CANTIGAS: ORIGIN, CHARACTERISTICS AND TYPES - LITERATURE - 2025

The cantigas were poetic-musical compositions developed in the Middle Ages, especially in Galicia and Portugal. They were lyrical works created by musicians and poets of the time, the so-called troubadours, who from time to time were accompanied by street artists known as minstrels.

These artists were in charge, through cantigas and accompanied by their instruments, to play and sing from town to town the adventures of the heroes, the news that happened in the surroundings, the experiences of the inhabitants and those of themselves.

Image allusive to the Cantigas a Santa María. Source:

It was common to hear, during the 13th century, the cantigas being chanted or recited for the entertainment of kings, nobles and the general public. At this time, poetry could not be separated from music. That is to say: poetry was always song and song always went hand in hand with poetry.

Medieval musical composition was expressed mainly through the so-called "Gregorian monody", which is a form of singing with one voice, or "melody." That is, there was no desire to add polyphonic effects or great harmonies, it was simply sought to emit a message in a simple and picaresque way.

Origin

The first known cantiga dates from the end of the 12th century. He was of Galician-Portuguese origin. It is the so-called “Cantiga de Garvaia”, or “Cantiga de Riverinha”, composed by Paio Soares Taveiroos for approximately 1180.

This cantiga narrates in a satirical or burlesque way the love affairs of María Riveiro, “Riberinha” and King Sancho.

Paio Soares was a troubadour who developed his arts between the last years of the 12th century and the first years of the 13th century. He was an artist of Galician origin. He belonged to the nobility, which facilitated the performance of his work.

Thus, the Galician-Portuguese territories were the first to see the birth and development of cantigas, at the end of the 12th century. By the 15th century they were sung and appreciated throughout Europe.

This poetic-musical genre not only dealt with the mockery or satirization of what was happening, but also spoke of friendship, love and the different problems that were experienced daily in the towns.

Cantigas del Rey Alfonso X

Alfonso X of Castilla is considered the most important composer of cantigas of the 13th century and in history. Such was his passion for this type of composition that he sent for other composers and singers from all the nearby regions to elaborate their cantigas.

The select group of musicians brought together by Alfonso X was known as the “Alfonsi Court”.

King Alfonso X had a special fixation on the Galician language for the development of poetry, and thanks to his performance and passion during his tenure, the Galician-Portuguese lyric had a growth never seen before. He composed, apart from the cantigas with a religious character, 44 cantigas of a profane nature, mostly satirical.

It is due to Alfonso X to contribute to the organization of the body of religious cantigas known as Cantigas de Santa María. This series of poems created by the monarch in the 13th century is the most extensive medieval songbook with religious motifs in the Galician-Portuguese language.

In the cantigas written by Alfonso X to Santa María, the monarch arises as the lover and the virgin is the unattainable damsel to whom he dedicates all his praise. Each poem is beautifully accomplished, both in theme and meter, they are certainly a treasure of Western music in the Middle Ages.

Part of the perfection in the development of the Cantigas de Santa María is due, of course, to the excellent work group that Alfonso X had, his “Corte Alfonsi”.

Importance of

The 429 cantigas contained in the Cantigas de Santa María are considered the most transcendental literary-musical jewel of the time in the Galician-Portuguese language. The language they use is vulgar, even when the theme is bordering on the religious. These cantigas come to be, then, a song of the people to their virgin.

The Cantigas de Santa María are presented in two forms:

The praise (or exaltations)

The praises are cantigas that lack narration and are used mainly to give glory and honor to Mary for all her virtues. Alfonso X placed special emphasis on them as a means of worship. They appear among the cantigas every ten poemillas.

If you read Cantiga 70 from the body of Cantigas de María, the “Eno nome de María”, it can be seen how the composer notably exalts the wonderful qualities of María.

Miragres (or miracles)

They are cantigas that focus on narrating the miracles and pieties performed by Santa María throughout the Galician-Portuguese territory and its surroundings.

If you read cantiga number 329, you can see the miracle performed by Mary in resuscitating a disgraced man.

characteristics

Monodia

Although it can be sung by many, it only handles a single melodic line, there are no harmonic variants or second voices. The simplicity in intonation is preserved to focus on the message, in the background more than in the form.

Collective

Although they were mostly sung by minstrels and troubadours, when the cantigas became popular they became a group, collective phenomenon. People crowded around the singers and recited them in choirs.

Anonymous

Except for those composed by Alfonso X (and following the traditions of the chants of deeds, the jarchas and the moaxajas), the cantigas commonly lacked known authors.

Her anonymity characterized her, although that took a back seat when the amusements were formed in the squares between the artists and the public.

The zéjel or virelay predominates in the song

Which is nothing more than the musical form in which the stanzas alternate with the chorus, in such a way that the final part of each stanza is musically molded with the beginning of the chorus. And so on throughout the song.

Sung in ternary bars

The vast majority of these poemillas were sung at what we know as “tiempo de vals”, or “1, 2, 3”, as was done with the rest of the compositions of the European trova.

Varied theme

The subjects dealt with were very diverse, right, of course, to what their composers wanted to express. Thus we can appreciate, then, songs of love, hatred, protest, swearing, mockery; each and every one of the possible daily manifestations of the human being.

They were accompanied by various instruments

As there was a marked influence and financial support from Alfonso X, most of the Cantigas de Santa María were accompanied by a very varied range of instruments.

These include: psaltery, bow viola, horn, lute, dulzainas, castanets, trumpet, among others.

In the interpretations of the street cantigas the lute was common to accompany each other.

Types

-According to its structure

As far as structure is concerned, there are two basic forms of cantigas: those of regressive chorus, or cantigas of sayings; and the progressives, or cantigas of mastery, much better elaborated, more poetic and literary.

In both cases the assonance rhyme was handled with the use of octosyllabic and decasyllable verses.

From the point of view of rhyme, his stanzas were organized as follows: ababcca, ababccb, abbacca, abbaccb.

-Depending on the theme

Cantigas of love

In these, the lover addresses his beloved with servile, submissive poems and with convincing arguments to be reciprocated.

Cantigas of derision

They were used to expose the defects and the embarrassing life situations of others, with a burlesque and ambiguous language, very suggestive.

Cantigas de curse

They were songs used to directly wish any enemy or thing ill, with foul and vulgar language.

Cantigas de amigo

In them you can see a woman who complains about suffering the absence of her loved one. Poetic resources are used alluding to common elements present in the environment: trees, spring water, wells, deer. These little seeds always have a hidden message.

References

1. Cantiga. (S. f.). (n / a): Wikipedia. Recovered from: es.wikipedia.org
2. Maestro García, LM (Sf). Transcendence of the cantigas. Brazil: Spain here. Recovered from: espanaaqui.com.br
3. The Cantigas. (Sf). Spain: Cantros.edu. Recovered from: centros.edu.xunta.es
4. Alfonso X the wise, the king of cantigas. (2018). (n / a): Ancient Music. Recovered from: musicaantigua.com
5. What is a Cantiga? (Sf). (n / a): Saberia. Recovered from: saberia.com