José Herrando

José Herrando (Valencia, c. 1720/1721-Madrid, 1763) was a Spanish violinist and composer. Career Herrando was a friend of the writer and mathematician Diego de Torres Villarroel and a fixed musician for some theater companies in Madrid, for which he composed several pieces, such as for the comedy Manos blancas no ofenden (White hands do not offend) by Pedro Calderón de la Barca. He spent some time in the service of the Duke of Arcos theater, to which he dedicated his Arte y puntual explicación del modo de tocar el violín con perfección y facilidad (Art and timely explanation of how to play the violin with perfection and ease) published in Paris in 1756. This was the first published attempt by a Spaniard at teaching this instrument. Its front featured an engraving by Carmona with his portrait. Herrando was first violinist for the Royal Chapel of the Incarnation when, in 1754 he wrote Seis sonatinas para violín de cinco cuerdas y bajo armónico, no cifrado (Six sonatinas for five-string violin and bass) dedicated to the castrati singer Carlo Broschi, Farinelli, a musician who was with the Spanish court during the reign of Felipe V, whose soprano voice was the only one capable of takin