Discovering Portuguese Music

Lecture 1: Foundation and Middle Ages

Contents

1) Social and historical background

2) A non-unified land: The Mozarabic Chant

2.1) Mozarabic Chant​ ​characteristics
2.2) Mozarabic Chant structures
2.3) ​The Archivo de la Catedral de Léon
2.4) Other artistic areas

3) Troubadours and the Galaico-Portuguese tradition

3.1) Social and historical background
3.2) ​The Troubadours in the Iberian Peninsula
3.3) ​The Galaico-Portuguese as a literary language
3.4) ​Songs’ characteristics
3.5) Genres, themes, motifs
3.6) Songbooks
3.6.1) Ajuda
3.6.2) Biblioteca Nacional
3.6.3) Vaticana

5) Martín Codax
5.1) Social and historical background
5.2) An introduction to Martín Codax
5.3) An Iberian Minstrel
5.4) The poems
5.5) Codax’s ​Cantigas de amigo
​ 5.5.1) Ondas do mar de Vigo
5.5.2) Mandad’ ey comigo
5.6) Music analysis
5.7) Minstrel instruments and ensembles

5) Conclusion
 1) Social and historical background

The history of Portugal dates back to the right before Early Middle Ages. Between the
3rd century till the Foundation’s recognition in 1143, several civilizations, such as the
Celts, Suebi, Romans, Muslims, Visigoths and Christians gave their contribution and
left a proper mark concerning their traditions​. ​The inherited legacy ​expands through the
language aspects, ​engineering, agriculture, culture and religion developing the Iberian
Peninsula for the next generations. This richness undoubtedly ​made ​the Iberian
Peninsula a strong multicultural and social region, always a desired “piece of land” for
foreign civilizations.

Important dates:

711: Muslim Iberian Peninsula invasion

868: Vimara Peres,first Count of Portucale
871: Muslims defeated in Coimbra
962-966: Rebellions against Sancho I of Léon
1064: Coimbra conquered in definitive
1094: Yusuf Ben Tasufin conquers Lisbon

Political map in 711:

2) A non-unified land: The Mozarabic Chant

The Mozarabic Chant was one of the main branches of Christian liturgical chant in the
West since the 7​th century till the Middle Ages (10​th and 11 centuries), known as
Hispanic Rite. It was sung on the Iberian Peninsula, but its influence extended beyond
Spain to other chant repertories such as the Gregorian, Ambrosian and Gallican. The
Mozarabic Chant was sung/performed by Iberian Christians living under Muslim
domination as the reconquest of the peninsula gradually proceeded. After the reconquest
of Toledo, Pope Gregory VII in 1085 made their suppression official. Only a few
parishes in Toledo itself were allowed to continue their ancient rite.

2.1) Mozarabic Chant​ ​characteristics

a) Diatonic (chromatic, were not allowed), chant may be seen to make use of three
styles: syllabic, neumatic and melismatic, much as in Gregorian chant
b) Rhythmically free
c) Monodic (main intervals: perfect 4​th​,5​th​ and 8​th​)
d) Essentially vocal.
e) The musical notation was based on “neumes”. A free wavy line form above the
text, the so called “campo aperto”. A single neume could represent a single pitch
or series on the same written symbol making it made it extremely complex and
difficult to read. Fact: there was no pentagram to write these kinds of melodies.

2.2) Mozarabic Chant structures

As a structure can be divided in many forms presenting a number of analogies with

those of the Roman rite:

Musical forms in the Office

Form Characteristics
Antiphons moderate in length and employ a simple syllabic or moderately
neumatic style.
Alleluiatici simply alleluiatic antiphons, and they share the psalm tones and
musical style of the antiphons just described
Responsories generally neumatic, provided with a single verse written out
complete with musical notation,
Matutinaria Occurring only at Matins, appropriate themes for the early morning
hours. provided with a notationless incipit for one verse.
Benedictiones ​antiphons sung to the accompaniment of Daniel iii.52, ‘Benedictus
es Domine Deus’, and the verses following
Soni melismatic melodies occur at both Matins and Vespers,
Laudes occur at Matins, at some of the Little Hours and at the Mass
Psallendi These pieces occur at Matins and Vespers, generally without a verse
following, although they were to be followed always by the
Doxology
Vespertini Neumatic in style, they occur as the first item at Vespers, their texts
dealing with the traditional subjects of light, evening, night and the
like
Preces highly developed form, present us with rhythmic poetry composed in
relatively short strophes separated by a brief refrain, The melodies
range between a simple syllabic and a moderately neumatic style
Hymns ​assigned to Matins, Vespers and a number of the Little Hours

