Sacred Music Festival, 5th Concert. Cantigas de Santa Maria

Cantigas de Santa Maria (anon./Alfonso X. el Sabio, Galicia, 13th c.)

Main source: E-E Ms b.l.2 (j.b.2) (“Codex E“)

Among the most extensive and significant poetical-musical collections of the Iberian Middle Ages, theCantigas de Santa Mariaconstitute a corpus of over four hundred compositions in Galician-Portuguese, dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Compiled at the court of Alfonso X of Castile and León, known as “el Sabio” (“the Wise”), they represent not only a monument of Marian devotion, but also an extraordinary testimony to the secular and scientific culture that flourished in the Iberian Peninsula in the thirteenth century. The collection is divided into two main types: thecantigas de miragre, narrating miracles attributed to the Virgin’s intervention, and thecantigas de loor, hymns of praise celebrating her glory. The texts, often based on oral traditions or on hagiographic compilations circulated throughout Europe, are organized according to a regular poetic structure, making extensive use of the strophic form with refrain (estribillo) and isometric verses. From a musical perspective, the melodies are characterized by the use of ecclesiastical modes adapted to the prosody of the Romance language, with frequent iterative melodic formulas and a wide variety of styles ranging from lyrical to homorhythmic, melismatic to syllabic. The iconography accompanying the manuscripts—especially the illuminated codices preserved in El Escorial and Florence—provides valuable information on the performance and organological context. These depict instruments such as lutes, psalteries, rebecs, vielles, portative organs, and percussion, attesting to the richness of medieval instrumental practice and the blending of sacred music with secular culture. This visual dimension is not a mere ornament, but a true documentary source that sheds light on performance practice and the soundscape of the time. Traditionally attributed to Alfonso X himself, who according to chronicles actively participated in collecting and revising the texts, theCantigasreflect the “universal” character of his court, a crossroads of Christian, Jewish, and Islamic traditions. They thus embody an extraordinary synthesis of the medieval Iberian cultural milieu, in which Marian exaltation is intertwined with a political and cultural horizon that makes theCantigasone of the most important monuments of medieval European literature. From the perspective of function, these compositions occupy a middle ground between liturgical practice and popular devotion. Not conceived as part of the official liturgical repertoire, they were probably performed in paraliturgical, processional, or celebratory contexts, combining the learned register of musical writing with more immediate elements intended to foster collective participation. This hybrid character explains both their extraordinary diffusion and longevity, as well as their capacity to speak to a diverse audience.

Federico Foglizzo