The century (17th) is brought to a close by Jose Marín (1619–1699), whose career reads like a picaresque novel (he seems to have combined murder and highway robbery with composing and singing in church choirs). He was imprisoned and sentenced to the galleys, but managed to escape, and ended his days in an exemplary manner. His song “Corazon que en prision” (Heart That in Duress), is supposed to refer to the period of his imprisonment. He wrote music for zarzuelas by the dramatist Juan Bautista Diamante, one of the followers of Calderon.

[Sent by Patrick Rea <patrickrea@yahoo.com>; Source: “The Music of Spain”, Gilbert Chase (1959) p. 103.]