The Segovia Songbook was compiled in
Spain c.1500; it contains a subtantial number of pieces by composers
working elsewhere, as well as a variety of genres. This program begins
with Franco-Flemish composers, and then proceeds to Spanish composers
(pivoting on Urreda who apparently moved to Spain from the Low
Countries, changing his name from Johannes Wreede in the process).
Although this performance uses a variety of vocal & instrumental
combinations, the texture is overwhelmingly vocal. The pace is slow and
serious.
medieval.org
Accent ACC 9176 D
2001
01 - Heinrich ISAAC (ca.1450-1517). Morte che fay [7:45]
CS fol. 198v · canzona à 4
02 - Jakob OBRECHT (1450-1505). Omnes spiritus laudet
[5:51]
CS fol. 89v-91 · motet à 5
Fortuna disperata
03 - an. · chanson à 4 [4:32]
Bologna, Civico Museo, Biblibografico Musicale, MSQ18
04 - Anthoine BUSNOIS (?-1492) [3:06]
CS fol. 174 · chanson à 3
05 - Heinrich ISAAC [4:33]
CS fol. 11v-118 · chanson à 5
tenor and quinta vox: litany of all Saints
De tous biens playne
06 - Johannes TINCTORIS(1435?-1511) [1:22]
CS fol. 202v
07 - Heinrich ISAAC. [1:29]
CS fol. 176v · quodlibet à 2
08 - Hayne van GHIZEGHEM (15th c.). [5:46]
Mellon Chansonnier, fol. 42v-43 · chanson à 3
09 - Johannes WREEDE (Juan URREDA, ca. 1450). Pange Lingua [7:18]
CS fol. 226v-227 · motet à 4
10 - Juan del ENCINA (1468-1529). Ya no quiero tener fe
[6:25]
CS fol. 212v · villancico à 3
11 - Francisco de la TORRE (1470-1520). Justa fue mi
perdición [6:33]
CS fol. 207 · villancico à 3
12 - Juan del ENCINA. Romerico, tú que vienes
[5:20]
CS fol. 210 · villancico à 3
13 - Juan del ENCINA. Todos los bienes del mundo [2:37]
Cancionero de Palacio · villancico à 4
Ensemble Daedalus
Maria Cristina Kiehr, Otto Rastbichler, Josep Benet, Josep Cabré
Roberto Festa, Koko Taylor, Hugh Sandilands, Renée Stock
Sergi Casademunt, René Van Laken
Produced and recorded by Adelheid and Andreas Glatt
Recorded at the Vereenigde Doopsgezinde Kerk, Haarlem (Netherland)
Recording date: august 1991
THE MUSICAL DIARY OF A
JOURNEY TO SPAIN
The rich and varied contents of the Segovia Cathedral songbook make it
one of the most interesting sources of late fifteenth century
polyphonic music. This codex possesses all characteristic elements of a
Choirbook (nine complete masses, four fragments of masses and
four magnificats), a Liber motetorum (34 motets), a Liedboek
(36 chansons have a Flemish incipit), a Cancionero (39 secular
or spiritual works in Spanish) and a Chansonnier (48 French
chansons).
In total, the manuscript contains 204 compositions in five different
languages (there are also seven works in Italian), written by 21
composers, including such great names as Jacob Obrecht, Heinrich Isaac,
Alexander Agricola, Loyset Compère, Juan de Anchieta, Philippe
Caron, Hayne van Ghiseghem, Johannes Tinctoris, Josquin des Prez, Juan
del Encina, Francisco de la Torre and Johannes Martini.
There are, however, three other reasons why this music book is of
exceptional importance. Firstly, it contains many works for which this
manuscript is the only source: 97 compositions appear in no other codex
of that time.
Secondly, it is one of the rare Spanish documents containing both
secular and religious works with lyrics in Castilian.
Thirdly, it is one of the few Spanish documents which contain both
Spanish and European repertoire.
The cancionero was discovered in 1922 by Higino Anglès in the
archives of Segovia Cathedral. It soon became apparent that this book
had been part of the "Libros" of the Castilian Court Chapel which,
under the reign of Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabelle of Castile, was one
of the largest musical organizations in Europe. Together, both
sovereigns employed 34 singers, 50 chaplains (cantors and teachers of
music theory), 25 to 40 'mozos de capilla' (choirboys) and a number of
instrumental players. The archives (Libros de Camera) have preserved
the names of these musicians, their precise position at court and their
earnings. It is noteworthy that there are no foreign names in the
register which lists the 34 singers who worked at the Castilian Court
at the end of the fifteenth century. This is typical for Queen
Isabelle's aspirations to create a national taste and a Spanish musical
style.
