Francesc Valls

Francesc Valls i Galan (* 1665 / 1671 probably in Barcelona , † 2. June 1747 ) was a Spanish composer and conductor .

life and work

Little is known about Valls' youth. He was probably born in Barcelona, ​​but there is now disagreement about the year he was born. In 1688 his name is mentioned on the cathedral in Girona , in 1696 in Santa Maria del Mar in Barcelona as "maestro de capilla", later in the same function at the cathedral in Barcelona , where he remains until his retirement.

Valls left a relatively extensive work, but today, like Spanish baroque music in general, it is relatively unknown. It must have been characteristic of his personality that he was strongly oriented towards the modern musical currents of his time and that he occasionally broke conventions even in his compositions. His work Mapa armonico is well-known , in which he critically treats compositional rules and conventions of his time.

His work is mainly devoted to church music, the Missa Scala Aretina being the most famous of his nine masses . He also composed motets , oratorios , litanies , magnificats and instrumental music .

His work has only been partially edited to this day, and many of the autographs are still in Spanish archives.

literature

• Baltasar Saldoni: Diccionario biográfico-bibliográfico de efemérides de músicos españoles. Volume 2. Dubrull, Madrid 1880, pp. 487-490 ( digitized in the Google book search).
• Antonio Ezquerro Esteban:  Valls, Francisco. In: Ludwig Finscher (Hrsg.): The music in past and present . Second edition, personal section, volume 16 (Strata - Villoteau). Bärenreiter / Metzler, Kassel et al. 2006, ISBN 3-7618-1136-5  ( online edition , subscription required for full access)

Web links

• Sheet music and audio files by Francesc Valls in the International Music Score Library Project