Musical forms in the Mass

Form Characteristics
Praelegenda These correspond in function to the Gregorian introits
Gloria in excelsis Deo
Trisagion melodies that are at times quite melismatic
Benedictiones melodies are neumatic and even moderately melismatic, all verses in
each piece are written out with notation
Psalmi generally neumatic or melismatic in style, most consisting of a refrain
and a single verse.
Clamores consists of two parts separated by the acclamation Deo gratias, the
melody for which is invariable
Threni melismatic melody, the refrain of the threni is not repeated after each
of the verses
Laudes neumatic in style, and this in turn is followed by a repetition,
sometimes modified or expanded upon, of the initial alleluia melisma
Sacrificia often quite long and highly melismatic
Ad pacem melodies sung during Mass at the giving of the kiss of peace bear only
the rubric ‘ad pacem’
Ad sanctus Chants bearing this rubric are provided for only a few important feasts
Ad confractionem panis Sung at the breaking of the bread, it is rarely provided with a verse
Ad accedentes similar to the Office antiphons in style and in the treatment of their
verses, sharing with them the same psalm tones

Common to the Christian tradition:

Psalmody, Hymns, Responsories, Antiphony and Lectures

2.3) ​The Archivo de la Catedral de Léon

There are more than 20 surviving manuscripts and as many more fragments containing
musical notation for Mozarabic chant. With only five exceptions, all these sources
employ non-diastematic notation.

The Archivo de la Catedral de Léon, ​dated early 10th c. / additions from the 10​th and
11​th c. (c. 1060), it is ​the ​most complete antiphonary of purely hispanic liturgical use,
with a total of 5000 responsories with verses. It stands out for its rigor in tonal
organization, and for its range of notational signs. This book can be divided in the
following:

Archivo de la Catedral de León, ms. 8

Parts Contents Date Copyists

Oficium de Letania

Cyclus XXV annorum

Admonitio cantoris sub

metro eroico elegiacum

Anuntiationes festivitatum

Alpha
Prologue mid-10​th One or several unidentified
Sacrum in diem Sancti century hands
Iacobi apostolic VIII
Kalendas Augusti

The Cross of Oviedo

CarpetLibrum Ikilani
Abbati

Mozarabic calendar

Computus Cottonianus added in One identified scribe:​Arias

the 11th Didaci​, notary of Santiago de
century Compostela
only

Antiphonarium first third several unidentified hands

mozarabicum of the 10​th
century

In addition, the Hispanic liturgy has divided in two distinct traditions:

a) “Castella-Leon” (north of Iberian Peninsula), bearing some resemblance to

neumatic notations found elsewhere in Europe characterized by a predominance
of upright neumes employing vertical strokes;
 b) Toledo (south of Iberian Peninsula), by contrast, vertical strokes are almost
totally lacking in Toledan notation, the neumes being generally inclined to the
right including a large number of delicate, rounded strokes. The second type of
Toledan notation is found only in manuscripts embodying a different liturgical
tradition (tradition B), and is much coarser and more angular in appearance.

2.4)​ ​Other artistic areas

a) Literature​: ​mainly religious: hispanic missals, antiphonies and prayer books,

created in the ​scriptori​a​ of the monasteries;
b) Architecture​: ​assimilation of Islamic decorative motifs and forms as the
horseshoe-shaped arch and the ribbed dome
c) Art: ​subject matter is Christian, but the style shows the assimilation of Islamic
decorative motifs and forms especially in textiles, ceramic tiles, paintings and
pottery.

