), was the last Habsburg ruler of the Spanish Empire. Best remembered for his physical disabilities and the War o ...

in 1693, he also served as a teacher at the singing school until 1701. His best-known work is a collection of pieces for

baroque guitar The Baroque guitar (c. 1600–1750) is a string instrument with five courses of gut strings and moveable gut frets. The first (highest pitched) course sometimes used only a single string. History The Baroque guitar replaced the Renaissance lut ...

entitled '' Poema harmónico'' that was published in 1694.

References

Antoni Pizà Antoni Pizà, born in Felanitx, Mallorca, Spain, in 1962, is a musicologist. After receiving a PhD at the Graduate Center of CUNY in 1994, he taught music history at Hofstra University in Long Island, at various colleges in CUNY, and at the ''Conse ...

: ''Francesc Guerau i el seu temps'' (Palma de Mallorca: Govern de les Illes Balears, Conselleria d'Educació i Cultura, Direcció General de Cultura, Institut d'Estudis Baleàrics, 2000)

External links

Brief biography

''Music in the time of Vélasquez''
p. 20. Spanish Baroque composers Composers for the classical guitar 1649 births 1722 deaths Musicians from the Balearic Islands People from Mallorca Spanish male classical composers 17th-century classical composers 18th-century classical composers 18th-century male musicians 18th-century musicians 17th-century male musicians {{Spain-composer-stub