Spanish organist and theorist. Blind from
birth, he was trained in organ and languages; he studied
humanities at Salamanca University. In 1538 he traveled with
Cardinal Pedro Sarmiento de Salinas to Rome, where, at the behest
of Pope Paul III, he was ordained and given an abbacy. He held
organ posts for the Viceroy of Naples (1553-58, under Diego
Ortiz), Sigüenza Cathedral (1559-63), and León
Cathedral (1563-67); he taught at Salamanca University.(1567-87).
His
De musica libri septem
(1577) treats proportions, intervals, modes, and tones drawing
on both classical and modem theorists; it discusses rhythm and
meter anf carries further many of
Zarlino
's ideas; it contains among its musical examples unique
specimens of Spanish folksongs as known in the sixteenth
century. He inspired Fray Luis de León's
Oda a Salinas.