Program Notes Archeologists and historians have found evidence of early Celtic and Basque settlements in the Iberian Peninsula dating to the dawn of recorded history. The region was an integral part of the Mediterranean trade route plied by Phoenician merchants well before Rome planted its Eagles there and its citizens began to homestead in the 2nd century, BCE. Emperor Augustus officially annexed the province as Hispania in 17 BCE. The Emperors Trajan and Hadrian, and intellectual luminaries such as Seneca, Lucian, and Quintilian, were born there. Roman musical practice was mainly a servile activity, though philosophical and mathematical interest in music was broadly known to well-educated pagans throughout the Empire. In the year 410, Germanic tribes including the Visigoths sacked Rome and ended the Western Empire; they also conquered Hispania and ruled it for the next four centuries. Singing and instrumental music was part of everyday life for these early Christians. They developed their own "Mozarabic" chant in their church services, an offshoot of the Roman/Gregorian rite. In his Etymologies, Isidore, Bishop of Seville (6th c.), gave a brief summary of Pythagorean ideas of music similar to those transmitted into the Roman world by the North African scholar, Martianus Cappella (5th c.), and the Roman patrician writers Cassiodorus (c.485 - c. 585) and Boethius (480 - 520) as well as providing practical information about the various instruments including the psaltery, Kithara, Lyre, trumpets, drums, cymbals, and their usage in Visigothic Spain. When invading Umayyad Muslim forces led by Tariq ibn Zayd crossed into Hispania at the Pillars of Hercules in 711, they brought with them a diverse group of warriors including North African Berbers. The Visigoths were slaughtered, their towns burned, and citizens murdered or put in chains; resisting bands were driven to small mountain kingdoms to lick their wounds. After conquering the one-year king Roderic (Rodrigo), of the Visigoths, they established their Emirate, and later, an Islamic Caliphate, ruling their newly renamed land of Al-Andalus. Once the dust settled, the Emirs permitted Jews and remaining Visigothic Christians to practice their religion and live under circumscribed limits as dhimmis (protected peoples), so long as they submitted to their Muslim superiors and did not proselytize or disturb the peace. Tolerance meant living side-by-side, especially in terms of commerce, and Jews were often given official roles in the bureaucracy. While some Visigoth nobles decided to accept the terms imposed upon them and keep their territory as vassals, the northwestern lands of Asturias became a refuge for the Visigoths who refused to submit to Moslem rule. Christians began to gain back territory by winning the battle of Corvadonga in 722, led by Pelayo, King of Asturias. The Caliphate continued to head northward across the Pyrenees, and the Franks stopped their progress into Aquitaine by winning key battles including Poitiers and Toulouse. Charles Martel soundly defeated the invaders at their northernmost incursion into Burgundy, halting the Islamic conquest of Provence and France in 739. But the struggle continued, and in 822, French and Spanish forces were defeated soundly at the mountain pass of Roncesvalles; on that day, the poet of the Chanson de Rolande writes, Roland and his men watched the shining helmets and lances of their foes charge the pass; in one telling of the story, Roland felt calling Charlemagne's army back would show cowardice, and instead of dying at the hands of the "infidel" (equivalent terms were used on both sides of the conflict), fell upon his sword. The early Emirate of Cordova ruled five provinces and established a cultural hold over most of the peninsula. Arabic music in Al-Andalus was itself a mixture of many influences, the caravan songs of the African Berbers to the finely-wrought songs of the professional singers trained in faraway Medina (in modern Saudi Arabia), and from later musicians trained in Baghdad. In the Abbasid revolt of 750, the Umayyads were overthrown in the Mashriq (the Islamic East centered in Medina, Arabia) though the last survivor of the dynasty, Abd al- Rahman I (d. 788), escaped through the Maghreb (Islamic N. Africa) to Cordova in Al-Andalus, establishing himself as the Umayyad Emir of Al-Andalus. The rule of his descendant, Abd-al-Rahman Ill, is considered the beginning of the Caliphate in Al-Andalus, a golden age that lasted nearly a century from his assumption of the office in 929 until the breakup of the Caliphate in 1031. Translation of ancient sources was an important task, and Toledo and other Islamic cities produced copies of Aristotle and other ancient texts lost to the Latin West. A similar center of translation was Islamic, and later, early Christian Sicily. Andalusian music theory, monophonic in nature then as now, was highly complex, and was influenced from the harmonics manuals of Ancient Greek writers like Claudius Ptolemy and Aristoxenos; as the Islamic Caliphate pushed eastward into Persia and Iraq, their complex modal maqqamat (modal system) were expanded and rhythmic patterns (iqa) became part of their musical practice. Treatises on music were written by AI-Kindi (801 - 873), AI-Farabi (870 - 950), including a treatise on the tuning and placing of frets upon the early oud (lute). ln Al-Andalus, the most famous musical figure was the blind, African/Arabic lutenist and singer Ziryab (c. 789 - c. 857), a court musician about whom many stories were told, most of them apocryphal.