3) Troubadours and the Galaico-Portuguese tradition

3.1) Social and historical background

After 1143, Portugal

Important dates:

- 1096​: merge of Portugal and Coimbra counties to form “Condado Portucalense”

by Burgundian knight Henry;
- 1128​: ​S. Mamede battle. D. Afonso assumes the Condado Portucalense.
Negotiations with Holy to become independent.
- 1139: ​battle of Ourique. Afonso Henriques proclaimed king. First portuguese
dynasty: Alfonsina.
- 1143​: Zamora’s agreement. Portugal’s independence on October 5th.
- 1147/1165:​ more conquered land- Alentejo (south of Portugal)
- 1179​: ​Manifestis probatum​, Portugal recognized as a country by the Pope.
- 1185:​ Afonso Henriques dies. Sancho I becomes king of Portugal.
- 1190/1191:​ Muslim offensive towards Alentejo and Lisbon.
- 1197:​ Sancho I conquests Tui and Pontevedra (Galicia)
3.2) The Troubadours in the Iberian Peninsula

Despite a strong flourishing popular song tradition such as Mozarabic, Muslim or even
Jewish, the origins of the Galician-Portuguese troubadour art is arguably the art of
Provençal troubadours, artistic movement born in the south of France in the early
twelfth century, and quickly extended all over the Christian Europe. These songs in
galaico-portuguese language represent one of the richest heritages and most significant
exponents of musical art and poetry in medieval Western vernacular culture. Produced
during the period of about 150 years, from the late twelfth century to the mid-fourteenth
century, these songs are located, historically, in the dawn of the Iberian nationalities,
accompanying all the Christian reconquest.

It is a known fact that when transplanted to the Atlantic coast covering the kingdoms of
Léon and Galicia, Portugal, and Castile (from 1230 unified with Lion), the various
troubadour genres were not simply imitated, but were also reinterpreted in keeping with
local sensibilities. For instance: the ​cantigas de amor differ from their Provençal
counterparts, the ​fin’amor ​is replaced by a more realistic and concrete form, objective,
and very close to biographical facts.

Despite following defined models, artistic standards and general culture, the Iberian
troubadours adopted a proper innovating style in the song’s genre: ​cantigas de amigo
(​song of a friend)​.

3.3) The Galaico-Portuguese as a literary language

This language resulted from the transformations of vulgar Latin during the high Middle
Ages in the Northern-East of the Iberian Peninsula. It designates a phase whose later
development will lead to the differentiation between the modern Galician and the
respective Portuguese.

3.4) Songs’ characteristics

The relation between words and music in trouvère and troubadour song is of primary
significance. Generally, the melody had a main role

Regarding the melody:

a) Modal
b) Wider variety of accidentals is employed
c) Greater contrast between extremes of range
d) Larger number of ways in which the final may relate to the melodic ambitus,
e) Larger variety of finals.
As a structure:

a) Innumerable variations’ patterns regarding verse lengths and rhyming syllables

b) Most common rhyme schemes: abba and abab (four lines) and aab (three lines)
c) Cauda, section that develops freely
d) Refrain

3.5) Genres, themes, motifs

Genre Themes Characteristics Examples

-Male-voiced love
poetry;

Complex structure

-​Praise for the socially Less verse repetition

Cantigas de amor “​Em Lixboa sobre lo
distant woman;
- Platonic passion; mar​” b​ y João Zorro

- Chivalrous love;

Female-voiced love
poetry.

Simple structure

Parallelism and refrain

Main characters:

- Female friend “Três moças cantavam

C​antigas de - Suffering for love; (naive, narcissist, d'amor” ​by Lourenço
amigo revengeful); (unknown surname)

- The Mother
(​prohibitive social
code);

- The Male friend

(always absent);

- ​Confidents ​(always
positive contents)
 Cantigas Sexual and moral Poetry of insult and “Nostro Senhor, que
d'escarnio e de behaviour; mockery, satirical, with bem alberguei”​ by
mal dizer or without mistakes, Pero Garcia Burgalês
ironic;
Social, politics and religious
subjects; Aggressive language
(often)

(“Cantigas d'escarneo som aquelas que os trobadores fazem querendo dizer mal d'alguém em
elas, e dizem-lho per palavras cobertas que hajam dous entendimentos, pera lhe-lo nom
entenderem [...] ligeiramente; e estas palavras chamam os clérigos hequivocatio. E estas
cantigas se podem fazer outrossi de meestria ou de refram.” ​Cancioneiro da Biblioteca Nacional
Chapter 5 by Colocci)

