Mayfair Organ Concerts
Andrew Benson-Wilson, organ
The Grosvenor Chapel
South Audley Street, Mayfair, London W1K 2PA
Tuesday 17 March 2025, 1:10

Francisco Correa de Arauxo (1584–1654)
Libro de tientos y discursos de musica practica y theoríca de organo
intitulado Facultad organica (1626)

This year’s annual Early Music Day recital focuses on the publication, exactly 400 years ago, of the monumental Libro de tientos y discursos de música practica, y theorica de organo intitulado Facultad organica (“Book of Tientos and Discourses on Practical and Theoretical Organ Music entitled Organic Faculty“) by the Spanish organist, composer, and theorist Francisco Correa de Arauxo.

Correa de Araujo was born in Seville. In 1599, aged just 15, he became organist of San Salvador, the second most important church in Seville. He became a priest around 1608, but became embroiled in various tussles with the authorities. In 1608, he was ordained as a priest. He maintained the Seville post until 1636 when, after many unsuccessful attempts to become cathedral organist, he was, after four years at Jaén Cathedral, appointed organist at Segovia Cathedral, where he stayed for the rest of his life, despite repeated offers from Seville to return as cathedral organist.

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