This project examines the connection between music and text in works for solo voice
and vihuela de mano by sixteenth century composer Alonso Mudarra. In addition to
outlining the vihuela’s history as an important, yet transitory, ancestor to the modern
guitar, the paper provides a detailed analysis of a selection of Mudarra’s compositions,
with particular regard to text painting and conjectured musical commentary on themes of
life, death, nature, and faith.