Samrat Majumder plays Canción del Emperador

Luis de Narváez (c. 1500 – c. 1555)

Luis de Narváez was a Spanish Renaissance composer and vihuelist, one of the most important figures in 16th-century instrumental music. He served at the court of Emperor Charles V and later Philip II of Spain, working as a court musician during a period of intense artistic and cultural exchange in Europe. Narváez is best known for his pioneering work for the vihuela, a plucked string instrument closely related to the lute and the guitar. In 1538 he published Los seys libros del Delphín de música, one of the earliest and most influential collections of instrumental music printed in Spain. This volume includes fantasias, diferencias (early variation forms), and intabulations of vocal works, demonstrating both technical mastery and expressive depth.

Canción del Emperador
Canción del Emperador (also known as Mille regretz) is Narváez’s most famous work. It is an instrumental arrangement for vihuela based on the chanson “Mille regretz” by Josquin des Prez, a piece reportedly favored by Emperor Charles V. Rather than a simple transcription, Narváez transforms the vocal original into a highly expressive instrumental piece. He preserves the melancholic character of Josquin’s chanson while enriching it with idiomatic vihuela techniques, subtle ornamentation, and careful voice leading. The work stands as a landmark example of Renaissance intabulation, bridging vocal polyphony and instrumental expressiveness.