Como Santa María fez seer casto a un cavaleiro que soía seer mui luxurïoso.
| Line | Refrain | Metrics | |
| 1 | Sempr' acha Santa María razôn verdadeira | 13' A | |
| 2 | per que tira os que ama de maa carreira. | 13' A | |
| Stanza I | |||
| 3 | E dest' un mui gran miragre direi que avẽo | 13' b | |
| 4 | a un cavaleiro que éra séu, non allẽo, †CSM 137:4See the note to line 35. | 13' b | |
| 5 | desta Sennor grorïosa; mas tant' éra chẽo | 13' b | |
| 6 | de luxuria, que passava razôn e maneira. | 13' A | |
| Sempr' acha Santa María razôn verdadeira... | |||
| Stanza II | |||
| 7 | Ca pero muito fïava en Santa María | 13' b | |
| 8 | e loava os séus bẽes quanto mais podía, | 13' b | |
| 9 | o pecado de luxúri' assí o vencía | 13' b | |
| 10 | que o démo o levara, cousa é certeira, | 13' A | |
| Cantigas de Santa Maria for Singers ©2013 by Andrew Casson www.cantigasdesantamaria.com/csm/137 | |||
| Stanza III | |||
| 11 | assí que nunca ja parte Déus en el houvésse | 13' b | |
| 12 | nen sa Madr', a Virgen santa, se lle non fezésse | 13' b | |
| 13 | ao démo força per que llo toller podésse. | 13' b | |
| 14 | Mais aquela que parindo Virgen foi enteira, | 13' A | |
| Stanza IV | |||
| 15 | a que s' ele noit' e día sempr' acomendava | 13' b | |
| 16 | e que o daquel pecado tirasse rogava, | 13' b | |
| 17 | que o ben que el fazía todo desatava | 13' b | |
| 18 | e fazía sa promessa sempre mentireira. | 13' A | |
| Sempr' acha Santa María razôn verdadeira... | |||
| Stanza V | |||
| 19 | Ca macar el prometía que nunca tornasse | 13' b | |
| 20 | en est' érro, muitas vezes, e se del quitasse, | 13' b | |
| 21 | o démo lle pois fazía que o non leixasse, | 13' b | |
| 22 | por metê-lo do inférno dentro na caldeira. | 13' A | |
| Sempr' acha Santa María razôn verdadeira... | |||
| Cantigas de Santa Maria for Singers ©2013 by Andrew Casson www.cantigasdesantamaria.com/csm/137 | |||
| Stanza VI | |||
| 23 | El en tal coita vivendo, a mui Grorïosa, | 13' b | |
| 24 | entendendo que saúde dest' éra dultosa, | 13' b | |
| 25 | porque non perdess' sa alma, come pïadosa | 13' b | |
| 26 | faz e come mui sisuda e come arteira. | 13' A | |
| Sempr' acha Santa María razôn verdadeira... | |||
| Stanza VII | |||
| 27 | Ca pois viu que do pecado nunca pẽedença | 13' b | |
| 28 | el tevéra que lle déssen, meteu sa femença | 13' b | |
| 29 | en tirá-lo del, en guisa que en descreença | 13' b | |
| 30 | non caesse pelo démo, que sempre mal cheira | 13' A | |
| Stanza VIII | |||
| 31 | a pecad' e a mentira e a falssidade. | 13' b | |
| 32 | Porên sãou a Reínna de gran pïadade | 13' b | |
| 33 | este cavaleir' e fez-lle tẽer castidade | 13' b | |
| 34 | por maneira muit' estranna e mui vertudeira. | 13' A | |
| Sempr' acha Santa María razôn verdadeira... | |||
| Cantigas de Santa Maria for Singers ©2013 by Andrew Casson www.cantigasdesantamaria.com/csm/137 | |||
| Stanza IX | |||
| 35 | E fez-lle que non perdesse ollos, pées nen mãos †CSM 137:35In this line I've taken the rather unusual step of restoring an elided vowel in one place and then marking synaeresis in another. The reason is that in almost every other line of this cantiga there are rhythmic units of 8 and 6 syllables, corresponding closely to the musical phrasing, with no words split across units. In this line, however, ollos spans the unit boundary if perdesse is elided. It is better, therefore, to use the full form of this word, and compensate with synaeresis in pées, which is easily justifiable since it occurs elsewhere (e.g. CSM 213:66) and the shorter form pés is quite common. (When I say "almost every other line", this unfortunately excludes line 4, which is a bit of a fly in the ointment: the rhythmic boundary there is in the middle of the word éra and cannot be fixed so easily. See also the note to line 38.) | 13' b | .o |
| 36 | nen outros nembros do córpo, mais que fossen sãos; | 13' b | |
| 37 | mais se o metess' o démo en cuidados vãos | 13' b | |