All three songs are lyric genres in the technical sense that they were strophic songs with
either musical accompaniment or introduction on a stringed instrument. But all three
genres also have dramatic elements, leading early scholars to characterize them as
lyric-dramatic

3.6) Songbooks

Beginning probably around the middle of the thirteenth century, the songs, known as
cantares​, ​cantigas or ​trovas​, began to be compiled in collections known as ​cancioneiros
(songbooks). A ​corpus of more than 1680 secular poetic texts in Galego-Portuguese
survives in three major sources without music:

3.6.1) ​Cancioneiro da Ajuda​:

- Discovered in the school library of the Nobles in the early nineteenth century;
- The oldest datable from the early fourteenth century , contemporary of the last
generation of troubadours;
- Rich but incomplete illuminated manuscript, containing only 310 compositions,
of a single genre, the song of love;
- Irregular organised in 88 ​folia​;
- Probable collectors: D. Afonso III, Alfonso X of Castella;

3.6.2) ​Cancioneiro da Biblioteca Nacional de Lisboa​:

- Transcribed by the hand of himself Angelo Colocci;

- It is divided in 355 ​folia​;
 - The first six chapters are a short treatise in prose on the Galician-Portuguese art
of unknown authorship. Commonly known as “​Arte de trovar” briefly
summarizes the troubadour poetry, defining genres and rules that should follow
the art of the troubadours and minstrels;
- 1.205 “cantigas” from many authors regarding the three main styles: amor,
amigo e mal dizer plus the 138 songs by D. Dinis, the Troubadour King;
- Regarding the 1664 originals only 1560 songs survived ;
- New songs’ genres:
1) Tension:​ between two brave cavaliers trying to conquer a lady;
2) Cantiga de “ loo”​: to praise someone:
3) Pastorela:​ comic style
4) Spurious​:
5) Moral sirventês​: related song to the world’s issues such as the war, poverty,
falsity, lack of values;

3.6.3) Cancioneiro da Vaticana​:

- The songbook contains 228 ​foli​a​ with a total of 1205 songs;

- It dates from the 13th and 14th centuries.
- Nearly all the poems belong to the three principal genres of secular ​cantigas​: the
cantigas de amigo​, ​cantigas de amor and ​cantigas de escárnio e maldizer​. The
Cancioneiro da Vaticana​, together with the ​Cancioneiro da Biblioteca Nacional
(kept in ​Lisbon​), were copied from an earlier manuscript (or manuscripts)
around 1525, in Rome at the behest of the Italian ​humanist​ Angelo Colocci.

D. Dinis, ​the Troubadour King

Social and historical background

Important dates

1211​: Sancho I dies. Afonso II becomes King of Portugal

1217:​ Definitive conquest of Alcácer do Sal

1223:​ Afonso II dies. Sancho II becomes King of Portugal

1226:​ Agreement with England: protection against the corsairs

1245-1248:​ Civil war

1248​: After the civil War, Afonso III becomes king of Portugal

1249​: Conquest of Algarve

1254: ​“Cortes” of Leiria: political pact with monarchy and submits

1279​: Afonso III dies. D. Dinis becomes king of Portugal

1297​: Treaty of Alcanizes: definitive borders between Portugal and Castela

D Dinis, ​grandson of Alfonso X of Castile and León, by whom he was knighted, was
king of Portugal for nearly half a century (1279- 1325), leaving a deep legacy as main
mark. He was an important figure in the 13th century portuguese cultural life: Dinis,
was not only an accomplished troubadour but also the University of Lisbon founder,
lately transferred to Coimbra in 1308. As a consequence, D. Dinis introduced the first
chair of Music, a department divided in two sections: the ​speculative​, connected to the
studies of Mathematics and Astronomy; ​pratical, ​composed by ​dance and instrumental
performance. Despite a focus of civil war at the end of his reign , Portugal lived in
peace with the rest of Europe, increased its economy and prosperity.

