The unfinished Diccionario biográfico y bibliográfico was conceived just after the successful Diccionario técnico de la música of 1894. Like the latter, it continued earlier attempts at dictionaries of musical subjects in Spanish that trace back to the mid-19th century (most notably the 1853 Diccionario de música que contiene las voces más by Juan Cid, the 1859 Diccionario de música by Antonio Fargas and Carlos José Soler Melcior, and the 1868 Diccionario técnio: Histórico y biográfico de la música by José Parada y Barreto). With the Diccionario biográfico y bibliográfico, Pedrell sought to make a new and important contribution to Spanish music with a type of publication only previously attempted by Saldoni (1860) and by Parada y Barreto (1868), works that Pedrell held in low regard. As with the Diccionario técnico, the torso reflects musical knowledge at the turn of the century, along with an interest in musical nationalism. Over two dozen articles are substantial in scope and include the results of in-depth source studies and lengthy quotes from contemporaneous and historical sources; one such article is “Alfonso X”, which captures the accomplishments of King Alfonso X of Castile (r. 1252–84) whose commissions of music to poems authored by him, Cantigas de Santa Maria, are one of the largest medieval vernacular collections of lyric and narrative verse in praise of Mary. The entry contains substantial quotes from contemporaneous and historical sources.