Event programme

Sospiro

The vihuela music that has come down to us is an invaluable legacy of Western music. In Portugal, the presence of the vihuela is well-documented, both in iconography and in the literary sources of the 16th century, but unfortunately, no written music for this instrument by Portuguese composers has survived.
Sospiro recreates a practice that is over 500 years old, viewed through the lens of our times, providing the instrument with Renaissance Portuguese repertoire, transcribed and recreated from sacred music by the great Portuguese composers of the 16th century and secular music from the songbooks of their contemporaries.
In this recital, the Portuguese repertoire of Sospiro dialogues with the works by some of the greatest Spanish composers associated with the vihuela, such as Luys de Narváez, Alonso Mudarra, and Luys de Milán, in a gathering of Iberian music for vihuela, five centuries later.

Anonymous / Tiago Matias (1978-)
Venid a sospirar
(P-Lma Ms 3391, Cancioneiro de Belém, ff. 65r)

Luys de Narvaez (c1500-1555/1560)
Diferencias sobre Guárdame las vacas
(Los seys libros del delphín, Libro 6, ff. 97r-101v)

Filipe de Magalhães (c1563-1652) / Tiago Matias (1978-)
Benedictus
(Missa Vere Dominus Est, P-Cug MI 15 / Missarium Liber, ff. 59v-61r)

Anonymous / Tiago Matias (1978-)
Ja dei fim a meus cuidados
(P-Em 11793, Cancioneiro de Elvas, ff. 81v-82r)

Alonso Mudarra (c1510 - 1580)
Fantasia X, que contrahaze la harpa en la manera de Ludovico
(Tres libros de musica en cifras para vihuela, Libro 1, ff. 13r-15r)

Luys de Milán (c1500 - c1561)
Pavana II
(Libro de Música de Vihuela de mano intitulado El Maestro, ff.39r-40r)

Anonymous / Tiago Matias (1978-)
Señora, aunque no os miro
(F-Peb Masson Ms. 56, Cancioneiro de Paris, ff. 83v-84r)

Claudin de Sermisy (c1490 - 1562) / Miguel de Fuenllana (c1500 – 1579)
Tant que vivray
(Libro de Musica para Vihuela intitulado Orphenika Lyra, Libro 5, ff.118r-119v)

Anonymous / Tiago Matias (1978-)
Minina dos olhos verdes
(F-Peb Masson Ms. 56, Cancioneiro de Paris, ff. 95v-96r)

Anonymous / Tiago Matias (1978-)
Que he o que vejo
(P-Em 11793, Cancioneiro de Elvas, ff. 70v-71r)

Josquin des Prez (c1450 – 1521) / Luys de Narvaez (c 1500 – 1555/1560)
Mille Regretz – Cancion del Emperador
(Los seys libros del delphín, Libro 3, ff. 40v-42r)

Pedro do Porto (fl1481 - c1524) / Tiago Matias (1978-)
Sicut erat in principio
(Magnificat, E-TZ Ms. 2/3, ff. 21v-24r)

Anonymous / Tiago Matias (1978-)
Não tragais borzeguis pretos
(F-Peb Masson Ms. 56, Cancioneiro de Paris, ff. 129v-130r)

The musical repertoire of 16th-century Europe has long been associated with a predominantly vocal aesthetic, reflected in decades of outstanding performances and recordings of works by composers such as Josquin des Prez, Adrian Willaert, Thomas Tallis and Orlando di Lasso, by renowned vocal ensembles including Huelgas Ensemble, The Tallis Scholars and Hilliard Ensemble.
There is no doubt, however, that instrumental performance was deeply embedded in the musical reality of the 16th century, even if it remained closely linked to vocal polyphony. Over the course of the century, new horizons for instrumental music gradually emerged: the practice of adapting vocal polyphony was refined, while the idiomatic possibilities of individual instruments were explored with increasing depth.
Within this context, plucked string instruments assumed a central role. Thanks to their technical versatility and expressive range, they became among the most representative instruments of the period. The immense popularity of the lute across Europe found its Iberian counterpart in the vihuela—an instrument of the same family which, despite morphological differences, allows for a remarkable flexibility in the exchange of repertoire.
The prominence of the vihuela in the Iberian Peninsula was further consolidated by the publication, between 1536 and 1576, of seven books devoted exclusively to the instrument. Although none of these foundational sources was published in Portugal, the circulation of musicians across the Peninsula, the abundance of iconographic and documentary evidence, and the dedication of the first of these books, El Maestro (Valencia, 1536) by Luys de Milán, to King João III of Portugal—together with the inclusion of six villancicos in Portuguese—clearly attest to the presence and dissemination of the vihuela in Portugal as well.
Alongside the lute—perhaps the most widespread instrument in 16th-century Europe—the vihuela dominated the Iberian musical landscape, with a repertoire of exceptional refinement, comparable to that of John Dowland and Francesco da Milano. Despite their different forms, the similarity of tuning and technique allows for the performance of essentially the same repertoire on both instruments.
It is from this rich legacy that Tiago Matias draws inspiration for his arrangements. His work engages directly with the well-documented Renaissance practice of adapting polyphonic repertoire for instruments, focusing on some of the most characteristic sources of Portuguese musical heritage. In seeking a meaningful dialogue between sacred and secular traditions—where the textual dimension remains implicit—he turns, on the one hand, to the principal repositories of 16th-century Portuguese secular music, namely the Cancioneiros of Lisbon, Elvas and Paris, and, on the other, to sacred works by some of the most distinguished Portuguese composers of the period.
Rediscovered and brought to prominence in the mid-20th century, and since embraced not only by Early Music ensembles but also by artists in Pop and Crossover contexts, these Cancioneiros continue to offer an inexhaustible field for study and reinterpretation, as demonstrated by the mature and imaginative approaches presented here.
In the sacred repertoire, Tiago Matias follows the model suggested by the vihuela sources themselves, selecting works of undeniable quality by Portuguese polyphonists such as Filipe de Magalhães and Pedro do Porto. These Portuguese materials enter into dialogue within this programme with works by leading Spanish vihuela composers, including Luys de Narváez, Alonso Mudarra, Miguel de Fuenllana, and again Luys de Milán, bringing together Iberian vihuela music five centuries later.
Sospiro thus emerges as a significant and distinctive project within the context of Portuguese Renaissance culture. It proposes a perspective in which music is understood as an inseparable component of a broader cultural fabric—essential for the comprehension, experience and revival of the ideas and sensibilities that define this heritage.
Beginning from the Renaissance practice of transcribing vocal music for the vihuela—abundant in Spanish sources and documented across the Iberian world—Tiago Matias undertook a process of transcription and arrangement grounded in close study of the original works, particularly their accentuation and phrasing. The presence of the text, even when not explicitly performed, serves as a structural and interpretative guide, enabling a necessarily subjective yet informed realisation of its poetic content.
His approach seeks to balance historical awareness with psychological and anthropological insight. Years of engagement with vihuela repertoire have also led him to introduce original variations, especially in secular works, where the concept of fantasia—a defining element of Renaissance musical thought—plays a central role.
Rather than merely furnishing the vihuela (or lute or guitar) with Portuguese Renaissance repertoire, Sospiro aims to recreate a 500-year-old practice through a contemporary lens. At the same time, sospiro—a musical figure expressing a fleeting emotion—becomes a metaphor for a broader artistic paradigm: the potential for reactivating polyphonic heritage across cultures. Much of this repertoire still awaits its own new sospiros on the vihuela.