Cantigas de Santa Maria
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The Cantigas de Santa Maria (Songs to the Virgin Mary) are manuscripts were written in Galician-Portuguese, with music notation, during the reign of Alfonso X El Sabio (1221-1284) and are one of the largest collections of monophonic (solo) songs from the middle ages. All of the songs at least mention the Virgin Mary, and every 10th is a religious hymn. Some of the manuscripts containing this music also contain color illuminations of pairs of musicians, playing a wide variety of instruments.
The Cantigas are written in Galician-Portuguese, the lyrical language of Castile at the time. A complete transcription is available, as is a recent English translation.
The Cantigas are composed of 420 poems. 356 of these are in a narrative format relating to Virgin Mary miracles; the rest of them, except an introduction and two prologs, are of loor or involve Marian festivities.
The authors are unknown, even if several studies indicate that Galician poet Airas Nunes might well have been the author of a large part of them. The King Alfonso X — named as Affonso in the Cantigas — is also believed to be an author of some of them as he refers himself in first person.
The metrics are extraordinarily diverse: 280 different formats for the 420 Cantigas. The most common are the virelai and the rondeau. The length of the verses varies between two and 24 syllabes.
The music is written in notation which is similar to the notation used for chant, but also contains some information about the length of the notes. Several transcriptions exist.
The Cantigas are frequently recorded and performed by Early Music groups, and quite a few CDs featuring music from the Cantigas are available.
Three codices (copies) of the Cantigas are preserved. They are known as the E Codex, the T Codex, and the Florencia manuscript. The E Codex — from El Escorial, and originally from the royal court of Seville, is in two volumes and is the largest collection of the Cantigas; it is richly illuminated in a Gothic hand, containing no less than 1262 carefully detailed miniatures, and has been dated to 1280-1283. The T Codex, from Toledo, is considered to be a copy of the earliest redaction of the music, and was copied in the 14th century. The Florence manuscript has 109 of the cantigas but contains no music, only empty staves; however it is richly illuminated.
External link
- http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/cantigas/ (facsimile, illuminations, links to transcriptions)
- http://www.falsobordone.com/eng_index.htm (Swedish early music group, four songs of their cantigas-CD are downloadable)
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