Pau Villalonga (died

Palma de Mallorca Palma (; ; also known as ''Palma de Mallorca'', officially between 1983–88, 2006–08, and 2012–16) is the capital and largest city of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of the Balearic Islands in Spain. It is situate ...

29 March 1609) was a Spanish composer of sacred polyphony.

Life

He was chapel master of the church of Santa Maria del Mar (Barcelona) until 1564; then he became the first chapel master of the cathedral of Palma de Mallorca, appointment which he held until his death in 1609. According to the cathedral's records, he was "primatxer" or main singer of the cathedral's choir. The same documents show that among his duties he had to compose and teach music, as well as oversee the general education of the choir boys. His total extant musical output is compiled in the so-called Llibre d'Atril or Choir Book, which is now kept at the Arxiu Capitular de Mallorca. The small size of the handwritten volume and the fact that sometimes a third voice is copied in the back of several folios seem to indicate that the manuscript was not an actual choir book, but rather a compilation of the composer's music. The first page of the book reads "Es de m strePau Villa Llonga" (Is by m sterPau Villa Llonga), a phrasing that indicates that the book belonged to and was by the composer. Besides all of the known works by Villalonga, the Llibre d'atril includes unidentified works possibly by other composers (although most of the folios are unreadable). Villalonga's compositions have received high appraisal from Felipe Pedrell—comparing them to those of Victoria and Palestrina— Georges Jean-Aubry, and Manuel de Falla. Work list (polyphonic settings, four voices): Ad coronam, Ave Regina, Ave Maria stella Ave Regina caelorum Exultant laudibus, Himnum in festo S. Michaelis et Cor Christi, Jesu corona virginum, 3 Magnificats, Pange lingua, Salve Regina, Salve sancta parens, Sanctorum meritis, Veni creator, Vexilla regis

Bibliography

* Baldelló, Francisco. "La música en la Basílica Parroquial de Santa María del Mar, de Barcelona (Notas históricas)," ''Anuario Musical'' XVII (1962) pp. 209–41. * Carbonell, Xavier. "La música a la Seu," ''La Seu de Mallorca'', edited by Aina Pascual (Palma de Mallorca: José J. de Olañeta, 1995). * Juliá Roselló, Bernardo. "Maestros y músicos en la catedral de Mallorca" Master's thesis (Rome: Pontificio Instituto di Musica Sacra, 1965). * Parets i Serra, Joan, et al. "Villalonga, Pau", ''Diccionari de compositors mallorquins (segles XV-XIX'') (Palma de Mallorca: Edicions Cort, 1987) pp. 130–31. * Parets i Serra, Joan, et al. "Villalonga, Pau", ''Compositors de les Illes Balears'', prologue by

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 ...

(Pollença: El Gall, 2000) p. 186. {{DEFAULTSORT:Villalonga, Pau Year of birth missing 1609 deaths Renaissance composers Male classical composers