Salinas, Francisco de (1513–1590)

Spanish organist, theorist, and folk song investigator. In his treatise De musica libri septem (1579) he quotes the tunes of many Spanish folk songs.

He was the son of an official in the treasury of Charles V and became blind at the age of ten, whereupon his parents decided to let him study music. He was taken to Rome in 1538, where he met the lutenist Francesco da Milano and became a great admirer of Lassus. In 1558 he became organist to the Duke of Alba, viceroy of Naples, under Diego Ortiz. In 1561 he returned to Spain and became organist at León in 1563 and professor of music at Salamanca University in 1567. There he got to know the poet Luis de León, who wrote a poem on his organ playing.