''Tiento'' (, ) is a musical genre originating in Spain in the mid-15th century. It is formally analogous to the
fantasia (fantasy), found in England, Germany, and the Low Countries, and also the
ricercare, first found in Italy. By the end of the 16th century the tiento was exclusively a keyboard form, especially of
organ
Organ and organs may refer to:
Biology
* Organ (biology), a group of tissues organized to serve a common function
* Organ system, a collection of organs that function together to carry out specific functions within the body.
Musical instruments
...
music. It continued to be the predominant form in the Spanish organ tradition through the time of
Cabanilles, and developed many variants. Additionally, many 20th-century composers have written works entitled "''tiento''".
Name
The word derives from the Spanish verb ''tentar'' (meaning either to touch, to tempt or to attempt), and was originally applied to music for various instruments. In the early eighteenth century, some composers also used the term ''obra'', originally a more general term meaning "work", to refer to this genre.
Formal aspects
The tiento is formally extraordinarily diverse, more a set of guidelines than a rigid structural model such as
fugue
In classical music, a fugue (, from Latin ''fuga'', meaning "flight" or "escape""Fugue, ''n''." ''The Concise Oxford English Dictionary'', eleventh edition, revised, ed. Catherine Soanes and Angus Stevenson (Oxford and New York: Oxford Universit ...
or
rondo
The rondo or rondeau is a musical form that contains a principal theme (music), theme (sometimes called the "refrain") which alternates with one or more contrasting themes (generally called "episodes", but also referred to as "digressions" or "c ...
. Nearly all tientos are imitative to some degree, though not as complex or developed as the fugue. This has led to their being associated with the other embryonic imitative forms cited above. Similarly, it is difficult to assign a single style to the form, since it underwent a considerable amount of evolution from its inception to its decline in the late 18th century. The earliest tientos (such as those of
Cabezón) were stylistically quite close to the ricercare in their extended use of the strict, motet-style counterpoint. Later (especially in the works of Cabanilles), tientos would frequently alternate between the older style of strict counterpoint, and virtuosic, affective figuration typical of the
toccata
Toccata (from Italian ''toccare'', literally, "to touch", with "toccata" being the action of touching) is a virtuoso piece of music typically for a keyboard or plucked string instrument featuring fast-moving, lightly fingered or otherwise virt ...
and some fantasias. The evolution of the form was in part conditioned by the evolution of the Spanish organ, and it eventually came to include several variants or sub-forms, several of which are listed below:
* Tiento de medio registro: A tiento making use of the split keyboard, frequently found on Spanish organs from the mid-16th century on. The split keyboard refers to an organ manual where ranks of pipes may be engaged for half the keyboard, as opposed to the entire compass, which is the norm. This enables the player to utilize different sounds on the same keyboard, generally a solo sound and an accompaniment sound, though occasionally two sounds of equal strength. The tiento de medio registro figures prominently in the oeuvres of
Correa de Arauxo,
Aguilera de Heredia, and
Bruna.
* Tiento de lleno: The opposite of the tiento de medio registro; a tiento played on one sound (full register).
* Tiento de falsas: A tiento making frequent use of dissonance, so as to achieve particularly dramatic effect. "Falsas" refers to "false notes," or dissonant tones not part of the current mode or key. It is similar to the Italian idea of
Durezze e ligature (consonance and dissonance).
* Tiento pleno: an irregular tiento consisting of three sections: a prelude, fugue, and postlude. It has more in common with the German
praeludium than with other tientos.
Composers
*
Antonio de Cabezón (1510–1566)
*
António Carreira (ca. 1520/30– fl. 1587/97)
*
Bernardo Clavijo de Castillo (1545–1626)
*
Manuel Rodrigues Coelho (1555–1635)
*
Sebastián Aguilera de Heredia (1561–1627)
*
Francisco de Peraza (1564–1598)
*
Gaspar Fernandes (1566–1629)
*
Estacio de Lacerna (ca. 1570–after 1616)
*
Francisco Correa de Arauxo (1584–1654)
*
José Ximénez (1601–1672)
*
José Perandreu (fl. mid–17th century)
*
Pablo Bruna (1611–1679)
*
Juan Cabanilles (1644–1712)
Contemporary composers
*
Jean Langlais (1907–1991): includes a tiento as movement 2 of his ''Suite Médiévale'' (1947)
*
Maurice Ohana (1913–1992): composed a ''Tiento'' for
guitar
The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...
(1957)
* Benet Casablancas (1956) has recently (2012) written a ''Tiento'' for organ based on the
Lutheran chorale
A Lutheran chorale is a musical setting of a Lutheran hymn, intended to be sung by a congregation in a German Protestant church service. The typical four-part setting of a chorale, in which the sopranos (and the congregation) sing the melody ...
''Frisch auf, mein' Seel', verzage nichte'' a part of the ''Orgelbüchlein Project''.
* Carlotta Ferrari (1975) has published three Tientos for Organ: Tiento de lleno, Tiento de falsas and Tiento de batalla (IMSLP 2015).
Notes
References
*
* Willi Apel. ''The History of Keyboard Music to 1700''. Translated by Hans Tischler. Indiana University Press, 1972. . Originally published as ''Geschichte der Orgel- und Klaviermusik bis 1700'' by Bärenreiter-Verlag, Kassel.
{{Music of Spain
Renaissance music
Spanish dances
Music of Spain