In these opulent courts, highly trained, singing slave girls (qayina) performed to the oud (lute) and daff (tambourines) at elaborate wine parties, holding incredible power over their outwardly devout patrons. Their princely patrons often rewarded visiting musicians with thousands of gold or silver pieces for a single performance. To an some, their behavior was scandalous: music was a practice deplored by many who pointed to proscriptions in the Quran against music, which forbade consorting with women and drinking alcohol, but on the other hand, it was also accepted by those who pointed to the Hadith (sayings and stories of the Prophet) that seemed more accepting of the arts, leading to the long-standing practice of singing verses of the Quran. Sadly, while we have poetry, treatises on practice and theory, and intriguing lists of musicians and tales of their prowess, we have no significant record of what this music sounded like. We have evidence of the first vernacular Spanish poems, or zajals, short Romance verses appended to Arabic poems, but no music for these examples survives. Many medieval Andalusian poems that were doubtless sung in their day survive as poetry. A good example is the Arabic muwashshat, a refrain-based poem meant to engirdle the listener like the bejeweled sashes worn diagonally across the chest by Andalusian men ("wushah"). The first of these songs was composed around the turn of the 10th century. Hal tusta 'adu is an example of a modern, Moroccan musical setting of a brief text in this style by the Andalusian poet lbn Zuhr (1113 - 1198). The genre had a profound influence on secular song, especially in Old Provençale, Gallician-Portuguese and Castillian (Spanish). In particular, the use of elaborate rhyme schemes and the division of the music into opposing sections rather than through composed forms of the Arabic court style. The musical parts of the poem consisted of a dawr (opening) khanah (contrasting middle) and qaflah (return) and memorable, internal refrains that end each section. Lois Ibsen al Faruqi long ago noted the resemblance of the muwashshah's florid ornamentation and anonymity of its symbols and characters, as well as the lack of growth towards a singular, climactic goal, to Islamic calligraphy and visual art, which is about a profusion of ornament, rather than focus on an individual figure or image. The repetitive muwashshah was a precursor to the refrain-based fixed forms such as the virelaithat we will hear throughout our program, a musical form that would remain central to Iberian music far into the 15th century. With the breakup of the Caliphate in the 11th century into taifa kingdoms (independent city-states), further gains would provide more opportunities for the Christians to win back territory. Toledo fell to the Christians in 1085. Over centuries Christian forces pushed gradually southward, establishing their kingdoms of Castile, Leon, Portugal, Navarre, and Aragon. The early years of this Reconquista was the backdrop of first epic in the Castilian (Spanish) language, El Cantar de mio Cid (late 12th - early 13th c). Christians gradually hemmed the Muslims in, especially with the taking of the Islamic capital of Cordoba, the intellectual jewel of Al-AndaIus, in 1236, reducing the extent of the Islamic territories to the southern county of Grenada by 1250. At the same time, Islamic raids were a constant threat to the Christian kingdoms. Even as late as 1474, the Nasrid ruler Abu al-Hasan Ali would raid deep into Spanish territory, and his Grenadian forces would take the city of Zahara in Cadiz, enslaving the surviving population. Atrocities were routinely committed by armies on both sides of the conflict, including wholesale slaughter, forced conversion, rape, and torture. Jews lived in Hispania in Roman times, and their number grew in the shadow of Roman persecutions of Jerusalem during the wars that began in CE 66. Under the Visigoths rulers, they were relatively undisturbed at first by their Arian Christian rulers until King Reccared I (r. 586- 601) reconciled the Visigoths with the Catholic church. Under King Sisebut (r. 612 - 620), forced conversions began and persecution became rampant. After the Islamic invasion of 711, Jews were treated better, becoming dhimmis like their Visigoth Christian neighbors who had also accepted Muslim rule. Some Jews were placed in administrative posts in the Emirate and Caliphate, and some adopted to Arabic ways and learned the language. As late as the 11th century, Jewish poets were composing their works in Al-Andalus relatively undisturbed. Salomon ben Judah aben Gabrial (c. 1021 - 1077) wrote his piyyat (prayer) for peace, Adon 'olam that opens our program; we will sing the poem to a Sephardic melody from Morocco, where many Jews found a home after their expulsion from Spain in 1492. Important Jewish theologians and philosophers wrote their most important works in Al-Andalus under Islamic rule. Logician, physician, philosopher, and Rabbi Maimonides (1134 - 1204) wrote his Guide for the Perplexed, a somewhat emanationist, Neoplatonic meditation on the relation of God to the world and human souls while residing in his Arabic-Spanish homeland. This work would influence later medieval scholastics including Thomas Aquinas and Johannes Scotus. But Jewish fortunes fell again with the coming of the Almohad dynasty to Al-Andalus in 1148, whose fundamentalist, intolerant attitudes resulted in the end of the culture's golden hour. Like many Jews of his generation, Maimonides would be banished from Cordoba to North Africa; he died far from home in exile in the city of Fustat, Egypt (Cairo). The 12th -13th centuries coincided with an explosion of vernacular, secular song across Europe, which began to be notated for posterity. In the 11th century, contact between the Franks and AI-Andalus would inspire the first of the Troubadours, Guillaume
IX, Duke of Aquitaine (1071 - 1136). According to Marfa Rosa Menocal, he was inspired by the singing of Muslim slave girls as a child of the court. About 1000 Islamic slaves had been taken from AI-Andalus and sold across Provence as war-booty, and their new owners exhibited them as new- found ornaments of their own courtly splendor. Guillaume wrote his songs in Occitan (old Provencale), and they are among the earliest examples of recorded secular lyric in a Romance language. About a century later, Giraut de Bornelh (c. 1160 - 1219) would be considered by his peers to be a master fabricator, the greatest of the troubadours. Giraut traveled on crusade to the Holy Land with Richard the Lionheart, future King of England; he later visited the court of Alfonso IX of Leon. Troubadours were welcome there during the dangerous years of the Albigensian crusade against the heretical Cathars of Provence (1209 - 1229), many of whom had ties to these poet-musicians. Some troubadours traveled southeastward to the Spanish kingdoms of Navarre and Aragon, and still others all the way to Italy, where Dante would remember them and enshrine them in his Commedia. Giraut's most popular song today is his Reis glorios, an alba (dawn-song). Here the jongleur rues the coming of day, wishing to linger as the world awakens, despite the mortal dangers to both lovers if they are discovered. A more recent and better-known version of the sentiment passes from Juliet's lips as she awakens in Romeo's arms centuries later, complaining "It is the Lark that sings so out of tune... Straining harsh discords and unpleasing sharps". Lyric poetry in the Galician language began to be recorded in musical notation at the turn of the 14th century. The Portuguese jograr Martin Codax (fl. 1240- 1270 ca.) is one of the few composers of love songs, or cantigas de amigo, whose music survives, albeit on a single sheet of velum. In Ondas do mar, a woman watches the waves for the return of her lover; she asks the roiling sea surrounding the port of Vigo to help her, with a brief refrain ending each by asking how long she must suffer his absence. This song is quite melismatic, and one might be excused for hearing the waves in their Arabesques. It is thought that together his work might constitute one of the first song cycles in Western music. Galician was also the language of the collators of the two copies of Los Cantigas de Santa Maria, a massive collection of 420 songs created with the support and assistance of King Alfonso X El Sabio (The Wise, 1252 - 1284), King of Leon, Castile, and Galicia. Alfonso was more of an intellect than a warrior, and it was said that he spent too much time charting the stars than seeing to the health of his state. Nonetheless, he cultivated music, as found in several manuscripts of these poems, one of them, the Cadice Rico, elaborately notated and illuminated. These songs, like the Arabic muwashshah, alternated between verses and refrains in a similar pattern to the French virelai. The Cantigas de Santa Maria were part of an emerging cult of Mary the Virgin, whose miracles were earlier recounted in by the French abbot and trouvere Gautier de Coinci (c. 1177 - 1236). In the Rico Codex, Illustrations in this manuscript show Christian, Muslim, and Jewish musicians playing various instruments, though the relationship of these illustrations to actual practice has been hard to verify. This flowering of devotional song predates the rise of the early 14th century Italian Lauda and the later 13th and early 14th century Medieval English lyric, both of which focus on themes of martyrdom and praise of Mary. Cantiga 189, Ben pode Santa Maria guarir, tells a colorful story of a knight who had to kill a basilisk-like dragon on pilgrimage, and how he contracted a deadly case of leprosy. In the poem, we hear how he called upon Mary to aid him in both adverse situations, and how she eventually cured him. A charming panel illumination accompanies the tale, showing the action in a neat visual summary. The medieval half of our program concludes with songs from The Monastery of Santa Maria de Montserrat in the mountains of Catalunya, founded sometime in the 11th century, and, then as now, a pilgrimage site on the Camino de Santiago. The Monastery was founded around the veneration of a statue, the Moreneta Virgin ("the Dark Madonna"), supposedly found ca. 880. Compiled in the last years of the 14th century, the Llibre Verme/1 (Red Book) of Santa Maria de Montserrat contains music written for the appropriate recreation of the pilgrims who lodged there. From its pages we can hear the sonic environment of hostels frequented by medieval palmers like those of Geoffrey Chaucer's company in The Canterbury Tales. Its repertory ranges from simple canons like Laudemus Virginem Mater Est to more complex songs in Latin and Catalan. The most elaborate polyphonic song in the collection,MariaMatrem Virginem, is in the contemporary style of the French ars subtilior, with a florid and often syncopated cantus (melody) sounding against supportive tenor and contratenor lines in equal ranges below. The Catalan text for the ballada Los SetGotxs is missing some lines of text, and we have instead given you the text to contemplate while we play it as a mainly instrumental work, singing only the refrain "Ave maria, gratia a plena, Dominus tecum Virgo Serena" (Hail Mary, full of grace, The Lord is with thee, Serene Virgin). Travelers on the camino often had to worry about assaults from brigands, so walking the 600+ mile trail to Compostela was often a dangerous experience. Invoking Mary's role as intercessor would certainly help to allay their fears and perhaps, they felt, confer somewhat of a protective charm over them for the remainder of their journey. The two largest Spanish kingdoms were uneasily united under Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella of Castile, their marriage being the first step in establishing the modern Spanish Crown. As first cousins, their match needed Papal dispensation, which was eventually supplied through the help of Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia, a prominent Spaniard in the Papal Curia and future pope Alexander VI. The couple's marriage was hardly assured, due to the bitter rivalries between their kingdoms' branches of the
powerful Trastámara family. Isabella was kept out of the line of succession by her half-brother Enrique IV, who consistently mistreated her in favor of his own children. As a child, Isabella was shuttled across the country, kept in seclusion for years, relying on her faith and taking inspiration from her chosen model, the recently deceased Joan of Arc, now on her way to sainthood. Civil war was a constant event in Castile. Enrique succeeded to the throne upon their father's death. A weak statesman, he spent much of his time carousing and scandalously put far too much trust in his favorite (and rumored lover) Juan Pacheco, who did much to damage the reputation of the crown by empowering the self-interest of their coterie. Enrique and his circle quickly came to see Isabella and her supporters as a threat to their power. As common in feudal politics, young Isabella was little more than a pawn; she was shopped around as potential bride to kingdoms that would get her both out of the country and the line of succession as well as gaining a foot in another royal family. One of these was a failed match with the future Richard Ill of England (it would fall to Isabella's daughter, the future Catherine of Aragon, to fatefully marry into the Tudor family in 1501). To the east, Another Alfonso, King of Aragon, having been slighted by their blocking of his own attempts to marry into the Castilian side of his Trastámara family, was furious with his son Ferdinand II for making known his plans to marry Isabella of Castile. After a period of waiting, the couple eloped in secret and informed Enrique afterward. The monarchs were a good match at first: Ferdinand was a brave warrior, and Isabella a cultured and serious thinker. Though over time they grew apart domestically, they always assumed a dual public persona. Their reign would be solidified by a ten-year campaign to finish the work began by Isabella's Visigoth ancestor, Pelayo, to push the Muslims out of Spain.
Enrique's second wife, Queen Joan of Portugal, was also rumored to be an adulterer, and many doubted the legitimacy of her own daughter, Juana. Enrique made his younger brother, Alfonso, the young Prince of Asturias, heir to the throne. He died suddenly, allegedly by poison, in 1468, and suspicions ran high against Enrique. Alfonso was the figurehead of the faction against Enrique and his daughter Juana during the Wars of Castilian Succession. On the young prince's death, his claim was taken up by Isabella. Isabella and Enrique managed to reconcile their differences before his death, though he never named her as his heir. Nonetheless, Isabella succeeded him on the throne. Her rival, the younger Juana, dubbed "la Beltraneja" after the surname of her alleged real father, led a sad life that included failed matches as a child bride, culminating in a scandalous marriage to her uncle, King Alfonso V of Portugal, who married her for political gain. At the conclusion of the war of Castillian succession, Juana was dethroned as part of the negotiations, and the victors gave her the choice of entering a convent or being prosecuted for sedition. She chose seclusion in a convent. The Spanish Reconquista finally came to an end seven centuries after the fall of the Visigoths in 711 in Isabella's decade-long war to recapture Grenada, a war that followed on the heels of a war with Portugal. Horrible atrocities were perpetrated by both Muslims and the Christians in the Grenadan War: Revenge was dealt cold- heartedly to cities that refused to yield in siege, and many innocent women and children were enslaved or died in massacres. In 1492, Isabella had the chains of Christian slaves from Málaga and Almeria hung on outside of her newly constructed cathedral of San Juan dos Reyos in Toledo as a monument to the suffering of Christian slaves at the hands of their captors. After several secret attempts to win him over to their cause, Ferdinand and Isabella were able to secretly arrange for the surrender of Grenada by the young Nasrid king, Boabdil. His actions betrayed a naked self-interest rather than fidelity to the Muslim cause. The surviving Muslims were expelled over a three-year period starting in 1493, leaving safely for North Africa and the East. The Jews were also expelled in the same year. Spain was now a Catholic nation, a bulwark against the growing threat of the Ottoman Turks and their leader, Mehmed the Conqueror, who were menacing the Balkans, Greece, and parts of Italy, and were threatening Rome. The fear of another Islamic invasion of Spain was one of the biggest motivating factors for Isabella's sense of urgency in war. The Cancionero de Palacio is a large collection of 463 villancicos, Italian frottole, motets and other songs written mostly in the late fifteenth century and compiled in the first two decades of the sixteenth century. Isabella was adept at music and could have sung many of the songs collected in its pages. This deluxe manuscript was not discovered until the late 20th century, and its repertory - is a window on the domestic entertainment of the court. The villancico, a newly popular form, dominates the manuscript, which contains most of the villancicos of Juan de Encina, a musician and playwright with ties to the Castillian and Aragonese courts. A villancio is a musical form that contrasts an estribillo (refrain) and verses that consist of a contrasting mundanza phrase coupled with a vuelta, or turning back to the same musical material of the estribillo, but with different words, followed by the estribillo (AbbaAbba...). The typical villancio proceeds in this virelai-like pattern, like the 13th c. Cantigas de Santa Maria.
As explained by Charlotte Stern, Encina's Oy comamos y bebamos is a drinking song for those about to feast for Lent. It is a villancico that accompanied his play featuring a San Antruejo (St. Carnival) who is still a figure in folk customs on Shrove Tuesday in Northern Spain. The Aragonese composer Mateo y Flecha's Cuckoo is a song about the supposed inconstancy of women and jealousy... ironically, Ferdinand was the one with the roving eye and a growing list of lovers and illegitimate offspring, rather than Isabella, who by all accounts remained chaste outside of her marriage. Encina's Tres morillas is a love song by a Christian who falls in love with three Islamic maids - Axa Fatima and Marien - who he espies in Jaen, a city in Andalusia, near Cordoba. Today, the song may seem uncomfortable, perhaps representing a fixation on the exotic other, but there is also the possibility that at the time the peoples were truly inspired by contact with those who they otherwise shunned. We must remember that we have the lute because of contact with the "Moors''. And, of course, Chrisitan Spain captured the Alambra, the most exotic of all its palaces that was once a monument to Islam and filled with spoils of war.
The most dramatic piece in the collection is Una sañosa porfia, a recounting of the taking of Grenada from the point of view of the Muslim defenders in the siege. This long ballad describes the Christians coming to the field from Santa Fe, the permanent camp they erected outside of the capital city, with the aid of Mary, who guarantees their victory. Various stages in the suffering of the Muslims are described from their own point of view, and we hear the cries of "Long live Ferdinand and Isabella!" as their nation is destroyed. The sympathetic view of the Muslims is echoed by some of the most dramatic art of the age that shows the many inequities visited on them. Is this text meant as Schadenfreude, taking delight in the suffering of others? O language of the collators of the two copies of Los Cantigas r is it truly sympathetic, a cathartic washing of one's guilt through mimesis? You can hear the march of the troops in the pavana-like syllabic singing at the front of each verse, and the cries of the citizens of Granada in the long, Arabesque-like melisma at the end of each verse. One struggles to understand how Isabella, hardened to her purpose as a Christian defending her people, but who felt true agony at the death of women and children on either side of the war, would have felt about this text. ¡Viva, viva Don Fernando! celebrates the end of the war in Grenada and expulsion of the Muslims; Isabella is named second, despite her being the true architect of the war, as the two had agreed upon their marriage. We close our program with a slightly later work, a Kyrie from a mass by Rodrigo de Caballos, choirmaster in Malaga, Cordoba, and Grenada, three cities that were once part of the Islamic Caliphate. It is ironic that his music traveled with Spanish immigrants to the new world, first discovered by Christopher Columbus with funds from Ferdinand and Isabella in 1492, the year Granada was taken by the Spanish. As we are all surely aware, "Missionary" Christian expansion in our hemisphere by right of Isabella and the Papacy led to the exploitation and deaths of untold numbers of indigenous Americans, as documented by Bartolome de las Casas; his searing appeal for humanity was documented in his 1542 work, A Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indies, addressed directly to Philip II, King of Spain. Dr. Mark Rimple Nov. 13, 2023
TEXTS & TRANSLATIONS Adón'olam aser malaj betérem kol yisit nibrá Le'et na 'asá behefsó kol azay mélej semó nicrá. Veaharé kilot hakol lebadó yimloj norá Vehú hayá vehú hové vehú yikié betifará. Vehú ehad veén sení lehamsil lo lehabirá Belí resit belí talit veló ha 'oz vehamisrá. Vehú Eli vehay goalí vesur heblí be'et sará Vehú nisí umanos li menat kosí beyom ecrá. Beyadó afquid ruhí be'et isán vea'irá Ve'im ruhi gueviyatí Adonay li veló irá. Bemicdasó taguel nafsí mesihenu yislah meherá Veaz nasir bebet codsí amén sem hanorá.
He is the Lord of the universe who reigned before any human being was created At the time when all things were made by His will, He was at once acknowledged as King. And at the end He alone shall reign; He was, He is and He shall be in Glory. He is One, and there is no other to compare to Him, He is without beginning, without end; to Him belong strength and dominion. He is my God, my stronghold in time of distress. He is my guide and my refuge the portion of my cup on the day when I call. Into His hand I entrust my Spirit, when I sleep and when I wake; as long as my soul is with my body the Lord is with me; I am not afraid.
Hal tusta'adu ayyamuna bi-l-haliji Wa-layalina?
Can we bring back our days and nights Of our dreamlike memories? What can be gained from being a part of the dreamlike Breeze of our home is the fragrance of our home. If only the beauty of this place could revive us.
Id yustafadu min an-nasimi-l-ariji Misku darina. Wa'id yakadu husnu'l makani l-bahiji anyu hayyina.
(ed. and trans. Julie Slim Nassif) Reis glorios, verais lums e clartatz, Deus poderos, Senher, si a vos platz, Al meu companh sïatz fizels aiuda, Qu'eu non lo vi pos la nochs fo venguda, Et ades sera l'alba.
Glorious king, true light and clarity, Powerful God, Lord, if it please You, To my companion be a faithful aid, For I have not seen him since the night came, And soon it will be dawn.
Bel companho, si dormetz o velhatz, Non dormatz plus, suau vos ressidatz, Qu'en orïent vei l'estela creguda Qu'amena.l jorn, qu'eu l'ai ben conoguda, Et ades sera l'alba.
Fine companion, whether you sleep or wake, Sleep no longer, but softly rouse yourself, For in the East I see the star arisen Which brings the day, I have indeed recognized it, And soon it will be dawn.
Bel companho, en chantan vos apel: Non dormatz plus, qu'eu aug chantar l'auzel Que vai queren lo jorn per lo boscatge, Et ai paor que.l gilos vos assatge, Et ades sera l'alba.
Fine companion, in singing I call you: Sleep no longer, for I hear the bird sing Which goes seeking the day through the woods, And I fear the jealous one may attack you, And soon it will be dawn.
Bel companho, eissetz al fenestrel, E regardatz las estelas del cel; Conoisseretz si.us sui fizels messatge: Si non o faitz, vostres n'er lo damnatge, Et ades sera l'alba.
Fine companion, go to the window And look at the stars in the sky; You will know if I am your faithful messenger If you don't do this, yours will be the harm, And soon it will be dawn.
Bel companho, pos mi parti de vos, Eu non dormi ni.m moc de ginolhos, Ans preguei Deu, lo filh Santa Maria, Que.us mi rendes per leial companhia, Et ades sera l'alba.
Fine companion, since I left you I have not slept nor moved from my knees, Rather I prayed God, the Son of Saint Mary, That he might give you back to me in loyal friendship, And soon it will be dawn.
Bel companho, la foras als peiros Me preiavatz qu'eu no fos dormilhos, Enans velhes tota noch tro al dia; Era no.us platz mos chans ni ma paria, Et ades sera l'alba.
Fine companion, out there on the steps You begged me that I not be sleepy But rather keep watch all night until the day; Now neither my song nor my company please you, And soon it will be dawn.
Bel dous companh, tan sui en ric sojorn Qu'eu no volgra mais fos alba ni jorn, Car la gensor que anc nasques de maire Tenc et abras, per qu'eu non prezi gaire Lo fol gilos ni l'alba.
Fair sweet companion, I am in so rich a dwelling That I would it were never dawn nor day, For the noblest (lady) ever born of mother I hold and embrace; therefore I heed not at all The jealous fool or the dawn. Tr. The Medieval Lyric Project
Ondas do mar de vigo se vistes meu amigo E ay deus se verra cedo.
Waves of the sea of Vigo Have you seen my boyfriend? And oh God, will he come soon?
Ondas do mar levado. se vistes meu amado. E ay deus se verra cedo.
Waves of the swollen sea, Have you seen my darling? And oh God, will he come soon?
Se vistes meu amigo, o por que eu sospiro. E ay deus se verra cedo.
Have you seen my boyfriend, Whom I am sighing for? And oh God, will he come soon?
Se vistes meu amado por que eu sospiro. E ay deus se verra cedo.
Have you seen my darling, For whom I feel great sorrow? And oh God, will he come soon? Tr. Rip Cohen
Cantiga 189 Esta é d’un ome que ya a Santa Maria de Salas achou un dragon na carreira e mató-o, e el ficou gafo, e pois sãou-o Santa Maria.
This is how a man who was going to Holy Mary of Salas found a dragon in his path and killed it. He became leprous, and then Holy Mary cured him.
Refrain: Ben pode Santa Maria guarir de toda poçon, pois madr’ é do que trillou o basilisqu’ e o dragon.
Refrain: Well can Holy Mary cure all poison, for She is Mother of the One who trampled the basilisk and the dragon.
Dest’ avveño un miragre a un ome de Valença que ya en romaria a Salas soo senlleiro, ca muit’ ele confiava na Virgen Santa Maria; mas foi errar o camynno, e anoiteceu-ll’ enton per u ya en un monte, e vyu d’estranna faiçon
Concerning this, there happened a miracle to a man from Valencia who was going on a pilgrimage all alone to Salas, for he firmly trusted in the Holy Virgin Mary. However, he lost his way, and darkness overtook him when he was traveling in a forest, and he saw coming toward him ...
Refrain: Ben pode Santa Maria... A ssi viir héa bescha come dragon toda feita, de que foi muit’ espantado; pero non fugiu ant’ ela, ca med’ ouve se fogisse que seria acalçado; e aa Virgen beñeita fez logo ssa oraçon que o guardasse de morte ededan’ed’ocajon.
...a strange-looking beast shaped like a dragon. He was very afraid of it, but he did not run away, for he feared that if he fled, he would be overtaken. He prayed at once to the Blessed Virgin to save him from death, harm, and misfortune.
Refrain: Ben pode Santa Maria... A oraçon acabada, colleu en si grand’ esforço e foi aa bescha logo e deu-ll’ héa espadada con seu espadarron vello, que la tallou per meogo, assi que en duas partes l le fendeu o coraçon; mais ficou en poçõado dela des essa sazon.
When he finished his prayer, he mustered his strength and went straight at the beast and dealt it a blow with his big old sword, which cut it in half so that its heart was split in two, but he was poisoned by it afterward.
Refrain: Ben pode Santa Maria... Ca o poçon saltou dela e firiu-o eno rosto, e outrossi fez o bafo que lle saya da boca, assi que a poucos dias tornou atal come gafo; e pos en ssa voontade de non fazer al senon ir log’ a Santa Maria romeiro con seu bordon.
For the poison spurted out of it and struck him in the face, as did the breath which came out of its mouth. In a few days he became like a leper. He resolved to go as a pilgrim with his staff to Holy Mary.
Refrain: Ben pode Santa Maria... Aquesto fez el mui cedo e meteu-ss’ ao camyno con seu bordon ena mão; e des que chegou a Salas chorou ant’ o altar muito, e tan toste tornou são. E logo os da eigreja l oaron con procisson a Virgen, que aquel ome guariu de tan gran lijon. Refrain: Ben pode Santa Maria...
