Gaspar Sanz (1640 - 1710)

                           Espanoleta



   It is generally accepted that composer Gaspar Sanz was born on April 4, 1640, in Calanda in the region of Aragon, Spain. As a young man, he received a bachelor of theology degree and subsequently took the vows of Holy Orders from the University of Salamanca. But the spirituality of music would become a second vocation for Sanz and he journeyed to Italy to study music with Cristofaro Caresana and Lelio Colista, as well as (speculatively) Orazio Benevoli and Pietro Andrea Ziani. Upon his return to Spain, he pursued literature, religion, and music in equal measure with, respectively, a translation of Bartoli (1678), a eulogy to Pope Innocent XI (1681), and his musical magnum opus in the three-volume Instruccion de musica sobre la guitarra Espanola. His musical prowess soon came to loom over his other achievements, becoming widely regarded as the foremost guitar theorist of his day as well as private instructor of guitar to Don Juan of Austria, the dedicatee of his Instruccion. A complete musician, Sanz was also organist to the viceroy of Napoles. He is believed to have died in Madrid in 1710.