VILANCICOS DO SÉCULO XVI - Iberian 16th Century Christmas songs

VILANCICOS DO SÉCULO XVI

Iberian 16th Century Christmas songs

I-Tunes:

IL DOLCIMELO - Ancient music group

Ana Bela Covão, Margarida de Moura sopranos

Conceição Martinho, Carmo Burnay contraltos

Rui Aleixo, Pedro Costa tenors

Tiago Mota bass

Carla Abreu, Sara Ponte, Sofia Barreira, Francisco Gonçalves recorders

João Mateus cornett

Diana Matos lute

Sofia Barreira viola

Manuela Oliveira viola da gamba

Hélder Rodrigues sackbut

Ana Bela Covão, Margarida de Moura, Luisa Amado, Carmo Burnay, Pedro Costa, Pedro Nunes, Manuel Branco, José Pedro Castanheira, Tiago Mota choir

Isabel Monteiro recorder and director

Details:

Nine months had passed since an angel announced to the young girl Mary that she had been chosen to give birth to the Son of God. In the middle of the darkness of night a mother rocks her recently born son, still unaware that a group of shepherds approaches, with a happy and sonorous step, to visit them. Three Magi also travel in the direction of the crèche, following a star that has led them from the East. As it had been foretold, the Child is found lying in a manger wrapped in cloth, and a choir of angels chants praises to his birth.

This program incorporates a unique repertory, on the Christmas theme, which approaches the Birth and the Maternity as never before in the history of Western Music – specifically in its use of languages such as Portuguese, Castilian, and Catalan, in place of the typical Latin – but also through the enchantment and simplicity with which the theme is transposed to music. It is an earthly vision of the divine subject – which does not go against the Christian background from which it originates – imparted from the Humanistic spirit that the runs throughout the 16th-century.

A first group of songs – introduced by an “Annunciation” extracted from a drama by Gil Vicente – refers in a number of ways to the birth of the special child, wrapped in tenderness and affection, an event that is generally commented by the voices of the shepherds and other popular characters. The Biblical narrative is recreated through the songs, accessible to the less-literate members of the population, similar to the way the acts of the Nativity gave origin to the crèche.

Another group of pieces, particularly devoted to the Virgin, frequently allude to the birth of her son, but also to her exceptional feminine qualities, especially exalting her beauty and elegance. Gil Vicente calls her “gracious” and “divine rose” and states that “irises, flowers and roses” seek to be her equal, summarizing what many of the composers affirm with their musical works.

The instruments used for this repertoire are some of those most mentioned in the Portuguese sources of the time – recorders, cornett, sackbut, lute and viol – they are equally well documented in the treatises and iconography of the 16th-century as well.

00’47’’ 1 Anunciação - Excerto do Auto de Mofina Mendes, Gil Vicente

01’18’’ 2 Prólogo - Embalo, Tradicional Português

02’21’’ 3 No la devemos dormir - Cancioneiro de Uppsala

02’01’’ 4 Los Reyes siguen la estrella - Francisco Guerrero

01’12’’ 5 A los maytines era - Cancioneiro da Colombina

02’14’’ 6 Riu riu chiu - Cancioneiro de Uppsala

02’14’’ 7 Dalha den cima del cielo - Cancioneiro de Paris

01’34’’ 8 Qué bonito niño chiquito - Cancioneiro da Colombina 

01’04’’ 9 Dadme albricias - Cancioneiro de Uppsala

01’13’’ 10 Tu me digas alma mia - Cancioneiro de Paris

02’27’’ 11 Quiso nuestro Dios eterno - Cancioneiro de Lisboa

01’32’’ 12 Verbum caro factum est - Cancioneiro de Uppsala

00’28’’ 13 Louvor da Virgem - Excerto de Auto da Sibila Cassandra, Gil Vicente

02’11’’ 14 Ay Santa Marya - Cancioneiros de Palácio / Paris / Colombina

01’47’’ 15 De la Virgen - Atr. António de Cabezón

02’25’’ 16 Vos Virgen sois nostra madre - Cancioneiros de Lisboa / Uppsala

01’35’’ 17 Virgen dina de honor - Cancioneiro da Colombina

01’25’’ 18 Ya no quiero tener fe - Juan del Encina

01’58’’ 19 Senhora del mundo - Cancioneiro de Paris 

01’51’’ 20 E la don don Verges Maria - Cancioneiro de Uppsala

02’14’’ 21 Dulcíssima Maria - Cancioneiro de Medinaceli 

01’44’’ 22 Virgen bendita sin par - Cancioneiro de Palácio

Ref.: NUM 1161