2026.03

Francisco Correa de Arauxo’s Facultad orgánica: Aspects of Performance PracticeThis article discusses one of the most important sources of seventeenth-century Spanish organ culture, Francisco Correa de Arauxo’s Facultad orgánica (1626). The Facultad is both a collection of sixty-nine compositions as well as a theoretical and pedagogical treatise. Correa built on the Iberian keyboard music tradition and made novel contributions to it, including virtuoso technique, complex diminutions and rhythms, and daring harmonies.After some biographical notes and a description of Facultad’s structure, this article addresses aspects of performance practice, including issues of notation and editions, the relationship between modes and musical expression, ornamentation, fingering, time signatures, tempi, and instrument. Four hundred years after the Facultad was published, this contribution highlights the enduring artistic and historical value of Correa’s music and encourages the (re)discovery of his work.