CSM Cantiga 41 Lyrics and Music: A Virgen, Madre de Nóstro Sennor

A Virgen, Madre de Nóstro Sennor

Cantiga 41: A Virgen, Madre de Nóstro Sennor

Lyrics
Music
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Please read the notes on using the texts and the IPA transcriptions Please read the notes on using the music transcriptions

Standard spelling

Epigraph

Esta é como Santa María guareceu o que éra sandeu.

Line	Refrain	Metrics
1	A Virgen, Madre de Nóstro Sennor,	10 A
2	ben póde dar séu siso	6' B
3	ao sandeu, pois ao pecador	10 A
4	faz haver Paraíso.	6' B

	Stanza I
5	En Seixons fez a Garín cambiador	10 A
	A Virgen, Madre de Nóstro Sennor
6	que tant' houve de o tirar sabor	10 A
	A Virgen, Madre de Nóstro Sennor
7	do poder do démo, ca de pavor	10 A
8	del perdera o siso;	6' B
9	mas ela tolleu-ll' aquesta door	10 A
10	e déu-lle Paraíso.	6' B
	A Virgen, Madre de Nóstro Sennor...

	Stanza II
11	Gran ben lle fez en est' e grand' amor	10 A
	A Virgen, Madre de Nóstro Sennor
12	que o livrou do dém' enganador,	10 A
	A Virgen, Madre de Nóstro Sennor
13	que o fillara come traedor	10 A
14	e tollera-ll' o siso;	6' B
15	mas cobrou-llo ela, e por mellor	10 A
16	ar déu-lle Paraíso.	6' B
	A Virgen, Madre de Nóstro Sennor...
Cantigas de Santa Maria for Singers ©2013 by Andrew Casson www.cantigasdesantamaria.com/csm/41

	Stanza III
17	Loada será mentr' o mundo for	10 A
	A Virgen, Madre de Nóstro Sennor
18	de poder, de bondad' e de valor,	10 A
	A Virgen, Madre de Nóstro Sennor
19	porque a sa mercee é mui maior †CSM 41:19Synaeresis is common in the word mercee, and is confirmed in this case by [T] which has the music written out for all stanzas, and assigns a single plica .oron to the compressed syllable -cee. In [E] the corresponding ligature (in the first stanza) has the unique shape .orod, which looks like a possible scribal error.	10 A	.oron
20	ca o nósso mal siso,	6' B
21	e sempre a séu Fill' é rogador	10 A
22	que nos dé Paraíso.	6' B
	A Virgen, Madre de Nóstro Sennor...

Footnotes

This is the first of five cantigas that use the rondeau form, in which the first line of the refrain is repeated after the first two lines of each stanza, with the whole refrain at the end as usual. The other rondeaux are CSM 120, CSM 143, CSM 279 and CSM 308.

Line 19:

Synaeresis is common in the word mercee, and is confirmed in this case by [T] which has the music written out for all stanzas, and assigns a single plica .oron to the compressed syllable -cee. In [E] the corresponding ligature (in the first stanza) has the unique shape .orod, which looks like a possible scribal error.

Standard spelling

Expand edits Number notes and ligatures Expand long plicas and augmented notes Zoom

Footnotes

E1:

At this point in the manuscript the music scribe appears to have drawn round an itinerant caterpillar.

E2:

The strange .orod ligature shape that is clearly visible here in Anglés' facsimile of [E] is unique in that manuscript, and I have assumed it to be the result of either medieval scribal error or careless modern retouching. My replacement shape .oron, an ordinary long plica, is the form found in [T]. Elmes has .onod, attaching the lower stem to the first note, and transcribes it accordingly as an augmented long ascending plica. Anglés, in his own transcription, reproduces the shape from his facsimile exactly and tags it "(sic)", but transcribes it descending as if it were .oron or the .royo found in [To].

Manuscript references

External links marked are to facsimiles on Greg Lindahl's Cantigas de Santa Maria website.

[E]	41	viewhttp://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/cantigas/facsimiles/E/122small.htmlExternal link
[T]	41
[To]	44	view p1http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/cantigas/facsimiles/To/bob043small.gifExternal link view p2http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/cantigas/facsimiles/To/bob044small.gifExternal link

Oxford CSM Database record

External link to poem data: CSM 41http://csm.mml.ox.ac.uk/index.php?p=poemdata_view&rec=41

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

10 6' 10 6'

Stanzas

10 10 10 6' 10 6'

Rhyme

ABAB / AAABAB

	R	I	II	III
A	oɾ
B	izo

Estimated performance times

Average syllables / min.		Time
Very slow	50	7:09
Slow	100	3:34
Medium	150	2:23
Fast	200	1:47
Very fast	250	1:25

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: 358