Juan de los Ángeles (1536-1609) published his Manual de vida perfecta in Madrid in 1608, one of a number of devotional works he authored. A Francsican, and a dedicated and high profile preacher, he studied in Salamanca and resided in various institutions in Madrid and Zamora, and founded the convent of San Diego in Seville in 1589. He died in the royal convent of Descalzas Reales in Madrid. Influenced by the Flemish mysticism of Jan van Ruysbroek, he wrote of the mystic love, and saw the soul as an aspiration towards God.

The extract cited by: Allison Peers 1951: 313; Knighton 2010: 420

Thou wilt find some that say mysteriously, as though none should understand them, that music is a heavenly thing and uplifts the spirit; and that, when they hear it, they experience (so it seems to them) feelings most spiritual. But the truth is that all this is no more than  sensuality, wherein they feel this manner of joy, devotion or pleasure. And this is clear and evident, because the same effects are caused in those that know not what is meant by “spirit,” nor have aught to do therewith. Quite other are the effects of music upon true contemplatives, who, when they hear the music of the organ or of other instruments, put from them the pleasure, outward and physical, which is caused by the sounds, and pass to the contemplation of interior matters, and to the spirituality that corresponds with the harmonic accords that strike the ear.