Tientos, diferencias and royal keyboards

Antonio de Cabezón made variation technique, contrapuntal invention and keyboard touch inseparable. His diferencias transform familiar material without losing its outline, while his liturgical pieces show a player working within a European sacred tradition.

Manuel Rodrigues Coelho's printed collection is a landmark of Portuguese keyboard music. A century later, Carlos Seixas and Antonio Soler placed Iberian keyboard writing within the international history of the sonata—without erasing its local rhythmic and instrumental character.

The tiento could be rigorous, exploratory and intensely idiomatic. Correa de Arauxo and Cabanilles exploited counterpoint and the colours of Iberian organs, including textures associated with divided stops, where treble and bass could receive contrasting registrations.