Cantigas de Santa Maria

The Cantigas de Santa Maria (Songs to the Virgin Mary) are manuscripts were written in Galician-Portuguese, with music notation, during the reign of Alfonso X El Sabio (1221-1284) and are one of the largest collections of monophonic (solo) songs from the middle ages. All of the songs at least mention the Virgin Mary, and every 10th is a religious hymn. Some of the manuscripts containing this music also contain color illuminations of pairs of musicians, playing a wide variety of instruments.

Related Topics:
Galician - Portuguese - Alfonso X - Virgin Mary - Instruments

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The Cantigas are written in Galician-Portuguese, the lyrical language of Castile at the time. A complete transcription is available, as is a recent English translation.

Related Topics:
Galician - Portuguese - Castile

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The Cantigas are composed of 420 poems. 356 of these are in a narrative format relating to Virgin Mary miracles; the rest of them, except an introduction and two prologs, are of loor or involve Marian festivities.

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The authors are unknown, even if several studies indicate that Galician poet Airas Nunes might well have been the author of a large part of them. The King Alfonso X — named as Affonso in the Cantigas — is also believed to be an author of some of them as he refers himself in first person.

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The metrics are extraordinarily diverse: 280 different formats for the 420 Cantigas. The most common are the virelai and the rondeau. The length of the verses varies between two and 24 syllabes.

Related Topics:
Virelai - Rondeau

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The music is written in notation which is similar to the notation used for chant, but also contains some information about the length of the notes. Several transcriptions exist.

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The Cantigas are frequently recorded and performed by Early Music groups, and quite a few CDs featuring music from the Cantigas are available.

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Three codices (copies) of the Cantigas are preserved. They are known as the E Codex, the T Codex, and the Florencia manuscript. The E Codex — from El Escorial, and originally from the royal court of Seville, is in two volumes and is the largest collection of the Cantigas; it is richly illuminated in a Gothic hand, containing no less than 1262 carefully detailed miniatures, and has been dated to 1280-1283. The T Codex, from Toledo, is considered to be a copy of the earliest redaction of the music, and was copied in the 14th century. The Florence manuscript has 109 of the cantigas but contains no music, only empty staves; however it is richly illuminated.

Related Topics:
El Escorial - Seville - 1280 - 1283 - Toledo - Florence

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