4) The seven ​Cantigas de amor​ by D. Dinis

The discovery in 1990 of seven cantigas d'amor on a badly mutilated leaf from a
Galician Portuguese songbook dated circa 1300 captured the attention of musicologists,
whose direct knowledge of secular medieval Iberian music previously had been limited
to six cantigas de amigo by Martin Codax on a bifolium at New York's Pierpont Morgan
Library. The fragment, found by Harvey L. Sharrer in a book cover in the Arquivo
Nacional da Torre do Tombo in Lisbon, is all the more significant in that the texts are
concordant with songs attributed in three later manuscripts to King Dinis of Portugal,
the writing appears to be contemporary with Dinis, and the fragment includes music.
Besides its precarious condition, the scroll is characterized , by its little decoration ,
written by both sides and the economy of its space.

D. Dinis extant literary output includes ​137 compositions: 73 ​cantigas de amor​, 51

cantigas de amigo​, 10 satirical songs and 3 ​pastorelas​. His poetry, written in
Galician-Portuguese, was highly regarded in his own time and beyond; although rooted
in the indigenous lyric tradition, it betrays direct influence from the French troubadours
such as Bernart de Ventadorn and Jaufre Rudel.
4.1) Cantigas de amor characteristics

4.1.1) Rhythm and melody

The melodies, whose range is close to an octave, are unusually dense: at the very
beginning they tend to be syllabic, but neumatic articulation then becomes the norm;
the songs have, on average, three notes per syllable.

Conjunct progression and melodic unisons are predominant, but 3rds are given an
important structural role. Most songs include some repetition of musical phrases. The
musical forms are placed between the troubadour ​oda continua​, the Iberian solo
refrain forms and the northern French repetitive forms.

4.1.2) The musical notation

When discovered in 1990, the Parchment of Sharrer presented a diverse musical

notation among the ​cantigas de amor by D. Dinis. Considering the variety of copyists
and the repertoire, it is easy to find differences on the scores.

The notation in the surviving source (derived from pre-Franconian notation, with
Iberian traits) allows characterization of ​Dinis​'s rhythmic style as generally slow,
florid and isosyllabic; this, together with the exalted status of their author and poetic
genre, makes these songs unambiguous examples of ​cantus coronatus as it was
adopted in Iberian troubadour circles.

A tal estado m’adusse

A tal estado m'adusse, senhor,

o vosso bem e vosso parecer

que nom vejo de mi nem d'al prazer

nem veerei já, enquant'eu vivo for,

u nom vir vós que eu por meu mal vi.

E queria mia mort'e nom mi vem,

 senhor, porque tamanh'é o meu mal

que nom vejo prazer de mim nem d'al,

nem veerei já, esto creede bem,

u nom vir vós que eu por meu mal vi.

E pois meu feito, senhor, assi é,

querria já mia morte, pois que nom

vejo de mi nem d'al nulha sazom

prazer, nem veerei já per bõa fé,

u nom vir vós que eu por meu mal vi,

pois nom havedes mercee de mi.

The relation between music and text presents an ​exceptional subtlety.

D Dinis post references

King Dinis

In the night, the planter of ships-yet-to-be

Writes one of his troubadour's poems

And he listens to a murmuring silence within him:

It is the whisper of the pine groves which,

Like a cornfield of Empire, undulate unseen.

Like a brook, that song, young and pure,

Searches out the ocean-to-be-found;

And the talk of the pine groves, dull rumble,

Is the present sound of that future ocean,

Is the call of the land yearning for the sea.

4) The art of minstrels: Martín Codax

4.2) An introduction to Martín Codax

The discovery in 1914 by Don Pedro Vindel, the well-known bookseller of Madrid, of
a manuscript of the seven songs of Martin Codax inside a 14th century parchment
binding codex of Cicero's ​De Officiis was enough to set scholars ripping up the bindings
of all their old folios. Although the songs of Codax were already known in the
Cancioneiro da Vaticana published by Ernesto Monaci in 1875, the later discovery was
of great value, since the songs in the new text are accompanied by musical notes, and
moreover various disputes as to text and spelling have been set at rest. It is reproduced
in ​facsimile at the end of ​Las Siete Canciones de Amor​, edited by Señor Vindel (Madrid,
1915), which was followed by important studies on Codax and his lyrics by D. Carolina
Michaelis de Vasconcellos and D. Eladio Oviedo y Arce.

4.3) An Iberian minstrel

The Galician-Portuguese “school” stands not only for the interest of its songs but also, a
particular group of troubadours which are characterised by the use monorhyme with
chorus, parallelism and symbolism naturist. This type of compositions is what we
understand as popular poetry​.

