Fr. Tomás de Santa María O.P. (also Tomás de Sancta Maria) (ca. 1510 – 1570) was a Spanish music theorist, organist and composer of the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

. He was born in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

but the date is highly uncertain; he died in

Ribadavia Ribadavia is a town and municipality located in the southwest of the province of Ourense, in the autonomous community of Galicia, Spain. It belongs to the comarca of O Ribeiro. The urban area lies on the right bank of the Miño river and the la ...

. Little is known about his life except that he joined the Dominican order of friars in 1536, he was employed as an organist in various locales in mid-century, and he published his major work, ''Arte de tañer fantasía'', in

Valladolid Valladolid ( ; ) is a Municipalities of Spain, municipality in Spain and the primary seat of government and ''de facto'' capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Castile and León. It is also the capital of the pr ...

in 1565. This book is a comprehensive work on keyboard technique of the time. Its principal aim is to teach how to improvise in a

fugal In classical music, a fugue (, from Latin ''fuga'', meaning "flight" or "escape""Fugue, ''n''." ''The Concise Oxford English Dictionary'', eleventh edition, revised, ed. Catherine Soanes and Angus Stevenson (Oxford and New York: Oxford Universit ...

style, but to get to that point, difficult to the most accomplished musicians of any age, he includes detailed treatments of the rudiments of music, the eight

church modes A Gregorian mode (or church mode) is one of the eight systems of pitch organization used in Gregorian chant. History The name of Pope Gregory I was attached to the variety of chant that was to become the dominant variety in medieval western and ...

, ornaments, touch, articulation, fingering, and

counterpoint In music theory, counterpoint is the relationship of two or more simultaneous musical lines (also called voices) that are harmonically dependent on each other, yet independent in rhythm and melodic contour. The term originates from the Latin ...

, including a categorization of four-note chords, rather similar to what

Pietro Aron Pietro Aron, also known as Pietro (or Piero) Aaron (c. 1480 – after 1545), was an Italian music theorist and composer. He was born in Florence and probably died in Bergamo (other sources state Florence or Venice). Biography Very little is know ...

had written several decades before in

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

(which work he may have used as a source). The classification of chords is especially significant for this is the period in music history during which composers began to think in terms of harmonic progression as a generative mechanism rather than purely the happenstance of intersecting, independent melodic lines. Santa María's book also gives instruction for creating music using the paired

imitation Imitation (from Latin ''imitatio'', "a copying, imitation") is a behavior whereby an individual observes and replicates another's behavior. Imitation is also a form of learning that leads to the "development of traditions, and ultimately our cu ...

technique of

Josquin des Prez Josquin Lebloitte dit des Prez ( – 27 August 1521) was a composer of High Renaissance music, who is variously described as French or Franco-Flemish. Considered one of the greatest composers of the Renaissance, he was a central figure of the ...

, who he clearly held to be the master of the style. Santa María's writings were influential both inside of Spain and throughout the rest of Europe, as can be seen by the numerous early

Baroque music Baroque music ( or ) refers to the period or dominant style of Classical music, Western classical music composed from about 1600 to 1750. The Baroque style followed the Renaissance music, Renaissance period, and was followed in turn by the Class ...

theorists (for example

Dámaso Artufel Dámaso is a Spanish masculine given name. The name is equivalent to that of Pope Damasus I in English. The name also exists in Italian as Damaso, though it is uncommon. People * Dámaso Alonso (1898–1990), Spanish poet * Dámaso Berenguer, 1st ...

and

Pietro Cerone Pietro Cerone (1566–1625) was an Italian music theorist, singer and priest of the late Renaissance. He is most famous for an enormous music treatise he wrote in 1613, which is useful in the studying compositional practices of the 16th century. ...

) who plagiarized him. The preface to the 1565 edition mentions that the influential

clavichord The clavichord is a stringed rectangular keyboard instrument that was used largely in the Late Middle Ages, through the Renaissance music, Renaissance, Baroque music, Baroque and Classical period (music), Classical eras. Historically, it was most ...

ist and organist

Antonio de Cabezón Antonio de Cabezón (30 March 1510 – 26 March 1566) was a Spanish Renaissance composer and organist. Blind from childhood, he quickly rose to prominence as a performer and was eventually employed by the royal family. He was among the most impor ...

(and his brother Juan de Cabezón) examined the treatise and approved it.

References

* Almonte Howell, "Tomás de Santa María". ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', ed. Stanley Sadie. 20 vol. London, Macmillan Publishers Ltd., 1980.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Santa Maria, Tomas de Spanish Renaissance composers Spanish music theorists Spanish Dominicans 1510s births 1570 deaths Spanish Christian monks 16th-century Spanish people Year of birth uncertain Spanish male classical composers