Francisco Guerrero
Francisco Guerrero (1528–1599) was a Spanish Renaissance composer and Catholic priest, admired for sacred motets and masses as well as secular songs that long outlived him in cathedral and court repertory.
Born and based in Seville, he wrote music of striking emotional range, from still devotion to festive joy, with clear, singable lines and a preference for homophonic textures. His sacred output includes Marian motets such as Ave Maria; his Christmas and other Spanish pieces also travel well in performance.
On this label his writing appears in early-music programmes of Spanish Renaissance song and Marian devotion, including O Rose So Red (MD 3209) and Music of the Spanish Renaissance (MD 3225).
Compositions by Francisco Guerrero appear on
Music of the Spanish Renaissance
La Compañia's first CD gathers seventeen Spanish Renaissance works on period instruments with soprano Vivien Hamilton, including cues heard in the film Elizabeth but omitted from its commercial soundtrack.
O Rose So Red
Melbourne-based Schola Cantorum, directed by Gary Ekkel, present chants, songs and motets that honour the Virgin Mary across more than a thousand years of sacred repertoire.
Love Lyrics and Romances of Renaissance Spain
This is the first recording by the early music group La Romanesca, devoted to Spanish villancicos and romances of the Renaissance.