Representing the previous particular group, arises ​Martim Codax​. He is best known as a
Galician minstrel, humble singer, an almost anonymous jogral active in middle or third
quarter of the thirteenth century possibly linked to Vigo, city repeatedly sung in his
compositions. His name seems to exclude the hypothesis of a high social status and due
to scarce sources, it is not known further aspects about his biography.
Along with D. Dinis, Codax represents one of only two authors on medieval songbooks
whose compositions are also kept in individual manuscript, the Parchment of Vindel,
accompanied by respective musical notation. After many centuries after, Martim Codax,
by many aspects, is still at the center of the attention of readers, autologous, philologists
and scholars in general.

4.4) The poems:

The poets tended to use an archaic technique known as parallelism. It is ​one of the
oldest strategies discovered and developed by poets and singers in the distant days when
poetry kept close contacts with music. Its base is naturally the repetition, responding to
fixed rules, but it can establish different types of​ different forms:

a) oral​, (which affects the words)​ and

b) structural​, (which corresponds to the syntactic and rhythmic structure)

The parallelism is intimately connected to the presentation of the same idea twice in
successive ​stanzas (a grouped set of lines within a poem, usually set off from other
stanzas by a blank line or indentation), the second time with a change of word at the
line-ends (codas). The stanzas were short and were generally followed by a refrain. ​The
refrain​ was not meant to be choral, and may have been freely rendered by the singer.

Taking into account the previous characteristics, Codax's songs organize itself as a cycle
supported by their structural and rhetorical features. The transparency of their language,
the schematic apparent formal schemes, the use of symbolism deeply connected to the
collective subconscious of the European tradition, the mention of a name that obsessive
suggests a specific context and make him a living model that the rest of the
circumstances listed contributed to impose in our minds as archetypal medieval.

Codax, as a man of his period, followed the ​troubadours art and adopted typically
Galician-Portuguese genre known as cantigas de amigo, in which a woman addresses a
man, and the love story they depict is characterised by distant longing and feelings of
loneliness. However, Codax shows us a different perspective: along with the voice of a
young woman addressing to the ocean waves, God, and others, speaking of her plans to
meet her loved one, the sea, as a natural element, is a constant presence. There is,
therefore, an unsettling symbolic meaning in this infinite sea that opens out beyond the
bay of Vigo: the woman who is lamenting the fact that her beloved is so far away is in
fact looking into the void, into the next world.

The sea, in all its manifestations, is the recurring ​leitmotiv (​short, constantly recurring
musical phrase associated with a particular person, place, or idea) of the
Galician-Portuguese and forthcoming poets generation as well.
Having Vigo as reference, Martín Codax seems to have a special predilection for the
sea. Of the seven songs in the ​Parchment of Vindel​, four contain explicit references to
the sea. It might seem to be stating the obvious to mention the close relationship
between Portugal and the factor that more than any other has influenced its history and
culture: the Atlantic Ocean. All of this country’s major achievements have involved
exploration, and it is not by chance that its literature reached its apex with the epic ​Os
Lusíadas​.

Centuries before the sea route to India was discovered, medieval Galician poets sang of
the sea in lyrics filled with a wistful melancholy and music. The Galician rías, the
lovely waters of Vigo's bay, are pre- eminently worthy to be sung; and Martín Codax,
without the use of adjectives or any attempts at description, has the true poet's gift of
making us feel intimately the beauty, even the colour, the transparent depths, the swell
and foam of the waters of the ria, and the silent charm of the solitary church at the
water's edge, where many a prayer went up for the safe return of those who went down
to the sea in ships from the little town of Vigo, now a great city.

4.5) Codax’s ​cantigas de amigo

Of the seven song's found on ​Parchment of Vindel​, six are accompanied by musical
notations; oddly, the remaining one (number VII, ​Ay ondas, que eu vin veer​) is
accompanied by an empty pentagram.

4.5.1) Ondas do Mar de Vigo

Ondas do Mar de Vigo

Galaico-Portuguese English

Ondas do mar de Vigo, O flowing waves of Vigos’ bay

Se vistes meu amigo?​(P) Have you seen my love who is gone away?
E ai Deus!, se verrá cedo​. Ah God!, will he soon come to me?

