A ''cantiga'' (''cantica'', ''cantar'') is a

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

monophonic Monaural sound or monophonic sound (often shortened to mono) is sound intended to be heard as if it were emanating from one position. This contrasts with stereophonic sound or ''stereo'', which uses two separate audio channels to reproduce sou ...

song A song is a musical composition performed by the human voice. The voice often carries the melody (a series of distinct and fixed pitches) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs have a structure, such as the common ABA form, and are usu ...

, characteristic of the

Galician-Portuguese lyric In the Middle Ages, the Galician-Portuguese lyric, also known as troubadorism, from ''trovadorismo'' in Portuguese and ''trobadorismo'' in Galician, was a lyric poetic school or movement. All told, there are around 1680 texts in the so-called ...

. Over 400 extant ''cantigas'' come from the ''

Cantigas de Santa Maria The ''Cantigas de Santa Maria'' (, ; "Canticles of Holy Mary") are 420 poems with musical notation, written in the medieval Galician-Portuguese language during the reign of Alfonso X of Castile, Alfonso X of Castile ''El Sabio'' (1221–1284). T ...

'', narrative songs about miracles or hymns in praise of the Holy Virgin. There are near 1700 secular ''cantigas'' but music has only survived for a very few: six

cantigas de amigo ''Cantiga de amigo'' (, ) or ''cantiga d'amigo'' ( Galician-Portuguese spelling), literally "friend song", is a genre of medieval lyric poetry, more specifically the Galician-Portuguese lyric, apparently rooted in a female-voiced song tradition n ...

Martín Codax Martin Codax or Codaz, Martín Codax () or Martim Codax was a Galician medieval ''joglar'' (non-noble composer and performer, as opposed to a ''trobador''), possibly from Vigo, Galicia in present-day Spain. He may have been active during the ...

and seven ''cantigas de amor'' by

Denis of Portugal Denis (, ; 9 October 1261 – 7 January 1325), called the Farmer King (''Rei Lavrador'') and the Poet King (''Rei Poeta''), was King of Portugal from 1279 until his death in 1325. Dinis was the eldest son of Afonso III of Portugal by his second ...

. Cantiga is also the name of a poetic and musical form of the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

, often associated with the

villancico The ''villancico'' ( Spanish, ) or vilancete ( Portuguese, ) was a common poetic and musical form of the Iberian Peninsula and Latin America popular from the late 15th to 18th centuries. Important composers of villancicos were Juan del Encina, P ...

and the

canción ''Canción'' ("song") is a popular genre of Latin American music, particularly in Cuba, where many of the compositions originate.Orovio, Helio 2004. ''Cuban music from A to Z''. p42 Its roots lie in Spanish popular song forms, including tiranas, P ...

References

* Rip Cohen. ''500 Cantigas d’Amigo,'' edição crítica/critical edition. Porto: Campo das Letras, 2003. * Giulia Lanciani and Giuseppe Tavani (edd.). ''Dicionário da Literatura Medieval Galega e Portuguesa''. Lisbon: Caminho, 1993. * Manuel Pedro Ferreira. ''O Som de Martin Codax. Sobre a dimensão musical da lírica galego-portuguesa (séculos XII-XIV''). Lisbon: UNISYS/ Imprensa Nacional – Casa de Moeda, 1986. * Manuel Pedro Ferreira. ''Cantus Coronatus: 7 Cantigas d’El Rei Dom Dinis''. Kassel: Reichenberger, 2005. *Manuel Rodrigues Lapa. ''Cantigas d’escarnho e de mal dizer dos cancioneiros medievais galego-portugueses'', edição crítica. 2nd ed. Vigo: Editorial Galaxia, 1970. *Walter Mettmann. ''Afonso X, o Sabio. Cantigas de Santa Maria''. 4 vols. Coimbra: Por ordem da Universidade, 1959–72 (rpt. Vigo: Ediçóns Xerais de Galicia, 1981). *Carolina Michaëlis de Vasconcellos. ''Cancioneiro da Ajuda'', edição critica e commentada. 2 vols. Halle a.S.: Max Niemeyer, 1904 (rpt. with Michaëlis 1920, Lisboa: Imprensa Nacional – Casa de Moeda, 1990). *Carolina Michaëlis de Vasconcellos. “Glossário do Cancioneiro da Ajuda”. ''Revista Lusitana'' (1920) 23: 1–95. *José Joaquim Nunes. ''Cantigas d’amor dos trovadores galego-portugueses''. Edição crítica acompanhada de introdução, comentário, variantes, e glossário. Coimbra: Imprensa da Universidade, 1932 (rpt. Lisbon: Centro do Livro Brasileiro, 1972). *Jack Sage. "Cantiga", ''

Grove Music Online ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' is an encyclopedic dictionary of music and musicians. Along with the German-language '' Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart'', it is one of the largest reference works on the history and t ...

'', ed. L. Macy (accessed September 17, 2006)
grovemusic.com
(subscription access). *Giuseppe Tavani. ''Trovadores e Jograis: Introdução à poesia medieval galego-portuguesa''. Lisbon: Caminho. 2002. {{refend Song forms Songs in classical music Galician-Portuguese lyric Medieval compositions

See also

References