Juan Bautista Cabanilles
Juan Bautista José Cabanilles (also Juan Bautista Josep, Valencian: Joan) (6 September 1644 in Algemesí near Valencia – 29 April 1712 in Valencia) was a Spanish organist and composer in Valencia Cathedral.
Juan Bautista Cabanilles

Vicenç Salvador Torres Guerola · CC BY-SA 3.0
- Name
- Juan Bautista Cabanilles
- Born
- 6 September 1644
- Died
- 29 April 1712 (age 67)
- Occupation
- Organist, composer
- Nationality
- Crown of Aragon
- Fields
- music · pipe organ
- Movements
- Baroque music
- Teachers
- Urbán de Vargas
- Languages
- Spanish
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Documentary summary
Juan Bautista José Cabanilles (also Juan Bautista Josep, Valencian: Joan) (6 September 1644 in Algemesí near Valencia – 29 April 1712 in Valencia) was a Spanish organist and composer in Valencia Cathedral.
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Authority files
wikidata · Q540135 · wikipedia · Juan Bautista Cabanilles
In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Juan Bautista Cabanilles • Born — 6 September 1644 • Origin — Spain • Died — 29 April 1712 (age 67) • Occupation — Organist, composer
Biography
Biography
He probably began his musical career as a singer in a choir of a local church. Later he studied to become a priest in the cathedral at Valencia, which included lessons in music. On 15 May 1665, he was named the assistant organist of the cathedral. A year later, upon the death of his predecessor, he became the principal organist. On 22 September 1668 he was ordained as a priest. He kept his position as principal organist for 45 years, but from 1703 on his health often necessitated that a substitute be found. From 1675 to 1677 he also took charge of teaching the children in the cathedral choir. No portrait or likeness of Cabanilles is known to exist; the portrait accompanying certain Facebook pages and other internet articles is of the botanist Antonio José Cavanilles (1745–1804).
Works
Works
Many of Cabanilles's compositions are virtuosic and advanced for their time, but generally, he is in the Spanish tradition of keyboard music following 16th century patterns. The majority of his manuscripts are kept in the Biblioteca de Catalunya in Barcelona. Numerous compositions for organ (tientos, toccatas, passacaglias, and other works) have survived, as well as a number of works for choirs of up to 13 parts.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1644
Juan Bautista Cabanilles born at Algemesí.
1712
Juan Bautista Cabanilles died at Valencia.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Algemesí.
Birth place
Valencia.
Death place
Selected score publications
1 A- Musici Organici Iohannis Cabanilles, 4 vols., edited by Hyginii Anglés, Barcelona: Biblioteca de Catalunya, 1927–1956. Cabanilles Opera Omnia (1927–2008). Volume 1 (1927): Tientos in various modes. Volume 2 (1933): Passacalles, Paseos, several Tocatas, Xácara, misc. Pieces. Volume 3 (1936): Various genres. Volume 4 (1956): Various genres. 1 B- The following additional 5 volumes were edited by José Clíment, Barcelona: Biblioteca de Catalunya. Volume 5 (1986): Tientos 71–90; Versos for Magnificat, Pange lingua. Volume 6 (1989): Tientos 91-110 and miscellaneous Versos. Volume 7 (1992): Tientos 111–130; Versos for the Mass, for Marian festivals and for miscellaneous occasions. Volume 8 (2006): Tientos: 131–150; Duo de 1º Tom, Sacris Solemniis. Volume 9 (2008): Tientos: 151–168; Versos. 2- Música de Tecla Valenciana. J. Bta. Cabanilles, 4 vols., edited by Julián Sagasta Galdós, Valencia: Edicions Alfons el Magnánim, 1986–1994. 3- CEKM, vol. 48-1: Keyboard Music from the Felanitx Manuscripts, I, ed. Nelson Lee, 1999. Nearly all of the 162 pieces are by Cabanilles. 4- Juan Cabanilles: Ausgewählte Orgelwerke, edited by Miguel Bernal Ripoll and Gerhard Doderer, Kassel [etc.], Bärenreiter, 2 volumes, 2017.