This does not mean, of course, that music from other European countries
was not known or appreciated in Spain. The inventory of the treasury of
Segovia's Real Alcazar, for example, includes - under the heading
"laudes y cosas de musica" - 12 codices with French and other European
music, and the 'Cancionero de Segovia' was almost certainly one of
these French chansonniers which were part of the treasures that
Isabelle entrusted to the Alcazar in 1505. The type of paper and the
watermark of the codex are identical to those of the official documents
used at Isabelle's court, as well as to those of the 'Libros de Musica'
which were exclusively reserved for the court chapel.
The text of a chanson by Loyset Compère in this codex gives us a
clue as to the date after which it must have been written:
Vive el noble rey de France
Qui a si bien chassé les Lombards
Avec leurs bards et tabars
Plusieurs en a mis a su ance.
Vive el noble rey de France.
The noble king of France in question here is Louis XII who chased the
Sforzas out of Milan into exile in December 1499. At that time
Compère was employed at the French court and he wrote this
victory song for his sovereign. The cancionero must therefore have been
compiled after 1499 but before 1503, since that was the year the
inventory of the Alcazar's treasury was made.
To explain such diversity within a single book, and especially the
massive presence of Flemish pieces (36 out of the 94 that are not in
Latin), it is necessary to search for historical circumstances or
events connecting these distant places, diverse languages and different
repertoires. Today there is a strong tendency to link the codex's
compilation with the visit to Spain by the Burgundian duke Philip the
Fair and his wife Joanna - who was the daughter of Ferdinand of Aragon
and Isabelle of Castile - in 1501, undertaken to safeguard his
succession rights to the Spanish crown. The royal couple were
accompanied by a great number of musicians from both courts. Music also
served to add splendour to the most important receptions of this long
journey. The chronicler of the Burgundian court, chamberlain Le Laing,
described the celebration of mass on 13 December 1501 as follows: The
singers of the King sang on one side, and those of his Lordship on the
other. After mass they sang the Te Deum together. He also wrote
about the arrival in Paris: The gentlemen of the Church solemnly
welcomed him at the entrance of the city and invited him to Notre Dame,
where the Te Deum was melodiously celebrated with human voices and
organs, as if it were for the King himself.
In January 1502 the royal company crossed the Pyrenees and in each town
where they stayed, celebrations, banquets, hunts and corridas were
organized. Diego de Colmenares published the Royal Decree on how the
couple had to be welcomed to Toledo:
1. Firstly, everybody should dress as smartly as possible; clothes
which are being made must be of bright colours as a clear sign of joy;
those who are entitled to wear a doublet of silk, are allowed to wear
silken cloaks.
2. The reception must be held entirely by continuously cheering and
beautifully attired persons, and by local horse-riders.
3. The sovereigns must be received under a canopy of brocade; in the
principal church they will be received by the chapter so that they can
go and pray, as they are accustomed to.
4. The streets must be decorated and celebrations must be held showing
the greatest possible expression of our happiness, without fireworks,
however, which cannot please Flemings and Germans because they are
themselves so adept at holding them in their own regions.
5. The foreigners must be accommodated with love and presents, as
befits our hospitality here and as is our duty as legal subjects.
The arrival at Segovia in 1502 meant the end of a long journey for
Philip and Joanna, as well as for the cancionero which meanwhile had
grown into a document containing the whole repertoire that was
fashionable in the towns where they had been received. In 1503 Isabelle
deposited the codex in Segovia's Real Alcazar, together with all
precious objects of her treasury. It is still a mystery how the book
eventually came to be in the cathedral's archives. It was possibly lent
to the cathedral on one occasion and never returned, which proved to be
fortunate, since in 1862 all the treasures of the Alcazar went up in
flames. The possible mistake of a librarian, or the negligence of a
civil servant, have thus contributed to the safeguard of this unique
and valuable document.
ROBERTO FESTA
Translation: Paul Rans St Nell Race
