Pedro Aranaz y Vides

Pedro Aranaz y Vides was a composer of Navarrese origin, born in Tudela around 1740 (he was baptised on 2 May that year) and who died in Cuenca in September 1820. His career belongs to eighteenth-century Spain, moving between ecclesiastical chapel music and popular theatre in Madrid, and he is remembered above all for his tonadillas and his substantial body of sacred music.

He trained for eight years with Luis Serra at the cathedral of El Pilar in Zaragoza. Between 1763 and 1768 he unsuccessfully applied for the posts of chapel master at Santo Domingo de la Calzada, El Pilar and Zamora; in each case he was passed over, probably because he was not yet a priest. In 1765 he moved to Madrid, where he made his name with tonadillas distinguished by catchy melodies and a popular air. In 1769 he obtained the post of chapel master at Cuenca Cathedral, where he remained until his death despite receiving offers from better-paid cathedrals. He was ordained a priest in 1773 and gave up the musical directorship in 1797.

His principal legacy is his sacred repertoire: some three hundred works in Latin and Castilian survive, among them fourteen masses and numerous motets, salves and villancicos. In 1791 Manuel Alonso Ortega ranked him first among his contemporary composers of expressive sacred music, a judgement that his reputation at the time bears out.