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EMI Deutsche Harmonia Mundi 1CO 65 99 898 — LP, 1980
BMG Deutsche Harmonia mundi GD 77 242 — CD, 1992
1. Santa Maria, strela do dia [3:26] CSM 100
Preludio instrumental [0:54]
Santa Maria, strela do dia — M. FIGUERAS [2:32]
2. A que pera parayso [12:09] CSM 389
Preludio instrumental [1:45]
A que pera parayso — J. BENET [4:25]
Interludio instrumental [0:51]
... E con gran coita sobeja [1:55]
Interludio instrumental [1:05]
... E tal promessa com' esta [2:08]
3. Dized' ai trobadores! [4:03] CSM 260
Preludio instrumental [0:43]
Dized' ai trobadores! — J. PROUBASTA [3:21]
4. Pero que seja a gente [8:15] CSM 181
Preludio instrumental [0:36]
Pero que seja a gente — M. FIGUERAS [7:40]
5. Quena festa e o dia [26:56] CSM 195
Preludio instrumental [3:55]
Quenta festa e o dia (4/4) J. Benet [3:38]
... Que a cobiiçasse (3/4) J. Proubasta [1:38]
... Pois Ila outorgada (4/4) M. Figueras [1:53]
Interludio instrumental [2:30]
... Quand' el est' oydo (8/4) M. Figueras [1:43]
... Ey-la no convento (5/4) J. Benet [2:29]
... Ca ja é na vida (4/4) J. Proubasta [2:18]
Interludio instrumental [1:40]
... A moça, que sage (6/8) M. Figueras, J. Benet, J. Proubasta [5:14]
Das Mittelalter-Ensemble der Schola Cantorum Basiliensis
Sänger der Mudanzas (Strophen):
Montserrat Figueras, #1, 4, 5
Josep Benet, #2, 5
Joaquim Proubasta, #3, 5
Sänger der Estribillos (Refrains):
Sylvia Greiner, Gemma Jansana, Lauren Pomerantz, Josep Cabré, Francesc Guillén
Instrumentalists
Donald Irving, Flöte
André Jéquier, Flöte
Randall Cook, Schalmei, Fidel
Sterling Jones, Rebab, Rabel
Jason Paras, Rebec, Fidel, Lyra
Thomas Binkley, Laute, Citole, Schlagzeug
Ken Zukerman, Laute
Solomon Ross, Laute
Robert Clancy, Mandora
Laurent Aubert, Gittern
Terumi Chinone, Chitarra Saracenica
Timothy Doughty, Harfe
Sally Thorpe-Smith, Psalterium
THOMAS BINKLEY
℗ 1980 harmonia mundi, Freiburg
© 1992 Schola Cantorum Basiliensis (CD)
Aufnahme/Recording: Pere Casulleras, Kurt Deggeler
Technik/Technical equipment: Perevox
Aufgenommen/Recorded: 13.-17.III.1980
St. Alban Kirche Basel
Kommentar/Liner notes: Dagmar Hoffmann-Axthelm
Übersetzungen/Translations: Anne Smith, J. Trescher
Weitere Übersetzungen/Another Translations: Kurt Deggeller, Marie-José Brochard
Titelbild/Front cover picture:aus/from “Las cantigas de Santa Maria de Alfonso El Sabio”
(Bibliothek des Klosters des Escorial/Bibliotheca of the monastery of the Escorial)
Redaktion/Editing: Dr. Jens Markowsky
English liner notes
Synopsis of the contents of the texts
On the performance of the Cantigas
Gramophone review
Alfonso X el Sabio and the Cantigas de Santa Maria
The
Cantigas de Santa Maria is a 13th century Spanish collection of 400
songs in the Galician language extolling the Virgin Mary and describing
the miracles she carried out on behalf of mankind. Its size and
contents, as well a its cultural origins inspire awe and admiration in
us. The thematic, formal, and linguistic uniformity found in the
collection is unique for its time. The collection was commissioned by
Alfonso X (1230-1280), King of Castile and León, and was assembled at
his court. Historians have honored him with the epithet el Sabio, “the
Wise”, and he is held to be one of the most exceptional Spanish kings
because of the political and intellectual influence he wielded. His
political importance is demonstrated by the fact that during his reign a
balance, however precarious, was maintained between the Christians and
the Moslems.
In 711, a small but powerful army of Berbers,
Syrians, and Arabs invaded Spain from North Africa and occupied a large
portion of the country. From that time on, the Moslems strove, using
varying means, all of which, however, had the same intent, to win the
country and its people for Islam. Some of the Moorish rulers attempted
to achieve this goal by force. Others limited themselves to showing the
Jewish and Christian inhabitants examples of Oriental culture and
life-style in ways that could not be overlooked; landscaped gardens with
fountains, public baths and hospitals, columned halls which seemed
light and airy in comparison to the heavier European architecture,
chess, a game to keep the mind working actively, scrolls with treatises
on the liberal and natural sciences, Arabic musical instruments, and
Arabic singing all opened up entirely new horizons for the Europeans.
