Peñalosa, Francisco de
Peñalosa, Francisco de
Peñalosa, Francisco de, important Spanish composer; b. Talavera de la Reina, c. 1470; d. Seville, April 1, 1528. In 1498 he became a singer in the chapel choir of Ferdinand V. The King obtained a canonry (in absentia) for him in 1505 at the Seville Cathedral; in 1506 the Cathedral authorities revoked the appointment, but by 1510 he was able to fulfill the residence requirement. In 1511 the King made him maestro de capilla to his grandson. In 1512 he went to the royal monastery of S. Pedro de Cardena, near Burgos. In 1516 he returned to Seville, where he assumed administrative duties at the Cathedral. In 1517 he became chamberlain and singer at the papal chapel; in 1518 he resigned his canonry at Seville Cathedral to become archdeacon of Carmona. In 1521 he resumed his canonry at Seville Cathedral, where he remained until his death. Penalosa was one of the most important composers of his era, a master of polyphonic sacred and secular music. His sacred works include masses, Magnificats, motets, and hymns. Some of them are found in H. Eslava y Elizondo, ed., Lira Sacro-Hispaña (1st series, vol. I, Madrid, 1869).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire