Uploaded September 2024 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Vocals & arrangement by Farya Faraji, oud my Mohab Attalah, lyra by @stefanoskrasopoulis
The Cantigas de Santa Maria are one of the most important musical works of Medieval Europe. Written during the reign of King Alfonso X of Castile in the medieval Portuguese-Galician language, they are a collection of 420 poems with musical notation. They were historically all attributed to him, but are now understood to have mostly been created by his court musicians, with some being credited to him.
This is a historically informed performance that uses the musical methods and music theory of Europe at the time. The instruments are varied and range from the oud to a variety of other lutes like the gittern and citole. Psalteries and rebecs are the bowed instruments that are used, with flutes, bagpipes and a hurdy-gurdy. This selection was based on the wide variety of visual depictions of musicians of Iberia in that era.
The arrangement exemplifies medieval European music in its highly heterophonic and horizontally ornamental nature, the usage of drones, modal polyphony not defined by tonal harmonic rules, and the usage of Organum in parallel fifths. The vocals employ a certain degree of ornamentation and microtonal inflection. I was more restrained and conservative in this regard, but Eduardo Paniagua's rendition goes especially in depth with these techniques after the halfway point of his performance which I suggest you check out, as it is an absolutely stellar version: youtu.be/Y_3sPICQhuU?si=sAlUqLYRnxh5acLR
For more info and sources on the elements discussed above, I refer you to my Epic Talking video playlist.
The pronunciation is historically informed and in particular, employs José-Martinho Montero Santalha's hypothesis of many of the "n" sounds being representative of a voiced velar nasal "ŋ"; ultimately a precedence for the current nasal sounds found in Portuguese and Galician. For more info on the matter, consult this site: cantigasdesantamaria.com/pronounce.html
Vocals & arrangement by Farya Faraji, oud my Mohab Attalah, lyra by @stefanoskrasopoulis
The Cantigas de Santa Maria are one of the most important musical works of Medieval Europe. Written during the reign of King Alfonso X of Castile in the medieval Portuguese-Galician language, they are a collection of 420 poems with musical notation. They were historically all attributed to him, but are now understood to have mostly been created by his court musicians, with some being credited to him.
This is a historically informed performance that uses the musical methods and music theory of Europe at the time. The instruments are varied and range from the oud to a variety of other lutes like the gittern and citole. Psalteries and rebecs are the bowed instruments that are used, with flutes, bagpipes and a hurdy-gurdy. This selection was based on the wide variety of visual depictions of musicians of Iberia in that era.
The arrangement exemplifies medieval European music in its highly heterophonic and horizontally ornamental nature, the usage of drones, modal polyphony not defined by tonal harmonic rules, and the usage of Organum in parallel fifths. The vocals employ a certain degree of ornamentation and microtonal inflection. I was more restrained and conservative in this regard, but Eduardo Paniagua's rendition goes especially in depth with these techniques after the halfway point of his performance which I suggest you check out, as it is an absolutely stellar version: youtu.be/Y_3sPICQhuU?si=sAlUqLYRnxh5acLR
For more info and sources on the elements discussed above, I refer you to my Epic Talking video playlist.
The pronunciation is historically informed and in particular, employs José-Martinho Montero Santalha's hypothesis of many of the "n" sounds being representative of a voiced velar nasal "ŋ"; ultimately a precedence for the current nasal sounds found in Portuguese and Galician. For more info on the matter, consult this site: cantigasdesantamaria.com/pronounce.html
