Life.
See the article in the DMEH for more complete information. Documents connected with the publication of Fuenllana’s tablature book confirm that he was blind from birth. Nicolás Antonio, in 1672 claims he was born in Navalcarnero (Madrid) (Vol 2, p. 1788), but this has not been verified. The earliest concrete knowledge of Fuenllana is the publication of “Orphenica Lyra” in 1554. Thereafter, he is cited by Bermudo in 1555 as being in the service of the Marquesa de Tarifa in Seville. In 1559 the marchioness accompanied her husband, the Duque de Alcalá Pedro Afán de Ribera, to Naples where he served as governor in the years 1559-1570. The departure of the marchioness coincides with Fuenllana becoming associated with the royal court, in the service of Isabel de Valois from 1560. In 1566, Fuenllana was paid 116,334 mrs/yr for his service to Isabel de Valois; a little later this amount was 173,000mrs (Angles1944, 141-142). After Isabel’s death, Fuenllana was dismissed from the court in January 1569 (Simancas AGS, Casa real de Castilla, leg 41, reported in Kastner 1955). He subsequently was employed in the Portuguese court from 1574-1578. After this date there is contradictory information about the last years of the vihuelist's life. In 1591, according to Anglés, Fuenllana's heirs managed to receive from the court money owed to them since his father had died. Another document dated 20 August 1621, brought to light by Jacobs, was presented to the young Philip IV by “doña Catalina de Fuenllana, viuda, y enferma, hija de Miguel de Fuenllana difunto. Dice que el dicho su padre sirvió a los señores Reyes Don Felipe segundo y tercero, padre y abuelo de su majestad, que santa gloria hayan, más de cuarenta y seis años de músico de cámara con mucha asistencia y satisfacción así en la corte como en todas las jornadas y ausencias que hicieron fuera de ella con mucho gasto de su hacienda, acudiendo siempre con la puntualidad y suficiencia que es notorio, hasta que murió sin habérsele hecho en todo el dicho tiempo ninguna merced y de los gajes del dicho oficio se le quedaron debiendo muchos maravedíes, por lo cual quedaron sus hijos con extrema necesidad y nunca se les ha hecho merced alguna en recompensa de los dichos servicios" (E:Mp, caja 378, exped. pers. 31). It thus seems that Fuenllana may have died between 1585 and 1605.
Orphenica Lyra
• casares1986. p. 522 reports a copy of Orphenica Lyra that had been in possession of don Sebastián de Soto en Labra en Asturias (mayo 1868) but which had been given as a gift to D. Hilarion Eslava. Soto then aquired another copy
• An inventory of the book store of Ana Belez en Valladolid (1596) includes a copy of “Fuenllana de musica” valued at 16 reales (Valladolid/Fichero; AHPV/leg/695/169v-182v)