kitarist -> RE: Gitanos in XVI-XVIIIth centuries: anti-gypsy measures, privileges, and a confluence of circumstances (Aug. 26 2022 22:31:09)
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We start with what Ricardo found in Zayas, Virginia de. (1978).“Origin of Flamenco Music and its Oldest Songs. Part 1”. Guitar Review 43, 12-23: This ultimately refers to claims originally made by Almendros in his 1973 book: Almendros, C. (1973). “Todo lo básico sobre el flamenco”. Ediciones Mundilibro. While I don’t have access to that book, enough is provided in a couple or articles (*) and in the above to have a very good idea of (1) what inscription Almendros was referring to and where it was found, and (2) what are the facts and what is his own interpretation. The articles cited below make it clear Almendros was referring to one particular medieval manuscript, circa 1569, containing a mixture of sacred and secular works: the Cancionero de la Casa de Medinaceli (referenced variously as E-PAbm 6829; MadM 6829; MS 13230). This manuscript (A) was copied by one main scribe (~80%) and two or three additional scribes; partially illegible inscription suggests ownership by a monastery at Jerez (a). Later owned by Luis Jesús Fernández de Cordoba y Salabert, 17th Duke of Medinaceli (1880-1956), hence the name; may have belonged to the Medinaceli family from an early period. Acquired in 1960's by the lawyer and financier Bartolomé March of Madrid and currently in his library in Palma de Mallorca. It has 208 paper folios (sheets) with some 170 pieces from 22 composers containing both sacred (~70) and secular (101) works. (b) The secular part of it was published in two volumes in 1949-1950 edited by Miguel Querol and again digitally in 2015 (c). This has led some to confuse that publication for the entirety of the Cancionero, but the sacred works in it, afaik, remain unpublished. Library Bartolomé March informs that by now the manuscript has deteriorated significantly and is mostly illegible (!), so we must rely on scholars who have done research on its sacred works, having examined them while they were still legible. The reason for focusing on the unpublished sacred works is that, ironically, the “flamenco” notation Almendros relies on appears in the margins of one complete sacred piece. While Querol notes that and makes two guesses as to what it might mean in his brief analysis in the preface to his 1949 publication, that piece is NOT part of the works he actually published. Querol writes: “Regarding the voices, we only draw attention, in this descriptive chapter of the manuscript, to the singular case presented by the third fabordón “Donec ponam” of fol. 107v. When writing the name of the corresponding voice (tiple [soprano – KZ], tenor, etc...), the manuscript usually places it to the left of the key signature of the voice in question; well, in the mentioned folio the manuscript, in the place corresponding to the tiple voice; is written "Flamenco first [voice]"; in the contraltó voice, «Flaco» (short for flamenco); and in the tenor and bass, "flam^co". “Flamenco primero” carries the cantus firmus of the psalmodic fabordón. Likewise, before the beginning of the tiple and tenor of the fabordón “Quía misít” of folio 109v., is also written "fla" (abbreviation of flamenco). What, then, should be understood by “flamenco"? Is it meant that it was sung by flamenco singers attached to a certain chapel, or does it have something to do with some special timbre of voice related to flamenco singing?” (For explanation of ‘fabordon’, ‘setting’, ‘cantus firmus’, ‘psalmodic tone’, the ‘v’ in “107v”and ‘109v”; the Latin titles referenced, see below the alphabetic references) To recap, Almendros did not find this notation; he just claimed that from it the missing connection to gitano singers getting called ‘flamencos’ follows because ‘flamenco’ must [have evolved to] mean [any] cantaor/singer. However, it makes no sense on close inspection how THAT would follow from the notation in the Cancionero (for example: why is the notation on basically only one of the more than 70 sacred works that were presumably all sung - and in only one of these manuscripts?; Why does ‘flamenco’ only get to be used in referencing OUR flamenco sometime in the 1830s – almost three centuries after that