Selected recordings
• Joan Bautista Cabanilles: Batalles, Tientos & Passacalles - Jordi Savall, Hesperion XX - CD Alia Vox 9801 • La Gloria Musical del Barroco Valenciano, 2 CDs. Fundació La Lum de les Imatges (2010). • Jan Willem Jansen, Los Músicos de Su Alteza: Tientos y Passacalles: Juan Cabanilles (Éditions Hortus, HORT013, ASIN: B00004VHOX). • Juan Bautista José Cabanilles, Obras de Organo. John Butt at the Greg Harold Spanish-style organ, University of California, Berkeley. CD Harmonia Mundi France HMU 907047.

Algemesí és un municipi del País Valencià situat a la comarca de la Ribera Alta, de la qual és la segona ciutat més poblada. Limita amb Alzira, Alginet i Guadassuar (a la mateixa comarca) i amb Albalat de la Ribera, Polinyà de Xúquer i Sollana (a la Ribera Baixa). (Viquipèdia)
Vicenç Salvador Torres Guerola
Primary material
Documents and archives
scholarly publication
- Breve aproximación a la obra vocal de Juan Bautista Cabanilles en su contexto, Cuadernos de Investigación Musical, 2020
Scholarly · Crossref registry · 2020
- La obra vocal de Juan Bautista Cabanilles en su contexto. Una reflexión sobre la práctical musical histórica, Cuadernos de Investigación Musical, 2019
Scholarly · Crossref registry · 2019
reference work
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q540135: Juan Bautista Cabanilles
Reputable secondary · Wikidata
- “Juan Bautista Cabanilles”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
Manuscript sources
Manuscript sources
1- Barcelona E-Bc Ms. 729 [antiga cota 890] 199 folios and 432 pages respectively. It has 152 works. It has 14 works from Pablo Bruna. These are the main sources, along with El Escorial LP 30 of compositions by Pablo Bruna. 2- Barcelona E-Bc Ms. 751.21 [antigo 889]: It has 39 peças. It has 5 compositions from Pablo Bruna and one de Jusepe Ximénez. 3- Barcelona E-Bc Ms. 386 [antiga cota 887], [Available on-line] 360 pages; the manuscript, dated 1722, contains 98 compositions by Cabanilles, the copy made by a fervent admirer. 4- Barcelona E-Bc Ms. 387 [antiga cota 888] 424 folios; dating from 1694 to 1697, the manuscript consists of 500 entirely by Cabanilles. It has 11 versos de Jusepe Ximénez. 5- Barcelona E-Bc Ms. 1328: Tiento de todas manos de J. Cabanilles; Tonada de 5º Tono: Tiento Lheno de J. Cabanilles. 6- Barcelona E-Bc Ms. 450: It has 20 works. One work from Aguilera de Heredia. It has 4 works of J. Cabanilles. 7- Barcelona E-Bc Ms. 1011: It has 330 works. 3 works from fray Pablo Nassarre. Tiento de Clarines de 7º Tono de J. Cabanilles. 8- Archivo de la Catedral de Astorga (vide: Alvarez; 1970) Ms. with 55 peças: Francisco Andreu, Cabanilles, Juan Saló, Rafael Llistosellas, Fray Rafael Crest, Isidro Serrada, Nassarre, Pablo Rouxa, Sebastián Viladrosa, Francisco Llusá, J. Elias. 9- Biblioteca privada de moss. Cosme Bauzá, de Felanitx (Mallorca) Ms. núm. 2 with 2 versos from Pablo Bruna. 10- Monserrat, Arquivo musical, Ms. 76: Tiento 6º tono partido de mano derecha.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
scholarly publication
Breve aproximación a la obra vocal de Juan Bautista Cabanilles en su contexto, Cuadernos de Investigación Musical, 2020Crossref registry
Verifiedscholarly publication
La obra vocal de Juan Bautista Cabanilles en su contexto. Una reflexión sobre la práctical musical histórica, Cuadernos de Investigación Musical, 2019Crossref registry
Verifiedreference work
Partially resolvedreference work
Partially resolved
Further particulars
Held on the record
Further particulars
Open the remaining particulars
Formation and teaching. He trained under Urbán de Vargas. Each of those relationships is stated by the authority record rather than inferred from style.
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
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