Juan Esquivel Barahona
Juan de Esquivel Barahona (c. 1560 – after 1623) was a leading Spanish church composer of the late Renaissance. Although he never worked at a major cathedral, his music was known throughout Spain in the early seventeenth century.
He was born in or near Ciudad Rodrigo, a cathedral city southwest of Salamanca. He began as a choirboy at the city’s cathedral in 1568 and was likely a student of the choirmaster Juan Navarro.
Esquivel’s first job as maestro de capilla came in 1581 in Oviedo. He left in 1585 for Calahorra Cathedral in La Rioja, and in 1591 he returned to Ciudad Rodrigo as choirmaster, where he stayed until his death. He wrote only sacred music. His works appeared in three books published in Salamanca in the early seventeenth century, and a fourth book of motets and instrumental music was reported but has not been located.
His music reflects the reforming spirit of the Council of Trent, balancing Spanish polyphony with a clearer, shorter style of text setting. His motets are among the shortest in the repertoire. His main influences were Cristóbal de Morales and Francisco Guerrero, with some influence from Navarro. He even used Guerrero’s motets as sources for parody masses, and he was not afraid to set texts that other composers had already used. His style is concise in melodic invention, with occasional chromaticism and parallel motion between voices, and it has some similarity to Portuguese polyphony of the time.
Several works by Esquivel have been recorded. In the 1970s, Pro Cantione Antiqua contributed to a two-CD Spanish collection, El Siglo De Oro. A 2019 recording by De Profundis (Hyperion CDA68326) is described by the performers as the first album devoted entirely to Esquivel: Esquivel: Missa Hortus conclusus, Magnificat & motets, with bajón by Nicholas Perry and conducted by Eamonn Dougan. The album includes a parody mass based on the motet Hortus conclusus by Rodrigo de Ceballos and was well received by critics.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 04:29 (CET).