Ondas do mar levado, O waves, fair waves of the swelling sea,

Se vistes meu amado? ​(P) Have you seen my lover woe is me?
E ai Deus!, se verrá cedo​? Ah God!, will he soon come to me?

Se vistes meu amigo,​(P) Have you seen my love for whom I sight?
O por que eu suspiro. And sorrowing weep incessantly.
E ai Deus!, se verrá cedo? Ah God!, will he soon come to me?

Se vistes meu amado,​(P) Have you seen my love for whom alway?
Por que hei gran cuidado. I sorrowing grieve for night and day
E ai Deus!, se verrá cedo? Ah God!, will he soon come to me?

Ondas do mar de Vigo (during the Medieval period was only a small village), is a
cantiga de amigo having a ​barcarola or ​marinha as sub-genre regarding the sea and
natural elements.

As a structure, it is a ​Cantiga de refram: 4 X (2 + 1) with the following parallelism:

aa​-B e ​cc-B​.

The very first line of ​Ondas do mar de Vigo has in it all the rhythmic swell of the
noontide ocean. Like the other poems, it is of extreme simplicity of form and thought,
just a cry of the heart expressed in the parallel. Furthermore, the slow rhythm of the
waves in Vigo amplifies and transfigures this wistful melancholy.

4.5.2) Mandad’ ey comigo

Mandad’ ey comigo

Galaico-Portuguese English

Mandad' ei comigo My love's coming home,

ca uen meu amigo, For his message has come,
e irei, madr', a Uigo I will hie me, mother, to Vigo

Comig' ei mandado He is coming to-day,

ca uen meu amado As his message doth say,
e irei, madr', a Uigo I will hie me, mother, to Vigo.

Ca uen meu amigo Coming home presently,

e nlen san' e uiuo, Safe and well comes he,
e irei, madr', a Uigo. I will hie me, mother, to Vigo

Ca uen meu amado My love's on the way,

e uen uiu' e sano, Well and safe comes to-day,
e irei, madr', a Uigo I will hie me, mother, to Vigo.

Ca uen san' e uiuo Safe and well, I wis,

e del rei amigo, The King's friendship is his,
e irei, madr', a Uigo. I will hie me, mother, to Vigo.

Ca uen uiu' e sano Well and safe comes to me,

e del rei priuado The King's favourite he,
e irei, madr', a Uigo I will hie me, mother, to Vigo
Classificação: Cantiga de refram: 6 x (2 + 1), Estrofes paralelísticas: ​aa-A e ​bb-A​,
alternadas. O corpo da cantiga é constituído de pentassílabos graves; o refram, de
um hexassílabo, também grave. Rima breve, soante nos dois primeiros dísticos e
toante nos demais. O refram monóstico liga-se pela rima ao corpo da cantiga nas
estrofes ímpares.

In this ​cantiga de amigo​, the lover is coming home, and it may seem strange that he is
'del rey privado,' but this proves not that Codax was of high rank but that his lyrical gift
was appreciated by high-placed ladies.

4.6) Music analysis

In the ​Parchment of Vindel the melodies were copied by two different scribes. The
quasi-mensural character of the musical notation (use of semibreve, breve and long, and
of semibreve-semibreve ligatures), which nonetheless displays some typically Iberian
traits, allows us to see at least one styles of rhythmic notation: rhapsodic, with a
juxtaposition of rhythmic patterns and melodic formulae (also found elsewhere)
resulting in an irregular alternation of shorts and longs.

The music is closely tied to the structural features of the poem: the regular strophic
accents, the internal strophic contrast marked by the coda, and the opposition between
strophe and refrain are enhanced by melodic features. The previous two songs tend to be
in AA'B form, use a small range (typically a major 6th), “F-G-A-B-C-D” in which F
represents the lowest note on the score and D the respective higher note. These notes
move mostly by step, creating a sensation of an apparent ​legato​. The articulation of the
text is syllabic or neumatic, melismas including generally no more than four notes
(seven being the maximum).

