Mateu Fletxa "el vell"

Prades ( 1481 ) - Monestir de Poblet ( 1553 )
Mateu Fletxa
Fletxa "el vell" was a Carmelite born in Prades in 1481. Firstly he was cantor, later chapel master in the Lleida Cathedral (1523) and teacher of music of the Infants of Spain, sons of Carlos I. He died in the Poblet Monastery in 1553. His works consist of sacred music, published in a part by Fuenllana in his Orphenica Lira, and ensaladas for 4 and 5 voices, bassed on Latin, Catalonian, Castilian, Italian or French texts, published in 1581 in Praga by his nephew Mateu Fletxa el jove. Here the music’s highlighted characteristics include the melody, its generally descriptive theme, the variety of expresion and a certain theatral sense, changing even the language inside a ensalada.