Manuel Pedro Ferreira (dir.)
The Notation of the Cantigas de Santa Maria: Diplomatic Edition
The Cantigas de Santa Maria is one of the major monuments of the European medieval culture. It consists of a vast, strictly organized collection of devotional songs in Galician-Portuguese (419 cantigas), in praise of the Virgin Mary or narrating miracles attributed to her. The poetry was written and the music composed or transcribed at the royal court of Castile and León, centred in Seville, under the direction of King Alfonso X, surnamed el Sabio (the Learned). Staves with musical notation, provided for hundreds of songs written on three books between approximately 1270 and 1285, offer an enormous amount of information on musical practice, in a well-defined spatial and temporal context.
To access the EN version click on the images.
The aim of this edition was, therefore, to present rigorously the musical notation of the medieval sources of the Cantigas de Santa Maria (considering the limitations of the software used), trying to record, when detectable, any modification to the primitive state of the musical writing in the given source.
Summary: Diplomatic edition of the musical notation in the three notated medieval MSS that contain Cantigas de Santa Maria (13th century), in three volumes (one per MS), each with Portuguese and English versions in separate tomes; with introduction, tables and indices. Funding: PEST (UID/EAT/00693/2013)
A Notação das Cantigas de Santa Maria: Edição Diplomática / The Notation of the Cantigas de Santa Maria: Diplomatic Edition, dir. Manuel Pedro Ferreira, musicography by Rui Araújo, collaboration of Ana Gaunt and Mariana Lima. Lisboa: CESEM, 2017 [e-book], 3 volumes (2 tomes each):
Vol. I: Códice de Toledo (pt) ISBN 978-989-99975-0-9 / Toledo MS. (en) ISBN 978-989-99975-1-6 (198 pp.)
Vol. II: Códice Rico (pt) ISBN 978-989-99975-4-7 /Códice Rico (en) ISBN 978-989-99975-5-4 (306 pp.).
Vol. III: Códice dos Músicos (pt) ISBN 978-989-99975-2-3 / Códice de los Músicos (en) ISBN 978-989-99975-3-0 (498 pp.)
Keywords: Alfonso X, Cantigas, Musical paleography
Corrections in the edition:
February 2018 – An incorrect transposition by a 3rd was found in the CSM 334 of the Códice de los músicos. The file was replaced.
July 2018 – An incorrect transposition by a 2nd was found in the CSM 223 of the Códice de los músicos. The file was replaced.
January 2019 – In the CSM 1 of the Toledo MS. two figures were reallocated to get closer to the original version.
January 2019 – In CSM 1 of the Códice de los músicos the head of a figure was changed, to be exactly the same as that found in the original version.
February 2019 – In CSM 198 of the Códice de los músicos the head of a figure was changed, to be exactly the same as that found in the original version.
February 2019 – In CSM 198 of the Códice de los músicos two figures were reallocated to get closer to the original version.
February 2019 – An incorrect transposition by a 3rd was found in the CSM 224 of the Códice de los músicos. The file was replaced.
February 2019 – An incorrect transposition by a 3rd was found in the CSM 319 of the Códice de los músicos. The file was replaced.