The Christians were admittedly not in a position to assimilate this
cultural wealth during the centuries of Islamic rule. Those who did not
convert to Islam lived as mozárabes under the Moors and were
forced to pay tribute for this privilege; as a result they needed most
of their strength simply to retain their own cultural, political, and
religious identity.
During the reign of King Alfonso in the 13th century this situation changed. As a result of the reconquista,
the Christian rebellion against Arabic rule, the whole country was
again under the rule of Spanish kings with the exception of the Kingdom
of Granada. In a position of power, the Christians were now glad to take
in what they could from Moorish art, liberal and natural sciences, and
technology. Many Arabs, known as mudéjares, respected architects
or astronomers, translators, botanists, doctors, and musicians, lived
under this Christian rule, for example at the court of King Alfonso.
Alfonso X's political goals were not limited to ensuring the peaceful
coexistence between the individual religious communities. His main
ambition was to establish a central government in a unified, Christian
Spain. The Spanish subjects of the king, not the Moslems, caused this
plan to fail. The nobility resisted because it felt that its own desires
concerning a federal government were being endangered. One of Alfonso's
sons objected to his father's decision regarding the succession to the
throne and started a war against him. Finally the King was deposed in
1282. He died two years later without having reached his political goal.
Although
Alfonso was unable to unify the country politically as he had desired,
he managed to unify it culturally. He introduced Castilian as the
compulsory language of the land; at that time it was simply called
“nuestra lenguaje”. The majority of the important works commissioned by
Alfonso at his court, the history Estoria de Espanna, the lawbook Siete partidas,
as well as a number of translations of Arabic treatises on medicine and
astronomy were written in this new national language. Power politics
surely played a role in the introduction of Castilian as the written
language. A uniform language, understood by all, would help in
establishing a centralized government. A second reason is given by the
Franciscan monk, Juan Gil de Zamora, who lived at Alfonso's court and
wrote a short biography of the King. There he writes that Alfonso
introduced the national language because he desired “that all people be
able to easily learn and understand those things which, when they are
expressed in Latin, are even difficult for learned men to comprehend”.
Thus the King did not want the knowledge of his time to remain hidden
behind monastery walls and in the studies of learned men. Instead, all
language barriers were to be broken down, thereby making the knowledge
available to those who could assimilate and make use of it.
Here
lies the key to the question of why Alfonso chose Galician, an early
form of Portuguese, instead of Castilian, as the language for the Cantigas de Santa Maria,
the work that has made him so important in music history. Why did he
use a different language for this lyric-epic work than for theoretical
treatises? The answer may be seen in the fact that in Alfonso's reign
there was already a tradition of writing poetry in Galician. This
language was spoken in the northwestern portion of the peninsula, in the
Kingdom of León. Its spiritual center was at the site of St. Jacob's
tomb, Santiago de Compostela, the most important goal for Christian
pilgrims in the Occident. As a result of the confrontation with Islam,
the apostle had grown to be a symbol of Christian resistance. This in
turn motivated the pilgrims and native inhabitants alike to develop a
rich song repertory in the vernacular language. Alfonso linked himself
to this repertory with Cantigas. The cancioneiros, the
song collections compiled by Galician minstrels, proved clearly that
Galician was a suitable language for the creation of a universally
understood, lyric-epic work. As a consequence, the Cantigas were
Galician songs, showing the northern influence not only in the language
in which they were written, but also in their form. The pieces which
frequently have solo sections alternating with a choral refrain, are
either rondeaus, virelais, or songs similar to a litany.
What
purpose did the king have in mind in assembling this huge collection of
songs to the Virgin Mary? Gil de Zamora also answers this question. He
writes that “he [Alfonso], just like King David, wrote many Marvelous
songs in praise of the Virgin Mary and provided them with suitable
melodies”. The king, therefore, considered himself to be one of the
successors to King David, the singer of psalms. We may conclude that he
understood the Cantigas to be a psalter in a vernacular language,
thus one that would encourage the devoutness of all Christians. The
purpose of the work may also be seen as the desire of a Christian ruler
to erect a monument to his own faith in a world subject to Moorish and
Jewish influences. The way in which the King injects his own personality
into the collection is characteristic for this; the similarity to King
David in his dialogue with God may also be seen here. He refers to
himself several times as the “Troubadour of the Virgin Mary”, as a
minstrel always prepared to be of service to his lady. This may be
partially a reflection of his personal piety and humility, but the other
side should not be overlooked. In kneeling before Mary, the Mother of
Christ, Alfonso X, the most powerful man in Spain, a claimant, though
unsuccessful, to the throne of the Holy Roman Empire, clearly showed all
those of other faiths where the center of secular and religious power
was to be found.
