| Publication details: |
Facsímil, transcripción y estudio crítico. Publicaciones de la Sección de Música, 15, 18 e 19. 3 vols. Barcelona: Biblioteca Central, 1943-64.rnAdditional publ. details from Snow 1977: Barcelona: Diputación Provincial, Biblioteca Central, 1958. In two parts, with 674 pp. of consecutive pagination, plus 98 independently paginated pp. of musical examples at the end of the second part.rnrn |
| Commentary: |
Snow 1977, no. 266: "Part One offers full coverage of musical practices in the Peninsula from the very beginning of traceable history. In ch.3 (pp. 89-139), the poetic courts of Fernando III and Alfonso X are treated with deep scholarly insight. There is an important exposition of musical notation which leads A. to the assertion (the first ever) of how technically consistent are both the Escurial MSS (J.b.2 and T.j.1) in the treatment of mixed modes in their music. Chapter 5 is a brilliant demonstration of the variety of metrical patterns in the CSM by the distinguished Romanist Hans Spanke (it is in German but Spanish summaries are later supplied by A.); this ought, in the light of recent work on metrics, to be revised and updated. The loores are, for the first time, treated extensively as a subgrouping apart from the more narrative poems and some tentative conclusions about their special variety and technical freedom are given. Other musical types contemporaneous with the CSM are evaluated and the volume concludes with a series of tables which further analyse aspects of metrical and musical schemes. In sum, these are studies whose impact cannot be overlooked, even though they are, A. admits, not the final words to be said.rnPart Two contains comparative studies of Galician Portuguese, Italian, Provençal, and French musical cultures. Two pertinent sections are those dealing with the musical miniatures of the CSM (pp. 453-7) and with the Virgin Mary in medieval music (pp. 459-81).rnThe final section, paginated separately, is a kind of anthology of musical examples of all the groups mentioned above as well as some from the CSM. The latter include: 60, 78, 93, 97, 108, 112, 115, 129, 134, 138, 141, 150, 157, 161, 162 (two variants), 171, 176-7, 180, 182-3, 187, 196, 203, 206, 210, 212, 239-40, 246, 254, 283, 294, 301, 339-40, 367, 401, and also (I here give A.'s numbers with the corresponding Mettmann nos in parenthesis) from App. I, nos. 2 (412), 5 (415), 6 (416), 10 (420), 11 (421), and, from App. II, 3 (425), 7 (403), 9 (405), and 10 (407).rnAn extensive bibliography is contained in the voluminous notes. Each chapter has its own bibliography and the items in these are occasionally annotated. For the other vols of this study see 1943 and 1964." |
