Gabriel Mena

A poem in the 1554 Cancionero general refers to him as a married man living close to Tordesillas in Torrelobatón. In fact, Mena was married twice with three children.

Mena was a respected poet and composer, with 19 musical works surviving. All but one of his works are preserved in the Cancionero Musical de Palacio, with the other being preserved in the records of the Biblioteca de Catalunya. Most of his songs are concerned with the hardship of love and contain quotes of other popular refrains. The songs Aquel pastorcico, madre, La bella malmarida, Aquella mora garrida, and Sola me dexastes all contain full quotations of the same refrain in the tenor. Mena's music was very distinct, and surviving examples show some characteristics that were unique to him in the Spanish Renaissance era. First, he used rapid scalar passages in all of his voices. Second, while rarely changing meter, he frequently used polyrhythms that changed the felt meter of the passage. His closing chords never rose above E or C and he often used parallel first inversion chords. Additionally, his surviving compositions include no romances. Even his setting of the popular romance, La bella malmaridada, is not a romance, but a refrain. And finally, unlike his contemporaries Juan del Encina and Luis de Milán, he wrote music to be sung by a woman.

• Aquel pastorcico, madre • Aquella mora garrida • Andaran siempre mis ojos, 2vv • Andaran siempre mis ojos, 3vv • De la dulce mi enemiga • La bella malmaridada • Mi ventura, el caballero • Sola me dexastes