| 38 | de pecado, que non podéss' seer en tal feira; †CSM 137:38Synaeresis in seer would be the "obvious" resolution to the extra metrical syllable in this line, but elision of podésse is actually better in this case since, as discussed in the note to line 35, it avoids having a word that spans the boundary between rhythmic sub-units. By the way, if you are doubtful as to whether podéss' seer is actually pronounceable, observe that line 25 above has perdess' sa alma, which is found in that exact form in both Mettmann and [E]. | 13' A | |
| Stanza X | |||
| 39 | ca pero que gran sabor houvésse de querê-lo, | 13' b | |
| 40 | que per nulla maneira non podésse fazê-lo. | 13' b | |
| 41 | Esto fez a Virgen santa pera sig' havê-lo, | 13' b | |
| 42 | ca de salvar os séus sempre é mui sabedeira. | 13' A | |
| Sempr' acha Santa María razôn verdadeira... | |||
Footnotes
| Line 4: | See the note to line 35. |
| Line 35: | In this line I've taken the rather unusual step of restoring an elided vowel in one place and then marking synaeresis in another. The reason is that in almost every other line of this cantiga there are rhythmic units of 8 and 6 syllables, corresponding closely to the musical phrasing, with no words split across units. In this line, however, ollos spans the unit boundary if perdesse is elided. It is better, therefore, to use the full form of this word, and compensate with synaeresis in pées, which is easily justifiable since it occurs elsewhere (e.g. CSM 213:66) and the shorter form pés is quite common. (When I say "almost every other line", this unfortunately excludes line 4, which is a bit of a fly in the ointment: the rhythmic boundary there is in the middle of the word éra and cannot be fixed so easily. See also the note to line 38.) |
| Line 38: | Synaeresis in seer would be the "obvious" resolution to the extra metrical syllable in this line, but elision of podésse is actually better in this case since, as discussed in the note to line 35, it avoids having a word that spans the boundary between rhythmic sub-units. By the way, if you are doubtful as to whether podéss' seer is actually pronounceable, observe that line 25 above has perdess' sa alma, which is found in that exact form in both Mettmann and [E]. |
Manuscript references
External links marked 
are to facsimiles on Greg Lindahl's Cantigas de Santa Maria website.
| [E] | 137 | viewhttp://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/cantigas/facsimiles/E/273small.htmlExternal link |
| [T] | 137 |
Oxford CSM Database record
External link to poem data: CSM 137http://csm.mml.ox.ac.uk/index.php?p=poemdata_view&rec=137
Links to the Oxford database are provided with the kind permission of the project team. When planning a concert or recording, I would recommend that you use (and credit) my more pragmatic texts and supporting materials in the preparation of your performance, but that you request permission from the Oxford database team to reproduce (and credit) their own critically edited texts in your programme or liner notes, as these adhere to stricter criteria that keep them closer to the original sources, and undoubtedly have the greater academic authority.
Metrical summary
Refrain
| 13' 13' |
Stanzas
| 13' 13' 13' 13' |
Rhyme
AA / bbbA| R | I | II | III | IV | V | VI | VII | VIII | IX | X | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | ei̯ɾa | ||||||||||
| b | eŋo | i.a | ɛse | aβa | ase | oza | enʦa | ade | aŋos | elo | |
Estimated performance times
| Average syllables / min. | Time | |
|---|---|---|
| Very slow | 50 | 17:21 |
| Slow | 100 | 8:40 |
| Medium | 150 | 5:47 |
| Fast | 200 | 4:20 |
| Very fast | 250 | 3:28 |
These are very approximate total times for a full sung (or spoken) performance of all stanzas with all repeats of the refrain. Note that the speed is in average syllables per minute, and no particular mensural interpretation is assumed. More ornamented music will reduce the syllabic speed considerably. Remember also to add time for instrumental preludes, interludes and postludes.
Total syllables: 868