He set out early on his way, with his staff in his hand, and as soon as he arrived at Salas, he wept abundantly before the altar and was cured at once. Then those of the church praised the Virgin, who cured that man of such a great affliction, with a procession.
Tr. The Medieval Lyric Project
Laudemus virginem mater est et eius filius Iesus est, Plangamus scelera acriter sperantes in Iesum iugiter.
Let us praise the mother And her son Jesus We lament the wounds of our sin And always confess them to Jesus.
Mariam Matrem Virginem attolite, Jesum Christum extolite Concorditer.
Extol Mary, the Virgin Mother, all extol Jesus Christ the peace-bringer.
Maria, saeculi asilum, defendenos. Jesu, tutum refugium, exaudi nos. Jam estis vos totaliter diffugium, totum mundi confugium realiter. Maria Matrem...
Mary, asylum for the whole world, protect us. Jesus, refuge all of us, hear us. Indeed you are our place of refuge, truly a refuge for the whole world. Extol Mary...
Jesu, suprema bonitas verissima. Maria, dulcis pietas gratissima. Amplissima conformiter sit caritas
Jesus, supreme and truthful good. Mary, sweet and most gracious mercy. In the same way you show your pity to us,
ad nos quos pellit vanitas enormiter. Maria Matrem...
we who are strongly oppressed by the vanity of life. Extol Mary...
Maria, facta saeculis salvatio. Jesu, damnati hominis redemptio. Pugnare quem viriliter per famulis percussis duris iaculis atrociter. Maria Matrem...
Mary was the salvation for all, Jesus the redemption for the damned. Fighting ardently for their followers, bearing hard beatings and blows. Extol Mary...
Tres morillas m’enamoran en Jaén: Axa y Fátima y Marién.
I fell in love with three Moorish girls in Jaén: Axa and Fátima and Marién.
Tres morillas tan garridas Iban a coger olivas, Y hallábanlas cogidas en Jaén: Axa y Fátima y Marién.
Three lovely Moorish girls Went to pick olives, And they found them already picked in Jaén: Axa and Fátima and Marién.
Y hallábanlas cogidas, Y tornaban desmayadas Y las colores perdidas en Jaén: Axa y Fátima y Marién.
They found them already picked, And they fainted away And lost their color in Jaén: Axa and Fátima and Marién.
Y las colores perdidas, Tres moricas tan lozanas; Iban a coger mazanas en Jaén: Axa y Fátima y Marién.
They lost their color, Three Moriscas so lush; They were going to pick apples in Jaén: Axa and Fátima and Marién.
Tres morillas m’enamoran en Jaén: Axa y Fátima y Marién.
I fell in love with three Moorish girls in Jaén: Axa and Fátima and Marién. Tr., Texas Early Music Project
¡Cucu cucu! Guarda no lo seas tú.
Coo-coo, coo-coo! Make sure it's not you.
Compadre debes saber, que la más buena mujer, rabia siempre por hoder, harta bien la tuya tú.
Mate, you must know, that the best of women, is always ready to stray, tire yours out well.
Compadre has de guardar, para nunca encornudar, si tu mujer sale a mear, sal junto con ella tú.
Friend, you must take care to never be cuckolded, if your wife goes out to pee, go out with her.
Nunca fue pena mayor Nin tormento tan estraño, Que iguale con el dolor Que resçibo del engaño.
Never was there greater pain Nor torment so terrible To equal the pain That I receive from this deception.
Y este conocimiento Haze mis días tan tristes, En pensar el pensamiento Que por amores me distes,
The recognition of this Makes my days so sad Reflecting on the thoughts Of love that you gave me
Me haze aver por mejor La muerte, y por menor daño, Que el tormento y el dolor Que resçibo del engaño.
Better that I should have Death, and less hurt, Than the torment and pain That I receive from this deception. Tr. David Wyatt.
Reprinted, with permission from the LiederNet Archive. Oy comamos y bebamos Y cantemos y holguemos, Que mañana ayunaremos. Por onrra de Sant Antruejo Parémonos oy bien anchos. Enbutamos estos panchos, Rrecalquemos el pellejo. Que costumbres de concejo Que todos oy nos hartemos, Que mañana ayunaremos.
Today let’s eat and drink And sing and enjoy ourselves, Because tomorrow we fast. In honor of St. Antruejo Let’s go the whole hog, Let’s stuff our bellies, Let’s fill up our wineskin. It’s a long-standing custom that we stuff ourselves full today, Because tomorrow we fast.
Oy comamos y bebamos Y cantemos y holguemos, Que mañana ayunaremos. Honrremos a tan buen santo Porque en hambre nos acorra. Comamos a calca porra, Que mañana hay gran quebranto Comamos bebamos tanto Hasta que nos rrebentemos, Que mañana ayunaremos.
Today let’s eat and drink And sing and enjoy ourselves, Because tomorrow we fast. Let’s honor the good saint So he will soothe us when we’re starving. Let’s eat hand and mouth, Because tomorrow we tighten our belts. Let’s go on eating and drinking now, Until we burst, Because tomorrow we fast.