The contents of the texts also bear similarity
to the psalms of David. In these he not only praised God, but also
prayed for consolation when in personal distress and for help against
the inimical heathens. Corresponding to this, Mary is always invoked in
Alfonso's songs when a member of the family of the Castilian King needs
succor, such as when the King's mother lay seriously ill, when his
father, Fernando III, was fighting the Moors, or when Alfonso was trying
to arrange a settlement of a conflict between himself and the
rebellious nobility. The miragres, the stories of miracles found in the Cantigas,
do not only tell of miraculous events in the lives of the King's
family. In the majority of the songs, stories are told that come from
Latin or vernacular collections of miracles performed by the Virgin
Mary; at that time such collections were common throughout Europe. In
addition there are some loores, lyrical poems, which are in praise of the Virgin Mary, not of her deeds.
The miragres et loores
de Santa Maria are found in four manuscripts. Of these, one presently
found in Escorial, MS. j.b.2, is most interesting, as it is not only the
most complete, but also is embellished with 40 miniatures. A parallel
may also be drawn here to contemporary psalter manuscripts. In these a
miniature portraying King David with his harp and surrounded by his
musicians often serves as an introduction. In the corresponding place in
our manuscript is a miniature of Alfonso and his collaborators, who may
be identified as four musicians, four courtiers, and four clerics. They
are all looking towards the king who is singing or reciting from a
book. And just as musicians and their instruments are depicted
throughout some psalter manuscripts (a reference to the exhortation in
the 150th psalm that the Lord be praised with all musical instruments),
the Cantigas manuscript contains miniatures portraying instrumentalists playing music.
Apart
from their artistic delicacy and beauty, these miniatures also give us
information on two other points. First of all, they show Arabs,
Christians, and Jews, who may be identified by their clothing, assembled
peacefully together. From this we may conclude that the hiring
practices for musicians at Alfonso's court were free from religious
discrimination. Second, they offer us an idea of the large variety of
instruments in use in medieval Spain; more than 30 different string,
plucked, wind, and percussion instruments may be distinguished. We know
the names, some of which are of Arabic origin, of several of the
instruments which have been described and characterized in other
contemporary Spanish sources. The original names of the instruments used
on this recording and portrayed in the miniatures are: flauta (flute), rabé and rabé morisco (rebec), vihuela de arco (vielle), mandurria (mandola), laúd (lute), arpa (harp), salterio (psaltery), pandero (tambourine), guitarra morisca (gittern), citole (cister), and dulcema (shawm).
Thus, in his Cantigas de Santa Maria,
Alfonso el Sabio accomplished that which he was unable to do
politically. He created a unified whole which came into being not as a
result of destruction, but through the assimilation and fusion of
elements of disparate traditions, a procedure which makes us still
appreciate today why he was called “the Wise”.
Synopsis of the contents of the texts
Santa Maria, strela do dia (Cantiga 100)
Song of praise to the Virgin Mary, in which she is praised as a guide and intercessor.
A que pera parayso (Cantiga 389)
Maestro
Pedro from Marseille was once an Abbot, then married in Seville and now
has two handsome sons. When the younger one falls seriously ill, the
father places him in the care of the Holy Virgin of Oporto and pledges
that if his son recovers, he will make a pilgrimage with him to Oporto
and offer her spices and poultry. His plea is heard, the boy's appetite
is revived, and he recovers.
Dized'ai, trobadores! (Cantiga 260)
In
this song of praise to the Mother of God, the trobadors are called upon
to praise the compassion of the Lord and the goodness of the Holy
Virgin.
Pero que seja a gente (Cantiga 181)
The Holy
Virgin even helps the faithless when they turn to her: Aboyuçaf, the
King of Marocco, is being besieged by his enemies. His subjects advise
him to unfurl the banner of the Holy Virgin and to ally himself with the
Christians in the region. In this way he is able to vanquish his
opponents at the Morabe River.
Quena festa e o dia (Cantiga 195)
A
young knight is riding with his squire to the tournament. Along the way
he sees a pretty girl. He induces her father with a gift of money to
entrust her to him as his lover. He takes her with him to his lodgings,
but she cries and proclaims her veneration of the Mother of God. At
this, the knight repents his sin and sends her to the Convent of Saint
Clement in Toulouse. He dies in the tournament and is buried at the same
place. The Holy Virgin inspires the girl to send the Abbess to the
grave of the knight. When the latter refuses, the girl relates her sin
and convinces the Abbess of the necessity of giving the knight a proper
funeral.