Codax’s ​cantigas are rather compact, from the viewpoint of both theme and metric
structure. The structure is typical of the cantigas de amigo: verses of two lines, followed
by a third as refrain, or ​refrão​. The parallel pattern is very clear: thematic variety is
sacrificed in favour of the obsessive repetition of the same motif. And yet, precisely
because the language is reduced to a minimum, the constant variations and the
repetition of the verses produce a remarkable compositional musicality. The expressive
core, declared in its entirety from the very first line, does not allow for any change or
development. The situation is fixed and all encompassing – in this case it is centred on
the sadness of the woman who stares at the sea while awaiting the return of her beloved.

4.7) Minstrel instruments and ensembles

There are two major sources of facts and impressions concerning the varied roles and
functions of medieval minstrels: ​literature​, in which, especially in poetry, the symbolic
element often outweighs the descriptive and ​financial records. Despite not being
enough, these two sources can give us and approach and information of:

a) The instruments they used​: plucked/bowed string, fiddles, trumpets and

percussion;
b) How were the instruments played and respective sound​: division of
instruments into haut (higher) and bas (lower)
c) The size and composition of ensembles: a variety of trio combinations and
occasionally quartets. Larger groups also appear, mostly in connection with
urban processions.
6) Music and the Portuguese society

By the early XIV century, Portugal have suffered several transformations regarding the
cultural and educational life. However, the differences among social divisions were
clearly seen, existing a gap between the Royalty/Clergy and the rest of the people’s
community.
7) Conclusion

At the end of this lecture, the main idea to retain is that considering the Middle Ages as
a “dark period”, is sometimes a wrong approach and definition. We could clearly listen
that despite being away from our modern century, these compositions and composers
still represent a rich legacy and heritage of our past culture.

Therefore, the Medieval art, spanning more than two centuries, contributed to a brilliant
European culture along with other contemporaries, allowing for instance, contact with
new forms of art, societies, cultures and regions. Furthermore, the eagerness of
knowledge lead these “minds” to a different stage of thinking and, as a consequence, a
new era was coming, the Renaissance.

8) Further listening

9) Further readings

J.J. Nunes: “Cantigas de Martim Codax : presumido jogral do secolo XIII”, Imprensa Portuguesa, Porto,
1931;

Ross W. Duffin: “ ​A Performer's Guide to Medieval Music”, ​Indiana University Press, 2000;

Sarah Kay: “The troubadours”, ​Cambridge University Press, 1999, I​ SBN:​9780521574730

Clyde Waring Brockett: “Antiphons, responsories, and other chants of the Mozarabic rite​”, ​Institute of
Mediaeval Music, 1968;

D.M. Randel: ‘The Old Hispanic Rite as Evidence for the Earliest Forms of the Western Christian
Liturgies’, RdMc, xvi (1993), 491–6;

Emma Hornby​, ​Rebecca Maloy​: “M​usic and Meaning in Old Hispanic Lenten Chants: Psalmi, Threni and
the Easter Vigil Canticles”, ​Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Music​, Colorado, 2013 ISBN:
9781843838142;

F. Andersen, T. Pettitt and R. Schröder, eds.: The Entertainer in Medieval and Traditional Culture
(Odense, 1997)

K. Levy: ‘The Iberian Peninsula and the Formation of Early Western Chant’, RdMc, xvi (1993), 435;

Mercedes Brea: “Elementos popularizantes en las cantigas de amigo”, Universidade de Santiago de

Compostela,
M. Switten: Music and Literature in the Middle Ages: an Annotated Bibliography (New York, 1995)

Sarah Kay: “The troubadours”, ​Cambridge University Press, 1999, I​ SBN:​9780521574730

T. McGee, ed.: Medieval Instrumental Dances (Bloomington, IN, 1989)

Bibliography
Aubrey F. G. Bell: “The Seven Songs of Martin Codax”, The Modern Language Review, Vol. 18, No. 2
(Apr., 1923), pp. 162-167;

João de Freitas Branco: “História da música portuguesa”, Publicações Europa-América, Mem-Martins,

2005, 4ª edição;

Grove Dictionary of Music Online: Mozarabic Chant, Martim Codax and Troubadours;

Parchments: Biblioteca Nacional de Lisboa, Vaticana,

Manuel Pedro Ferreira: “O som de Martim Codax:on the musical dimension of the galician-portuguese
lyric in XII-XIV centuries, Unsys, Imprensa Nacional, Lisboa, 1986;

Oxford History of Western Music, Richard Taruskin;