Unedited Motets by a Little Known Composer: Alonso Ordóñez

International audienceMany Iberian composers of the Renaissance remain to be rediscovered and studied: bringing them out of the obscurity of anonymity has been a task for scholar and performers, often motivated by an almost quixotic spirit, over many years. At the forefront of this quixotic endeavour has been Bruno Turner whose pioneering work as editor and conductor has long been dedicated to bringing to light little known composers of the Spanish Renaissance. My own contribution to this volume follows in Bruno's footsteps and directs the spotlight on one of the many composers who marked Spain out musically in the sixteenth century: Alonso Ordóñez. 1 A A O The only details of Ordóñez's life currently in the scholarly domain are summarized in José López-Calo's entry for the Diccionario de la Música Española e Hispanoamericana, 2 and these will shortly be expanded by Juan The choice of this composer is deliberate. I first met Bruno Turner at the Medieval and Renaissance Music Conference in Bangor in. At the time he was intrigued as to the identity of the composer of an anonymous Mass based on a motet by Morales preserved in a Mexican source at the Newberry Library. When he showed me the score, a mixture of enthusiasm and inexperience immediately led me to suggest Alonso Or-dóñez. Of course, such an attribution is impossible to verify, but it meant that I acquired first-hand experience of Bruno's affability and patience with young musicologists like myself. His friendship and encouragement since our first meeting hava meant a great deal to me. José López-Calo, 'Ordóñez', DMEH, : a