On the performance of the Cantigas
Thomas Binkley
The
performances make use of preludes which are improvised along guidelines
set up with reference to the specific cantiga. The aim is to establish a
pitch reference and an aesthetic framework for the ensuing song. The
accompaniments attempt to follow similar guidelines:
Cantiga 389:
follows
the principal of simultaneous participation in accompaniment. Each
instrumentalist plays as if the others were not present, and thus each
one permits his own idea of the song and its text to be imprinted upon
the total sound picture.
Cantiga 260:
The
instrumentalists alternate with the singers in this short tune creating
variations as if in reply to the invitation of the singer addressed to
the Trobadores to praise the Virgin.
Cantiga 181:
Operating
within the unusual rhythmic framework, the instrumentalists
characterize the events of the narrative (e.g., the shawm signaling the
battle and the crossing of the river).
Cantiga 195:
follows
the most complicated discipline of these cantigas. Here cyclic rhythm
is employed, a borrowing from the Hispanic-Arabic music, as a means to
organize the lengthy strophic song into a sequence of movements with
instrumental pieces inters ersed. Thus there are three strophes in 4,
three in 3/4, three in another 4/4 followed by an instrumental piece.
Then three strophes in 8/4, three in5/4 and three in another 4/4
followed by an instrumental piece and a concluding group in 6/8. The
tambourin maintains the cyclic rhythms normally without strong accents
at the beginning of the cycle, yielding a subtle rhythmic plane
independent of the melodic and heterophonic planes of the performance.
The melody is transformed by the rhythms without affecting pitch or text
underlay. The melody by the way, survives in the 16th century with
another, fragmented text: si me llaman a mi...
Gramophone review, March 1981
(http://www.gramophone.net/Issue/Page/March%201981/82/760035)
CANTIGAS DE SANTA MARIA. Schola Cantorum Basiliensia directed by Thomas Binkley. Harmonia Mundi 1C 065 99898 (£5.50). Notes and texts included.
No. 100, Santa Maria, strela do dia; No. 389, A que pera parayso; No. 260, Dized- ai, trobadores!; No. 181, Pero que seja a gente; No. 195, Quena festa e o dia.
Though there have been previous nibbles at recording Alfonso X of Castile's famous collection of bores (hymns of praise to the Virgin) and accounts of her miracles—notably by Thomas Binkley himself with the Studio der frilihen Musik (EMI/Conifer IC 063 30107-8) and the
Clemencic Consort (Harmonia Mundi HM977-8, 3/78)—its sheer size has proved something of an embarras de richesses. The present disc adds a mere five more songs (one already duplicated) to the still modest tally, but with over 400 in the volume there is a long way to go; and so fascinating and haunting are many of these thirteenthcentury monodies that they imperatively demand to be heard.
Exactly how they were originally performed we cannot know, though it is clear from the 40 or so delightful vignettes in the copy now in the Escorial that they were accompanied by a great variety of stringed and wind instruments and by percussion. Binkley and Clemencic adopt a much freer approach than did the New York Pro Musica (Brunswick SXA45I3, 4/63—nla) or the awardwinning Jose Luis Ochoa de Olza's forces (Erato STU70694), and vital though they are, some aspects of their readings may be open to question. That preludes were improvised to the songs can be accepted, but several of the instrumental introductions here are over-long and have no basis other than the accomplished Basle players' invention; and I wonder whether even so lengthy a narrative as Quena festa (which occupies a whole side) would have been twice interrupted by totally independent instrumental pieces. Also, while various interpretations of the rhythm are possible, would more than half a dozen variants be employed within one song (as they are in this particular miragre)? Besides playing in unison or in loose heterophony, instruments might certainly have indulged in drones or free strumming (as they do here in ,4 que pera parayso, which resembles a medieval jam session), but would they have supplied a primitive harmonization, as here in the lovely Santa Maria, strela do dia?
Let me quickly say that such questions do not diminish the attractiveness of the Basle performers' presentation or the welcome it deserves. The refrains are sung in chorus (no mean feat in one so complicated as No. 181), sometimes with touches of parallel-motion organum or contrarymotion lines (much in vogue in the preceding century): of its three solo voices who sing the strophes the soprano, Montserrat Figueras, is outstanding for the ease of her diction and her skilful use of grace-notes which add an appropriate Arab flavour to the melodies. In this regard, indeed, she is on her own, so that a disparity of style becomes evident when, in the long No. 195, the narrative is passed from one soloist to another. The instrumental playing throughout is of a high order.
It is a pity that the otherwise valuable sleevematerial should provide, along with the sung texts, only summaries in English and not full translations. Not all of us are all that good at the Galician tongue, though if you understand Portuguese and Spanish you could make it out fairly well. L.S.
