Book 1: Instrumental Pieces for Vihuela and Renaissance Guitar (1 to 23)
- Content: It contains solo works for the six-course vihuela and includes the earliest surviving written compositions for the four-course Renaissance guitar.
- Pieces for Vihuela: Mostly contrapuntal Fantasías (some designated as “easy”), settings of mass movements (such as the Pleni from a mass by Josquin des Prés), and traditional variation forms (Conde Claros in 12 variations and Romanesca / O guárdame las vacas in 5 variations). It also includes dances like pavans and a galliard.
- Pieces for Guitar: Four pioneering Fantasías using the “old tuning” (temple viejo) and “new tuning” (temple nuevo), alongside a pavan.
Book 2: Advanced Instrumental Music for Vihuela (24-49)
- Content: This book features more complex and demanding solo works for the vihuela, organized according to the eight ecclesiastical modes.
- The World-Famous Fantasía X: The most celebrated piece of the collection (Fantasía que contrahaze la harpa en la manera de Ludovico) imitates the chromatic playing techniques of the harpist Ludovico. It is considered a Renaissance masterpiece due to its daring dissonances and modern harmonic shifts.
- Other Works: Additional polyphonic Fantasías and intabulations (instrumental arrangements) of vocal works by prominent Franco-Flemish composers such as Josquin des Prés, Antoine de Févin, and Nicolas Gombert.
Book 3: Vocal Music with Vihuela Accompaniment & Harp/Organ (50)
- Content: This book focuses on songs for solo voice accompanied by the vihuela, showcasing Mudarra’s mastery of text-setting and musical word-painting.
- Genres and Languages:
- Romances and Villancicos in Spanish (e.g., Triste estava el rey David, Si me llaman a mí).
- Sonnets in Italian based on texts by Petrarch and Sannazaro.
- Verses in Latin set to texts by classical Roman poets like Horace and Virgil (e.g., Dulces exuviae from the Aeneid).
- Concluding Piece: The collection concludes with a tiento-style composition explicitly written for harp or organ (para harpa u órgano).
