Miguel Manzano Alonso

Miguel Manzano Alonso (1934–2024) was a Spanish composer, ethnomusicologist, organist, teacher, and collector of traditional music. He was born in Villamor de Cadozos in the province of Zamora. His early formation combined ecclesiastical studies with music: he studied solfège, piano, organ, harmony, Gregorian modality, and sacred polyphony, later pursuing advanced work in Madrid. From 1957 to 1968 he served as organist of Zamora Cathedral, where he also developed as a composer of sacred and choral music.

Manzano became especially important for his systematic study and preservation of traditional music in Castile and León. He founded and worked with performing groups devoted to regional song and carried out extensive field collection, classification, and analysis. His publications include major songbooks devoted to the folk repertories of Zamora, León, Burgos, and the wider Castile and León region. He also taught and wrote on ethnomusicology, chant, and the relationship between traditional musical language and contemporary composition.

His church music reflects the twentieth-century movement toward vernacular congregational song in Spanish-speaking Catholic worship. Works associated with him include Salmos para el pueblo and numerous psalm settings and liturgical songs later incorporated into Spanish national and parish repertories. His collaboration with José Antonio Olivar on “Cuando el pobre nada tiene” is one representative example of his ability to join a memorable congregational melody with a text centered on solidarity and Christian service.