Babn, Gracin

(b ?Aragon, c1620; d Valencia, 2 Feb 1675). Spanish composer. In

September 1649 he competed unsuccessfully for the post ofmaestro
de capilla of La Seo, one of the two cathedrals at Zaragoza. In 1653
he was appointed maestro de capilla of Huesca Cathedral with an
annual salary of 120 escudos, which was raised to 160 escudos on
29 August that year in the expectation that he would be ordained
priest. He asked for more money on 1 July 1655 but was offered only
another 10 or 20 escudos a year for his composition of music for
Christmas and Corpus Christi. On 27 April 1657 he accepted the
post of maestro de capilla of Valencia Cathedral. He was one of the
most prolific and respected Spanish composers of his age. He wrote
the Te Deum and two villancicos performed at Valencia Cathedral on
20 May 1659 to celebrate the canonization of St Thomas of
Villanueva, the music commemorating an indult granted by Pope
Alexander VII in 1665 and five villancicos sung at S Domingo,
Valencia, on 8 September 1674 in honour of the canonization of St
Luis Bertrn. The questions he asked during an examination of six
candidates for the post of music director of the Patriarca, Valencia,
reveal his profound theoretical and contrapuntal expertise (see
Piedra). His music, which includes many polychoral pieces and
numerous works with harp accompaniment, circulated widely and
survives in Latin America as well as in Spain. A painting showing
Babn and his singers protected from the plague by the Virgin Mary
was formerly in the Capilla de Nuestra Seora contra la Peste at
Valencia Cathedral.
WORKS
2 masses, 8vv, 12vv, E-SEG
16 masses, 614vv, VAc
Requiem, 8vv, SEG
4 Lamentations, SEG
Motet (for the Adoration of the Cross), 4vv, MA
3 Passion motets, SEG
Psalms, 4, 8vv, H, MA, SEG, VAc; 1 ed. in Lira sacro-hispana, i/1 (Madrid, 1869)
Many other vocal works, incl. motets, psalms, hymns, sequences and
villancicos:CO-B, D-Mbs, E-Bc, E, MA, SEG, VAc, Guatemala Cathedral archives;
Puebla Cathedral, Mexico; 2 motets ed. in Lira sacro-hispana, i/1 (Madrid, 1869)

BIBLIOGRAPHY
StevensonRB
M.A. Ort: Solemnidad festiva con que en la insigne, leal, noble
y coronada ciudad de Valencia se celebro la feliz nueva de la
canonizacion de su milagroso Arobispo Santo Tomas de
Villanueva (Valencia, 1659), 47
F. de la Torre y Sebdil: Luces de la aurora, dias del sol, en
fiestas de la que es sol de los dias y aurora de las luces Maria
santissima (Valencia, 1665), 56
J. Alenda y Mira: Relaciones de solemnidades y fiestas
pblicas de Espaa (Madrid, 1903), 3445, 382, 393
J. Ruiz de Lihory: La msica en Valencia: diccionario biogrfico
y crtico (Valencia, 1903)
J. Sanchis y Sivera: La catedral de Valencia (Valencia, 1909),
456
V. Ripolls: Introduction to El villancico i la cantata del segle
XVIII a Valncia (Barcelona, 1935), p.vii
A. Durn Gudiol: Los maestros de capilla de la catedral de
Huesca, Argensola, no.38 (1959), 10731
J. Climent: La msica en Valencia durante el siglo XVII, AnM,
xxi (1966), 21141, esp. 233, 235, 238
J. Piedra: Maestros de Capilla del Real Colegio de Corpus
Christi (Patriarca) (16621822), AnM, xxiii (1968), 61127, esp.
66, 76
J. Climent: La capilla de msica de la catedral de
Valencia, AnM, xxxvii (1982), 5569
ROBERT STEVENSON