notation? How would it be useful to essentially indicate “find Flemish singers to sing this” when the manuscript was used in common monasteries and other locations, not the Royal court?) It turns out that in catholic liturgy in Spain, maybe even more so in Andalucia, there was a Hispanic liturgical tradition for singing that was a bit different than the Flemish/Roman tradition. It had slightly different psalmodic rules for the chants. In the 16th century the Flemish psalmodic rules were getting to be used more often, but the Hispanic psalmodic rules were still popular and perhaps the default in musical settings in church. Given all that, current thinking (B) on the meaning of the notation ‘flamenco’ is that, most probably, the copyist wanted to specify that the setting did not correspond to a psalmodic tone/rule of the Hispanic tradition but that it belonged to the tradition in Flanders, that is, the Flemish i.e. Roman one (and it turns out the composer was Flemish too). Therefore, it likely does not refer to some special "Flemish" timbre (voice quality/delivery) of singing or to Flemish singers, as Querol in 1949 had queried, and even less so to some general use of ‘flamenco’ as ‘cantaor’, as Almendros posited. Instead, it most likely was a notation indicating that what follows has to be sung in the Flemish way (Flemish/Roman rules for melody intonation, recitative, progression and finalis) rather than the usual Hispanic rules for the same. (*) ___• Grande, F. (1975). “Bandolerismo y cante flamenco” – cites Almendros (1973). ___• "Aproximación a la historia del flamenco: El problema histórico, cultural y etimológico", by MR Núñez - Litoral (238), 2004, 6-31. – offers details/quotes from Almendros. ___• Suárez Ávila, Luis. “Flamenco: motivación metonímica y evolución cultural del nombre de los gitanos y de su cante”. Culturas Populares. Revista Electrónica 7 (julio-diciembre 2008), 26 pp., in notes on page 6. (a) An entry on folio 128v. reads “To the most magnificent and reverend Father Alonso Ortiz, caretaker of the convent of [illegible] in Jerez”. (b) https://www.diamm.ac.uk/sources/1156/#/ (c) http://libros.csic.es/product_info.php?products_id=1000 and http://libros.csic.es/product_info.php?products_id=1001 “107v”, “109v” – the “v” is a standard reference to the back/reverse side of a sheet/folio. Full notation for the front and back page of a given folio/sheet, say folio 54, is 54r and 54v, meaning 54 recto (as you open a manuscript with folio 54 on the right, it is showing its "front' page), and 54 verso (as you turn folio 54 over, that folio is now on the left and showing its reverse/back page). In practice 54r is just denoted as 54 for short, and only the reverse-side pages are denoted with ‘v’. “Cantus firmus” – ‘fixed melody’, i.e. a specific known melody forming the basis of a polyphonic work. “Fabordon” – from ‘Fauxbordon’, literally ‘false drone’, which was a 15th century three-part polyphonic work, but in Spain in the 16th century ‘fabordón’ specifically referred to a four-voice polyphony form with specific rules for the voices’ relation to one another. “Psalmodic tone” – melodic recitation formula used in the reciting of the psalms. See (B) for more detail, including on the differences between Hispanic and Flemish/Roman psalmodic tones. “Setting” – i.e. musical setting, meaning a composition that is written on the basis of literary work such as church texts. “Donec ponam” – the beginning of the second line of Psalm 109/110 “Dixit Dominus..” which is the first psalm of the office of Vespers on Sundays in the Catholic liturgy. “Quia misit” – from Acts, Chapter 12, “Nunc scio vere quia misit dominus angelum suum..” used as an antiphon (short sung refrain), so likely a brief motif in the manuscript. THESES: A. Meyers, RM. 2009. “Toward an understanding of the madrigal in sixteenth century Spain : a case study of the manuscript MadM 6829”, Master’s thesis, University of Tasmania. https://eprints.utas.edu.au/20891/ B. Zauner, Sergi. 2014. “El Fabordón A La Luz De Las Fuentes Hispánicas Del Renacimiento (Ca.1480-1626): Fórmulas Y Fabordón Elaborado En El Marco Del Oficio Divino”, Doctoral thesis, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. https://www.tdx.cat/handle/10803/284967
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