The sixteenth century Spanish song genre of romance has a history that stretches to at least the thirteenth century. One of the prototypical forms of the genre was the cantiga; monophonic settings of narrative poems. Most famously, Alfonso X (ca. 1221-1284) collected hundreds of volumes of his own cantigas taht set in a taut, economical style, tales of first-rate miracles from throughout the ages up to ones he witnessed himself. His cantigas were intended to be played by the traveling jongleurs who accompanied themselves on lutes or vihuelas. Through numerous developments, polyphonic vihuela, and voice romances centuries later they usually told either tales of Charlemagne's knights or of the wars against the Moors. What Mudarra has done in the romance Trieste estava el Rey David is set instead a poem paraphrased from the second book of Samuel, describing King David's sorrow at the news of Abasalom's death. Like Alfonso X's taut monodies, Mudarra's polyphonic romances are attractively lean. Only the first four lines are set; the remaining lines use the same music as the first. The slowly drifting vocal part is written mostly in declamatory long tones and chanted notes, which the singer embellishes with lavish ornamentation. Trieste estava el Rey David, in its knife-like forcefulness, seems quintessentially Spanish. You can smell the dust and feel the crushing, melancholy heat of summer. Time seems to open up into a mythical plane of accomplishment and loss. Mudarra was renowned during his life as an excellent vihuela-player; presumably, he had great dexterity with his fingers. But his vihuela parts, to his credit, never boast his virtuosity. While the singer sings, the vihuela mostly withdraws into the background, sustaining the singer with chords. The vihuela pushes forward again with polyphonic fretwork only during interludes. If the music is showcasing anything of its maker, it is showcasing the delicacy of his sensibility, the rarity of his craft, and his ability to do more with less. There's a medieval poem that admonishes: "...be assured that no sound abhorred by man can please God/But seek after artistry so that you may please Christ/And at the same time be found well pleasing in the sight of men." With his exquisite biblical romances, the composer and priest Mudarra proudly upheld centuries-old musical ideals and continued a tradition of Spanish Christian narrative song.

© Donato Mancini, Rovi