Juan
de Anchieta was born into a leading Basque family, his mother a great-aunt of
Ignatius Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus. In 1489 he was appointed to
the chapel of Queen Isabella and in 1495 became maestro di capilla to
Prince Don Juan, returning to the Queen’s service after...
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Juan
de Anchieta was born into a leading Basque family, his mother a great-aunt of
Ignatius Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus. In 1489 he was appointed to
the chapel of Queen Isabella and in 1495 became maestro di capilla to
Prince Don Juan, returning to the Queen’s service after the Prince’s death in
1497 and in 1504 to that of the new Queen, Joanna the Mad. He held various church benefices, from 1518 as Abbot of Arbás, spending his final
years in a Franciscan convent he had founded in Azpeitia.
Sacred Music
Some
thirty of Juan de Anchieta’s compositions survive, among them two complete
Masses, two Magnificats, a Salve Regina, four attributed Passion
settings, with other sacred works and four compositions with Spanish texts. He
was among the leading Spanish composers of his generation, writing music for
the ample resources of the court chapel of the Catholic Kings.