Spanish lutenist and composer. Blind from birth, he became a consummate virtuoso on the vihuela, and served at the Spanish court in the 1560s. His principal collection of music for the vihuela, Orphénica lyra (1554), was dedicated to King Philip II and represents perhaps the high point of this repertory. It contains many transcriptions of polyphony by a wide range of Continental masters -- Morales , Guerrero , Gombert , Josquin , Willaert -- and fantasias of his own; in fact the latter are often paired with the transcriptions from which they take their musical inspiration. His vihuela writing is in a free polyphonic style, with much dissonance and adroit contrapuntal procedure. The volume also contains some accompanied solo songs.
