Juan Pérez de Gijón ( fl. 1460 – 1500) was a Spanish composer of the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...

. Nothing is known about his life, except for his approximate period of activity. He is one of the composers of secular songs who contributed to the huge ''

Cancionero Musical de Palacio The Cancionero de Palacio (Madrid, Biblioteca Real, MS II–1335), or Cancionero Musical de Palacio (CMP), also known as Cancionero de Barbieri, is a Spanish manuscript of Renaissance music. The works in it were compiled during a time span of arou ...

'', the largest and most diverse manuscript collection of music from Spain at the time of

Columbus Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo''". It most commonly refers to: * Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), the Italian explorer * Columbus, Ohio, capital of the U.S. state of Ohio Columbus may also refer to: Places ...

. Most likely this manuscript was copied for King

Ferdinand II of Aragon Ferdinand II ( an, Ferrando; ca, Ferran; eu, Errando; it, Ferdinando; la, Ferdinandus; es, Fernando; 10 March 1452 – 23 January 1516), also called Ferdinand the Catholic (Spanish: ''el Católico''), was King of Aragon and Sardinia from ...

, and may represent his personal taste. In addition to the songs found in this manuscript, some songs attributed to Perez de Gijón are also in the ''

Cancionero de la Colombina The Cancionero de la Colombina or Cancionero Musical de la Colombina (CMC) is a Spanish manuscript (Ms. 7-1-28) containing Renaissance music from the second half of the 15th century.DIAMM - SourceE-Sc Ms. 7-1-28/ref> The manuscript was copied durin ...

'', a late 15th-century manuscript from

Seville Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...

; this manuscript was part of the library of

Ferdinand Columbus Ferdinand Columbus (Spanish: ''Fernando Colón'' also ''Hernando'', Portuguese: ''Fernando Colombo'', Italian: ''Fernando Colombo''; c. 24 August 1488 – 12 July 1539) was a Spanish bibliographer and cosmographer, the second son of Christopher C ...

, the son of the explorer, by 1534. Most of the secular songs in both manuscripts, including those by Perez de Gijón, are ''

villancico The ''villancico'' (Spanish, ) or vilancete (Portuguese, ) was a common poetic and musical form of the Iberian Peninsula and Latin America popular from the late 15th to 18th centuries. Important composers of villancicos were Juan del Encina, Pedro ...

s''; most of them are for three voices, with the tune in the topmost voice.

Sources and further reading

*"Spain: Art Music", Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed January 21, 2005)
Grove Music Online
*

Gustave Reese Gustave Reese ( ; 29 November 1899 – 7 September 1977) was an American musicologist and teacher. Reese is known mainly for his work on medieval and Renaissance music, particularly with his two publications ''Music in the Middle Ages'' (1940) ...

, ''Music in the Renaissance''. New York, W.W. Norton & Co., 1954. {{DEFAULTSORT:Perez De Gijon, Juan Perez de Gijon Perez de Gijon Male classical composers