Joan Ferrer, mestre de cant i organista de la Catedral de Barcelona (1513-1536), autor del motet "Domine non secundum" del Cancionero musical de Segovia (CMS) (E.: SegC, s. s.)

Abstract

Before Pere Alberch arrived at Barcelona Cathedral, the organ master had been the organist Joan Ferrer in the period between 1515 and 1536, and he had also been the magister cantus between 1513 and 1517. The identity of the organist of Barcelona Cathedral corresponds to that of the composer Johannes Ffarer, who was the author of the motet Domine non secundum of the Cancionero musical de Segovia. The identification between Johannes Ffarer and Joan Ferrer, and the presence of his processional motet Domine non secundum together with that of the hymn Conditor alme siderunt of Marturià Prats, evidence the Flemish chapel's reception of the polyphonic repertoire of these two Catalan composers, whose works must have been added to the cancionero or song-book during the long stay of Charles I's chapel in Barcelona in the course of the year 1519. Moreover, thanks to the chapter documents of the cathedrals of Vic, Tortosa and Tarragona, we know that Marturià Prats as well as Antoni Marlet remained attached to the noble chapel which Prince Henry, Count of Empúries, kept in his palace at Carrer Ample in Barcelona. Within the urban, social and musical context of the Barcelona of the early 16th century, it is easy to imagine how frequent the contacts must have been and consequently the understandings and musical exchanges between the musicians of the Flemish chapel and those of the noble chapels of the Cardonas, Prince Henry, the Montcadas, etc., as well as the singers of the Cathedral and those of the major parish churches of the city. An event of this type could help to explain the reason for the presence of the two works of Joan Ferrer and Marturià Prats in the CMS, together with the rich Franco-Flemish and Castilian repertoire to be found there.