Oy comamos y bebamos Y cantemos y holguemos, Que mañana ayunaremos. “¡Beve, Bras! Más tu, Beneyto, Beva Pidruelo y Llorente!” “¡Beve tú primeramente, Quitarnos has deste preito!” “En beber bien me deleyto; ¡Daca, daca! Beberemos, Que mañana ayunaremos.”
Today let’s eat and drink And sing and enjoy ourselves, Because tomorrow we fast. “Drink up, Bras! You too, Beneyto! Drink up, Pedro and Llorente!” “You drink first, No need to argue about it!” “I love drinking; So come on then! Let’s all drink, Because tomorrow we fast.” Tr. Texas Early Music Project
Viva el gran Re Don Fernando con la Reina Donn' Isabella! Viva Spagna e la Castella pien de gloria triumphando!
Long live the great King, Sir Fernando with the Queen, Lady Isabella! Long live Spain and Castile full of triumphant glory!
La città mahometana, potentissima Granata, de la falsa fe pagana e disciolta è liberata per virtute e manu armata del Fernando e l'Isabella. Viva Spagna …
The Muslim city, Strongest Granada , of the false, pagan faith is brought low and liberated by the bravery of and the army of Ferdinand and Isabella. Long live Spain...
Gran auspicio e gran impresa gran consiglio e gran virtute gran honore a santa chiesa a ignoranti gran salute gran provincia in servitute al Fernando e l'Isabella. Viva Spagna…
Great omens and a great feat, Great counsel and great virtue, great honor from Holy Church! Out of ignorance a great nation is brought from bondage by Ferdinand and Isabella. Long live Spain...
Nostra fede chiascun senti quanto a questi e obbligata. perche Mori non contenti. d'Asia et Africa occupata. in Europa debacchata, già facevan sforzo e vela. Viva Spagna… Hora ognum fa festa e canti el Signor regratiando per tal palma tutti quanti dirren ben forte gridando:
Each of our believers sensed how much and what they were given. But the Moors were not content to occupy Asia and Africa. They ran amok in Europe after sailing on a strong wind. Long live Spain... Now all make feast and sing to the King who returns to the palm all [stolen] treasure! Say it well, yell it loudly:
Viva el gran Re Don Fernando colla Reina Donn' Isabella. Viva Spagna e la Castella pien de gloria triumphando!
Long live the great King, Sir Fernando with the Queen, Lady Isabella! Long live Spain and Castile full of triumphant glory!
¡Ave Virgo, gratia plena, o Regina mater Dei domina, memento mei!
Hail Virgin, full of grace O Queen, mother of God. Lady, remember me!
Ante secula creata en la mente concebida, Antes santa que nacida eres tu, Virgo beata. ¡O purifica sacrata dulcissima mater Dei, domina, memento mei!
Before the world was made You were conceived in the Mind, Before the holy one was born There was you, Blessed Mother. O, purity sanctified, sweetest mother of God, Lady, remember me!
Bendita inter mulieres ser tu, virgen, mereciste, et post partum permansisti Virgen y a hora lo eres, pues que alcanças quanto quieres de tu hijo el Agnus Dei domina, memento mei.
Blessed are you among women. For you, virgin, were chosen, And after the birth remained inviolate, and are still. Because your womb held the great love of your son, the Lamb of God, Lady, remember me!
Una sañosa porfía sin ventura va pujando. Ya nunca terné alegría, Ya mi mal se va ordenando.
A bloody battle without hope is being waged. Never again will I know joy, For my misfortune is ordained.
Ya fortuna disponía quitar mi próspero mando, Qu’el bravo león d’España Mal me viene amenazando.
Already fate has ended my prosperous reign, For the brave lion of Spain Has come to threaten me ill.
Su espantosa artillería, los adarves derribando, Mis villas y mis castillos, Mis ciudades va ganando.
His dreadful artillery demolishes all our ramparts, My towns and my castles, All my cities he is capturing.
La tierra y el mar gemían, que viene señoreando, sus pendones y estandartes Y banderas levantando.
The earth and sea groan, as they fall under his power, His pennants and his standards And his flags hosted high.
Su muy gran cavallería, hela, viene relumbrando, Sus huestes y peonaje el aire viene turbando.
His imposing cavalry arrives in grand array. His hosts and infantry stir the air.
Córreme la morería, los campos viene talando; mis compañas y caudillos Viene venciendo y matando;
He over-runs Moorish lands and razes the fields. My companies and my captains Are being crushed and massacred.
Las mezquitas de Mahoma En iglesias consagrando; Las moras lleva cativas con alaridos llorando.
He turns the mosques of Mohammed Into parish churches; They take away our women amidst cries and tears.
Al cielo dan apellido ¡Viva el gran Rey don Fernando! ¡Viva la muy gran Leona Alta Reina prosperando¡
A cry goes up to heaven: ”Long live King Ferdinand! Long live the magnificent Lioness, The great and prosperous Queen!”
Una generosa Virgen esfurerzo les viene dando un famoso caballero delante viene volando.
A generous Virgin gives them great courage. An illustrious knight proudly flies before them.
Con una cruz colorada y una espada relumbrando d'un rico manto vestido toda la gente guidando.
Carrying a crimson cross and a sparkling sword, Dressed in a rich mantle, he leads forth all the people.
Kyrie eleison Christe eleison Kyrie eleison.
Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.